Should Andino continue to bat ninth?

NEW YORK - I'd just like to point out that I've got a 5-2 road record this season. Chicago couldn't take me. Neither could New York. So what have you got, Boston? I'm getting ready to board another train, where I'll spend about four hours blogging, tweeting, reading or sleeping. I may do all four and shoot for the Mount Rushmore of rail travel. The Orioles are off today, but you can bet that Robert Andino will be in Friday's lineup, and he'll be batting ninth again. Manager Buck Showalter doesn't want to mess with a good thing, and Andino is going good these days. He went 3-for-3 last night to raise his average to .342. Andino is 9-for-15 in his last five games. He's batting .388 (14-for-36) in his last 11. OK, he's actually going great. Is he being wasted at the bottom of the order? Do you fix something that isn't broken? Showalter seems resistant to move Andino to the leadoff spot despite Nolan Reimiold' absence and Endy Chavez's .109 average. "It's that old thing, do you change something that's working well?" Showalter said. "Especially when we get Nolan back. And Chavez has hit the ball on the button two nights in a row and has nothing to show for it. I like having that order behind him. And like I said before, the ninth spot in the American League is an important spot. It's kind of like the eighth spot in the National League." Chavez went 0-for-5 last night, but he did scorch a few balls. One of them was a liner that turned into a double play. Reimold could rejoin the Orioles in Boston, but he may not be ready to play Friday night because of a bulging disk in his cervical spine. It depends on whether the inflammation is gone and whether he can turn his neck freely and get all the feeling back in his fingers. So what side of the fence are you on this morning? Do you keep Andino in the ninth spot because he's thriving there, or do you move him up?



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