What would you like our batting order to look like after the all-star break?  Let's first assume that there are no new injuries, Aybar wins the every-day shortstop job,  Anderson and Mathews will not be benched, and Mathis and Nappoli will platoon at catcher for  the entire year.   You are not the manager but Mike asked for your opinion.

       Here's my batting order:

Figgy

Aybar

Kendrick

Vlad

Kotchman

Hunter

Anderson

MatNap

Mathews

       If Mathews and Aybar are switched, no big deal. But batting second might force Aybar to hit the ball on the ground more. Remember how good Devo became after leaving the Angels? Aybar can bunt in the first inning, even if thrown out Figgy goes to second with Kendrick and Vlad coming up. (assuming Figgy is on)

       Mike loves small ball.  I believe Figgy, Mathews, and Aybar will bat back-to-back-to-back in some order no matter what. Batting Vlad directly behind the Figgy-Mathews-Aybar tandem reduces our running game because we usually don't steal in front of Vlad with less than two outs.(or for that matter even with two outs) He is too much of a HR threat.

       Imagine you are the opposing manager. Figgy is on second with one out. Vlad comes to the plate. What would you tell your pitcher? Depending on the inning and the score it's got to be either intentionnally walk him or don't throw him anything close to the plate.

       Same situation with Kendrick at the plate and Vlad on deck. You (the opposing manager) would  tell your pitcher to not walk this guy. Kendrick would then become the player who must get pitches to hit. And hit them he can. Maybe not over the wall with regularity yet, but often and with authority.

       No player on this team can protect Vlad, very few players in the majors can. So let's use him to protect our second best hitter.

       Looking at numbers and not letters (L or R) to see who should bat behind Vlad would suggest Hunter to be our #5 batter. Kotchman and Anderson will never bat back-to-back, so a lefty must bat behind him. Kotchman is my pick. At this point in their careers Kotchman is better, I love Garret but Kotch is better.

       Hunter at #6, no-brainer. He does have wheels so Mike could still steal or hit-and-run with him. Pretty damn good #6 hitter.

       Anderson batting seventh. Sounds strange but wasn't Salmon willing to do that a few years ago? Mike did tell him not to get used to batting down in the line-up but he will if that's what it takes to stay in the line-up. A stealing threat like Hunter on base in front of him opening up holes won't hurt his average either.

       Mike may bat Anderson fifth and Kotchman seventh. Even though Kotch has power, he is a very good contact hitter. He would still be a threat there because he can hit high pitches out of the park. An oppossing manager might decide to pitch him high to negate hit-and-run plays when Hunter is on first. This strategy could prove benificial to us.

        #8 spot. A few weeks ago I was rooting for the DHX2 rule so catchers didn't have to bat. But our catcher(s) leads the league in HR's. Power from the eight hole! Am I hearing a Gene Autry sound-alike singing "I'm Back Playing Longball Again" again. MatNap is much more than can be even hoped for as a catcher(s) offensively speaking. Against starting southpaw pitchers maybe hunter bats fifth and MatNap splits our lefties. Slow catchers do get ribbed about clogging up the basepaths, but I'd rather have them be on base than make an out.

        Mathews batting ninth, fifty million to bat last. The contract's in stone(man). Deal with it. As stated above he will start. Rivera will not get the chance to prove he's better/more valuable than Mathews or Anderson. Let's look at this. A fast runner with decent power batting ninth. Mike may never drop Mathews this low but I think it plays more into his running game. Mathews at this point in his career is much less likely to be a get 'em over type of player than Aybar. His power potential out of the nine hole is great.

       What if we need a power hitter late in the game? Vlad is now lower in the line-up. The only hitter Mike would pinch-hit for in this line-up is Aybar. I don't think Mathews would ever be hit for, but Aybar, a rookyish player could be without too many hurt feelings. We actually have decent power 4 through 9. 1(Figgy) and 3(Kendrick) won't be pinch-hit for either.

       I just realized that my title doesn't really match my post. I started this post to show why Kendrick should bat third. He's the reason we'll win it all this year. He is spectacular. He will be referred to as a right-handed hitting George Brett when his power starts to evolve. Brett was always the hitter I least liked to hit against us.

       That's my line-up, what's yours?

       Please resond to this fanpost first with the nine players I think will be in our line-up. If you think Mike will exchange one or more of these players reply afterwards in a wish-list line-up