Dusty, Edwin, and Votto

See if any of you can explain this one to me:

Jerry Hairston Jr. is in the leadoff spot and Willy Taveras second for tonight’s game.

“It’s temporary,” Baker said. “Willy missed some time. He was struggling a little bit before. He’s struggling even more since he’s been back.

Willy is my leadoff man. Sometimes, you got to make a change because when the leadoff man ain’t getting on base he ain’t no leadoff man. When he’s getting on base, there’s a lot happening.”

Taveras went into Wednesday 0-for-his-last-15.

Okay, Dusty, if a guy isn’t getting on base, I agree that he shouldn’t be leading off. However, wouldn’t you drop him down in the order? How does putting Taveras in the 2-hole help things???

Meanwhile, last I checked, the two guys at the top of the order are sporting .303 and .300 on-base percentages. Wow, that’s just terrible. (Meanwhile, I’m not a fully paid member of the Chris Dickerson fan club, but his OBP is .375, he’s coming off the best week defensively that any Red has had all season…and he can’t get into the lineup. I just don’t understand….)

Anyway, on to more interesting topics. First, Edwin Encarnacion:

Edwin Encarnacion hopes to begin swinging the bat Friday or Saturday.

He’s clearly frustrated with his left hand/wrist.

“I wait one month and then I have pain again,” he said. “I love baseball. I want to play. It’s hard to watch the game from the bench.”

Encarnacion isn’t back at square one.

“I just have a little of inflammation,” he said.

Get well soon, EE; we need you back. We also need Joey Votto back:

“The game waits for nobody. You’ve got to carry on until that person gets back. I’m not being cold or crass. That’s fact.

“Joey is doing everything he can to get back here.”

Baker added that Votto is better.

“That’s all I can tell you,” he said. “You tell in anybody’s voice.”

Not much news there, but I know we’re all interested in how Votto is doing. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.