Fun with Splits: Hands

I attended the game last Saturday. Juan was good in that game. He had a single, a double, and a hit by pitch. He also had a long out -- out, true, but he hit it hard.

I remarked at the time that he was in quite a fine hit streak and I hoped it last.

My hopes were ill-founded. Since then -- once you count today's 0/4 --

1. Grounded to pitcher. #344.
2. Grounded to short. #345.
3. Grounded bunt out to catcher -- for the third out of the inning! #346.
4. Walked.
5. Grounded to second. #347.

-- he is 3 for his last 26, with 3 walks and 2 sacrifices (both of which, I'm guessing, were really hit attempts). The Hot Streak is over, mes amis. I fear his July numbers will very much resemble his June and his May and his April and none of them was any good.

Rollins was responsible for just two outs today -- he grounded into a double play as he went 3-for-4 -- so Pierre's lead grows.

* * *

Fun with Splits -- Lefties vs. Righties!

This is key. There is a very good argument to be made that the First Step in What Will Eventually Be Getting Rid of Juan Pierre will be benching him against lefties.

Entering Sunday -- and remember, these numbers will all go down -- Juan was hitting .279/.312/.332/.644 overall. Poor.

Vs. Lefties, those numbers are the maggot-inducing, fly-attracting .241/.271/.268 -- 268 slugging!/.539. Against left-handed pitching, Juan Pierre might be the worst player in baseball. 112 at-bats against lefties that's basically an automatic out.

Vs. Righties, he doesn't look so bad. He doesn't look any good, either -- .296/.328/.358/.686 still isn't gonna win any awards and certainly doesn't deserve a starting job -- but neither would it be the team's number one problem.

So maybe I've been thinking too big. Benching Juan Pierre? It's the right thing to do, but won't happen soon.

Platoon Juan Pierre? That's an idea that Colletti and Little could wrap their minds around. Do it.