Lefties like myself tend to notice one another. I can't count the number of times that strangers have remarked 'hey, you're a lefty' while i signed reciepts and such.
I say this because I've often noticed that identical twins are often differently-handed (though not always). Mirror images, indeed.
I bring this up because I'm watching Liriano and the Minnesota Twins face the Royals this morning. At the appearance of left-handed Royals reliever Ron Mahay, Bert Blyleven (circle me, Bert!) bemoaned the Twins' susceptibility to left-handed relievers this season.
Their lineup is asking for it- Mauer, Morneau and Kubel batting 3-4-5 is pretty easy to match up against. It's not a problem of bad planning, though; leadoff hitter Denard Span is also a lefty, while regular #2 Alexi Casilla is a switch-hitter who is better from the left side. After those first five, you finally get Delmon Young from the right side, but then it's usually been left-handed 3b Brian Buscher hitting seventh. True switch-hitter Nick Punto and righty Chris Gomez round out the lineup. To be fair, Joe Mauer is hitting an AL-best .366 against lefties this year.
Aside from Young, none of the righties are good enough to move up in the lineup. There's basically nothing to be done, aside from making a trade this off-season. Kubel, maybe? Young will be better next year-an obvious move would be batting Mauer first or second, and putting Young in the 3-spot.
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