Ramiro Pena Should Be Starting (And Other Yankees Thoughts)

I'm really glad for Cody Ransom. After struggling for a while, he made two or three really nice defensive plays and had the hit that broke this game open. But regardless, Ramiro Pena should be starting at 3rd and, furthermore, he should be the utility man when Alex Rodriguez returns.

Why? Because Pena is 23 years old and has shown the ability to play excellent defense. Because Pena is too talented and needs more practice than riding the pine can provide. Because Cody Ransom is a career journeyman and has failed to do even little things in the game that you need a guy hitting under the Mendoza line to do. A prime example is his AB in the 7th today. He came up with Matsui on first and needed to bunt him over. But he bunted right to the pitcher and Matsui on gimpy knees was an easy target. When Ransom came up with the bases loaded in the 8th, it took a lucky, broken bat bloop double to get home the runs.

There are plenty of Cody Ransoms and Nick Greens and Enrique Wilsons in this world. But I feel like Pena has a chance to stick with this team. It would be a shame to waste him so that Cody Ransom has a chance.

Other thoughts:
-When I wrote my review of NYS, I said that I wanted to see the regular season games to really judge the Stadium (since I had only been to the exhibition games). Well they made some improvements. Getting tickets at will call was so much easier and quicker. The line to get in went so much quicker and the security guards were a big part of that. Tara was gone from the PA system. The pitcher in the game was actually displayed on the scoreboard. They had customer service all over the place who, while not particularly well informed, were polite and courteous. And Freddy was back!

-My biggest complaint from today was how freaking dead the place was for most of the time. It was so quiet I heard a lot of John and Susan from the concessions. I'll reserve judgment until it's a night game, and I know the team played dead for 7 innings after getting shellacked last night, but it was pathetic at times. I know the crowd was overly abundant with kids and sober people, but still...

-I went with Wolinsky today and we both agreed we don't feel any closer to the field. Wasn't that one of the supposed positives of the new stadium? I feel just as far away. Though Nick Swisher made us feel right at home in right field. If he can continue to hit, he's going to be a lot of people's favorite Yankee.

-The legends seats and suites were 1/10 filled. Maybe it had to do with that recession thingy...?

-Who needs Joba in the bullpen? JA and Brian Bruney look pretty damn good.

-We found out again why Jeter isn't hitting second anymore: GIDP

-Girardi messed up in this game in my opinion. He didn't pinch run for Matsui in the 7th and it almost cost them dearly. You have Pena and Melky on the bench. He tried to make up for it by pitch running Melky for Nick Swisher in the 8th. Why? Is Melky that much quicker than Swish?

-What took so long after Posada's home run? The umpires conferred and called it a homer. Then Eric Wedge came out to argue. Then the umpires huddled. Then they decided to go to instant replay. Then they spent time explaining the decision to Wedge and Girardi. Then we had a pitching change. It wasted about 30 minutes. If we're going to have instant replay (and can you even replay if it's fan interference? I thought just if it's out or not?) then it needs to run a lot quicker than this.

-Was there something wrong with Jose Molina's glove. He had a really, really bad inning out there of just dropping balls.

-Lastly, we almost lost to Carl Pavano. That would have been INCREDIBLY painful.