Sunday, March 23, 2008

Yankees-Pirates lineups

The fact I'm toast in my NCAA pool makes it much easier to enjoy today's Easter Sunday special from McKechnie Field between the Pirates (8-15, auditioning for the regular season?) and the Yankees (12-7-2, on pace for a quick start).
Howdy, I'm Mike Henry and I hope to give you a taste of the sounds, sights and smells while you're gorging on eggs and bunny ears.
It's a match-up between first-year managers Joe Girardi of the Bombers and John Russell of the Buccos. These teams last played Wednesday, with the Yankess winning a rollicking affair 12-9 in the first night game in the history of McKechnie.
Girardi left a lot of big names behind today -- Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Jason Giambi, Jorge Posada -- opening the door for Pittsburgh to take a 2-1 edge in the spring series (the Pirates won 5-3 in Tampa on March 13, when actor Billy Crystal played for the Yankees).
Here are today's starting lineups (the Yankees are being allowed to use a designated hitter):
Yankees
Melky Cabrera, CF
Robinson Cano, 2B
Hideki Matsui, LF
Morgan Ensberg, 1B
Wilson Betemit, SS
Jason Lane, RF
Cody Ransom, 3B
Chris Woodward, DH
Chad Moeller, C
Jeff Karstens, P
And for the Pirates, who open the regular season March 31 in Atlanta:
Nyjer Morgan, CF
Jack Wilson, SS
Jason Bay, LF
Adam LaRoche, 1B
Xavier Nady, RF
Jose Bautista, 3B
Ronny Paulino, C
Luis Rivas, 2B
Paul Maholm, P
Can most of the Pirates' front-line guys (except for Freddy Sanchez, who is seeing a specialist Monday about his ailing shoulder) defeat the Yankees' back-ups? Stay tuned.

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