Ron Roenicke's drafted the starting lineup he'll match against the St. Louis Cardinals in Sunday's NLCS Game 1, and you're not going to believe it:
The Milwaukee Brewers’ NLCS Game 1 Starting Lineup Will Shock, Amaze You
Corey Hart, RF
Jerry Hairston Jr., 3B
Ryan Braun, LF
Prince Fielder *, 1B
Rickie Weeks, 2B
Yuniesky Betancourt, SS
Carlos Gomez, CF
Jonathan Lucroy, C
Zack Greinke, SP
Wow! Zack Greinke! When did the Brewers pull that trade off?!
So this is Roenicke's lefty lineup. By which I mean, this is the lineup Roenicke uses against a lefty. It's the same lineup he used against Joe Saunders in the NLDS, with the Lucroy/George Kottaras exception. The difference between this and his righty lineup is that Gomez is starting in place of Nyjer Morgan, and Hairston is batting higher up.
Gomez, see, is a right-handed hitter with a career .679 OPS against lefties. Morgan is a left-handed hitter with a career .558 OPS against lefties. Seriously, check this out: .201/.288/.270. That’s Nyjer Morgan over 381 career plate appearances against left-handed pitchers. Two home runs. Really horrible.
Hairston bats second because he’s a righty with contact and on-base ability, and because Gomez would be a really terrible #2 hitter. Gomez’s .679 OPS against lefties comes with a .287 OBP. Carlos Gomez makes a lot of outs. You don’t want your #2 hitter to make a lot of outs, unless they’re intentional, sacrifice outs. Which #2 hitters make all the time...
Anyway, this is a good lineup, as it’s always been. It might be a great lineup if Weeks can get going, but he’s an unknown, given the state of his ankle. Thankfully for the Brewers, Weeks is only their third or fourth most important bat.
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