A Question For Ron Washington, Regarding Mitch Moreland
Question for Ron Washington: "Why did Mitch Moreland start at first base in Game 3?"
There seemed to be two good reasons to not start Mitch Moreland in Game 3.
Reason 1: David Price is a left-handed pitcher, and Mitch Moreland has struggled in his career against left-handed pitchers. Really struggled. In 145 plate appearances against lefties, Moreland's got a .229/.299/.282 line.
Now, he almost certainly can’t be that terrible against left-handers. He’s got just one home run in 145 plate appearances, and presumably if given more chances he’ll run into a few fastballs, hit a few of them over the fence.
Ah, but there's another home run, which doesn't show up in Moreland's splits but which Ron Washington most certainly recalls: last October, in the second inning of Game 3 of the World Series, Moreland hit a three-run homer off Giants left-hander Jonathan Sanchez, without which the Rangers would not have won Game 3 of the World Series.
But as clutch as that home run was, you might think it would be more than balanced in Washington’s mind by those darned career splits, and also by ...
Reason 2: Moreland’s really struggled for some months now. On the strength of his performance in the second half of last season, and then into the postseason, Moreland was given regular work early this season, and he performed well.
That was then. After the All-Star Game, Moreland batted .241/.300/.367, which would be fine if he played shortstop.
Washington probably knows more about Mitch Moreland and David Price than we ever will. It’s just hard to figure what, especially after Moreland went hitless in three at-bats against Price today.
