March 24, 2009

Yanks' eighth inning rally crushes Red Sox

I left for a meeting after the sixth inning with the game tied at one.  When I got back, there were two outs in the top of the ninth and the Yankees were up 7-1.

You might ask what happened to the pitching duel?  Well, Tim Wakefield was not allowed to pitch the whole game, and came out with two outs in the sixth.  Manny Delcarmen and Devern Hansack combined to give up six runs (five earned) in the eighth inning.  Edwar Ramirez earned the win for the Yanks, pitching the final inning and a third, as the Yanks shoved a 7-1 victory down the throats of Red Sox fans.

I know, I know.  It's just spring training.

Austin Jackson's two-out grand slam off of Hansack blew the game out of proportion, and ended the Red Sox's hope of a spring training sweep of the Yanks.  Full box score here.

I was glad to be able to watch this game, because tonight's lineup may have been a first glance at what the lineup will look like in April.

Johnny Damon LF
Derek Jeter SS
Mark Teixeira 1B
Hideki Matsui DH
Jorge Posada C
Robinson Cano 2B
Xavier Nady RF
Cody Ransom 3B
Brett Gardner CF

Looks good to me.  I bet an alternate lineup that includes Swisher might move Damon to center, insert Swish in left, and bench Gardner - where he could be a late inning pinch runner.

Also, Girardi was interviewed in the top of the fifth inning (I think) by Michael Kay and Paul O'Neil.  The answer that stood out to me was that he said that the decisions of center field and long relief pitcher are close to being finalized.  He said that he wanted to play the last week or so of games like the Yanks would during the season.

To me, the nagging question is what will the Yankees do with Melky Cabrera if Gardner gets the starting job in center.  I don't think they would carry a fifth, technically sixth, outfielder if you count Swisher and Matsui.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have a feeling that we're going to see Cano in the 3 spot after maybe 2 weeks. He looks strong and in shape this year, and it wouldn't surprise me if he hit over .320.

Matsui is good, but he just doesn't have the power that tex has. Once A-Rod comes back, then i'd say yeah bring him back to the 7 spot.

Regardless, this line-up for the most part has all-stars at every spot. Should be an exciting season I think

Lenny Neslin said...

I love your enthusiasm for Cano, but you do know that he is infamous for his slow starts, right?

If he does get off to a hot start, you may even see him switch with Jeter, depending how he is doing.

I still need to be convinced by Nady that he can perform under the pressures of the AL East. I have posted early about this, and just can't get over his splits between Pittsburgh and New York last season.

We'll see.

Anonymous said...

Cano has slow starts because he typically is out of shape at the start of the year. This season is different, and I'm expecting a great season from him.


Nady has a cannon for right field. However, so does Melky, which raises an interesting idea that if Nady gets injured/plays badly, Melky could theoretically play right.

Lenny Neslin said...

But does Melky stay as a 5th (6th) outfielder in the majors? And I thought that Swish was next behind Nady for right field...

Did you see Nady's throw in tonight's game? He caught a fly ball coming in on the run, and then gunned a strike on the fly to posada, preventing a red sox runner from tagging up. It drew four other gasps from people in my room.

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