Yadier vs. Todd Jones

I personally couldn't believe that LaRussa let Yadier bat against Jones in the top of the 9th last night. By all accounts Yadier was one of the worst hitting position players in baseball this year. While he has come up huge in the playoffs the fact remains that he is probably not a very good hitter. Plus conventional baseball wisdom would suggest that a lefty should bat against Jones. Below I pulled Jones splits for the year and it looks like righties fair better against him in every offensive category.

Todd Jones 2006 splits:

SPLIT	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	HBP	SO	SB	CS	BAA	OBP	SLG	OPS
vs. Left	106	28	1	1	1	14	7	1	14	0	0	.264	.313	.321	.634
vs. Right	148	42	6	3	3	16	4	2	14	0	0	.284	.312	.426	.737

Even with these splits Duncan had to be a better option than Molina. The only rational for not pulling out Yadier is that you don't want to mess with his confidence. I'd take a 2-0 lead with a deflated Tigers team over a slightly less confident Yadier Molina.