Well, today was a typical performance by a Buddy managed team. The team could only fight for so long until Buddy ball took over again. I said earlier today Mike Wood would have to match Redman's performance from last night in order for the Royals to win because the offense Buddy put out there was not going to get it done. Well, Wood could only sustain it for 3 innings before things unraveled in the 4th when the D-Rays scored 4. That would be more than enough for D-Rays flame thrower Casey Fossum who added to his league leading total of 18 strike outs with 1 more today. The Royals had no answer for him through 6 innings. Still, Fossum must have add a few butterflies when he saw the lineup put out by Buddy. Let's look closely why:

Against LHPs    OBP    SLG
CF Dejesus     .478   .684
3B Graffy      .273   .364
2B Grudzie     .288   .411
DH Sanders     .346   .468
LF Brown       .305   .500
1B Dougie      .400   .447
SS Berroa      .275   .451
LF Costa       .273   .400
C  Buck        .333   .366

What sticks out is Buddy's obsession to start Graffy against lefties and bat him in the 2-hole. For a guy who doesn't get on base and hits with no power, it seems important for Buddy to put him 2nd in the lineup. After Graffy, we have Grudzie batting 3rd. To bat in the 3-hole for most teams, a hitter must have good plate discipline and hit the ball with some pop. Unfortunately, it doesn't apply to Grudzie against LHPs. So basically after Dejesus, we have a guy who doesn't get on base and then another guy who couldn't drive him in even if he ever did get on. So what's the end result? A dominating performance from Casey Fossum. The team did show some spirit in the end including a late 2-run homer by Reggie Sanders. I'm sure Buddy must have been proud. It's nice to see Buddy continuing Baird's "plan" by using Costa and Teahen in platoon rules. Somewhere in Florida, the Bacardi guy is smiling.