New York Yankees
Johnny Damon, LF
Derek Jeter, SS
Bobby Abreu, RF
Alex Rodiriguez, 3B
Jason Giambi, DH
Wilson Betemit, 2B
Melky Cabrera, CF
Doug Mientkiewicz, 1B
Jose Molina, C
Sean Henn, LHP (2-2, 7.49)
Baltimore Orioles
Tike Redman, CF
Luis Hernández, 2B
Melvin Mora, 3B
Miguel Tejada, SS
Kevin Millar, DH
Jay Payton, RF
Scott Moore, 1B
J.R. House, C
Freddie Bynum, LF
Brian Burres, LHP (5-6, 5.66)
Much has been made this season about the Yanks' futility against left-handed starters. However, the team is now 19-19 on the season against them (with another one going today) and 16-10 (.615) since May 19th.
Not sure if that makes anyone feel better against someone like Sabathia in Game 1, but the stats clearly indicate this is a completely different team since they were left for dead early in the season and the lefty hitters (Damon, Abreu, Matsui, Cabrera, Cano, and Giambi) were all struggling at the same time.
As tradition dictates, the final regular season game will be managed by Jorge Posada while Mike Mussina serves as the pitching coach.
Meaningless game or not, I can think of a lot better options than Sean Henn taking the mound this afternoon. Burres has pitched extremely well against the Yanks this season (1-1, 1.84 in 3 games).
The featured graphic for today's game was the long-time home jersey logo of the Baltimore Orioles from 1966 to 1988.