Baker not changing lineup with Harper free passes routine

The Cubs walked right fielder Bryce Harper six times Sunday, which allowed first baseman Ryan Zimmerman several opportunities to help bring him home and change the game for the Nationals.

But Zimmerman was unable to come through, leaving 14 men on base.

With the strategy of walking the National League MVP in front of Zimmerman becoming a viable way to slow the Nats' ability to score runs, will more teams employ this technique?

Should manager Dusty Baker put the hot-hitting second baseman Daniel Murphy in front of Zimmerman to try to ignite those situations for the Nationals?

Not yet, Baker said.

"I think you guys want me to switch it up," Baker said. "You know what I mean? I thought about hard and long. A few days doesn't merit you switching it up. If he'd gotten one hit in one of those times, you'd never even ask me this today.

"What happens if I switch it up against this team and then they have three left-handed relievers in the bullpen and they can bring in the two lefties to take care of my two guys that are hot in the fifth, seventh and ninth and not only use three guys out of their bullpen? You have to consider how many they have on that side and what they have to combat. My strategies versus their strategies.

"Some of the problems that we were presented in Chicago is that they had a right-handed hitter followed by a left-handed hitter followed by a switch-hitter. It makes you decide whether to burn through your bullpen. That's part of the strategy in making out a lineup."

Baker said the scenario the Phillies and Cubs have employed of walking the power-hitting Harper in front of Zimmerman is not a new strategy. It's happened to the batter who hit after Barry Bonds or Hank Aaron, too. With Aaron getting walked in front of Baker when he played, he had empathy for what Zimmerman must feel like each time he steps to the plate with Harper on first.

"I've been where Zim has been before and unless you've been in Zim's shoes, then you really don't know what it's like psychologically to feel that somebody still has faith in you versus a fair weather manager or a fair weather fan," Baker said.

"I'm not a fair weather type guy, I'm not a forever guy, either. But a couple of days is not nearly as long as forever."

"I hit behind Hank Aaron," Baker noted. "Everybody's wondering about protection. I wasn't very much protection. But Hank told me, 'Dusty, what you do is you get a pack of singles and doubles and they will stop walking me'. Because most of the time, somebody's going to be on base when they're walking you. Stay out of double plays because that plays right into their hands and put the ball in play."

Baker has considered putting Daniel Murphy behind Harper in the lineup. But he won't consider Wilson Ramos in that spot because the catcher is "prone to hitting into double plays".

So Monday, in the opener against the Tigers, the 3-4-5 hitters are still Harper, Zimmerman and Murphy.

"Do I tear up my whole lineup for three days? Baker queried the media. "I think people are panicking little early here to me. I'm sure it's been a subject of discussion. I've been at this a long time. Everybody's got an opinion as to what my lineup should be. In the meantime, I'll make out the lineup."

Baker also explained the psychological pressure it places on a player to deliver when the opposing manager walks your top hitter to get to you. Baker explained how Aaron told him not to take that strategy to heart and think suddenly you are a bad hitter.

"You can take it personal if you want to. (Aaron) told me to not take it personal," Baker said. "Because (when) we take it personal, you will be in high anxiety or you're going to go through periods of stressing yourself out over it. You get a good pitch to hit and you hit it hard and then after that it's out of your powers. Other than that, what can you do? You can't guide the ball. If we could guide the ball we'd of guided it four or five times we'd have scored whole bunch of runs this weekend."

Baker acknowledged the strategy the Cubs employed of walking Harper in every big moment worked over the weekend, but there is no guarantee it will next time.

"It's going to come back to bite them in the butt sooner or later," the manager said. "You got too many ways you can score from third base with the bases loaded. There's a ton of ways you can score in that situation. We'll see them again."

The Cubs arrive in D.C. for a three-game set from June 13-15.