It's absolutely huge having Vlad back. It was no secret we were struggling to score runs for a little while there. He just makes our lineup so much deeper and it's more than just hitting with him. He came up big today scoring from third on a wild pitch. Having him back makes a big difference. Look at the spark he provided against Seattle. He was killing it and guys can't even pitch around him. It's impossible because he swings and hits everything, balls, strikes, it doesn't matter. Really, that's one of the reasons he gets hit a lot. Pitchers go inside and make a mistake. Opponents know they have to pitch in on him if they are going to have a chance to get him out. He gets nicked sometimes because of that. Our pitchers have to throw inside too in order to protect him. I'm not saying we're throwing at guys. We just have to establish that we're going to pitch inside so that when they pitch in on Vlad they're not reckless. He really is amazing. The guy takes four days off and returns to the plate like nothing ever happened. In his first at bat back, he hit a bullet up the middle that nearly killed the pitcher. It's no coincidence that our offense started turning around when he came back.
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