With Derek Jeter around, the #2 spot in the lineup was never a problem. Just pencil him in there and fill in behind him or pencil him into the leadoff spot and just plunk somebody in behind him. The loss of Jeter, paired with the injury or free agent losses of a few other guys, has left the #2 spot in order an absolute dead zone this year. Of all the issues the platoon-heavy and injury-shortened roster has caused in 40+ games, the biggest and consistently most noticeable is the gap in the 2nd spot and the problems on the back end of that get caused by Robinson Cano hitting there.
Cano has spent the bulk of his time hitting 2nd this season, and in 94 ABs there he’s posted a .362/.406/.681 slash with 16 XBH, 16 R, and 22 RBI. The 77 non-Cano ABs from the 2nd spot have resulted in just 14 total hits (3 for XB), 7 R, and 4 RBI. Those results aren’t surprising when you consider that it’s been the Nixes, Ichiros, and (yeesh) Franciscos of the world occupying the spot, nor is the frustration that comes with having to watch those guys hit there. Based on some recent roster additions, there might be some upgrade options available and opportunities to bump Cano back down and lengthen the lineup a bit. Options like …
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I was supposed to be at today’s game but I didn’t feel like sitting in a rainy Yankee Stadium while the powers that be do the ‘will they or won’t they?’ game.
If the game is played, here are the lineups:
BLUE JAYS
Cabrera DH
Bautista RF
Encarnacion 1B
DeRosa 2B
Lawrie 3B
Izturis SS
Rasmus CF
Bonifacio LF
Blanco C
Dickey P
YANKEES
Granderson CF
Cano 2B
Wells LF
Hafner DH
Overbay 1B
Nix 3B
Ichiro RF
Brignac SS
Romine C
Sabathia P
Reid Brignac is making his Yankees debut, if the rain doesn’t wash away the day.
Go Yankees!
UPDATE (12:34 P.M.) The game has been postponed.
If you want to make this into an open thread where we discuss current events, other baseball games or exchange recipes, feel free.
As I mentioned in my David Wells perfect game post on Friday, I graduated from college in upstate New York in the Spring of 1998 so the first game I was able to watch, without having to rely on a friendly bartender who thought a girl liking baseball was a novelty, happened to be the game between the Yankees and Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday May 19, 1998.
Some people may not remember or even know, depending on their age , why this particular game is significant. Well, I’m about to post the reason why.
On May 19, the Yankees found themselves with a 29-9 record, and were about to go on a hot streak of epic proportions, spurred on an unfortunate incident in a game between division rivals. The Yankees had an off-day on the 18th so this game against the Orioles would be their first baseball action following that history-making game for Wells.
The Orioles scored five runs off starter David Cone – one in the second, three in the third and one in the fourth – to open up a 5-1 lead in the game. The Yankees got two back in the bottom of the seventh thanks to a Paul O’Neill RBI double and a Tim Raines RBI single.
So in the bottom of the eighth inning and still down 5-3, the Yankees mounted a comeback.
Sidney Ponson started the inning for the Orioles but manager Ray Miller began to play the matchup game. After Ponson induced a flyout for the first out of the inning, he walked Jorge Posada and Chuck Knoblauch.
Miller called upon reliever Alan Mills to take care of Derek Jeter. He did, getting Jeter to fly out to short right field on the first pitch for the second out. Miller then went to the bullpen again so Norm Charlton could pitch to O’Neill. O’Neill delivered the first scoring blow of the inning with a single int the third base-shortstop hole that scored Jorge Posada and to cut the score to 5-4.
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Here are Joe Girardi, David Phelps and Robinson Cano discussing yesterday’s victory over the Blue Jays.
Coming into the season, the Toronto Blue Jays were crowned the winners of the offseason and why wouldn’t they be? They traded for half of the Miami Marlins’ roster, and acquired both Melky Cabrera and National League Cy Young award winner R.A. Dickey. So they were expecting to challenge perennial AL East leaders New York, Tampa and Boston for the Division title after all of those moves.
As of May 18, the first place Yankees are now 8-1 in head-to-head matchups against the Blue Jays and are now 10 games ahead of them in the standings. Guys, whenever I complain about the Yankees playing Toronto too much, you all have permission to smack me because so far, the Yankees are owning the Blue Jays in 2013.
Of course, this can all change in the second half of the season but for right now, this is really something to see.
Helping lead the Yankees to victory this afternoon were Robinson Cano and David Phelps.
Phelps, who was struggling to find the plate early in the game, recovered to throw seven strong innings, allowing one run on six hits with three walks and eight strikeouts.
Cano had his second multi-homer game of the season and 12th of his career. He hit a two-run shot in the third inning and another two-run shot in the fifth inning. Both came off of Toronto starter Brandon Morrow. Morrow lasted five innings and gave up five runs on seven hits with one strikeout. He didn’t walk a batter.
Travis Hafner also hit a home run, his seventh of the season and it came in his 100th at-bat. Remarkably he’s hit five in 54 at-bats at Yankee Stadium. Guess his shoulder is feeling better.
One more note, Curtis Granderson made his first career start in right field and nobody got hurt! He finished the game hitless along with David Adams. Cano was the only one with a multi-hit game.
The Yankees are looking for the sweep in tomorrow’s game. It’s a big match up between the initialed aces of each pitching staff, CC Sabathia and R.A. Dickey.
The Yankees keep on playing the Blue Jays, and despite all the hype, the Yankees have been able to hit them hard very early this season. The teams have now played 8 times and the Bombers have won 7 of those games. In the process, they’ve built up a 9 game lead in the standings against the AL East pre-season favorite. Although Toronto is struggling to reach a .500 record, if things start clicking, they can become a very admirable team, and this early lead is great insurance.
Brett Gardner CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Vernon Wells LF
Travis Hafner DH
Lyle Overbay 1B
Curtis Granderson RF
Jayson Nix SS
David Adams 3B
Austin Romine C
Yes, there’s no Mark Teixeira or Alex Rodriguez or Derek Jeter, but I love this lineup. The Yankees have put up some stinkers in recent days, and at least this one goes six players deep before you get to Nix. Also notable is that Curtis Granderson will make his first appearance in right field.
Brandon Morrow will square off against David Phelps at 1:05 PM, and you can catch the game on YES.
Reid Brignac, come on down! You’re the next contestant on The Yankees Need a Warm Body!
Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweeted that the Yankees have acquired the utility infielder from the Colorado Rockies. Brignac was designated for assignment by the Rockies earlier this week and he was also let go by the Tampa Bay Rays earlier this spring.
The Rockies are receiving $75,000 in cash considerations. Brignac is a utility infielder whose best position is shortstop. He batted .250/.294/.375/.669 with one home run and six RBI with the Rockies this season.
UPDATE:
The Yankees have designated Alberto Gonzalez for assignment.
Gonzalez was acquired by the Yankees two weeks ago but only had only nine plate appearances. He also pitched in relief during that awful game I had the misfortune of attending on Wednesday night.
Here are David Adams, Austin Romine and Joe Girardi discussing last night’s win.
Brett Gardner CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Vernon Wells LF
Travis Hafner DH
Lyle Overbay 1B
Curtis Granderson RF
Jayson Nix SS
David Adams 3B
Austin Romine C
Well, isn’t this lineup starting to shape up? With Nix getting hot, and Adams showing off a well in his debut, the Yankees actually have a pretty deep lineup against Toronto’s Brandon Morrow. It’s been two weeks since Morrow pitched, due to neck and back issues, and he’ll face off against David Phelps this afternoon at 1:05 PM.
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