Who Bats Where

Yesterday in Kansas City, Tim Anderson batted where he always does, leadoff. Captain Ahab hasn’t reached the point yet where he’ll fiddle with that, other than to give his shortstop all the rest he could ever ask for, and more. Anderson batting at the top of the order matters because he gets on base, as evidenced by two hits and two walks which turned into a run and two RBIs. The other thing Ahab-La Russa seems to have figured out is that Luis Robert looks very good batting third. Yesterday, Robert went 3-for-4 with four RBIs, including a two-run homerun, as the Sox topped the Royals 7-4 to take a five-game series, three games to two. How do you say, Whoopee? If only our HOF manager could figure out two more things about his batting order. Andrew Vaughn, the human yo-yo, found himself batting seventh on getaway day and responded with two hits along with a run scored. I keep hearing how the 24-year old Vaughn is key to the team’s chances of making the postseason. How that happens with him batting seventh or ninth is beyond me. Hey, here’s an idea—bat Vaughn in the two-hole instead of Yoan Moncada, who struck out twice yesterday while stranding six baserunners. Moncada went 1-for-5 with a run scored, each at-bat a study in discomfort. If something is bothering our third baseman, the team needs to find out. If our third baseman can’t be bothered, our manager needs to act, now. So, it’s on to New York for a weekend series. My daughter says Moncada is content just to have a job in the big leagues while Robert has the ego to accomplish things. We’ll see how that all plays out in the Bronx.