As they’ve been so many times this season, the Yankees are in a position to win yet another series. They’ve split the first two with the Rangers, and today’s rubber match finds them with the pitching advantage. For a fuller look at the pitching matchup, you can check out our Rangers series preview.
Beyond the pitching match-up, there’s not much to talk about today. Molina was playing today whether Jorge got hit last night or not. Call it a conspiracy if you will, but Jorge rarely catches day games after night games anyway. He’ll more than likely be behind the dish when Burnett makes his next start Tuesday in Baltimore. He could get a few more days off — with a day game after a night game on Saturday, we could see Molina catch CC tomorrow night.
Looks like Gritt Girtner could be back before long. He took swings off a tee today and hopes to play in a rehab game early next week. With Melky in a slump (though, in his defense, he’s hit some balls hard right at some defenders lately), the Yanks would probably love to go back to their quasi-platoon. It seemed they got the most out of both players that way.
And finally, they’re going to have such beautiful babies.
Lineup:
1. Derek Jeter, SS
2. Johnny Damon, LF
3. Mark Teixeira, 1B
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
5. Hideki Matsui, DH
6. Nick Swisher, RF
7. Robinson Cano, 2B
8. Melky Cabrera, CF
9. Jose Molina, C
And on the mound, number thirty-four, A.J. Burnett.