Yankees vs Rangers, Aug 6

First off I gotta get back to writing so I'm going to...

Here is the line-up per Peter Abraham:

Damon CF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
A. Rodriguez DH
Giambi 1B
Nady LF
Cano 2B
I. Rodriguez C
Betemit 3B

Ponson RHP

A few notes:

The Yankees desperately need to run off a string of victories. It is getting late in the year and the Red Sox and Rays are pulling away in the division. It is very disheartening when the Red Sox and Rays BOTH lose and alas, the Yankees lose too. The offense needs to be consistently good from here on out also. They cannot have 3 games scoring 2 runs then explode for 14 in a game. I'd much rather take 5 runs a game over those 4 then 20 runs the other way.

I hate Sidney Ponson. Bring up Aceves, Kennedy, Wright (I know, I know you all hate him because he struggled IN A FEW INNINGS (he pitched well except for a back-back-back-back inning and a few other bad innings), but he is diong great in AAA and deserves a shot, plus he is lefty), but Giese is starting for Rasner so he is not an option. The Yankees are thin in the rotation with Joba going down, which is another reason for my pessimism.

Still no word on Joba, but I am bracing myself for the very worst. Personally I would end his season. This season does not look like it is going anywhere fast for the Yankees and we need Joba to be a LONGGG term starter for us, not a guy we are going to ruin because we went for broke this year, especially when the playoff prospects for us aren't looking too hot.

Those of you who know me know that I have been a Melky fan from the very start. I wanted him up when he was in the minors, through when he was overmatched in Boston, all through last year, and I had very high hopes for Melky this season and beyond. However, Melky needs to get sent down to AAA for a while. He needs to know that he is not guaranteed a spot in the line-up and that if he doesn't produce he is replaceable with either Damon, Christian, or you can bring back Gardner (the Yankees did go on quite a run with Gardner playing, even if he struggled). Austin Jackson might be able to make the leap to the majors next year and the battle for CF should be quite a good one in the preseason.