as a possible no. 2 hitter, but I can’t buy him as a no. 1 hitter. His current OBP is bound to be influenced by the fact that the pitcher bats after him. So I don’t see him as a better OBP bet than Bourn in the No. 1 spot.

JD and Brownie say that Berkman was moved down in the lineup because he has been the most dependable hitter and they want more batters in front of him so that he can bat with more runners on base. Do I buy that logic? No.

the low OBP, I like keeping Bourn at the leadoff. Being 11/11 in SB so far makes it a lot easier for the later hitters to drive in a run when he does get on base.

with the HC’s Richard Justice on a batting order for the Astros. From Justice’s blog:

I’m offering Cecil Cooper this advice for free. I know I shouldn’t do it, especially since he’s not going to listen anyway. If he’s going to change his lineup, he ought to try making it better. He’s not. He’s just changing for the sake of change.

Here’s how he should line ‘em up…

Kaz Matsui, 2b
Lance Berkman, 1b
Miguel Tejada, ss
Carlos Lee, lf
Hunter Pence, rf
Geoff Blum, 3b
J.R. Towles, c
Pitcher
Michael Bourn,

In responding to a commenter on his blog, Justice said:
“I’m trying to show I’m not too old to learn. Every manager ought to be required to read The Book. A couple of weeks ago, I asked Cecil Cooper if he had any idea why some managers hit the pitcher eighth. ’’Don’t care,’’ he snapped. That was also the day I asked why he had Mark Lorretta bunt. He had a decent reason, but I don’t think he liked being asked for an explanation. I guess he ain’t into book learning.—Richard”

Background on his reference to “The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball”: One of the co-authors of the book, mgl, commented on one of Justice’s blog entries and Justice made several snappy insults, which led to some discussion in the baseball blogging community. Justice later interviewed mgl on his radio show, and now apparently pays more attention to his book.

the batting order makes for interesting discussion. But, in the context of the Astros, it feels like re arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. No amount of batting order change will do much good so long as Lee, Pence, and whomever plays 3d base (Loretta, Blum or Wiggy) are this unproductive on offense. It’s not as obvious, but Lee is having a disappointing season so far on offense. He isn’t coming through in the clutch.