Gonna be a big baseball year for me. New ballpark opening in my current town (DC), a few Chicago trips, and multiple trips home to see the Yanks a handful of times before they shut down the old ballpark in the Bronx.

Not that batting order is all that important, but if it were me and there was insistence on batting the new guy third, I'd kick Theriot down the bottom and start with Soriano, Lee, Fukudome, Ramirez.

And am I misreading this, or is it as stupid as it sounds. If ALL the others are right-handed, doesn't he "bust up a long stretch of right-handed hitters" no matter where he hits:

As the No. 3 hitter, the left-handed hitting Fukudome would follow leadoff hitter Alfonso Soriano and Ryan Theriot. It could give the Cubs more speed at the top of the lineup, while also busting up a long stretch of right-handed hitters. Soriano, Theriot, Lee, Ramirez, No. 6 hitter Mark DeRosa and No. 7 Geovany Soto are all right-handed batters. "It makes it too easy for the opposing manager to bring in a tough right-handed reliever and he can go take a nap for a couple of innings," Piniella said.