Evade, evade, evade. So, how many NL lineups have been more consistent over the last five games? I guess if the facts don't fit the story, all one can do is ignore them.
I checked each NL team's lineups over the last five games. Know how many times I found that a team had used the same batting order for two games in a row (ignoring the pitcher, of course)? Two. Out of 64 chances, it had been done
twice.
As for the number of young starters, couple of teams that popped into my head was Colorado and Pittsburgh. I didn't calculate their average ages but they both should qualify as "young." Have either had as consistent of a batting order as the Diamondbacks recently?
http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/teams/depth-chart/COL
http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/teams/depth-chart/PIT
Regarding Drew/Young/Upton/Quentin/etc, pretty convenient to leave Jackson out of the group. Now I don't think Jackson's performance is to Melvin's credit (just like I don't think anybody's poor performances are his fault), but if you're going to play this game you have to call it both ways and acknowledge the successes as well. Drew has made great strides this season, Tracy continues to be a productive player, Snyder has played at his ability, and Upton has outperformed what his brother did at the same age (if there's a more appropriate gauge for Justin's career progress than what his brother has done, I'm all ears). Young has been pretty disappointing this season for the most part, but time is still on his side. Regarding Quentin, people seem to be forgetting that he hit .253/.342/.530 for an OPS+ of 115 in his only healthy season here, which isn't exactly something to scoff at for a rookie season. We must have had a different manager that year.
I would have thought that for all of the recent complaining over the batting order that guys would be able to rattle off teams all over the place as to who has had a more consistent order over that time. Yet, the silence speaks volumes.
