Welcome to interleague play! The Yankees are in Milwaukee for a three-game series of Bad Interleague, the kind where the pitcher bats. Good luck, Yankees pitchers!
Yankees lineup: Ellsbury CF, Jeter SS, Beltran RF, Teixeira 1B, McCann C, Solarte 3B, Gardner LF, Roberts 2B, Tanaka P
— wallace matthews (@ESPNNYYankees) May 9, 2014The lineup looks pretty consistent with what we've seen before. Jacoby Ellsbury, Derek Jeter, and Carlos Beltran are at the top of the order. Mark Teixeira, Brian McCann, and Yangervis Solarte make up the middle. Brett Gardner and Brian Roberts round out the lineup for position players.
Tonight is Tanaka Night as Masahiro Tanaka takes the mound and will bat ninth. It's been said that he was a good hitting pitcher in Japan, since he was a catcher back in high school. Still, we've known the pain of pitchers running the bases, so don't swing Tanaka, and if you somehow make it on base, don't run. Just stand still and don't break anything. Please?
For you prospect hounds who may not have heard already, Peter O`Brien has been promoted to Double-A Trenton after destroying the Florida State League in the first month of the season. The 23-year-old hit .321/.353/.688 with 10 home runs in only 30 games, so the promotion is no surprise. Drafted as a catcher, it has long been believed that he will have to move out from behind the plate, so it will be interesting to see where they play him in the field.
The Yankees have already been experimenting with him at third base and right field and he's in tonight's lineup at DH. I imagine he'll bounce around from right field to DH to possibly first base (third doesn't sound like a real option) as Gary Sanchez will get the bulk of catching time. O`Brien's bat will power him through the minors, so they just need to find a place for him where he isn't a complete disaster. If he can play a decent right field (he has a strong arm) and first, he'll definitely have a place on the team as soon as 2015.
Today is also Tanya's birthday, so feel free to wish her a happy birthday in this thread and in every other thread on this website!