 |
 |
| Dave Bush | Chris Sampson |
| 2 - 1, 5.04 | 2 - 1, 4.26 |
Hunter Pence will be batting sixth and playing centerfield tonight, and as much as I think yesterday's move was ill-conceived, I find myself excited to see how our brightest hitting prospect does in his major league debut.
If there is anything about the callup that might have shown some little forethought, it is that they have arranged things so that Pence's first start will come against a righty. Hunter was decimating righthanded pitching at Round Rock, but his left handed splits were more ordinary, including a barely better than league average .414 slugging.
I would have liked to have seen Hunter face another half-year of crafty lefties and legit curveballs at Round Rock, but that's not the way it's gonna be.
So be it.
Any hindrance to Hunter aside, theres's no question in my mind that no matter what, he will be a successful major leaguer.
And I do think an offensive explosion is possible tonight, as Lance gets back to batting lefty, and with Loretta (6 for his last 10, and OBPing .410) batting in the important two slot.
But if the team is stymied again offensively by Bush, if we can't come up with the offensive goods, or even if we lose, can we at least agree not to blame Hunter Pence?