i had to read this a couple of times to make sure i wasn't missing something. i didn't think anyone, let alone a major league manager, could be stupid enough to IBB a lefty batter against a lefty specialist so that the lefty specialist can face a RH batter who hammers lefties. It almost seems like Yost just didn't care anymore. Either that or he's literally [expletive]. Or maybe it's both. This was so far out there and sounded so ridiculous I had to look into it a bit more. In fairness to Yost(I can't believe I just said that), Burrell batted .181 in August and he's batting .194 in September. His OBP is under .300 since July. Conversely, Howard is batting .354 in September with a .917 slugging percentage and has been spraying the balls to all parts of the field against both RHP and LHP . So you can see why he would rather face Burrell than the hot hitting Ryan Howard. The choice here was between career numbers versus recent numbers. Yost went with the recent numbers and it didn't work this time. Still. This doesn't take into account the studlines of Shouse against LHP. That's far and away the most egregious part of it. It's a pretty stupid move either way, but it's at least understandable with the recent numbers and if he had a righty (or lefty without extreme splits) on the mound. Given that he had a pitcher who specializes in getting lefties out, it's senseless to walk any left to get to a righty.