Yankees-Jays Opening day

[jacksonianmarch]

Yankees lineup:

 

Damon LF

Jeter SS

Abreu RF

Rodriguez 3B

Giambi 1B

Cano 2B

Posada C

Matsui DH

Cabrera CF

[a700hitter]

Matsui batting 8th?

[26 to 6]

Yup. Our number 8 hitter hit 25 home runs and had 103 RBIs last year. Sickening.

[a700hitter]

It's a stupid lineup by Girardi. Matsui is a better hitter than Giambi, cano or Posada. Batting Giambi 5th is absurd.

[ARod2212]

Yeah, Giambi hit like .400 this spring. He sucks. It makes no sense to go with the hot hand in the 5 slot. Stupid Girardi. Fire him already.

 

 

I'll be in the bleachers, somewhere. I'm excited.

[a700hitter]

Yeah, Giambi hit like .400 this spring. He sucks. It makes no sense to go with the hot hand in the 5 slot. Stupid Girardi. Fire him already.

 

 

I'll be in the bleachers, somewhere. I'm excited.

He hit over .253 in one of the last 4 seasons, so you don't have to worry about him threatening .400. Jeter hit .269, Damon .255 and Posada hit .237 this spring. I guess they should be hitting 7th, 8th and 9th. Matsui is a way better hitter than 3 or 4 guys in that lineup. No way he should be hitting 8th. You don't bat Matsui 8th because some bloated former roid user has had a few hot weeks in ST. Girardi is stupid. That will become clear soon enough.

[a700hitter]

The last opening day at the old Ball Yard in the Bronx. That should be special. I heard that the Yankees will be selling off pieces of the hallowed cathedral like spare parts from a wrecked car. That's too bad-- pieces of the stadium being placed in bar bathrooms etc. It seems undignified. I wonder if they will auction off any of the used syringes from the dynasty team of the 90's. The Stadium has been known as the House that Ruth Built, and the trading of George Herman has been blamed for the Red Sox 86 year draught. Now, the Yankees will be selling off the House that Ruth Built on the internet. Maybe a new curse will start.

[26 to 6]

I'm anxiously awaiting getting my hands on some Yankee Stadium goodies. I understand your point about it being undignified, but hey, if they're gonna tear the place down I dont see anything wrong with getting your hands on a keepsake to remember all those special times walking down the ramp and setting your eyes on that beautiful green field. Greenest thing for blocks, maybe miles....except the river of course lol

[Cocos Disciples]

Yup. Our number 8 hitter hit 25 home runs and had 103 RBIs last year. Sickening.

 

It's the same as last year. Not to say its not good, but...

[jacksonianmarch]

I thought the lineup was stupid as well. But then I looked at it a little closer and it could work out. It is all about balance in more ways than one. First, the handedness of the player

 

L, R, L, R, L, L, S, L, S

 

Then, the speed of the runners. Last yr, Torre stacked slow players when our lineup has a good amount of guys who can run. Damon, Jeter, Abreu, Arod, and Melky are basestealers and have good speed. Cano isnt a base stealer, but he has good speed. Matsui has average speed and our catcher and 1b are atrociously slow. Splitting up Posada and Giambi is the big thing here IMO. Something that Torre didnt like to do. When those two guys got in in succession, it was akin to the bases being massively constipated.

 

Then you gotta go with the hot hand. Cano and Giambi are raking right now. Matsui did well in his limited ST time as well, but the power was missing for the most part.

[ORS]

The part about slowing down the basepaths makes no sense. Runners behind Posada and Giambi can only advance as far as they allow. If you split them up, you create two constipation points instead of one. So, rather than having Posada slowing Giambi down, which is no big deal, you can have Posada slowing someone down, and then having Giambi slow someone else down.

[jacksonianmarch]

thats a good point, didnt think about that

 

Regardless, Matsui's power has been down in ST and he should move up if the power returns.

[Gom]

It's a stupid lineup by Girardi. Matsui is a better hitter than Giambi' date=' cano or Posada. Batting Giambi 5th is absurd.[/quote']

You obviously don't know the Yankees. Cano is the best pure hitter of that group. Matsui and Giambi have massive holes in their swing. Posada is the most consistent, but least dangerous hitter of the group.

 

Also, Matsui is nowhere near full strength.

[jacksonianmarch]

Game delayed.

[26 to 6]

Gettin' antsy here...I need a baseball fix.

[26 to 6]

C'mon, rain never hurt anybody. I used to LOVE playing ball in the rain. Lets get this s*** under way!

[rician blast]

Who's starting for the Yankees...Ian Kennedy? LaTroy Hawkins?

[jacksonianmarch]

game is postponed

[26 to 6]

Tomorrow at 7

 

The Tigers/Royals game has kept me entertained. I've been looking forward to Dbacks/Reds, but theyre in a delay. Im stuck flipping between the Cubs game and the Tigers game in utter disappointment due to not being able to see my Yanks today...tomorrow night cant come soon enough

[jacksonianmarch]

I'll be on OB for the next 3 nights. I miss it

[26 to 6]

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080331&content_id=2469353&vkey=news_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy&partnered=rss_nyy

 

I think a nice little side-story the past few days is the issue of number 21 being used this year, and by whom. Ensberg obviously was issued the number at the start of Spring, first person to get it since O'Neill retired in '01, and just held onto it and kept his mouth shut until learning he would make the team when added to the 40 man about a week and a half ago. At which point he made public his feelings that he didn't think it was either his place, nor proper, to be the first person to wear "Paulie's number." He made an attempt to get 14 from Betemit with an offer or $5,000; which was declined. Eventually, after finishing spring games still with 21 he decided to take 11, which was worn by Woodward all spring until he was released last week off of a FANTASTIC spring (he later signed with Philly). Right after Ensberg abandons 21, Latroy Hawkins, who I had a hard enough time with being given 22 after he signed, decided to take 21 "in honor of Roberto Clemente."

 

I admired Ensberg's actions in forfeiting wearing number 21 out of respect to a Yankee icon, and it baffles me that right away f***ing LaTroy awkins scoops it up. I liked Latroy a lot when he was in Minnesota, pulled for the Yankees to sign him when he was a free agent before signing with the Cubs, and have lost interest with since, as his performance has greatly declined as he's gone through Chicago, Baltimore, and San Fran. until having an alright year with Colorado. I didn't like him taking Roger's number, although I really couldn't be too upset given everything that's gone on this winter; but he said all the right things coming in and worked hard this spring. Funny how what's probably going to prove to be a waste of money and a bad signing has managed to anger me twice about his uniform number, and the season hasnt even started.

[ORS]

http://lolcats.com/images/u/07/34/lolcatsdotcommr66uy3v4hahmpc6.jpg

[26 to 6]

I also read earlier that While Bob Shepard is out for health reasons until about June, Jeter is going to be introduced before at-bats by a recording of Shepard rather than longtime backup Jim Hall, who sounds eerily similar to Shepard. Jeter said that he had Bob Shepard make the recording for him so that he can always be introduced by him. I think that's pretty awesome. I hate it when Hall is in the pa booth, it's just not the same. Nobody knows truly how old Shepard is, but it's somewhere in the late '90s, so who knows how long he'll be around. It'll be cool to still have the voice of Yankee Stadium introducing the Yankee captain for the rest of his career.

 

 

....Running out of ********...I just want opening day to already. This is tormenting.

[TheKilo]

I also read earlier that While Bob Shepard is out for health reasons until about June, Jeter is going to be introduced before at-bats by a recording of Shepard rather than longtime backup Jim Hall, who sounds eerily similar to Shepard. Jeter said that he had Bob Shepard make the recording for him so that he can always be introduced by him. I think that's pretty awesome. I hate it when Hall is in the pa booth, it's just not the same. Nobody knows truly how old Shepard is, but it's somewhere in the late '90s, so who knows how long he'll be around. It'll be cool to still have the voice of Yankee Stadium introducing the Yankee captain for the rest of his career.

 

 

....Running out of ********...I just want opening day to already. This is tormenting.

 

26 - amended my trade offer. Please accept quickly if you plan on doing so, I'm looking to deal with someone else too.

[26 to 6]

http://lolcats.com/images/u/07/34/lolcatsdotcommr66uy3v4hahmpc6.jpg

 

 

Hey, the Sox have been pretty exciting the past week or so, you guys have opened up already in Japan, played in the Coliseum, and gotten started. I was pumped for today,I need as much ******** to keep me going until tomorrow. lol

[a700hitter]

You obviously don't know the Yankees. Cano is the best pure hitter of that group. Matsui and Giambi have massive holes in their swing. Posada is the most consistent, but least dangerous hitter of the group.

 

Also, Matsui is nowhere near full strength.

Cano may have the potential to be the best hitter on the Yankees, but he hasn't backed that up on the field. As for Posada's consistency vs. Matsui, except for the year Matsui was injured you could pencil in his numbers ahead of time each year.

[jacksonianmarch]

Cano hasnt backed it up on the field? Have you watched? He's a .314 career hitter with a near .500 Slugging percentage. He has shown power (16HRs per yr for 3 yrs prior to age 25) and good D. The only thing he doesnt do is walk. Going by the fact that most 22-24yr olds get BETTER as they get older, I'd assume that a kid who has put up better #s than Jeter had by his age should be given a bit of a benefit of the doubt here. Plus, he's already had a .340 season. What else do you want? He's been terrific.

[jacksonianmarch]

I get your point a700. But the lineup is loaded. You could predict accurately the majority of the yankee lineup and be damn close e/c for Giambi and Melky.

 

Damon- .280/.360/.440

Jeter- .320/.390/.450

Abreu- .290/.390/.450

Rodriguez- .300/.410/.630

Giambi- ???

Cano- .320/.360/.480

Posada- .280/.380/.480

Matsui- .290/.370/.480

Cabrera- ???

 

When you are talking about 7 hitters in this lineup that are this consistent, one guy with massive power who is inconsistent and an up and coming CFer with good skills who hasnt put it together for 6 months yet, then you have one hell of a lineup. No matter how you put it, someone has to bat 8th.

[ARod2212]

He hit over .253 in one of the last 4 seasons' date=' so you don't have to worry about him threatening .400. Jeter hit .269, Damon .255 and Posada hit .237 this spring. I guess they should be hitting 7th, 8th and 9th. Matsui is a way better hitter than 3 or 4 guys in that lineup. No way he should be hitting 8th. You don't bat Matsui 8th because some bloated former roid user has had a few hot weeks in ST. Girardi is stupid. That will become clear soon enough.[/quote']

 

Matsui is also not 100%. He was hurt virtually all of March, whereas Giambi was raking the ball. If he's healthy, he's good for his .400+ OBP. I have no problem with Giambi batting 5. Matsui batting 5 would reek of "Joe Torre loyalty". Go with the player who is playing better.

[jacksonianmarch]

Plus, Giambi is in a contract yr, so I'd expect him to perform well.