A little swap in the lineup created big news in the daily media scrum with Rangers manager Ron Washington, who dropped Michael Young one spot in the lineup to sixth. Nelson Cruz will bat fifth. Washington said that he didn't have any real reason for doing it, though he hopes it creates a spark in a flat lineup.
Washington made out two lineups. The first didn't have Josh Hamilton in it, so Young was third and Cruz was fifth. When Hamilton declared himself fit to play, Washington put Hamilton third, kept Cruz fifth and dropped Young to sixth.
Twins lineup vs. LHP Derek Holland: Denard Span, cf; Ben Revere, rf; Joe Mauer, c; Josh Willingham, lf; Justin Morneau, 1b; Ryan Doumit, dh; Trevor Plouffe, 3b; Brian Dozier, ss; Jamey Carroll, 2b.
Rangers lineup vs. RHP Samuel Deduno: Ian Kinsler, 2b; Elvis Andrus, ss; Josh Hamilton, dh; Adrian Beltre, 3b; Nelson Cruz, rf; Michael Young, 1b; David Murphy, lf; Mike Napoli, c; Craig Gentry, cf.
-- Jeff Wilson
As popular as M. Young is, he needs to be dropped out of the lineup. Had Washington put him in three spot the Rangers would have lost the game as Young went 0-4. He leads the team in hitting into double plays, the lowest ranked of all the DHs in baseball and his slump now no longer seems to be a slump but an indication that his skill set has diminished as he is in his mid 30s. With options of Olt, Profar, Martins, Synder to fill in the DH spot all of whom are around the .300 mark to stay with Young would put the team in danger of watching baseball this Fall in lieu of playing it. Washington made a great decision in moving Cruz up and they won the game because of it. But, what if, the Twins had decided to intentionally walk Cruz to face Young in the 10th would the Rangers still be looking at win last night?
Posted by: MBF | July 08, 2012 at 06:11 AM