I again noticed that we had a number of players go 0-fer last night so I got curious and did a little research. I wanted to know how often we’ve had our leadoff and #2 hitters go hitless and walkless and our #3 and #4 hitters go hitless. I included walks for #1 and #2 because they are supposed to get on base and a walk is just as good as a hit, for that purpose. I didn’t include walks for the #3 and #4 because they’re supposed to drive in runs, not just get on base.
Well, I found that with the leadoff hitter, we’re tied for 9th worst with 15 hitless and walkless games. The worst team is Cincinnati with 22 and the average is about 14. For the #2 hitter, we’re tied for 11th worst with 16 hitless and walkless games. The Angels are worst with 20 and the average is, again, about 14. A little worse than average for both of these but nothing dramatic…then I looked at the hitless games for the #3 and #4 positions in the batting order…
For the #3 hitter position, we’re 26th worst, just five teams with more hitless games than our #3 position. We’ve had 28 hitless games from the #3 position in the batting order. Atlanta is worst with 35. The average is about 22. Not good. And then I went to #4…ugh…
For the #4 position in the batting order, we’re 28th worst, ahead of just two teams, Seattle and Atlanta. We have 29 hitless games from the #4 batting position, Seattle is worst with 32. The average is about 23. I checked to see who the #4 hitless hitters were. There were a couple of Werth games, a few Morse games and one Tracy game. All the rest were LaRoche, needless to say.
I concluded that we could use a little more production out of #1 and #2 but #3 and #4 are really hurting us, which isn’t much of a surprise. We know Ryan Zimmerman is having a rough season so #3 is expected but Adam LaRoche is hurting us pretty badly too. We need to see more Tyler Moore and see him batting cleanup until Morse bat comes around. Right now, I have more confidence in Moore at #4 than LaRoche.
