Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Carlos Santana

Carlos is in the lineup tonight and batting cleanup.

This is significant, because Santana struck out looking at three straight pitches last night with two outs, the bases loaded, and Cleveland trailing by one.

Manny Acta is giving Santana a huge vote of confidence.

This seems like a good move to me. I like the trust Acta is showing Santana. And I think we want Santana to learn to hit his way out of slumps.

If you are going to groom a player to be "the guy", you have to groom him to take the heat. Everyone is buzzing about the strike out last night. This move says, "We know that you will get them next time." Sitting Santana tonight sends a message that he might not be ready for the big time. It is a way of saying, "You are a little over-matched right now and we are going to dial things back for a bit."

No one knows how Santana will respond. But I like erring on the side of overconfidence.

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