As a long time sorta full-time baseball fan I've occasionally wondered about batting orders. I generally know about why some players bat leadoff (speed, OBP, '10 Figlet!), some bat second or third (speed, OBP, gap power, etc.) cleanup (power to drive in 1-3 batters), and the bottom of the order (Ryans, Mendozas, '11 Figlet!). I also know that a lot of it is managerial idiosyncrasies and the fact that old school of thought is just that. And the perceived idea that MLB players need to feel comfy in their regular spot.

But I've always had questions about why it's so often the case that the batting order rarely changes.

Although it seems that it hasn't been the case lately for the M's, it seems common for other teams, especially winning teams, to keep the same lineup for a vast majority of the season with adjustments for night/day and occasional day off stuff. Instead of trotting out the same old lineup why wouldn't you want to stack together the hitters that are "on a roll" or "seeing the ball well" or whatever? wouldn't this potentially lead to more consecutive base hits and therefore more runs?

Shit, I dunno. Maybe I'm reliving my adolescence and Topp's baseball card fantasies where pre-injury Micky Mantle leads off with Pete Rose second and Lou Gehrig third (didn't have his card) and Harmon or Hank in the four spot. Or whatever.

I'd love to hear y'alls thoughts on lineup make up.

Also, why is it that I want to use "lineup" as one word and "make up" as two? Why is that I want to use "long time" as two and full-time as.....um, sorta one?