From John Dewan's Stat of the Week:

Well, it certainly can't be the number nine slot for any National League team, now can it? Well, actually, it is. Or almost. The number nine slot for the Milwaukee Brewers, normally a slot reserved for the pitcher to hit, is one of the best in baseball this season.

Thus far this year, the Brewers have adopted the new Tony La Russa strategy of batting the pitcher eighth instead of ninth. And they are reaping rewards. Thanks to Jason Kendall primarily, the Brewers number nine slot has an OPS (On-base Plus Slugging percentage) of 1.259. That's seventh best in all of baseball.

Here are the top eleven batting slots in baseball so far (out of 270 total batting slots in MLB):

Team                    Slot     OPS     Primary player

Phillies                     5     1.434     Pat Burrell
Diamondbacks        7     1.398     Justin Upton
Brewers                  9     1.364     Jason Kendall
Tigers                     9     1.328     Brandon Inge
Cubs                      5     1.289     Kosuke Fukudome
Cubs                      3     1.288     Derrek Lee
Marlins                   1     1.285     Hanley Ramirez
White Sox              5     1.270     Jermaine Dye
Rangers                  7     1.226     David Murphy
Phillies                  3     1.207     Chase Utley
Diamondbacks     1     1.206     Chris B. Young

Used with permission from John Dewan's Stat of the Week™, www.statoftheweek.com.

Dave Notes:

It's fun to see the Phillies, Cubs and Diamondbacks getting six out of nine positions in the order.  The Cubs have the best #3 hitter in Derrek Lee and second best #5 batter.

However, with their 4-3 record, something is wrong if the middle of the pack is so productive.  That might be a reason:

#1 batters hit .156/.206/.250 this season, 21st in the majors
#2 hitters hit .156/.206/.188 this season, 25th in the majors.

Theriot and Soriano have been the main guys in these slots so far for the Chicago Cubs.