I dont really care if we are winning honestly, but it would suck if we have 3 liabilities in our lineup instead of 2(ausmus, and the P). Having Morgan playing as he did last year would make pitching around any player almost impossible for teams now and in the playoffs.
Being protected by the batter behind you means that you are batting in front of a dangerous hitter and for that reason the pitcher does not want to walk you. Therefore you should see more pitches to hit than if you are batting in front of someone who sucks, like the pitcher. Why should anyone throw a decent pitch to hit to Ausmus (other than the likelihood that he won't hit it) when he has the pitcher, an almost sure out, coming up to bat next? Everett is protected by Bagwell. Pitchers don't want to face Bags with anyone on, so they take their chances with Adam, hoping to get him to put it in play and let their fielders take over. Note the difference in his average this year compared with last year when he hit 8th.
I'm not sold on the whole lack of protection theory either, it looks to me like he is opening up too early and trying to pull everything, maybe trying to duplicate or better the power numbers from last year. He just needs to hang in there and try to put good wood on the ball.
I'm pretty sure that that was his point. Ausmus doesn't get good pitches to hit, but he is still doing fine. He was being sarcastic, I believe.
Ausmus started last season hot too, look how those batting numbers ended. Point is even if it isnt entirely the reason for ensbergs poor numbers, positioning has something to do with it.
