A-Rod cleanup, Bernie DH, Giambi at first
Full report forthcoming from MLB.com, but news flash: Bernie Williams will DH because of his good numbers against Kenny Rogers, Jason Giambi will play first after Joe Torre was assured he’s physically OK to do so, and A-Rod is cleanup instead of sixth. Torre is in the press interview room right now and here is his announcement:
"Johnny first, Derek, Bobby, Alex will hit fourth, so I can
make everybody happy (laughter fills room), Giambi, Posada, Matsui, Bernie and Cano."
ALDS: Tigers vs. Yankees 
I am a big Joe Torre fan but I don’t understand this move at all. Now tonight I maybe the most surprised Yankee fan in the world but right now A-Rod makes Dave Winfield look like Mr. October. After game 2 I was thinking A-Rod would move down in the order not up.Matsui, Posada have proven what they can do in the big game. All I know is if Matsui bats 6th in game 2, Yanks may be up 2-0. If A-Rod blows it tonight the best thing for him and the Yankees is a trade. A-Rod is a good player but can he do it in the clutch? For Joe’s sake I hope he does……..
^ dude, i think part of it has to do with the righty-lefty thing..
Damon – lefty
Jeter – righty
Abreu – lefty
A-Rod – righty
Giambi – lefty
Posada – switch
Matsui – lefty
Bernie – switch
Cano – lefty
Seems like everybody is blaming A-Rod for the Yankees losing yesterday but the real culprit is Mussina. He had a 3-1 lead and could not hold it there considering the Tigers are free swingers. All the Yankees were terrible yesterday but Damon and Matsui. Watch out for their vengeful bats tonight!
Steinbrenner if you want a great Yankee team, dump K-Rod and get 2 great pitchers for him. With our lineup what do we need with a 125% average in October????
I feel like I am in the Twilight Zone. If I were the Manager, O-Rod would be on the bench in favor of Miguel Cairo. I even have more confidence in Green’s bat.
It is a really sad state of affairs. I hope you guys wake up before we loss this attempt at the series. Zip-Rod is a wimp. He is not a stand up YANKEE. He cannot get a hit when we need it. He will never get a hit when we need it. Nothing changes if nothing changes.
A loss tonite & I’m afraid to say but it’s lights out for our beloved Yankees. The Curse of Don Mattingly will continue………….
Start spreading the news….. I think I hear the FAT LADY starting to sing……..BEST TEAM ON PAPER.
Hey Dude,( Levelboss ) We are going to left, right ourself right out of the series….I could not agree with rkny anymore trade him and get pitching…….In a short series pitching wins and we don’t have enough starting or middle relief….
Well frankly the Yankees have been letting everyone down since 2001. A- rod is an over rated cocky chump, and anyone who has being paid $25,000,000 a year should never bat .290 with only 35 homeruns, let alone lead the team in errors. And mussina is a whinny little girl who should worry more about winning a frickin game than about lasting longer in the league. Throw the ball, make strikes and stop worrying about the scratch on yer finger or why the players dont score enough runs when you pitch, when you blow a 3-1 lead in a playoff game thats your fault, no one elses. Joe Torre is a joke of a mananger. You dont start a bench player in the playoffs and you certainly dont start the all but worthless Jarret Wright in a must win game. Pitch Wang then worry about game 5, cause if you pitch Wright there will be no game 5. Oh and pitching Rivera only one inning a game to save his arm for the next round. There will be no next round if we leave another game in our pitching staffs less than skilled hands. Id love to be proven wrong and id love to see the team ive loved ever since i knew what baseball was, win this series and go to the World Series but im very very doughtful that Wright can pull it off. Oh and last but not least Randy is a 6’11” washed up hefty bag full of redneck trash. Retire, call it quits and if by some miracle we do make it to the next and Torre pitches you, I hope you can live with the fact that your the reason this Yankee fan for the past 23 years cant even stomach to watch the mananger and a worhless pitcher shatter his love of the game season after season.
Did anyone notice Rogers was hyped up. I don`t know what he was drinking but it wasn`t carrot juice. I have seen him before and he didn`t look like today. As far as A-rod the other posting was write trade A-rod for two good pitchers.
A-rod…A-rod…A-rod..everyone blames A-rod.. ONE PLAYER does NOT carry this team..Noone ever thinks about the things he did before post season..Granted, he did have alot of strike outs.. and errors..but he still had over 30 home runs..over 100 Rbi’s..? that helped get the Yankees into the post season.. Even if A-Rod was NOT in the lineup…NOONE was bringing in runs last night..The Yankees underestimated The Tigers..What happened before A-rod? Yankees still came up short..Maybe A-rod just needs to be paid alot less money..Trading a star player who hits over 30 home runs and brings in over 100 Rbi’s in a season would just be stupid..
I agree. Losing A-rod would only lighten up the payroll. The Yankees need to stop going after achieved players who are about to leave the game. Randy Johnson should have never joined this team, yes that was also a bad trade. Of course we are all alittle dissapointed with A-rod when you make that kind of money no one wants to hear any excuses why you cannot perform but we have to remember he is human and maybe if we get off his back alittle he could concentrate on the game. Lets not forget how we always make sure Jeter out shines him as if this is some kind of competition between them two their both on the same team and we all should be focusing on ways to win the game and not what we have to do after the game if we lose. Lets just pray we dont even have to think about anything like that. Our YANKS have done it before we WILL do it AGAIN!!!!
K-Rod must go and after watching the Yankees since game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, so does Joe and hate to say it, my favorite Yankee of all time, Donnie Baseball. Sorry, Donnie but Yankee coaches and players are measured by what they do in the post season not during the regular season. We need to open up the checkbook to get sweet Lou Pinella back in pinstripes.
We all know about the curse of the Babe for the Red Sox but now we have the curse of A-Rod. The yankees will never win a World Series with A-Rod on the team
The Yankees again prove that big
money,a team of big boppers, and
lousy pitching will NEVER win in
the postseason. Good/great pitching will always beat good/
great hitting.
A-Fraud,Sh*tffield,Cheat-ambi,
M(ess)ina, and The Little Unit,
all are overrated, period!
They put up big numbers during
the regular season, but come
the postseason, and it’s choke
city baby!
And being a die-hard Red Sox
fan, I love it! So the Yankees
can win the division, but then
comes the real pressure, and
what happens…gag,choke,haha!
Get some better pitching and
maybe you’ll win the Series
again. On second thought, don’t, and choke again you
overrated stiffs!
I think chen mang wang should have started this game
Wow i wasnt wrong. Atleast i wasnt 100 percent let down. But its still like a death in the family itll take about 2 weeks to set in that the yankees wont play again until the spring.
A-Rod stinks like ****
where to begin? I have been defending A-ROD for some time thinking that this would be the series that he would finally show up. The taste in my mouth is telling me now that this time has passed. I can’t lay the blame all at alex’s feet however. There are more than a few factor’s that contributed to this “Team of Team’s” demise.
1. Starting pitching.
a) Randy johnson-A much sorrier version of his former self, who only had a 17 game winning season because of the run support he got which I believe was in the area of 7 runs a game. This guy is completely washed up, and now with his back is officially unreliable with his 5+ run era.
b) Mike mussina-I don’t have a lot of bad things to say about the moose because he has at least delivered for us in the past. The only knock on mike is that he is over the hill and should not expect his option to be picked up next year.
c) Jaret wright- This guy used to be an unbelievable pitcher when he was younger and before his arm troubles. Cashman should have NEVER taken the chance with this guy in the first place. Who cares if he pitched a game seven. What was that 100 years ago? The way he pitched up in the zone in game four, I think I could’ve went at least 2 for 3 with a walk, and I haven’t played organized ball in 15 years.
d) Carl Pavano- MY FAVORITE! This guy has more cracks in him than humpty dumpty himself. Chew on this a moment. Carl, who makes god knows how much a year, hasn’t pitched a single MAJOR league game in going on two seaons. That is Pathetic!
e)Wang- Let’s find four more just like him. And we can pay him with A-Rods salary.
2. No heart!
Beside Jeter and Posada who both hit somewhere in the vicinity of .500 against the tigers where were the rest of the “Greatest lineup ever assembled.” I look at this lineup, and yes it is formidable on paper. But where is the grit,the hunger, the drive? Players like brosius, tino, bernie, even boone. These guys hit game winners, make clutch plays at third, and hit in the clutch. We just don’t have that right now. We have way too many superstars and not enough energy. For example, guys like cano, melky and andy phillips. These guys showed that they can play on this stage and get the job done, when they actually play. I believe the yanks should line up like this next year.
1B Andy Phillips
2B Robinson Cano
3B Miguel Cairo
SS Derek Jeter
LF Hideki Matsui
CF Johnny Damon
RF Melky Cabrera
DH Jason Giambi
Granted, not as potent as our current lineup, but coupled with some new starting pitching. Which could easily be financed by tradind A-Rod away for two YOUNG pitchers, maybe three. Declining sheffield’s and Mussina’s options, And voiding Carl Pavano’s contract. Point being there are options to improve this team and making them more balanced.
As we saw this year, GREAT PITCHING WILL SHUTDOWN GREAT HITTING…
If Reggie Jackson was Mr October (and he certainly was – he delivered) then A-ROD deserves the title Mr Choak-tober. Two years in a row, this guy has dissapointed his team mates and the rest of the Yankee Nation. 071 is the most dismal batting average for a series I’ve ever seen in 46 years of following the Yankees, followed closely be Gary Sheffield at 083. Shame on both of them.
I think the Yankees have way to many stars. You need a few but not 7 out of 9 players. give mre a break. I think we need some young pitchers and get rid of gary, a-rod and jason.