Johnny Damon CF
Derek Jeter SS
Jason Giambi DH
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Jorge Posada C
Bernie Williams RF
Andy Phillips 1B
Melky Cabrera LF
Miguel Cairo 2B

Jaret Wright RHP

At least Miggy's batting 9th today.

Andy is decent at 1B, but would likely be below average at the more challenging 2B. Cairo's RATE at 2B is 116 so far this year (106 last year). Better than Cano's.

I think after the Giamb-E debacle Sunday, Andy will starting at 1B for all practical purposes, so we won't lose his bat.

I still think the BEST thing would have been to try Andy at 2B, at least until the All-Star break, and call up another bat anyway (is Durazo ready?). Then Giambi+ BAT = 1B/DH, with Andy at 2B, Cairo as defensive replacement. If Andy is fine at 2b, you can ride out the injury and test another player in the line up. If not, you swap Cairo into the field/line-up as they have it now, and at least you a reasonable bench.

Even beyond the injuries, it is infuriating how the Yankees consistently play short by burying emergency players (extra IF, third C) and pitchers (13th pitcher in the BP).

Just kidding...

Here's A-Rod's home/away splits for last year:

HOME: .351 / .448
AWAY: .291 / .395

For this year:

HOME: .261 / .803
AWAY: .301 / .975

The booing getting to him? Or just a return to the norm?

Bring on Smoltz! This lineup prefers name-brand pitchers to generic.

This team is killing me--only one walk drawn? I realize they're down 3 starters but come on.

A couple of weeks later he was traded to Toronto (as damaged goods) for Jesse Barfield, which the inimitable John Sterling called "a steal."

But they just said he's back out playing SS. Guess it wasn't as bad as it looked.

Though we'll see how he feels tomorrow.

Chipper has got to be one of my least favorite players.

And Miggy gets a clutch hit...

i hate the Mets

That comebacker by the Cap was so weak that even Sterling was commenting on how lame it was. Too much 32nd birthday party cavorting for the ladies man?

Also, traffic seems very low this evening on the Banter.

These deflating offensive performances make our record feel a lot worse than it actually is. A-Rod is just a symbol for a lost June.

Cashman, get a corner OF now!!!!

I kind of wish they'd release the big piece of s--t.

I hate the Yanks. Going 3-2 on a stretch where the starters give up 8 ER once through the rotation.

I hate Kyle Farnsworth who's part of the reason why. 2 ER and 2 outs tonight.

I hate the Mets. I hate the whole National League. Rolling over for Boston and playing the Yanks to 7-6. Or maybe it's the Yanks playing them to 6-7, but I already mentioned I hated the Yankees.

Lester threw 116 pitches through 5 innings. Five innings and the Mets only squeeze two runs out of him. Absolutely incompetent.

Bet he wasn't invited to Jeter's party...

116 the saddest thing about the Lester start tonight is that Sawx fans will use this to talk about how he's the second coming of Steve Carlton and Randy Johnson rolled into one. Only 2 runs and 5 ks they'll say, ignoring the 116 pitches to get 15 outs and the 5 walks. Just like they point to Josh Beckett's glittering 9-3 record and ignore all the nast peripherals.

Bernie's hot streak appears to be cooling. He's not even hitting righty these days. And I'm still wondering where he was when Damon fielded that ball right in front of the 385' sign.

And on and on. Probably until August, though I am really trying to convince myself this will pass. Beating Detroit 3 out of 4 and the Red Sox twice seems so very long ago.

Brett Myers isn't exactly a bad pitcher, (bad husband maybe but hey :P).

Anyway, as long as we don't trade Hughes or something I'm not too worried, even if we fail to make the playoffs this year we still have some good future ahead of us. And there is just only so much one could do when u lose so many guys to injury.

They've scored fourteen fewer and allowed six more runs, and they still have a 3.5 game lead. It's really irrating.

I wish the mean would show up already and regress them good.

At least I'm secure enough that I won't explain myself.

Do you even realize how silly you sound? There's nothing worse than a fan using luck as an excuse for their team. We're half way into the season, almost. It is what it is.

Showing a stat about one run games? So one run games are decided by luck?

And isn't it the yankees fault they haven't gotten 'bloated' on national league teams? Or have they been unlucky?

I promise you this, yankees or red sox or blue jays win the division, I would never blame it on luck, or injuries.

If I didn't bitch here, I'd bitch to the people I know and love, who are generally indifferent to baseball. Eventually I'd alienate them.

200 million payroll, and blaming luck. Hilarious.

So cut with the cheap shots and talking out of your rear end, and go away if you have nothing of substance to contribute.

You can get a little flavor of it here:

http://tinyurl.com/r543a

There's also a link to the full article, if you happen to be a WSJ subscriber.

Also, I find it hard to spin the fact that Yankees scored more and gave up less as a positive for the Red Sox other than luck...

Three seconds apart, according to the time-stamp. It seems dpmurphy took it as a response to his post when it wasn't, and that misunderstanding touched off this little tiff.

He can post whatever he wants, constructive or not, and no matter how implausible or off-base. I do it all the time.

Though I do have this image of him in front of his screen, reading BB, blood boiling, and thinking to himself, "For a moment I thought he was bitching, but now I see he's just whining, which is beneath contempt, so I'll ignore him, and post about it so everyone knows."