Who Should Start?

The Rockies are down 1 game to none vs the Phillies. Cliff Lee was dominant throughout the game, only giving up one run in the ninth. As with any playoff game where you only get 1 run, fans are obviously calling for changes to be made. The Rockies reputation as being a team the hits left handers poorly only heightens the sense of urgency, with Cole Hamels starting game 2. Changes need to be made to the lineup, but which ones?

I decided to look at splits vs left handers for all of the Rockies hitters to see if an optimal lineup could be found. There are several positions which are considered to be up in the air: 2nd base, catcher, third base, and up to all three outfield spots. I had planned on comparing slugging and on base percentages for each positional battle. If one player had a higher slugging but lower OBP, I would use baseball musing's Lineup Analysis Tool to determine which lineup would score the most amount of runs per game; the one with player A (high OBP) or player B (high SLG). It turned out to not be necessary, as in EVERY situation, the player with the higher OBP vs lefties also had the higher SLG. (There was a different order among the three outfielders, however the top three in SLG were also the the top three in OBP.)

The winners are with OBP/SLG:

C. Chris Iannetta .406/.580
1B. Todd Helton .369/.372
2B. Clint Barmes .314/.496
3B. Garrett Atkins .363/.428
SS. Troy Tulowitzki .382/.519
OF. Seth Smith .368/.500
OF. Dexter Fowler .377/.482
OF. Carlos Gonzalez .343/.466

It's unlikely that these are going to be the starting 8 position players. My guess is that Stewart gets the start over Atkins for his defense, and Spilly gets the start over Seth Smith. It should be pointed out that there may be some sample size issues, as these are 2009 numbers and not career numbers. However, I doubt the Rockies are really looking close enough to the numbers to care.

Hopefully whichever lineup they go with does something. I don't want to be sitting out in the cold on Saturday being down 0-2.