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Manny Parra got an at bat during Sunday's game before he threw a pitch.  Could a team get a (small) edge if they were to "start" a hitter in the pitcher's spot on the road?  If the team doesn't bat around, they switch out the hitter for that day's starting pitcher.  If they do bat around, they get an at bat by a somewhat decent hitter.

I assume that someplace in the rule book it says that if a player is on the opening lineup card and gets substituted for before they appear, they are unavailable for the rest of the night.  But, what if a starting pitcher with a decent batting average were to take that spot on days when he's not scheduled to pitch? 

I would think that teams with good hitting pitchers would do this everytime, but I've never heard of anyone attempting it.  Is there any validity to this stratagy?