Derek Jeter SS Nick Swisher RF Mark Teixeira 1B Alex Rodriguez 3B Robinson Cano 2B Marcus Thames DH Austin Kearns LF Curtis Granderson CF Francisco Cervelli C
They're going to light Bruce Chen up tonight. He's been decent this season, but the he always struggles against the yanks.
Granderson in against the lefty. I guess Girardi didn't want to sit him three straight games. Posada with the night off.
According to Kevin Long, Granderson would've been in the lineup, but he stayed out because they were still working on his swing.
Kearns has been a terrific pick up. I hope he's back next year. Grandy 2-2. Kevin Long has actual magical powers!
Above average, which still makes him easily their best starting pitcher. He's not close to where he was last year, but the rest of their rotation is just bad.
Cervelli has been trash at the plate this year. He always takes the weakest shitty little hacks, HE should be Longs next project.
You send CC out for the 9th, have him throw 110 pitches, and don't let him finish the game? Sadly, Girardi's managerial skills are regressing closer to Torre's by the day. And he started out with such promise.
You really do have to be impressed with Kevin Long. He manages to fix everyone. I would actually like to see him work with Cervelli a bit. Let's see if he can get him to hit for a decent average. He should sit down with Berkman first though. Lance has to get on the ball. How Kearns manages to get a bad rap is beyond me though. Every time I see someone complain about him (not here, but elsewhere) I'm like "WTF does he need to do to make you people happy?" I'm usually very critical of Girardi and his Torre-esque managing, but I actually agreed with his hook last night. He gave CC a shot to finish it out but Sabathia got into trouble. Rather than risk letting the game slip away and ruin the momentum from the night before he went for the kill. Granted, it still got hairy, but I thought it was the right risk to take. (Though I'd have probably pitched Mo who has been woefully underused this year.)
I can't fault any of the new guys yet. Seeing NL pitching your whole career and then seeing brand new AL pitching is very difficult to adjust to. Berkman is a professional, obviously, and he is getting paid well to be able to adjust. But I venture to say he will be clicking come the back stretch. Granderson...I don't know what is up with him. Also, Gardner and Cervelli came back down to earth and Teixeira picked up the pace. So basically, everything discussed before is coming to fruition. The only thing that is strange is A-Rod...his numbers are down and he looks lost sometimes at the plate. Hopefully Andy can come back soon, but I heard this AM on the radio, he was supposed to have a simulated session and the day before he got up from the couch and heard a pop. Any further reports on that?
I'm sure Berkman will start hitting at some point. Granderson should come around now that Long has "fixed" him. I expect Gardner will hit better. He's been watching too many good pitches lately, and that's been his problem. Cervelli is never going to hit .300 so I'm not worried about that. His defense has been a little off lately though, and that's concerning. Tex was going to hit. He's too good a player to not. ARod is aging, he is still thinking about that hip, and the 600 hoopla affected him. He's stil going to drive in 110-120. I'm not complaining. Last I heard of Andy he was pushed back a day on a simulated game. I think I read last night that it's supposed to be today, so if it doesn't happen it's going to be considered a problem.
I really don't have a problem with the way Girardi managed the 9th inning last night. It was like 105 degrees on the field, and we're talking about a mid August game against the freaking Royals. 110 pitches is no big deal for CC, but there's no reason to push him once he starts laboring. Rivera couldn't have pitched after pitching tough innings in each of the past two nights. Robertson is paid to come in with RISP, let him do his job.
Actually I read that the heat was the reason. Girardi said before the game 110 pitches was the limit. The fact there was only one out to go...well...ask him.