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One of the most interesting franchise histories in sports is that of the Colorado Rockies. Since 1993, when they joined the National League as an expansion franchise, Colorado has been known for its “Blake Street Bombers” attitude and for their horrifying home-road splits.

Playing in the thin air of Coors Field, good hitters such as Vinny Castilla were made to look like Hall of Famers. However, it may just be the thin air of Denver that keeps the black-and-purple out of Cooperstown.

The Case For

In the short history of baseball in Colorado, two players stand out against the background: Todd Helton and Larry Walker. With the exception of young stars Ubaldo Jiminez and Troy Tulowtizki, there have been no other players who could go into the Hall with a Rockies cap on their plaque.

First, we’ll look at Helton.

The Tennessee native has been considered by most to be the greatest player in franchise history. As of June 12, his .326 career average ranked sixth among players whose careers began after World War II. Among active players, Helton is second in on-base percentage (.426), fifth in slugging percentage (.560), sixth in intentional walks (175), and tied for fourth in doubles. These are the numbers of a Hall of Famer, especially for a player who has spent his entire career with one team.

Helton is the only player ever to have 35+ doubles in his first ten seasons. He also made five straight All-Star teams and won four straight Silver Sluggers. He captured a Gold Glove on three occasions.

He paces all Rockies hitters in hits, homers, doubles, walks, runs scored, RBIs, on-base percentage, games played, total bases, among other, more obscure categories. If any Rockie should make the Hall, it should be Helton.

However, another former Colorado star could make the Hall before Helton is even eligible: Larry Walker.

Walker has a chance to enter the Hall before Helton for one reason. In 2012, the Hall of Fame class is expected to be extremely weak. First timers include Walker, Bernie Williams, former Rockie Vinny Castilla, Javy Lopez, and Ruben Sierra.

Walker, who won seven Gold Gloves, three Silver Sluggers, and the 1997 NL MVP, has good career numbers (52nd all-time in home runs) and the writers may look favorably upon him in comparison to his class. If Walker is going to get in, 2012 is the year.

The Case Against

The reason to keep Rockies players out of Cooperstown is obvious: They played most of their games at Coors Field.

The career splits can’t lie:

Helton at Home: 200 HR, .358/.455/.633

Helton on the Road: 126 HR, .294/.395/.486

Those splits are among the harshest ever. For Helton to make the Hall of Fame, someone’s going to have to be convinced that it’s the overall body of work that counts. For those who make a valid point that if Helton had Cooperstown ability, he would hit like it everywhere, the home/road splits.

The biggest reason, though, that could prevent

With possible holdovers such as Barry Larkin, Roberto Alomar, Mark McGwire, John Franco, and Rafael Palmeiro stealing the spotlight, it may be harder for Walker to get in. But, if he doesn’t get in in 2012, he probably never will.

Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mike Piazza, Curt Schilling, Kenny Lofton, Franco, Biggio, Mesa, Wells, Hernandez, and Sosa headline the class of 2013. In 2014, we have Greg Maddux, Frank Thomas, Jeff Kent, Luis Gonzalez, Kenny Rogers, Moises Alou, Mike Mussina, and Hideo Nomo. With those guys stealing the spotlight for what looks like several years, I see Walker having a very hard time making it in, and if Helton’s path is blocked, he could have a hard time getting in as well.

The Final Verdict

Chance of Todd Helton Making the Hall of Fame: 75%

Chance of Larry Walker Making the Hall of Fame: 35%

But hey, that’s my opinion. Put yours in the comments below!

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As we all know, 2010 is being called the “Year of the Pitchers.” With names like Stephen Strasburg and Ubaldo Jimenez popping up all over the place, how are the Philadelphia Phillies pitchers stacking up?

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Going into the 2010 season, the White Sox starting staff of Mark Buehrle, Jake Peavy, John Danks, Gavin Floyd, and Freddy Garcia was thought to be a top three pitching staff in all of baseball.

So far, however, the starting staff has simply been awful, sporting ERAs of 3.27, 4.82, 4.93, 5.62, and 5.64 in 377.1 innings pitched, while the offense has taken most of the blame for the 28-34 record.

Over the last five games, of which the White Sox won four, we may have seen a sudden awakening to the starting five.

It started with Garcia, who has been the second most consistent pitcher in the Sox rotation this season. Garcia went seven innings in a 15-3 win over the Detroit Tigers, allowing three earned runs, while striking out four and walking just one.

Danks followed that outing with seven shutout innings, striking out four, walking four, and giving up just one hit in a 3-0 win over the Tigers.

Peavy then followed that outing with a seven-inning, five-strikeout performance against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley. He gave up two earned runs on one walk and six hits in a 10-5 win.

It was then Buehrle’s turn to shine. He went 6.2 shutout innings, striking out seven, walking none, and giving up eight hits in a 2-1 win over the Cubs.

Floyd pitched a complete game in the series finale against the Cubs. He went eight strong, striking out nine, walking three, and giving up three hits in a 1-0 loss. Floyd had the unfortunate honor of getting the White Sox offense on one of its extremely useless nights, which was bound to happen after scoring 30 runs in the previous four games.

With an offense and a defense like the White Sox have, starting pitching is a must. On any day, the offense can give you nothing and the defense will give you three errors, while most likely never getting to a ball they shouldn’t.

In order for the White Sox to have any chance to compete, the starting staff has to put everything on their shoulders.

Then again, their shoulders should be pretty rested because they’ve taken more than a third of the season off.

At seven-and-a-half games back of the Minnesota Twins and five games back of the Detroit Tigers, let me be the first to welcome the starting five of the White Sox to the 2010 season; so nice of you to show up.

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A serious Triple Crown candidate is emerging in Detroit.

Miguel Cabrera’s 18 homers and 53 runs batted in pace the American League and he ranks fourth in batting average (.339).

I know precisely what you’re thinking. It’s the second week of June.

How dare you utter “Triple Crown”!

Well, let’s look at it this way—with each mention of the feat, writers offer a refresher course in history.

Who was the last player to earn the Triple Crown?

Carl Yastrzemski.

When was this feat last achieved?

1967.

Through print, we honor those who achieved this suddenly unachievable conquest with each mention. So if you believe it’s premature to link Cabrera to this group of conquistadors, simply focus on the respect element.

Yaz’s family certainly likes seeing their kinsman cited 27 years after his retirement.

One of baseball’s smallest clubs, only 15 players are members in the Triple Crown Society. Not even Albert Pujols or Alex Rodriguez, today’s top MLB players, have procured this distinction.

It has become virtually unattainable.

Back to Cabrera. Logic does not indicate it’s too early to begin the discussion. Sure it’s only June, but the first baseman’s track record suggests he has a better chance than most.

Cabrera annually finishes near the top in dingers and RBI’s, and has placed as high as runner-up in batting. In the past five years, the average for AL batting champs has been .346—Miggy lurks seven points away.

Eight months removed from swearing off alcohol, his approach is no longer influenced by hangovers or mental lapses resulting from late night partying. Cabrera is on pace to shatter previous career highs.

He’s projected to wrap 208 hits, slug 51 homers, and plate 149 runners.

Health issues might also trip up less extraordinary players on the long-distance run to the Triple Crown.

But the 27-year-old has taken a few chapters out of the Iron Horse’s book. Cabrera’s never been placed on the disabled list in his eight-year career. In each of the past seven seasons, he has played at least 157 games.

Cabrera defines reliability.

And this isn’t the first year he has flirted with the Triple Crown. He often places top-five—even top-three—in the required categories, and he’s regularly mentioned in the same sentence as Prince Albert and A-Rod.

Now, if you believe this achievement may be surmountable, we must address the obstacles he will face en route.

Since no one has grabbed the distinction in 43 years, press covering the anomaly could grow overbearing. Interview-seekers would flood Cabrera’s voicemail and inbox—and his name would be plastered on headlines across the US.

A pair of Twins—Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau—along with Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano and Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, won’t willingly let Cabrera coast to a batting title.

Morneau is terrorizing the league, emerging as another Triple Crown contender. And Cano is blistering the ball at a .376 clip. Combined, usual suspects Mauer and Ichiro have won five batting titles since 2001.

This foursome will present Cabrera’s biggest challenge.

Division rival Chicago will also attempt to stand in the way of history. Detroit plays the White Sox 14 more times in 2010, a team that gives Miggy fits. In 177 career at-bats against Ozzie Guillen’s crew, he has hit .243.

This year, he’s a measly 1-for-14. Normally allergic to extended slumps, the White Sox have neutralized his bat.

While the odds Cabrera will complete the feat are low, spectators outside of Detroit need to recognize history may be in the making.

Keep your eyes glued to Miguel Cabrera this summer.

One of the best pure hitters of this generation is having a career year.

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While the MLB Draft might not be as watched as its other professional counterparts, that doesn’t mean that being successful in it doesn’t translate into success.

That being said, here are the first 10 guys that the Orioles selected in hopes that they will revive this dying franchise.

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The A’s have certainly had plenty of talented starting pitchers come along over the years. Narrowing down this list to the top 10 was no easy chore, although Robert Slye Jr. did a great job of analyzing the top 10 pitchers in the franchise’s history.

I’m concentrating on just the starting pitchers, and there have been some great ones for this franchise. In fact, half of the pitchers on the top 10 list are in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

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After Roy Halladay was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies, fantasy baseball owners believed the only Toronto Blue Jays worth having were Adam Lind and Aaron Hill. Turns out there are a few other Jays not only worth owning, but that are better than those two.     

It is as if Coors Field has been rebuilt in Toronto. Sure, the Rogers Centre (A.K.A. SkyDome) has also been known as a hitter’s haven, but never like this season.  Somehow average-at-best (and that is being kind) part-time players with .230 batting averages for other teams in their careers have suddenly morphed into powerful sluggers you don’t want to throw 2-0 fastballs to. Either the air is getting thinner inside the Rogers Centre, or Harry Potter has conjured up a spell that is magically guiding Toronto’s fly balls over the fence.       

Here are the Blue Jays that have turned into fantasy heroes after spending the last couple years as fantasy zeroes:

Jose Bautista

This guy is leading the majors in home runs? No, couldn’t be. Let me adjust my glasses. Well, call me George Brett and put pine tar on my bat! Bautista and his 18 dingers are indeed ahead of Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, and everyone else in the sport.  

Bautista leading any major offensive category two months into the season is almost as shocking as Al and Tipper Gore’s separation. He has never brought many redeeming fantasy qualities to the table during his eight-year career.  

Most homers in a season? 16, which Bautista has already surpassed without breaking a sweat. Most RBI? 63, and he already has more than two-thirds of that now in only one-third of a season. His best batting average? .254, so Joe Mauer has one less person to worry about coming after his batting crown considering Bautista is only presently hitting .243.

Bautista has not suffered through one prolonged power slump yet, even though his uppercut swing has holes in it and he still chases breaking balls in the dirt like a greyhound chases mechanical rabbits. He may strike out like Mark Reynolds, but now he hits homers like Reynolds does, too.
       
We will all wake up from this dream very soon.  Bautista must have overdosed on four-leaf clovers last St. Patrick’s Day or something.  He might finish with 30 homers and 90 RBI at season’s end, but to think he will keep this pace up is plain crazy. He is the ultimate sell-high candidate if there ever was one.  

John Buck

The Kansas City Royals, not known for their intelligent personnel decisions (Leo Nunez for Mike Jacobs? Multi-millions for Jose Guillen and Gil Meche?), looked smart for a change in the off-season when they cut bait on Buck, who had worn out his welcome because of his low batting averages and lower on-base percentages.

Buck has always had pop in his bat, though. He hit 70 home runs in six seasons with the Royals. Of course, only fantasy owners noticed, and even they did not care much since his constant 0-for-4 games would deflate the value of his taters.     

The homers are coming faster and more furious this season for Buck with him catching for Toronto, though. The veteran backstop has nine homers and 30 RBI in just 49 games, so he is well on his way to obliterating his previous career-highs in both statistics. And his batting average is .255, which might be terrible for many players but for Buck is the equivalent of hitting .300.    

Buck’s track record suggests that he will not keep up this Darren Daulton routine much longer. An 0-for-the-week is on the horizon that plummets his average 20 points. So trading him now when his value is higher than the summit at Mount Everest would be an optimal idea unless you have no other options behind the plate or if you have faith he can actually finish with 25 homers and 75 RBI.

Alex Gonazlez

Toronto has always had a thing for shortstops named Alex Gonzalez. Now the second shortstop with that name to man the position for the Jays this decade has been providing more pop than a general store from the 1950’s.  

Gonzalez, known more for his golden glove and his cannon arm than his home run prowess, has been slugging like he is Brady Anderson circa 1996. A-Gon has 12 homers and 33 RBI in 57 games. To put this in perspective, he has only broken the 70-RBI plateau twice and the 20-HR barrier once since entering the majors in 1998, so to say this was unexpected is like saying a few extra people watched Stephen Strasburg’s first big-league start.  

Gonzalez does not walk, does not steal, and does not hit for a high average. Homers and RBI are all he is good for in fantasy circles. Can he keep up the good work? Every other Blue Jay has been blasting homers regularly since Opening Day, so why can’t he?  Because he is a shortstop and because he has a slightly better resume than Bautista and Buck, I would not be against holding onto him, especially in AL-only leagues where homer-hitting shortstops are scarce.              

Brett Cecil

I’ll bet Pacman Jones, Howie Mandel, and John Cena’s names were mentioned at more fantasy drafts in March than Cecil’s. Only 16-team, AL-only leagues would have brought Cecil up for discussion. You cannot blame fantasy owners for not thinking about him on Draft Day. Cecil posted a 5.30 ERA and 1.65 WHIP during his rookie campaign and was no lock to make the 2010 rotation.

Yet Cecil has worked as many wonders as televangelist Benny Hinn during the opening third of the schedule. He has mixed his pitches perfectly, keeping righties off-kilter with his combination of fastballs and breaking balls, while totally shutting down lefthanded hitters (.143 batting average). Cecil is 6-2 with a 3.43 ERA, a 1.01 WHIP, and a growing fantasy fan base with every quality start he has.    

And this is just the tip of the iceberg in the hero department for the Blue Jays. Vernon Wells, whose body looked shot the past two seasons, is a fantasy stud again (15 homers, 40 RBI). Edwin Encarnacion has been pounding balls over the fence—when he has made contact (eight HR in 90 AB). And Shawn Marcum has valiantly returned from another arm injury to pitch like an ace (5-3, 3.38). 

I am not sure who deserves all the credit for all of these amazing performances. Maybe the coaching staff. Maybe the ballpark. Maybe the strength and conditioning coach.  Maybe the fantasy baseball gods. Maybe the bat boy. Or I guess the players themselves deserve some kudos. Whatever the case, many players are having special seasons north of the border, and fantasy owners are benefiting big time.

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Stephen Strasburg’s name won’t be added to the long list of can’t-miss prospects who have missed.  Following his historic performance in his Major League debut Tuesday, the sports world is abuzz over his 99-mph heat and devastating slurve.

Strasburg’s dazzling debut was arguably the best moment in the history of the Washington Nationals.  It was a polarizing moment in the 2010 MLB season, which lacks compelling story lines even in mid-June.  It justified the national media’s hype and made the Nats’ a franchise worth covering.

Run away with those superlatives, Stephen Strasburg is here to say.

The Nationals have endured dwindling attendance in the last two seasons and needed something good to happen.  The fortunes of the franchise began to turn when the Nats managed to sign Strasburg out of San Diego State.  A packed Nationals Park Tuesday night was symbolic of how far the Amtrak of Major League Baseball has come. 

The Nationals are being smart about Strasburg, planning to limit him to around 160 innings this season, meaning that he will only be able to make around 12-15 starts at the Major League level before being shut down.  That should be enough to tease the fans and boost ticket sales heading into next season.

The next step is to surround Strasburg, third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, and slugger Adam Dunn with a few more pieces.  The Nationals are suddenly becoming an attractive destination for free agents.  Signing phenom Bryce Harper, the top overall pick in the 2010 amateur draft and another Scott Boras client, now becomes the team’s highest priority.

Major League Baseball and the national media is pulling for the Nationals to keep getting better.

Prior to Tuesday night, the biggest moment in the 2010 MLB season was undoubtedly a mistake.  Jim Joyce’s blown call prevented Detroit’s Armando Galarraga from registering one of the most unlikely perfect games in the history of baseball. 

Bud Selig’s legacy has been tarnished with mistakes, from looking the other way during steroid allegations to ending the 2002 All-Star game in a tie.  He opted not to overturn Joyce’s gaffe, opening the door for criticism.  Even with Galarraga on the bump for the first time since the infamous night, Strasburg’s dominated the headlines and overshadowed the perfect game that wasn’t.

Thanks to the national media, Strasburg’s debut created a new snapshot for the 2010 season.

Tampa Bay’s success is a source of enjoyment for baseball purists but a source of frustration for the media, which is hungry to focus on big-market teams first.  The post-steroid era has produced less scoring and more parity, enabling teams like the Reds and Athletics to hover around the top of the standings.  The media needed someone to generate excitement: someone like Stephen Strasburg.

Despite his incredible performance Tuesday, there are certainly a few cautionary tales to suggest that Strasburg could come back to earth. 

Kerry Wood was the last young phenom to throw a slurve.  He used the pitch heavily when he struck out 20 Astros as a rookie, but eventually stopped throwing it and has battled arm problems for much his career. 

The woeful Pirates are batting .236 as team this season and appeared to have given up by the fifth inning last night.

It clearly won’t always be that easy for Stephen Strasburg, but the sports world will be watching for years and years to come.

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Miami catcher Yasmani Grandal wasn’t supposed to be on the board when the Reds selected at 12th, but when he was, they were quick to pick him up.

Grandal came into the draft as one of the most polished prospects after spending three years at Miami. He has already garnered honors and accolades for his play this year and was named a first team All-American.

The pick looks solid.

Grandal is a safe pick due to his college experience. He is currently batting .412, tops in the ACC, with 14 home runs, and 56 RBIs for the Hurricanes.

It seemed as if the Reds wouldn’t have a shot at Grandal after he had supposedly been in talks with Kansas City. It almost seemed certain that he’d go to the Royals at No. 4, but when he slipped, the Reds knew they couldn’t pass him up as Grandal is a solid hitting catcher that can hit for power from both sides of the plate.

The Grandal pick is also intriguing due to his Cuban heritage.

Like current AAA and former Hurricane first baseman Yonder Alonso, Grandal hails from Cuba. If both develop into contributors for the Reds, the pair would be extremely exciting to watch.

There are some downsides to the pick however.

Grandal could be a hassle to sign. As Illya Harrell pointed out yesterday, he’s likely to demand a lot of money since he’s one of the most MLB-ready players in the draft.

With the Reds not having a boatload of money to throw around, it could be hard to get him to sign. Cincinnati barely signed Alonso a few years ago, inking him just minutes before the deadline. With the money the Reds have spent on Alonso, Mike Leake, and Aroldis Chapman, the negotiations between Grandal and the Reds could be intense.

Some scouts have said that Grandal will have to improve his bat speed to succeed in the minors and majors, and some are skeptical about his defense.

The Reds used a pick on catcher Devin Mesoraco a few years ago, and he’s coming into his own as he moves through the minors. It seems that Grandal brings more to the table than Mesoraco, however.

Overall, the pick is definitely a solid one for the Redlegs as it’s hard to come across such a talented catching prospect at the No. 12 pick. The polish and hitting ability make the pick particularly appealing.

Let’s hope the Reds can sign him.

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When your local baseball team is a solid 7-3 in their past 10 games, there are usually plenty of positive story lines to write about. And the San Francisco Giants are no exception.

Freddy Sanchez has done nothing but rake since coming off the DL in mid-May. The Giants second baseman has jacked his average up to .371 with an OPS nearing .900.

Leadoff hitter and former journeyman Andres Torres has proved his impressive 2009 numbers were no fluke, as he has posted a .377 on-base percentage and .481 slugging percentage thus far to go along with 11 stolen bases.

All-Star pitcher Matt Cain is currently unhittable, allowing just one earned run in his last three starts, allowing just 10 hits in 25 innings pitched over that span.

Now those are just three examples of Giants players who are currently riding hot streaks. 

When you look at the entire roster, there are about five or six more players who are just as on fire as the previous three already mentioned.

But with the players who are going well and the players who are going badly so clearly defined, why does the manager continue to make puzzling lineup change after puzzling lineup change?

Just what goes through Bruce Bochy’s mind when he makes up his lineup card?

Making out the order isn’t rocket science.

The first six hitters in San Francisco’s order should remain the exact same everyday. Torres, Sanchez, Pablo Sandoval, Aubrey Huff, Juan Uribe, and Buster Posey are continually proving worthy of a top-six lineup spot every day they play.

Now, while Pablo Sandoval is struggling with the double-plays and not hitting for the accustomed amount of power he has shown in the past, he is still getting his hits.

If Bochy felt it necessary to drop Sandoval down to the sixth spot instead of his usual third spot in the lineup, nobody would raise an eyebrow.

But dropping the team’s best hitter and franchise player to the eighth hole? Now that is flat out absurd.

Two games ago, with Sandoval still hitting a respectable .281 (an average that has stayed around that mark for the past couple of weeks), Bochy dropped him down to the eight spot and get this, put the stone-cold Bengie Molina at cleanup!

Say what?

Molina, who was one-for-his-last-23 and three-for-his-last-46, got moved from his accustomed lower-third of the order to cleanup?

For what possible reason?

And then in the fourth inning, Molina was taken out of the ball game as part of a double switch?

Sure, Bochy’s claim was that he wanted to get multiple innings out of his first reliever before having to pinch hit for him. Well, earth to Bochy—you don’t have to pinch hit just because the pitcher’s spot is coming up and you have already gone to the bullpen.

Had the day’s starter Todd Wellemeyer still been in the game, he would have gotten a second at-bat anyway, so “losing” one at-bat with a pitcher hitting wouldn’t have been the worst move in the world.

However, with Molina hitting so poorly, it was probably a good move to put backup Eli Whiteside in the game because Whiteside has crushed the heck out of the ball all season with a .567 slugging percentage compared to Molina’s putrid mark of .320.

Now for those out there who agreed with the double switch, then once again, I’ll ask why hit Molina cleanup?

A player hitting in the cleanup spot should not be producing at a level low enough to be considered as a double switch candidate.

Nothing else needs to be said. Putting Molina at cleanup was an idiotic decision.

So not only does Bochy unfairly punish the most cherished Giants hitter since Bonds by unfairly dropping him to the eight spot, but he compounds that by unfairly rewarding the second coldest bat on the team with cleanup duty.

But that’s not all, phenom Buster Posey—who has been red hot since his call up—was lowered to seventh in the order behind newcomer Pat Burrell.

Now prior to this game, Posey had been hitting the ball all over the place from the fifth and sixth spots in the lineup. In other words he was performing like a middle of the order hitter who deserved to be hitting in the middle of the order.

And just because a recently signed veteran with pop gets into the lineup, he is allowed to hit higher in the lineup than Posey?

Currently Burrell isn’t a starter for this team and probably won’t be unless both Molina and Rowand continue to slump and find reductions in their playing time.

So why does the blistering hot Posey get dropped in the lineup? Posey and Sandoval hitting seventh and eighth? One could argue that by putting together the lineup in this fashion, Bochy had his best two hitters batting in the lowest two spots in the order.

Comparatively that would be like the Los Angeles Dodgers batting James Loney and Andre Ethier seven and eight.

It just doesn’t happen and shouldn’t happen, but yet with Bochy, it happened.

What makes the fans scratch their heads the most about these weird lineups is that the team is winning. Prior to this game with Posey and Sandoval at the bottom of the order, the Giants were 7-3 in their past 10.

That isn’t the time for major lineup changes.

And yet the following game, Bochy continued with a second straight odd configuration with his lineup.

Instead of going back to the crystal clear (what definitely should be the lineup) order with Torres, Sanchez, Sandoval, Huff, Uribe, and Posey as 1-6, Bochy put Molina ahead of Posey and sandwiched the stud rookie between the two worst hitters on the team.

In the seventh spot, Posey had Molina in front of him and Rowand behind him?

Are you kidding me? This isn’t the NHL; you don’t put a hot hitter in between two cold hitters and hope that his bat will rub off on his teammates. It doesn’t work that way. In hockey, putting a hot forward on the same line with two other cold forwards could be a way to snap the cold players out of their slumps.

But this is baseball, and putting Posey between the two worst hitters on the team makes absolutely no sense.

Not only did the move limit Posey’s ability to knock in runs, but in all reality it should have limited the pitches that five hitter Juan Uribe got to hit in the game.

While the Pirates oddly pitched to Uribe in the ninth inning (which saw the Giants RBI leader knock in the lead run), conventional wisdom would have been to walk him and face the frozen cold Molina.

Of course, had Bochy put together a conventional lineup, the Giants wouldn’t have had to worry about Uribe not getting pitches to hit because the red hot Posey would have been on deck, right?

Not so fast, because the brilliant Bochy had taken Posey out of the game in the eighth inning for a pinch runner…

What’s that?

Posey was taken out of the game in a tie ball game despite getting on base twice in four at-bats and having made an excellent play at first base that saved a run in the second inning.

And he is taken out of the game?

What is this nonsense?

Well, as Giants fans have come to learn, that nonsense is just the curious case of their manager, Bruce Bochy.

Nobody knows why, but the man just has a knack for making awful decisions with the batting order.

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