Today is September first and that means rosters have expanded and players have been called up to join the big league club. Today Andy Pettitte hopes to continue the Yankees' winning ways and go for a sweep against the Orioles. They passed Baltimore in the standings after yesterday's win and are currently 3.5 games out of the wild card, so a win today would be big. They send out their super awesome lineup today:
Today's lineup: Gardner 8 Jeter DH Cano 4 Soriano 7 ARod 5 wells 9 Reynolds 3 Nunez 6 Stewart 2 Pettitte 1
— Erik Boland (@eboland11) September 1, 2013
Brett Gardner leads off, followed by Derek Jeter on a DH day. Robinson Cano and Alfonso Soriano hit three and four in the lineup and Alex Rodriguez, returned from having the flu, hits fifth and plays third base. That's a lot to ask from someone who supposedly had the flu yesterday. Vernon Wells gets a start in the outfield while Mark Reynolds gets the start against a lefty. It's good to see that Girardi will play Reynolds against righties and lefties now, but Lyle Overbay is now a bench player. Eduardo Nunez returns from his bizarre trip and fall injury to play shortstop and Chris Stewart remains entrenched behind the plate, just because.
The Yankees have called up five players for September call ups: Brett Marshall, David Adams, JR Murphy, Dellin Betances, and Cesar Cabral. To make room for Cabral and Murphy on the 40-man roster, Jayson Nix was transferred to the 60-day disabled list and Melky Mesa was unconditionally released. The Yankees will probably try to re-sign him like they did with David Adams earlier in the season, but it is a curious move when someone like Travis Hafner could have been moved to the 60-day DL as well.
Marshall, Betances, and Cabral will offer some relief depth, with Cabral likely auditioning for a job as the left-handed specialist in 2014 since Boone Logan will be gone. Adams will provide infield depth at third, second, and first base and Murphy will serve as the third-string catcher and is very unlikely to play much.