yankees228

This is a little weird. Yankees.com now has Toronto start Jesse Litsch. Not really sure at this point if Burnett is starting. EDIT: Burnett had to go home for personal reasons 2.5 hours before game time. Jesse Litsch will start in his place. This is certainly a break for the Yankees.

I've said this numerous times in other threads, I don't think the Yankees should go all out to try and win the division. I'll start off by asking a simple question. What's more important, winning the division or winning the championship? Now I understand that people are going to respond to that by saying that winning the division will help them win the championship (because of homefield advantage and possibly choosing the extra day off), but I don't think those things are a good enough reason to go all out for the division. Here is my list of reaons why I think the Yankees shouldn't go all out for the division: 1. It would be nice to rest players who are either slumping a little or are injured (Derek Jeter, Hideki Matsui, Bobby Abreu, and Robinson Cano among others). 2. It would be very smart for the Yankees to give their starters the best oppurtunity to pitch well in the postseason. In my opinion, this means giving Roger Clemens and Mike Mussina ample rest before their postseason starts. 3. The Yankees have serious bullpen issues. This would give them the oppurtunity to give Vizcaino more rest. It might also give them a chance to pull Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy (if healthy) from the rotation and see what they can give you out of the bullpen. This would involve giving someone like Jeff Karstens, Chase Wright, or Kei Igawa a start which would hurt your chances of winning that day. 4. Maybe this team just needs a break? They got off to a terrible start this year and they were playing semi "must win" games for a few months now. In 2005 they had to battle through the last week of the season. Come the playoffs the teams was clearly exhausted. 5. This does not mean sacrificing the division. Even if they do all the things I listed they still have a good team. It would still be possible to overtake the Red Sox. All of those things, in my opinion, give them the best chance at the ultimate goal.

How can you honestly refer to 2004 as a "blip on the radar screen"? I don't think I really need to explain this. By the way, I think you guys were talking about 2004 vs. 2001 for Yankee fans. For me 2001 hurt more simply because they were two outs away from a world championship, and that was the last game for a bunch of the players. Don't get me wrong, 2004 was awful, but being two outs away from a championship hurts.

Magic Number at three.

I gotcha.

Congratulations on the playoff berth! Was there any kind of celebration, or are they waiting to win the division?

I don't think the Jays have bended over for the Yankees by any means. Even today, you can look at it as they kept giving back the lead, but how many non-contending teams would keep giving up a lead, but then getting it back? The Jays have not rolled over in these first two games.

I don't think I've even seen more soft hits then I've seen the past two nights.

Why? With one week to go, back 2.5 games in the division, with a firm hold on the wild card lead, it's a much better idea to prepare a little bit for the playoffs rather then to try and catch the leader.

If the Yankees win the wild card I really hope that whoever they play chooses the eight day series. The Yankees simply do not have a deep enough bullpen to hold leads if their top guns aren't available to pitch.

Or maybe he's a little smarter then you think, and he's not necessarily going all out for the division.

Payback's a bitch after what happened in the ninth inning last night I guess.

Matsui really is an awful outfielder. If they get into the playoffs I expect Joe to play Damon every game in left field. That limits what you can do with the bench, but Matsui cannot be out there in important games.

WFAN is reporting a 2:30 start time.

The game is delayed. Anyone know what time they expect to start.

Correction about the Clemens part. He tweaked his hamstring and was pushed back to Monday. Apparently he did it while running on Thursday, but when he threw a bullpen he didn't feel anything. However the Yankees are trying to be cautious and will push him back.

Haha, hope not. If I were the manager I wouldn't go all out for it, but we'll see what Joe and the organization as a whole decide to do.

Haha, ok, fair enough. I was just pointing it out, more or less because I'm just a little frustrated after tonight's loss lol.