WHY I KNOW HOW TO FIX THE YANKEES

Hey y’all, miss me? Liars!

OK, so our boys are 14 games over .500 and sitting nicely in First place. But you know what I think? I think this team still needs improvement. That 10-game win streak was done against the NL East, where our pitching was far superior than theirs. The big problem here is that we play in the offense dominated American League. It should be a mystery to no one that this lineup, as Ken Singleton says, is hitting the Interstates (.100) with runners in scoring position.  And can anyone name the last team to win a championship solely by bashing their way to it? Neither can I.

So what do we do? Luckily, I’m here to do Joe Girardi’s job for him. First off, we need to re-jigger the rotation. You can’t have Hiroki Kuroda and Phil Hughes back to back. They’re both way too inconsistent and they both give up a lot of home runs. Unacceptable. I’d stick Andy Pettitte in between them. Pettitte’s style is completely different and keeps the opposing hitters off balance from day to day.

Second, it's time to re-shuffle this lineup and I’m going against the grain on it. Derek Jeter still needs to lead off because his team-high .364 OBP is exactly what you need from a lead-off hitter; someone who gets on base. Now move Mark Teixeira to the 2 hole. He doesn’t strike out a lot and hopefully with Jeter on base, making contact will advance the runner. Curtis Granderson bats third. While he’s the epitome of a number 2 guy, he also hits for power; something that can’t be ignored. Robinson Cano bats cleanup because he is the best hitter on the team. Swish bats fifth. He’s leading the team in RBI's and is top 3 in OPS and extra base hits.

The next 4 are interchangeable based on the opposing pitcher. Sixth and seventh should be ARod, Raul Ibanez or Eric Chavez. Has anyone noticed ARod’s power numbers suck, yet he’s leading the team in stolen bases?

Yeah, those aren’t 3-hole type numbers. Russell Martin bats eighth or ninth depending if Dewayne Wise or Jayson Nix are in the lineup. Finally, Andruw Jones, looks like he’s given up, so as far as I’m concerned he’s lost his opportunity to start. He’s nothing more than a pinch hitter or fifth outfielder at this point.

Agree or disagree with my choices, but I don’t think anyone can argue that something needs to change.

GOT HEEEM!

--Lem Allen, BYB Contributor

Email me at: bybcurmudgeon@gmail.com

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