“We have a lot of good players, but it just hasn’t clicked… Making a lot of changes would indicate I didn’t agree with what John was doing and I did agree with it.”

I’m hoping that doesn’t apply to things like, say, batting Vidro third and all…

I’d be surprised if Burke as Bedard’s personal catcher continues; McLaren said that that was over, and it’s not likely that it’ll suddenly come back with Riggleman.

With that in mind, then it should be Clement tonight, and I like the idea of batting him behind Raul and Beltre.

Ichiro RF L (.796)
Reed CF L (.727)
Beltre 3B R (.782)
Ibanez LF L (.849)
Clement C L (.775)
Sexson 1B R (.844)
Lopez 2B R (.669)
Betancourt SS R (.690)
Bedard P L (.200)

This lineup sacrifices the L-R-L-R sequence that McLaren was so fond of, but I frankly don’t see how using that sequence works in our favor, given that the right-handed batters are so much worse than the lefties against RHP. There’s no way Riggleman is batting Lopez 7th, but if he reads stats, he ought to consider it.

Putting Lopez/Betancourt/pitcher together puts all of the low OBP batters in a row. I think that is a plus….

I also think Ibanez would benefit from having Clement behind him instead of a right-handed batter.

Burke–C R (Bedard Day)

I don’t know if Riggleman will give Bedard his personal catcher, but Mac did say the ‘combinations’ at catcher were over. Hopefully we’ll see Clement catching and hitting fifth, with Reed seventh or eighth. Should be interesting to see who’s in at catcher.

Well, I’m stupid. For some reason, I thought Campillo was a LHP. So, tonight’s lineup will be real interesting, as Clement and Reed should be in it. I’ll be interested to see who the DH is and who’s playing 1B.

The game is in Atlanta, so there’s no DH. My prediction (or preference) for the lineup:

Ichiro–RF L
Lopez–2B R
Ibanez–LF L
Beltre–3B R
Reed–CF L
Betancourt–SS R
Sexson–1B R
Burke–C R (Bedard Day)
Pitcher