Rain Washes Away Finale

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.

Visiting Safeco

Hey everyone. So, with the Yanks rained out, we’re in the midst of a slow news day. In order to provide you with some entertainment on these non-baseball days, here are some pictures of me and my girlfriend from our recent trip to Seattle’s Safeco Field, home of Mariner baseball. These pictures were taken a few weeks ago (vs. Oakland) and it was just a tremendously fun experience. Safeco is a beautiful place and seeing a “modern” stadium, really got me excited about the project the Yankees are working on.

So, without further ado, the pictures.

I believe that’s the human giant, Richie Sexson (my girlfriend was taking the pictures and does not think his nickname, Big Sexy, is suitable at all).

We were really close. Tickets for this game were so cheap in comparison to Yankee Stadium (especially when you think about where we were in relation to the field).

I have no idea who that man is, but the Mariners are so bad offensively, maybe he should grab a jersey and a bat.

That’s me and my lady, Erika. We were debating whether or not we should wear another team’s jersey (she’s a Sox fan, I’m a Yankee fan, obviously) but we felt it wasn’t right to go to a game and to badger another team’s fans by wearing a jersey that isn’t even relevant to the game being played. Don’t worry, we’re going to Yankee-Mariner and Sox-Mariner games in a few weeks and we’ll wear the appropriate attire.

A picture of Adrian Beltre (post steroids).

Picture of the Safeco Field sign (like you needed an explanation). The place is great.

That’s the closing monster that is J.J. Putz. He was trying to lock up the game after Erik Bedard pitched a gem. It was a bumpy ride for Putz though, although he did get the job done. He has one of the coolest entrances I’ve ever seen for a closer. Mariano’s entrance is built upon years of success, mystique and nostalgia. Whenever Enter Sandman hits, you get a wash of emotions that relate to those things. Putz’s entrance is built on a mesmerizing video montage that features the adrenaline pumping sounds of AC/DC and clips of him striking out dozens of big names (his fastball is digitally modified to have a flame coming out of it, how cool is that?).

Here’s a picture of the scoreboard. I actually met the guy who works on the scoreboard at a bar one night (long story, and no, it wasn’t a pickup line… sadly… okay I’ll stop now).

To wrap it all up, Safeco is a great place. If you’re a Yankee fan and have the chance to catch a game while in Seattle, I definitely recommend it (good tickets are cheap). The experience is very different when compared to being at Yankee Stadium (or Fenway, for you Boston fans). I mean, the fans are slightly reserved in Seattle and they don’t get as loud as we do, but you’ll still enjoy your time spent at the field. We actually just caught another game last night (vs. Chicago) and it was a lot of fun.

Happy Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day everyone. The final game of the Detroit series has been rained out. No news yet on when the two teams will make up the affair.