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Yankees lineup vs. Rays; no rookies in the lineup, Phil Hughes pitches tomorrow

By Jason Cohen
Elsa

The Yankees have a less than one percent chance of making the playoffs, so it seems like a good time to start giving the young players a chance. It seems Joe Girardi is still going with his in it to win it lineup:

Tanya might have a better one:

Ichiro Suzuki is leading off and is in center field while Curtis Granderson is nowhere to be found. Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano, and Alfonso Soriano follow along as usual. Mark Reynolds hits fifth as the first baseman and Eduardo Nunez sixth as the third baseman. Vernon Wells gets the start in the outfield with Brendan Ryan and Chris Stewart bringing up the rear.

No Zoilo Almonte, who should be getting the start over Wells. No J.R. Murphy behind the plate. Not even David Adams at third over Nunez. The Yankees are not going to be doing anything this season, and as much as it might be nice to play spoiler, it doesn't help the team in the long run. Playing these kids might actually give them a better chance to win today. Just as long as Zoilo doesn't try anything foolish at third base.

The Yankees' magic number is three, and seeing as how they're behind the Indians and Rangers in the standing, even if they sweep the Rays they could get eliminated by the end of the series. So if they wait until they are officially eliminated to play the young ones, the Yankees will get a grand total of three games to evaluate their players.

Phil Hughes will be starting tomorrow, now that CC Sabathia will miss the rest of the season. This will be his last start at Yankee Stadium before he probably runs away forever. It would be nice if he could not look like total garbage, but also fitting if he bombed out by the third inning.

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