2. Johnny Damon LF
3. Mark Teixeira 1B
4. Alex Rodriguez 3B
5. Hideki Matsui DH
6. Jorge Posada C
7. Robinson Cano 2B
8. Nick Swisher RF
9. Brett Gardner CF
P. Andy Pettitte
Some notes:
- Despite Jerry Hairston, Jr's good numbers vs. Pedro, Joe Girardi rightly resisted the urge to start him over Cano, Swisher or Gardner. I think that's a very good move. Swisher is the better hitter, Cano is the better player and Gardner is the better defender. Makes the most sense
- After Hideki Matsui had to sit out a July trip through NL parks, he his .349/.473/.767 with 5 HR and 14 RBI in his next 15 games. With the same amount of rest maybe he can be as productive tonight. Also, Matsui's postseason career was going along swimmingly until Pedro brushed him back in the 2004 ALCS. Can Matsui exact some revenge?
- If this is Matsui's last game as a Yankee, they will miss him. He is .303/.385/.517 w/ 9 HR, 33 RBI in his postseason career
- Speaking of revenge, I think Posada would like some after being sat for Jose Molina and going back to 2003-2004 rivalry with Pedro where Posada thought Pedro was threatening to throw at his head.
- Girardi said that A.J. Burnett is available in relief as early as tonight. Since he's sucked it up in the first innings of his games, I'm not sure you want him in there in any big spot. Girardi said Mo is good for 2 innings tonight
- Supposedly Charlie Manuel hasn't ruled out bringing back Lee for a possible Game 7--on two days rest. Why, if that was the case, didn't he bring him back Game 4 on 3-days rest? Strange
- I'm thinking of showing up tonight at Yankee Stadium with a pan and a spoon and telling security I'm here because Freddy Sez is going on short rest. I don't know if they'll buy it, though.
- I was thinking of this Seinfeld quote today: "George Costanza: Do you wanna talk about hotels or do you wanna win some ball games?/Derek Jeter: We won the World Series/George: In 6 games"
- Although George Constanza was my pick to throw out the first pitch, they're going with Scott Brosius who is a pretty good choice too. Mary J. singing national anthem.
- Love the ending of this blog post by Chris Shearn
- Great job by Fack Youk taking apart Mike Lupica
- River Ave Blues points out that the Yankees have won before with key players struggling
- Joe Posnanski wonders if The Boss "deserves" another championship
- The OC Register shows just how good Mariano Rivera really is
- Walk Off Walk has a great list of things they can't deal with today
Let's just take a quick look at how these two veterans pitchers match up against their opposing teams (stats from Baseball-Reference and include the postseason):
Yankees vs. Pedro
PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG **OPS** SH SF IBB HBP GDP G_miss YR_miss
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+
Jerry Hairston 34 30 11 2 1 0 0 3 7 .367 .424 .500 .924 1 0 0 0 0
Mark Teixeira 9 9 2 1 0 1 1 0 4 .222 .222 .667 .889 0 0 0 0 0
Derek Jeter 119 105 28 6 0 4 10 12 29 .267 .347 .438 .785 1 0 0 1 0
Jorge Posada 84 72 15 4 1 4 12 11 34 .208 .321 .458 .779 0 0 0 1 1
Hideki Matsui 48 45 11 4 0 2 3 3 8 .244 .292 .467 .759 0 0 0 0 0
Alex Rodriguez 70 61 17 2 0 1 4 7 22 .279 .371 .361 .732 0 0 0 2 1
Eric Hinske 33 30 8 0 0 1 7 1 10 .267 .303 .367 .670 0 1 0 1 1
Melky Cabrera 9 8 2 0 0 0 0 1 3 .250 .333 .250 .583 0 0 1 0 0
Jose Molina 14 11 2 0 0 0 1 1 1 .182 .308 .182 .490 1 0 0 1 0
Johnny Damon 30 28 5 0 0 0 0 2 5 .179 .233 .179 .412 0 0 0 0 1
Robinson Cano 16 15 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 1 0 0 1
Nick Swisher 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+
Total 468 416 101 19 2 13 40 41 124 .243 .318 .392 .710 3 2 1 6 5
Philllies vs. Pettitte
PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG **OPS** SH SF IBB HBP GDP G_miss YR_miss
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+
Carlos Ruiz 3 3 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 .667 .667 1.667 2.334 0 0 0 0 0
Brett Myers 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 .500 .500 1.000 0 0 0 0 0
Shane Victorino 6 6 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 .500 .500 .500 1.000 0 0 0 0 0
Ben Francisco 6 5 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 .400 .500 .400 .900 0 0 0 0 0
Raul Ibanez 22 21 6 1 0 1 3 0 5 .286 .318 .476 .794 0 0 0 1 1
Pedro Feliz 10 7 2 0 0 0 2 3 1 .286 .500 .286 .786 0 0 0 0 0
Jimmy Rollins 18 18 4 0 0 1 1 0 2 .222 .222 .389 .611 0 0 0 0 0
Chase Utley 8 7 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 .143 .250 .143 .393 0 0 0 0 0
Jayson Werth 13 13 1 0 0 1 2 0 5 .077 .077 .308 .385 0 0 0 0 2
Ryan Howard 9 9 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .111 .111 .111 .222 0 0 0 0 0
Paul Bako 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0
Chan Ho Park 5 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 .000 .000 .000 .000 1 0 0 0 0
Matt Stairs 9 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+
Total 112 105 23 1 0 4 9 5 23 .219 .261 .343 .604 1 0 0 1 3
Some more great stats on this game here
Quick, non-reliable prediction: 7-4 Yankees in a game decided by bullpens. Posada, Matsui and Werth go deep, Mariano closes it out.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment