This is why people love baseball. Wednesday night. Dodgers vs. Giants. Lincecum vs. Manny Ramirez. This game is exploding with drama.

It's 2 hours to game time. The place is chilly and breezy, but not bad. Bruce Bochy just met the media during team stretching. He sat in the dugout. Someone asked if he'll drop Fred Lewis from leadoff. Here's the reason for the question, and I quote from Giants game notes. Lewis' average has dropped 112 points in past 8 games. Is hitting .179 during frame. Is hitting .148 as leadoff man compared to .444 elsewhere. Leads NL with 26 strikeouts and has 9 K's in last 13 plate appearances.

Bochy said he needs Lewis at leadoff tonight because Randy Winn is getting the night off. He said Lewis' problems are not leadoff problems. They are hitting problems pure and simple. "He's in between the fastball and the breaking ball," Bochy said. "His timing is late on the fastball and he's in front of the breaking ball."

How can Lewis solve that?

"Barry (Bonds) talked to him. Carney (Lansford) talked to him. You work at it. His strikeouts are up more than usual."

The Dodgers are batting center fielder Juan Pierre 9th tonight. Bochy said he would consider batting the pitcher 8th at some point if the pitcher were Matt Cain or Tim Lincecum. He might bat Emmanuel 9th. Considering Buriss is batting .161 I'd say he's earned the 9th spot on merit. Bochy said the Dodgers are doing it because they don't want a speed guy in front of the pitcher.