Fifteen years ago, Justin Morneau found his name listed in the starting lineup as the Twins' cleanup hitter for all 162 games of the 2008 season. Wait, make that all 163 — the Twins played a tiebreaker in Chicago two days after the season ended, and of course Morneau was in his usual spot.
That sort of lineup consistency — heck, the notion of a "cleanup hitter" — is a relic of the past.
Jordan Luplow, a journeyman outfielder playing for his sixth team in a seven-year MLB career, batted fourth in the Twins' starting lineup Tuesday, and became a footnote in Minnesota history by doing so. Luplow, who joined the team Friday after being claimed off waivers from the Blue Jays, is the 14th Twins player to be chosen to bat fourth by manager Rocco Baldelli, the most in franchise history.
Not that that's anything new — Tuesday's game was the Twins' 115th of the season, and the lineup was the 110th different one Baldelli has used this season. In his three previous full seasons, the manager has never used fewer than 145 distinct lineups.
"We sort of start from scratch every day," Baldelli said last week. "You gather all the information you can, and figure out how things might go."
Baldelli and his coaches don't hesitate to change things, either, like the decision last week to drop Carlos Correa out of the leadoff spot, where he batted throughout July.
"We go through the lineup every night. Rocco, he always works about 48 hours in advance — sometimes more, sometimes less — looking at the pitching matchups," bench coach Jayce Tingler said. "He has things lined up, and then at the end of the night, we'll sit down and he'll grab the hitting [coaches] and then ultimately, Rock will make the final call."
The lineups don't come from the front office?
