Is This Really Tonight's Lineup??

Per ESPN NY's Yankees blog, there is tonight's lineup.  Usual suspects 1-6, but then we get to the bottom third.

7) Nick Swisher- RF
8) Marcus Thames- LF
9) Curtis Granderson- CF

Is Joe fucking serious?  Second game of the year and we're already playing these lefty pitcher matchup games with C-Grand and Gardner?  Can't we at least let these guys get a few at-bats against lefties before everyone decides they can't hit them.  Or even ONE at-bat?!

And not for nothing, but it's not like Marcus Thames was crushing the ball this spring, off of lefties or righties.  You could at least bat Granderson ahead of Thames since he's supposedly your everyday centerfielder and an All Star-caliber player.  If I'm Gardner and Granderson, I'm ripshit mad right now.

Someone needs to wake Joe up and tell him it ain't Spring Training anymore.  Put your best 9 out there and play to win.  Stop fucking around and giving everybody more practices innings/at-bats to "prove themselves."

A.J. Burnett (And His Alter Ego) Back On The Mound Tonight

Tonight's the big night! A.J. and Jorge, together again. How will they work together? Will Burnett throw a perfect game? How many times will Jorge visit the mound? Will A.J. get shelled? Will the 2 get in a fist fight out there?

More importantly, which pitcher will we see tonight? Dr. A.J., the one who calmly attacks the zone and works both sides of the plate with his fastball to set up the killer curve for his out pitch? Or Mr. Burnett, the cranky, whiny little bitch who can't throw strikes and spends the whole game muttering to himself in between four-pitch walks and first-pitch doubles off the wall?

One start never defines a season, but in A.J.'s case and with his past record of inconsistency, it's more important for him to have a good outing today and get off on the right foot in 2010 rather than fire up the question mill from the press just three days into the season. I'd say that's even more important than the Yanks actually winning the game.



- Speaking of pitchers, the Red Sox must have thought more of Josh Beckett's Opening Night performance that the rest of us did,  as they decided to sign him to a 4-year, $68 million extension yesterday.

I don't know about you, but I think that's a bit of a steep price to pay for a guy with a 9.64 ERA and a 2.36 WHIP right now. Then again, if you subscribe to the Joe Morgan theory of pitching, Beckett's bad start on Sunday night won't count towards his final numbers and those numbers will be better than whatever they actually show at the end of the season.