While the rain may have ended the Detroit series a bit prematurely, we still witnessed a noteworthy situation before the game even began. When Joe Girardi penciled in his lineup today, curiously, he placed Derek Jeter in the cleanup role, which is somewhat startling for those who think power is an absolute requirement when batting in that particular spot in the order. I actually thought it was a gutsy move on Girardi’s part. Hideki Matsui, while still hitting any and everything, did not deliver these past few games with RISP. In fact, Hideki Matsui, our current cleanup hitter while A-Rod continues to rehab (sports rehab, not Lindsey Lohan rehab), has not driven in a run since May 4th. Basically, he’s gone 2 series (Cleveland and Detroit) without driving in any runs but hitting a lot (he’s been like leadoff hitter). So, Girardi decided to give him a days rest and juggled things a bit so that the lefties weren’t all stacked up against each other.
Clearly, Shelley Duncan’s power hasn’t worked in the 4 spot, and Jeter is hitting .452 with RISP, so no complaints there. He’s actually hitting .455 with RISP and 2 outs. You can’t go wrong with a guy who knows how to drive them in in key situations (even if he hit his first homer of the season just yesterday).
Joe Girardi has juggled the lineup a seemingly endless amount of times, thus far. I’m not necessarily a big fan of his matchup style of ball. I mean, I like when he sits Giambi against lefties and the Yankee bench is very solid, indeed. However, sometimes you just have to leave guys in their usual spots and let them find their rhythm against righties and lefties. Then again, endless shuffling is also the result of no A-Rod and no Jorge Posada. I figured Girardi’s shuffling would have ended this month and that he was just trying to keep guys fresh throughout the season with off days early, but with them gone, it looks like he’s forced to continue with this National League, mix and match style.
Speaking of shuffling and juggling players, the Yankees will reshuffle their rotation for the Tampa series, with Andy Pettitte getting the start tomorrow (followed by Wang and Mussina). The final starter for Thursday’s game has yet to be announced, but the candidates are Kei Igawa (yuck), Darrell Rasner (hey) or maybe even a minor leaguer (IPK probably won’t be able to due to his start being rained out today, so his pitching schedule won’t permit it, but the Yanks can always work something out with a side session or an abbreviated start, allowing him to possibly pitch on Friday). Whatever happens with Thursday will dictate who pitches on Friday (that starter is still in the air as well until Thursday is squared off). Confusing, yes.
