Jason Giambi is sitting against a lefty again. Oh, and so is Johnny Damon. Sure Giambi’s OPSing 1.375 on the road trip, Damon’s hitting .406 in the last 7 games, and lefties are hitting .338 off Glen Perkins, but hey, let’s sit them anyway. Not like the team is in a Wildcard chase or anything.
Damaso Marte is likely to be unavailable tonight after throwing 29 pitches yesterday thanks to that inexplicable second inning of work. Unfortunately Minnesota’s 3-4-5 hitters tonight happen to be Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Jason Kubel (the same combo manager Ron Gardenhire has been using for about a month-and-a-half), all lefthanded batters. So when push comes to shove in the late innings tonight, get ready for some Edwar Ramirez change-up action, or even … gasp … Billy Traber. Heck, even if Marte is available, he’s going to be gassed.
So remind me again, what was so bad about Joe Torre running mediocre middle relievers like Scott Proctor and Tanyon Sturtze into the ground? Hey, I wonder if that whole fiasco about IPK’s comments would have been so ridiculously blown out of proportion if Torre was around to work his media magic …
1. Christian, LF
2. Jeter, SS
3. Abreu, RF
4. A-Rod, 3B
5. Nady, DH
6. Cano, 2B
7. Sexson, 1B
8. Pudge, C
9. Melky, CF
And on the mound, Sidney “will pitch for food” Ponson.
Notes: Pudge has actually turned Sid Ponson into a pretty decent starter, squeezing a 2.03 ERA & .519 OPS against out of him in their two starts together (SSS, yes I know) … Joba’s going to start his throwing program on Wednesday … Hideki Matsui is close to beginning a rehab assignment …
(forgive me, I’m just frustrated that the manager continues to not put the team in the best position to win during one of the more critical stretches of the season)
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