After a disappointing end to their 2-game series in Baltimore, the Yankees north to take on the Toronto Blue Jays. Hiroki Kuroda (3-4 3.56) takes the hill for the Yankees, and will face Toronto’s young gun in Kyle Drabek (2-4 3.66). Drabek had a disappointing start to 2011 that caused him to get demoted to the minors, but he has turned things around quite nicely this season.
Drabek features a fastball that averages 93 mph (approximately 65 percent of the time), and mixes in a curveball, changeup, and cutter with equal regularity. He has been fairly home-prone throughout his career (averaging over 1 per 9 innings), though he has also been successful at keeping the ball on the ground this season (GB% of 56). Courtesy of YES’s Jack Curry, 4 current Yankees (Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Andruw Jones, and Raul Ibanez) have faced Kyle’s father Doug Drabek.
Because of the long 16-game stretch without a day off that the Yankees are currently in, Derek Jeter will have the night off to give him some rest. Curtis Granderson will take over the leadoff duties, and Jayson Nix will be at short.
For the Jays, rising star Brett Lawrie is in the lineup despite recently being suspended for 4 games for throwing a tantrum (and a helmet) at the home plate umpire after a questionable (read awful) strike 3 call. Because Lawrie is appealing the suspension, it will not take effect until the appeal process in complete, so the Yankees will have to deal with Lawrie tonight (and probably for the remainder of the series, depending on how long the appeal takes).
Lineups are below. Have fun, play nice, and go Yankees!
Yankees
Curtis Granderson CF
Nick Swisher RF
Robinson Cano 2B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Raul Ibanez LF
Eric Chavez DH
Russell Martin C
Jayson Nix SS
Kelly Johnson 2B
Erik Thames LF
Jose Bautista RF
Edwin Encarnacion 1B
Brett Lawrie 3B
Colby Rasmus CF
JP Arencibia C
Adam Lind DH
Omar Vizquel SS
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5 Responses to May 16 Game Thread: Yankees vs. Blue Jays
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TIQ IQ
I get the feeling they’re going to hit tonight.
What in God’s name is Girardi thinking batting Granderson leadoff? That position has the highest percentage of at bats with nobody on!!
I can’t figure him out at all. But this game isn’t on him. They just aren’t consistent.
This team is so dull when they lose.
It seems like Joe’s trying to tinker with the lineup too much. Granderson leads the team in HR’s and is batting first? While we’re tinkering I think the lineup should look more like this:
Jeter
Swisher
Cano
Granderson
Chavez
Arod
Ibanez
Tex
Martin
Although, you can lead a gifted hitter to the plate but, you can’t make him swing. These past two games have been hard to watch.