Shake It Up

Tonight's Yankee lineup is a little abnormal to say the least. Melky in the 2-hole. Matsui in RF. Molina hitting 6th. No Abreu. No Giambi. Definitely not your typical Yankees lineup. But when things are going this bad, sometimes you need to make some adjustments. I can understand sitting Giambi and Abreu because Bale is a lefty. I know what you're going to say. Matsui is a lefty and Abreu is swinging a hot bat. Granted but Bobby hasn't had a day off and there isn't a break in the schedule for a couple of weeks. It makes sense to give him a day to rest.

The curious part of the "new" lineup to me is having Melky batting 2nd. I prefer Cano in the 2-hole but Cano hasn't exactly hit the ball this year. I think the Melk-Man is better suited for that spot at this point in time.

Alex gets moved up a spot to the 3-hole. I prefer him hitting clean-up but without Abreu in the lineup there aren't any better options to put in front of him.

I like having Jose Molina bat higher in the lineup. Since he's donned the Pinstripes he's shown he can bring it at the plate. He's also swinging one of the better bats so why not.

I'm not expecting much production tonight from our 8 and 9 hitters. Gonzalez is a very light hitting shortstop and Ensberg has never returned to the form he was in when he belted 30-plus homers. But hey, he can't do any worse than Wilson Betemit.

Finally the best part of the lineup is the return of Jorge Posada. His MRI showed no structural damage and apparently he feels no discomfort when he swings the bat. His bat is a welcomed additon to the already weakened lineup. He just needs to start hitting like the rest of them.

Enjoy the game.