Meet Brett Gardner, the 12th Best Position Player In MLB

Brett Gardner flashing some leather.  (Credit: Zimbio)

According to this Fangraphs article, Brett Gardner is the 12th best position player in MLB.  And by "best," I mean that Gardner's WAR -- Wins Above Replacement -- is currently ranked 12th in baseball, behind such names as Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, Adrian Gonzalez, Joey Votto, Jose Bautista, Matt Holliday, Troy Tulowitzki, and Evan Longoria.  And believe it or not, Gardner's 9.2 is only 0.6 short of being ranked third on that list of perennial MVP candidates.  Impressive.

Now, I realize that's a big statement to make about a sprightly left fielder who was hitting .244/.372/.696 three weeks ago.  Yet I just can't disagree with Fangraphs' assessment.  WAR isn't just about big sluggers putting up gaudy power numbers.  It also values defense, which may be Gardner's best asset -- his 14.1 UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating) is currently tops in MLB.  (Oh, and by the way, Gerardo Parra's second-ranked UZR is an incredible 12% lower than Gardner's.)  In essence, Gardner uses his speed to track balls down and his strong arm to nail foolish baserunners.  Exhibit A = this beautiful catch-and-throw double play that recently preserved the Yankees' 3-2 lead over the Cubs with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth inning:

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Belated Reaction To Yankees' Second Walkoff Win Of The Season

Photo Credit: New York Daily News

Last night, the Yankees posted their second walk-off win this season, beating the Blue Jays 5-4 in the bottom of the 9th inning.  Having still not fully recovered from their six-game losing streak, and after losing the first game of the Toronto series badly on Monday night, this impressive comeback (they were down 4-1 entering the bottom of the 8th) came at the perfect time.

Given the importance of this win, I thought I would share a few (admittedly belated) thoughts...

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Trivia Tuesday: Now Batting, Derek Jeter, Number Two

Photo Credit: NY Post

There has been a lot of talk recently about Derek Jeter's struggles, but there's no question that Captain Crunch will go down as one of the greatest Yankees ever.  Top 10?  Top 5?  That's up for debate.  But there's no debating that the Yankees organization will retire Jeter's No. 2 uniform number after he hangs up his spikes.

With that in mind, can you name the last Yankee to wear No. 2 before Jeter?

Bonus no. 1: Name the years in which the last Yankee before Jeter wore No. 2.

Bonus no. 2: Five former Yankees All-Stars wore No. 2 before Jeter.  Name them.

Trivia Tuesday: Yankees Batting Order

Consistency is usually the mark of a championship team and such was the case with the 2009 Yankees who used their most common lineup 15 times during the season. But back in 1996, when the Jetererian Era started, the Yankees changed the lineup around quite often. So much, in fact, that they only had one lineup they used more than three times. Amazingly, they only used this lineup 4 times all season. Can you name that lineup from 1-9? This one should be really tough since they used 131 different lineups that season!

Bonus: the 1998 Yankees had one lineup they used 8 times--can you name that lineup 1-9 as well?

Bonus II: if those two are too hard for you or too long ago for you then answer this--which lineup did the 2010 Yankees use 10 times (which was the most often-used lineup)?

No cheating! Put your best guess in the comments below and I'll let you know if you are correct (or, like Mastermind, I will let you know how many of your 9 are correct). Good luck!

Hot Stove Coal: Reviewing Yankees Worst Case Scenarios from 2010

I figured today was a good day to revisit a depressing topic. Last winter we launched into a series looking at the Yankees worst-case scenarios for the 2010 season. I didn't expect it to be as popular as it was but it was copied on Yankees blogs, national baseball blogs and even Red Sox blogs. Our three-part series went into what it would look like if everything went wrong. Well, despite winning the Wild Card and making the American League Championship Series, some of these worst-case scenarios actually came to fruition. Let's look at each of them again and see how close we go to predicting the worst-case scenario, starting with Part 1, "The Starting Lineup":

Jeter smiles but the Cold War was predicted back in February (CBC)

Jorge Posada 
What I said worst-case would look like: "Basically 2008 redux. He played in only 51 games, garnering a measly 195 PAs. The Yankees don't need him to get 545 (a number he reached from 2000-2007) but they need him to hit the mid 400s...Jorgie can't get hurt"

What actually happened: Posada played in 120 games and got 451 PAs which was more than he had logged since 2007. The problem was that he hit like 2008 when he played, putting up a .248/.357/.454 line. He also had injury issues like 2008 with a fractured foot in mid-May and a Baker Cyst behind his knee which kept him from crouching. Worse than his offense was his defense which was so bad the Yankees have informed him he is a designated hitter in 2011. 

Mark Teixeira 
What I said worst-case would look like: "The beginning of [2009]. He can't hit and he's killing the team out there..on May 2nd of [2009], Tex was hitting .182/.354/.338 through 99 PAs"

What actually happened: Well, through 99 PAs in 2010 Tex hit .136/.300/.259 and it took him longer to get out of his slump. He still finished with very good numbers but he didn't come close to hitting his 2009 totals. And an injury during the ALCS ended his playoffs and seemed to deflate the entire Yankees' offense. Teixeira still played great defense and got on base during his slump but it took a while for him to come around while he killed the Yankees from the #3 slot.

Robinson Cano

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One (Not-So-Clear) Winner In The Derek Jeter Negotiations

A few weeks back I asked NYaT's readers and Twitter followers to guess what Derek Jeter's next contract would be. The guesses were all pretty good and I thank everyone again for participating. But now that Derek Jeter has officially inked his new contract, we need a winner. Like the actual negotiations between Jeter and the Yankees, this was not as easy as I thought. I was OK with the Yankees and Jeter working out the contract, but I was interested to see who would win our last book .But before we get to a winner, let's talk a little about the end of these negotiations.

Jeter and the Yankees' brass heading to the presser (NYT)

All it took to finalize these dealings, it seems, was for the Yankees to meet face-to-face with Jeter and hammer out what SI's Jon Heyman correctly calls "a creative and complex deal." Jack Curry via Twitter seemed to be the one to break the contract details out first and it includes a bit of everything: a large amount of guaranteed money, deferred money, an option with a buyout, and incentive clauses. Despite the fact that most announcements during the Winter Meetings are actually made where the Winter Meetings occur, the New York Post's Joel Sherman says that Jeter made the Yankees go to Tampa for the announcement, certainly the first sign that something wasn't quite right in Jeter's head.

In the end, the discussion is over and Derek Jeter is a Yankee though it didn't take long for people to start pushing loads of blame on the Yankees or on Jeter--and, honestly, both are loads of crap. This is a business negotiation not a Disney movie and, honestly, if George Steinbrenner was alive, there's no guarantee this wouldn't have gone worse for Jeter and the Yankees considering the path of his first negotiations. I don't think anyone "won" here but I think in the end, that's the sign of a fair negotiation. The Yankees got their man and Jeter got paid.

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Hot Stove Coal: Jeter and the Yankees are Taking a While...But That's OK

One of my favorite shows on television is The Office but there are episodes where Michael Scott's interactions with others get so painful to watch that you almost want to turn the channel. The Derek Jeter negotiations are on the verge of that--but aren't there yet. Like Dunder Mifflin and Michael Scott, you feel like the current version of the Yankees and Derek Jeter will always be together, when, in fact, both of those pairings will separate at some point in the not-so-distant future. But in the meantime, Jeter and the Yankees have waged a very public, sometimes uncomfortably messy negotiations for Derek Jeter's last contract. In the end, though, I think that will be okay for both the Yankees and Jeter.

Derek Jeter and the Yankees need each other (MSNBC)

Let's test your Yankees free agent memory: Do you recall the Yankees telling Bernie Williams to hit the road? Do you remember when the Yankees refused to give Andy Pettitte a large guaranteed deal and instead made him play for an average salary with incentives? How about when Jorge Posada and the Yankees had very public negotiations with Jorge threatening to bolt for Flushing? Maybe you'll recall letting World Series "heroes" Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon walk? All of these happened in the past 5 years and yet the Derek Jeter negotiations are seen by some in the media and Yankee fandom as "unprecedented", when, in fact, the Yankees have already had these types of public negotiations with Derek Jeter, himself, in the past (sometimes those were pretty messy, too).

The Yankees used to operate differently. With George Steinbrenner in charge the Yankees doled out multi-year contracts like they were Halloween candy, never worrying about the consequences or a budget. But after getting bogged down with the Carl Pavanos and Jaret Wrights and, now, A.J. Burnetts of the baseball world, the Yankees are trying not to make the same mistake again. The Yankees' "core" is getting to the point where most teams would send them out to pasture with a shotgun in the pickup but Pettitte, Jeter, Rivera and even Posada can all serve a purpose to a Yankees team trying to win in 2011. They all have meant a lot to the Yankees teams of the past and have been well-compensated for that, but can still contribute to a winning team in '11.

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What Will Derek Jeter's Next Contract Be? (The Guesses & Contest Winner)

Our contest got a ton of entries, but the first prize winner of a copy of Jane Leavy's New York Times bestseller, "The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood" is Peter McLaughlin (@pjmclaugh on Twitter). Congrats to him, but there were many, many more guesses of what Derek Jeter's contract will look like. It will be interesting to come back to these in a few weeks and see who wins the second book as the person who got closest (in years/dollars combination) to the actual result. Here are the predictions from our crowd sourcing prognostication (in annual value order and with options picked up):

Name	Years	Dollar	Average
@JayHyne	4	$48	$12.0
@Laurenmass	4	$60	$15.0
Alex O	4	$60	$15.0
@Scroiata	5	$75	$15.0
@NYsportSpace	4	$65	$16.3
@danreilly11	4	$65	$16.3
@hbk2369	4	$65	$16.3
Richie K	4	$66	$16.5
@eric_weinberg	4	$70	$17.5
@JobaRules26	5	$90	$17.9
@NYYEric	3	$54	$18.0
@AndyNY2	4	$76	$19.0
@pjmclaugh	4	$84	$21.0
@theharryadams	3	$65	$21.7
@treyalex09	3	$65	$21.7
Average	4	$67	$17.3

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Last Chance to Win a Great Prize

As we told you on Monday, we're giving out TWO copies of Jane Leavy's New York Times bestselling book, "The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood." For those of you who missed it, all you have to do to win is to tell us what you think Derek Jeter's next contract will be. Simple as that. We'll extend the guessing to the end of the day to give everyone a chance to win. Then we'll announce the first winner on the book on Monday here at NYaT. Here are the rest of the rules:

Go on to Twitter and reply to us at @NoYoureaTowel and let us know what you think Derek Jeter's next contract will look like (years and dollar amount) with the hashtag #NextJeterContract. So a sample tweet would look something like this "@NoYoureaTowel I think that Derek Jeter will get a 3 year, $50 million contract #NextJeterContract".

If you don't have Twitter, you can let us know in the comments below as well. You have until Friday to get your guesses in. If you retweet this blog post (you can do so just by clicking that button below the post), you will double your chances to win.

Remember, you must be following us on Twitter at NoYoureaTowel to win (but you really should be already). Good luck and make sure to get your guesses in! Don't miss out on this great opportunity to win a fabulous book.

Trivia Tuesday: Derek Jeter and Mickey Mantle Edition (with a prize!)

Well it's not exactly our regular trivia, but we're continuing our contest from yesterday: guess Derek Jeter's next contract and win a prize. Click on that link and check out the rules but it's really as simple as that. You don't even have to be right as one random guesser will win a book too. Don't miss out on this great and easy opportunity to take home a copy of the New York Times' Bestseller by Jane Leavy for free. For all those Mickey Mantle, Yankees and baseball buffs out there, this is an opportunity not to be missed. So go on Twitter and let us know your thoughts!

What Will Derek Jeter's Next Contract Look Like? (with a prize!)

Last week we gave out a copy of Jane Leavy's new book that everyone is talking about, the New York Times bestseller, "The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood." The Tuesday Trivia winner was Richard Iurilli and we want to congratulate him on winning the first book (it will be in the mail very shortly). While Ben W is diligently reading through the book to write a review on the blog and Richard will be starting to read his shortly, we have two more books to give away.

Here's how we're going to do it: go on to Twitter and reply to us at @NoYoureaTowel and let us know what you think Derek Jeter's next contract will look like (years and dollar amount) with the hashtag #NextJeterContract. So a sample tweet would look something like this "@NoYoureaTowel I think that Derek Jeter will get a 3 year, $50 million contract #NextJeterContract".

If you don't have Twitter, you can let us know in the comments below as well. You have until Friday to get your guesses in. If you retweet this blog post (you can do so just by clicking that button below the post), you will double your chances to win.

On Friday I'll select one random Twitter guesser to get a book (you must be following NoYoureaTowel to be eligible--and remember, retweeting gets you 2x the chances!). The last book will go to the person who comes the closest to the actual Derek Jeter contract when that is signed (and can be on Twitter or here in the comments). The crowdsourcing answers will be compiled into a blog post so make sure to send good guesses. You don't know when he'll actually sign that contract, so make sure to get your guesses in quickly just in case he signs this week!  Good luck!

Three Quick Questions Before the Start of the ALCS

I had a few thoughts in my head before we start the ALCS in less than two hours. If you have the answers, feel free to put it in the comments below.

Have you heard the Yankees 2010 theme?



As 'Duk from Big League Stew says, this is Empire State of Mind for 2010. Anyone who has been near New Orleans lately knows that this is much closer to the Saints Black and Gold: Who Dat? phenomenon.

Why is Austin Kearns on the ALCS Roster?

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Yankees Chasing Numbers: The Hitters

A few of the Yankees chasing special milestone numbers in the last weeks of the season (thanks to Baseball-Reference's Play Index for a lot of the help on this):

Robinson Cano can join some impressive company in 2010 (ESPN)

Robinson Cano (.323, 99 runs, 187 hits, 28 HR, 102 RBI, 13 IBB).

If Cano reaches 100 runs, 200 hits, 30 HR and 110 RBIs (and he's on pace for each mark), he would become the third Yankee to do so after Lou Gehrig (7 times), Babe Ruth (3 times), Don Mattingly (twice) and Joe DiMaggio (once). Cano would also become only the third Yankee middle infielder to hit 30 HR after Alfonso Soriano (twice) and Joe Gordon (once). The only Yankees with an average of at least .323 and 30 HR: Babe Ruth (11 times), Lou Gehrig (9 times), Joe DiMaggio (5 times), Don Mattingly (3 times), and Mickey Mantle (twice). Cano's 13 intentional walks are tied for 9th best for a Yankee, one more ties him for 6th, two more ties him for 5th and 4 more would tie him for 4th. A 200-hit season would make him the first Yankee second baseman with more than one 200-hit season and would join Derek Jeter as the only other Yankee middle infielder with multiple 200-hit seasons..

Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano, Nick Swisher, Alex Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson (30 HR, 28 HR, 26 HR, 25 HR, and 21 HR respectively)

If somehow 4 players finishes with 30 home runs, it would be the first time that 4 Yankees have hit 30 HR in the same year. The Yankees have had 3 players hit 30+ HR in one season 4 different times: 1941 and 2003, 2004 and 2005. Right now the Yankees have 4 players with 25 HR, tying them for second on the all-time list with the 1938 Yankees. If Granderson can hit 4 more home runs, they would tie the 2009 team which also had 5 players hit 25+ HR.

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The Derek Jeter Outrage and the Morality Police

Being busy at work means that it takes me a while to weigh in on topics recently, but the outrage over the Derek Jeter hit-by-pitch "incident" ("HBP-gate"?) was worth waiting to comment on. Like the Mariano Rivera "spitting on the ball" video in the ALCS last season, any chance to take down Jeter or Rivera are blown completely out of proportion (the media loves the "aha" moments). But the vitriol over this latest Jeter incident was extremely, well, disturbing. Baseball--in sports in general--are not won by the nice guys in search of a gentleman's game; those games are won by those who go the extra inch and do what it takes to succeed. And usually we applaud our players for doing that: the Derek Jeter flip play or his hustle to first base on every ground ball are repeated over and over again when people mark him as a True Yankee. So it seems incongruous (to me at least) to laud our players for doing everything they can to win and then we blast them when it offends our morality.

Derek Jeter's "acting" bothered many (NYT)

But such is the ways of the "Morality Police." We seem to have no problem with catchers who frame pitches, middle infielders who don't actually touch second on a double play, first baseman who go to throw the ball around the horn when they know the guy is safe on the bang-bang play at first, or outfielders who feign like they're going to catch the ball to get a runner to hold up a bit on first on a sure double to stop him from scoring. But hey, the home plate umpire says Derek Jeter is hit by a pitch and he sells it by hopping around in the box for a while and suddenly he's a desperate cheater. Jeez, no wonder criminals are all wearing Yankee hats (Slate wonderfully calls bogus on that).

ESPN's Rob Neyer says to indict baseball rather than Jeter. Why does anyone need to be indicted (except maybe the lack of Instant Replay)? Does a hitter who gets a favorable ball call from an ump when he bails out of the way even though it's never going to hit him have to get up and say to the ump: "you know what, that was nowhere close to me"? No. How about an outfielder who tries to sell a liner he knows he obviously trapped? Not a chance. But hey, Derek Jeter's dramatics were "over the line". People are killing Jeter for not getting on base (and rightfully so) and now that he finds his way there through a little embellishment of his own, people are suddenly up in arms? It was bad acting and, really, probably not going to help Jeter's re-election campaign for Sports Illustrated "Sportsman of the Year".

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Trivia Tuesday: 100 RBI Yankee Edition

Alex Rodriguez's home run yesterday gave him 100 RBIs for a 14th straight season which was a new Major League record. A-Rod has had 100 RBIs in each of his 7 seasons in Pinstripes, which ties him for 4th best on the Yankee list in amount of RBI seasons. There have been 10 other Yankees who have had at least 5 seasons of 100 RBIs while in Pinstripes--can you name them?

Bonus Question: Derek Jeter got his 150th hit on Monday which was his 15th straight season with 150 hits. That ties the third longest streak in history and makes him one of 5 players with 150+ hits in 15 straight seasons. Who are the other 4?

Put your answers below in the comments. I will reveal the correct answers later. Good luck!

The Yankee Clipper: Going For A Sweep (and Poll Results)

The Yankees have notched 5 Ws in a row and going for a 4-game sweep of the lowly Oakland Athletics today at the Stadium. Since the beginning of July, the Yankees have only lost 3 series (two vs. Toronto and one vs. Tampa) and the Yankees now sit by themselves in 1st place, a season-high 33 games over .500 at 83-50. How did we get here and where do the Yankees go from here?

Jorge Posada's strike out from last night looked a bit outside (BrooksBaseball)

1. The Yankees rotation concerns are really nothing new. Mike Axisa of River Ave Blues wrote a whole post about it, but I've been saying it for weeks: the 2010 team looks a lot like 2009. This statement was true for both 2009 and 2010: A.J. Burnett went 0-4 in August with an ugly ERA and questions were raised about his ability to pitch in October. Well last night we saw Good A.J., also known as the guy who won every Game 2 for the Yankees last year. So the Yankees will have to hope for a Good A.J. the rest of the way, a healthy Andy Pettitte, and someone else (Ivan Nova, Phil Hughes, or Javier Vazquez) step up and contribute. This is not to say that the rotation shouldn't be a concern for the Yankees, but just that the Yankees had the same issues and much less depth last year and they figure out how to bring home a World Series. Moshe Mandel at TYU takes an early gander at the postseason rotation. I think a lot of that will be in flux as September performances take shape. Brien @ IIATMS takes stock of the rotation.
2. Robinson Cano: MVP? We'll have to look at this a bit more, but I wanted to throw it out there. Josh Hamilton is kicking Cano's ass in WAR on FanGraphs, but leads all AL hitters in WAR in Baseball-Reference. As ESPN Stats and Info blog wrote yesterday, Cano's best time of year is just starting so te best may be yet to come (though it's hard to imagine him being better than his ridiculous April). YES' Jack Curry writes that Cano is showing the maturity and talent of an MVP. Detroit has fallen off so Miguel Cabrera will be hard-pressed to win (unless he miraculously takes the AL Triple Crown) and Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford will probably split votes for their teams. The Yankees' other two of NoMass' Three Amigos (Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher) don't figure to take away too many votes from Cano. I think it comes down to Hamilton and Cano and Cano's position may make it a close race.
3. What will be the price tag on Derek Jeter?

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G-I-D-P Spells Frustration Over Last Night's Ending

At times, I feel like I'm spoiled as a Yankee fan. I don't expect the team to go 162-0, but in the past two years I've seen them launch some improbably comebacks and made opposing bullpens look like mush so often that I feel like they are never out of a game. So when last night the Yankees were down 2-0 or 3-0 in a game, I felt like a comeback was not only imminent, but necessary. The team's bats had failed recently and this was about the time they turned it on and stole a game. And while things were derailed in the 8th inning when Marcus Thames grounded out, I felt that the 9th inning was going to provide promise as well.

GIDP is becoming all too Jeterian at times (MSNBC)

But then came "fun with numbers" as Derek Jeter--El Capitan, Captain Clutch, etc--rapped into a 6-4-3 double play. Game over.

I'm not naive to suggest that the Yankees should come back there. Or that Derek Jeter is the clutchiest clutch hitter that ever lived, but the Yankees could have not swung the bat and won that game. Nor was this all Jeter's fault as Jorge Posada (and to a lesser extent Marcus Thames and Curtis Granderson) were guilty of the same Jeterian mistakes as the Captain himself. And I'm not unappreciative of who Derek Jeter is or what he's done for this team, this franchise and this sport*, but there were some serious problems that I had with yesterday's game**.

*Side Note: Joe Posanski had a great debate today about Derek Jeter vs. Mariano Rivera on who was more important to the Yankees. I need to get into greater detail in a later post about this, but the answer for me is Mariano Rivera and the reason is because of an Intro to Econ concept called opportunity cost. With the Yankees financial might, they could always sign another shortstop such as Alex Rodriguez  to take over for Derek Jeter and the result would have been pretty damn good if not better. But the opportunity cost of Mariano Rivera is unthinkable (and Rivera is a "rate environment extremophile" according to Tommy Bennett of Baseball Prospectus so you gotta love that). JoePo touched on this but even the best closers in the game never reached the level of consistency or dominance that Mo did. Money can't buy that. That isn't to say that Derek Jeter wasn't more valuable to the Yankees dynasty (he definitely was and any WAR or Win Shares) calculation will back that up, but despite the fact today's closers are vastly overrated, the answer has to go to Jeter in the value column. Though I may have mixed up the two. Undetermined.

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Trivia Tuesday: 2,500 Hit Club

There are currently no active Major Leaguers who have 3,000 hits, but there are 7 active players (loosely defined as anyone not retired--ie, not Ken Griffey, Jr.) who have more than 2,500 hits. Of course, Derek Jeter is the next in line to hit the 3,000 mark with 2,885 hits (his GIDP to end last night's game notwithstanding), but who are the other 6 active players with more than 2,500 hits?

Bonus Question: Derek Jeter is currently 7th on the active list in batting average at .315, who are the 6 players ahead of him?

Answer in the comments below and I'll reveal the correct answers later. Good luck!

Update 12:15 PM : Second Bonus: 10 active players have hit over .300 for their careers but below Jeter's .315 mark. Can you name those 10?

The Night I Got Kicked Out of Yankee Stadium--and Snuck Back In

It's a story that I've told many times, but one that still seems to bring a smile and cringe to my face: the night I got kicked out of old Yankee Stadium. It's a slow day here and I figured it was a good time to finally put the story on the blog. So here it goes:

The stadium security policy got me kicked out of a game--but provided for a memorable night

It was April 18, 2002 and I headed down to the old ballpark in the Bronx with my buddies Jordan and Micah to see the Baltimore Orioles take on the New York Yankees. The Yankees had David Wells pitching vs. Scott Erickson who the Yankees had pretty much owned over his career (9-13 with a 4.98 ERA and 1.522 WHIP).

I had three seats for that night and we piled into Jordan's minivan and headed down to Yankee Stadium. I was about to have major surgery, I still hadn't decided on where I was going to college, I was nervous/excited/anxious about leaving home to go to school, and I felt like a night of baseball with my boys would help take my mind off what was going on in my life.

Backing up a bit, my invitation to Micah was in return for him inviting me to Opening Day. His father's law firm had acquired four season tickets for the 2002 season in the last row behind the visiting dugout in the Field Box section (I believe that was the name of the area--though @leokitty suggests Field Championship via Twitter which is probably right). We had played hooky, and took the train from Scarsdale on Opening Day to see them play the Devil Rays. I told him I would pay him back with a game and the April 18th game was the one. 

The game was a doozy. The Yankees led off the bottom of first with a Soriano single, then a steal of second and a hit by Nick Johnson put runners at the corners for Derek Jeter (no Bernie Williams that night so the make-shift lineup had Derek Jeter in the three-hole). Jeter singled home Soriano and then Johnson scored two batters later when Jorge Posada hit a line drive single to center.

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The Yankee Clipper: Burnett, Gardner, Jeter, Granderson and Cashman

That's the list of subjects for today. After a 4-game split with the Red Sox, the Yankees head to Texas to face the 1st place Texas Rangers. Let's set up the situation:

Curtis Granderson has had a rough go of it against LHP (NYDN)

1. Curtis Granderson needs to platoon. It's pretty simple. Granderson has been awful against lefties and since this is a trend that has followed him from Detroit, it's time to stop the experiment. I agree with Joe from River Ave Blues: platoon Granderson. Although the Yankees were oh-for-9 with runners in scoring position yesterday, the most frustrating of them was when Granderson faced Lester with the bases loaded and struck out. It wasn't necessarily him striking out (Derek Jeter and Nick Swisher would do the same thing in the following ABs against Daniel Bard), but the fact he was batting at all. Granderson sucks big time against lefties and while there was no perfect replacement on the bench  with both Austin Kearns and Marcus Thames starting, Brett Gardner (as Jay Jaffe of Baseball Prospectus pointed out, Gardner, while a lefty himself, has a .375 OBP of better vs.. LHP the past two seasons) or Lance Berkman would have been better options. But Girardi has stuck with Granderson through thick and thin against lefties and while I understand it at times (the Yankees have a long-term investment in Granderson and need to see if he can be more than a platoon player), going forward the Yankees need to worry about winnings games and not The Grandy Man's feelings. The New York Post's Joel Sherman says that Granderson should be glad that The Big Stein is not around because the pressure could be a lot higher.
2. Brett Gardner needs to run more. Gardner has been in a horrendous slump recently, but even worse than his slump has been his hesitancy on the basepaths. Yesterday was a prime example. As Jaffe writes: "Girardi pulled [A-Rod] for the pinch-running Gardner, who drew four pickoff attempts from Bard but didn't attempt to steal against Martinez despite the Boston backstop's 19 percent success rate in throwing out would-be thieves. Gardner finally lit for second on a hit-and-run as Cano grounded to second, something of a wasted opportunity for the speedster." As Ben from River Ave Blues writes "In an ideal world, Gardner would be the Jacoby Ellsbury of the Yankees. The speed is there, but Gardner doesn’t have the instincts or daring of Ellsbury." I usually don't try to get into the psyche of a player, but that seems to be an extremely true statement. Gardner is one of the fastest white men around yet he seems too scared about getting caught. While stealing efficiency is important, he needs to go in those type of situations. Yesterday, Brett the Jet was grounded.

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