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0. 1's and 2's are just that because they don't serve up many "Cream this Pitch" pitches. You beat them by not helping them out. A bad hack at a bad pitch doesn't kill you against Noesi because he'll give you plenty of center-cut options to smash. Not getting solid contact against the few mistakes Felix makes will doom you, because you won't get many others. Which is basically what Doc said.
1. Hart seems to be the classic Carrion Feaster to me. Hang one and it's Keith Jackson time! You know, "Whoa Nellie!" But he's less of a pitch stalker than he might be. He's only walked more than 50 times in a season once in his career. His career walk rate is .58! Two of his homers this year were on completely hanging curveballs. He should have wasted those...and did. But one long drive to center notwithstanding, he's still really struggling. If a pitcher throws the bendy stuff up and in he doesn't get that ball back. If he doesn't, and he keeps the ball away, Hart doesn't help himself out enough. Man, he's only had one walk this season.
2. Romero is pressing and he's even missing the pitch (or not swinging at it) that he obliterated in ST, the 1st pitch FB. He's either about to get more comfortable and have a minor explosion, or get lost and have a minor implosion. I would still give him the everyday RF job, letting him know it is his, and see if he relaxes and finds his mojo. We may find out that he doesn't have it, which means Gillespie gets a shot. BTW, he's 0 for his last 8!
3. Smoak is and has been and will be Justin Smoak. He OPS+'ing 110 and doing it exactly like he's always done it, with no average, some walks and 20-25 homer mash. The goal for him is 120. Get that and be satisfied. His hot streaks won't be any hotter if he gets there, it's just that his abysmal streak will be a bit shorter.
4. Zunino hasn't walked ONCE!. Last year he walked 76 pts. He was over 80 in the minors. C'mon Kid, which is it?
5. Seager, on the other hand, has TWICE as many walks as he does base hits. Sigh........
6. Michael Saunders is Michael Saunders. Basically that's Smoak minus a bit of pop. Oh, Saunders is just frustratingly mediocre ALL the time, while Smoak goes from bopping to flopping in the blink of an eye. Overall, about the same minus a few homes. Saunders' bat plays in CF, kind of, not so in RF. I will give McClendon credit, for he's seen that.
7. It looks (or will soon look) like Morrison's Year-2 was an outlier. He hit 23 homers in 462 AB's that year. He's hit 19 homers in the OTHER 853 AB's in his career. (6 in his last 300) Actually, his best offensive year was actually Year 1, '10, when he hit 2 homers. You know, batting in the #2 spot over his career he's a .301-.415-.480 guy with a ton of doubles. Move him down the lineup into an RBI slot and his performance drops dramatically. Most of that performance was in '10 where he was .320-.433-.514 batting second and .175-.257-.254 elsewhere. If you're going to use him, move him to the #2 slot in the lineup, Mac. He's an OBP/doubles type of guy, not a masher and RBI guy.
8. Thank God for Ackley.
9. I'm not whining about Miller, he looks like Willie Mays compared to Ryan's bat.
10. I still like Almonte. Not sure I like him as a 162 game lead off guy. Speed is nice, but it isn't lead-off nice if it is on base only 30% of the time.
It was a terrible/no good/couple of days at the plate........
Let's hope it is only that. But it is worth remembering that guys are who they are.