Billy Martin’s Detroit Tigers had lost four in a row and 10 of 13 heading into a Sunday doubleheader against the Indians on Aug. 13, 1972. The Tigers had scored 26 runs over those 13 games and fallen out of first place in the American League East.
The notoriously volatile Martin had seen enough. So, before Game 1, he wrote down the names of his starting position players on slips of paper, tossed them into a hat and drew his lineup at random.
Norm Cash, the 37-year-old first baseman who normally batted fourth or fifth, became his leadoff man. Eddie Brinkman, the light-hitting, slick-fielding shortstop who normally batted eighth, became his cleanup hitter.
With Brinkman doubling to drive in one run, and second baseman Tony Taylor, batting fifth, driving in another, the Tigers beat the Tribe 3-2. In the nightcap, Martin went back to his regular lineup and his team got spanked 9-2.
Granted, three runs is not exactly case-closing evidence, but a win is a win, and sometimes shaking things up has other benefits.
Rockies manager Jim Tracy is about as unlike the pugnacious Martin as he can be, but he has nothing to lose and quite a lot to gain by taking a page from Martin’s creative managerial playbook and drawing the Rocks’ lineup out of a hat when they go up against the Giants and Matt Cain tonight in San Francisco.
Like Martin’s Tigers, the Rocks have lost 10 of their last 13 games. Like Martin’s Tigers, they are struggling to score runs. The Rocks’ offensive weakness of late is camouflaged by two breakouts — 12 runs against Arizona on May 24 and 15 against the Cardinals on Saturday — but they have scored three runs or fewer in the other 10 games they’ve played since May 21. They were outscored 19-6 in the three games prior to Ubaldo Jimenez’s four-hit shutout victory over the Dodgers on Wednesday.
Worse, they are clearly pressing in run-scoring situations. They had 14 hits in Monday’s 7-1 loss. They are tight. They are not having fun. Going 8-21 in May will do that to you.
Tracy already acknowledged the value of shaking things up by having his team skip batting practice before Wednesday’s win — what players call a “show and go.” With any luck, a lineup drawn out of a hat will give them a reason or two to laugh.
The player most likely to benefit from a clean-slate lineup is cleanup hitter Troy Tulowitzki. Tulo has seen his batting average dive from .364 in mid-April to .251. He has not hit a home run since May 17. Why not take the pressure off by letting him hit somewhere other than the four-hole for a day or two?
Just in case Tracy doesn’t have scissors handy when he shows up at The Beautiful Ballpark Named After Various Telecoms in San Francisco today, I took the liberty of going through a dry run for him. The hat I used was the Rockies camo cap given away at Coors Field a couple of years ago.
First, I had to decide who was going to play. I picked the players I would start tonight, not the ones Tracy probably will. For example, I have Chris Nelson at third base, not Ty Wigginton, even though Wiggy has lifted his average from .233 to .263 since May 24. I just want to see more of Nelson, who has two hits in four at-bats since being recalled from Triple-A Colorado Springs.
I have Jonathan Herrera playing second instead of Eric Young Jr. because, on a team that struggles with situational at-bats, I think it makes very little sense to remove your best situational hitter to add a little speed. Also, Herrera executed a successful sacrifice bunt the other night to set up the Rocks’ second run in support of Jimenez, which was scored on a sacrifice fly. I hope Young and Dexter Fowler were watching.
And I have Jose Morales catching to reward him for a great job with Jimenez on Wednesday, which is not to be taken as a slap at Chris Iannetta, inexplicably the fans’ whipping boy despite having the team’s highest on-base percentage.
I wrote the names of my eight starters in the order of their defensive positions, cut them into equal-sized strips, folded each in half, tossed them into my Rockies camo cap and shook it up. I drew them out in this order:
LF Carlos Gonzalez
C Jose Morales
2B Jonathan Herrera
RF Seth Smith
3B Chris Nelson
1B Todd Helton
SS Troy Tulowitzki
CF Dexter Fowler
Should Tracy prefer his own hat, or perhaps a batting helmet, his results may vary, of course.
But seriously, I ask you, what does he have to lose?
Dave Krieger: 303-954-5297, dkrieger@denverpost.com or
