Stoney's Blog: Come On Jim, Play Your Best Guys

Last week Jim Leyland went off on the local media about questioning his lineup every game. Well, unfortunately for the Tigers manager that's what we in the media and fans like to do. I won't stop questioning managers and coaches, nor should anyone. Let's take Monday night's 4-0 loss to the Dodgers as an example.

Because the Tigers have to play without the Designated Hitter in National League parks, Leyland has a dilemma about how to use both Alex Avila and Victor Martinez in the same game. He used Avila at third once in Colorado, so they both could play. I understand that move completely. However benching both Avila and Brennan Boesch in the same game as he did Monday makes no sense to me. Yes, they were going against Clayton Kershaw who is an excellent left hander and Leyland wanted to stack the lineup with right handed bats, but are Danny Worth, Casper Wells, Magglio Ordonez, and Ryan Raburn really your best options? I can understand possibly sitting either ONE of Avila or Boesch, but not both. If he wanted to play the percentages then play Worth who is hitting .429 against lefties instead of Avila's .289, which he did. Boesch, however is hitting .345 against lefties while Wells and Ordonez hit .246 and .171 respectively.

By no means am I saying that keeping Boesch and Avila on the bench is the reason they were shutout in the opening of the series, but playing your best players should give you a better chance to win.