Left-hander Mark Buehrle started for the White Sox on Wednesday night and, lo and behold, Seth Smith was in the Rockies’ lineup.
It hasn’t happened very often. In fact, it has happened so infrequently — he had 42 at-bats vs. left-handers — that Smith’s confidence against lefties has waned.
“You come to the field and see you’re not in there, you’re thinking you’ve done something wrong, which isn’t always the case,” Smith said. “You read into it that you’re not good enough to be playing every day and it hurts a little bit. And you start thinking about it.”
Smith hit .259 vs. lefties in 2009 with three home runs in 58 at-bats, projecting himself as an everyday player. But he has spiraled downward since, hitting .154 (8-for-52) with no homers vs. lefties in 2010. His homerless streak has stretched into this season, when his .286 slugging percentage vs. lefties is slightly better than last year’s .212.
“Anytime you’re not in the lineup, it’s frustrating,” Smith said. “I can’t control it outside of how I play. If they don’t think I’m the best option, all I can do is play better.”
Rockies manager Jim Tracy has insisted that he has been looking for spots to use Smith against lefties, and they’ve arrived. Two days after facing Buehrle, Smith will start Friday against Royals lefty Danny Duffy.
“You pick your spots,” Tracy said. “You don’t pick them against the likes of CC Sabathia or somebody like that. It makes sense. It gives you an opportunity to find out. Make the statement to us and we’ll have a lot of at-bats for you.”
Footnotes.
Todd Helton, given Wednesday off after Tuesday night’s 13-inning marathon, will return to the Rockies’ lineup today for the 2,000th game of his major-league career. . . . Smith went into Wednesday with five hits in a row with runners in scoring position. He was hitting .389 with RISP, fourth in the National League. . . . Matt Daley was examined by a doctor in New York, who diagnosed a shoulder impingement that won’t require surgery. Said Tracy, “He simply has some inflammation in the (rotator) cuff, and it’s going to take a period of time to quiet that back down.”
Jim Armstrong, The Denver Post
