Teams have been pitching around Albert Pujols to get to Josh Hamilton, so the Angels have dropped Hamilton to No. 5 in the lineup tonight after using him in the cleanup spot for each of the first 17 games.
That could be partly due to facing a left-hander in Derek Holland, but if Hamilton were hitting well the handedness of the pitcher probably wouldn’t be much of a factor. Instead he’s just 12-for-68 (.176) with 23 strikeouts and a .570 OPS, and manager Mike Scioscia prefers Mike Trumbo behind Pujols.