I'd say mostly Leiter anyway, but the Royals did not field their best lineup, either.

Matt Stairs was not in the lineup. Even when they pinch-hit, they didn't use him.

His triple was critical to last night's victory, and when Juan Gonzalez and Aaron Guiel are both out already, it makes no sense to further dilute the lineup more than necessary.

I know Stairs isn't considered to be any good vs. lefties, but I don't buy into that thinking so much, especially if the replacement is Byron Gettis (who hadn't proven himself vs. AAA pitching at the time of his call-up, let alone a crafty lefty vet like Leiter).

Stairs 03 v. lh: 32 ab 2 hr 7 k .188 avg .278 obp
Stairs 04 v. lh: 28 ab 2 hr 7 k .179 avg .303 obp
Gettis 04 v.all: 27 ab 0 hr 9 k .185 avg .281 obp

I know which batter I'd rather face if I were pitching, I know who I'd prefer to start were I managing to win, and I don't understand why the Royals seem to do all they can to make their opponents' dreams come true rather than their fans'.

Relaford's 2003-2004 averages vs. lefties are much better than Stairs' (aside from power), but his lefty split was worse in 2002. Does that suggest that the sample size is always too small to really tell anything meaningful, or does it mean that players can and do develop the ability to hit lefties (in Relaford's case, as late as age 29-30)? In principle, there are holes in the logic. In practice, the split is often a smaller dropoff than the VORP.

The Royals have unnecessarily diluted their lineup in almost 2/3 of their games. Through late May, they were still rotating Mendy Lopez into the lineup for Randa, Sweeney, Gonzalez, Guiel, Stairs and Relaford when the next guy on the depth chart (usually Stairs) was available instead (even Wilton Guerrero would have been better).

Actually, that's how Leiter pitches all the time. Mostly he gets ahead, then nibbles; he often has high pitch counts after just 5 or 6 innings. This became a problem last year after he'd conquered it for a few seasons; Glavine has influenced him, he's said, which I regret; he has better "stuff" than Glavine and shouldn't pitch like him.