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The Yankees have released their lineup for game two of the doubleheader against the Dodgers:
Game 2 lineup: Gardner 8 nix 6 cano 4 wells dh Neal 9 ichiro 7 Adams 5 Overbay 3 Romine 2 Hughes 1
— Erik Boland (@eboland11) June 19, 2013
Jayson Nix is batting second again, even though his two-on no-out bunt shows that Girardi doesn't trust him enough to get a hit in that situation. If you can't trust your number two hitter in that situation he probably shouldn't be hitting so high up in the lineup.
Vernon Wells, hitting .135/.143/.169 in the last month, is the clean up hitter and designated hitter, proving that Joe Girardi is actively trying to get his bat into the lineup. I understand that the Yankees lack an everyday outfielder to replace him, but he should not be in the heart of the lineup if he isn't going to hit at all. As much as Joe wants to pretend, he isn't slumping.
Even though there are no alternatives, David Adams and Austin Romine are incredibly difficult to watch at the plate. Those two are hitting .197/.210/.311 and .097/.097/.097 over the last month.
Another weird thing is that Zoilo Almonte, who had been called up yesterday, is not playing. Girardi said he would play in game two, yet here we are with the lineup and no Almonte. We're keeping Vernon Wells in the lineup, but a potential upgrade has to sit on the bench because, as a switch hitter, he might not hit lefties as well as he hits righties. He couldn't possibly hit lefties better than Wells already can't?