Mark Sheldon called out Dusty Baker a bit this morning, under the headline, “Hot hitters squeezed out of Reds’ order“. Yeah, it was mild, but good to see nonetheless:
Some of the hottest bats the Reds have right now never left the dugout during Tuesday’s game vs. the D-backs.
Outfielders Jonny Gomes and Chris Dickerson weren’t in the starting lineup, nor was backup catcher Ryan Hanigan.
Gomes, who was the Reds’ designated hitter in all nine Interleague games, is batting .360 (18-for-50) with four home runs and 11 RBIs over his past 18 games. He was responsible for three of Cincinnati’s past six homers.
Dickerson, who is batting .277 overall, is hitting .452 (14-for-31) over his past 12 games and has hits in 10 of them. He struck out as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning on Tuesday.
Hanigan is batting .321 for the season.
“You can’t play everybody,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “I have a plan on how to keep them sharp and productive for themselves and us at the same time. We knew that could potentially happen when we started. You don’t have a good team unless you have too many good bodies.”
I think Dusty Baker is good at many parts of his job. Unfortunately, I’ve lost all faith in him to put the best players on the field every day. I have no confidence in Dusty at all.
Enjoy this final nugget from the dusty one, regarding his refusal to put Ryan Hanigan in the game:
“Ramon has been one of our best, clutch RBI guys,” Baker said.
Sigh….