people have proven that lineup order has little affect on outcomes of games Not to mention that why people have been saying this, Theriot has been terrible lately before today: Here's his August line: .288/.306/.339 And here is his last 7 days: .250/.241/.286 Both of those are coming into play today. stop ruining Cynosure's perceptions of reality! So show me your 'people' that have proven it doesn't matter who your leadoff hitter is. Bill James has pretty much proven that lineup order doesn't matter. Line-up order doesn't matter? Yea right! That's false, I can see the logic in the lead-off batter not mattering as much. But what you said is 100% completely false. You have to protect your best hitters, and that is a fact. As long as you bunch up the good hitters, you're fine. Nothing else matters. NOPE that's not what he said... he said it's been proven LINE UP ORDER DOESN'T MATTER that says nothing about bunching up the good hitters. I personally believe lineup order does matter. Imagine having the pitcher and neifi in front of your best hitter instead of having them in the 8 and 9 spot.