no Granderson
Derek Jeter DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Andruw Jones LF
Jayson Nix SS
Darnell McDonald CF
Chris Stewart C
RHP Freddy Garcia
The Yankees first bus didn’t leave the hotel until 10 a.m. The second bus of players — the one with most of the big names on it — didn’t arrive until around 11.
“Long days,” Joe Girardi said. “Do I enjoy them? Let me tell you, I’d prefer not to have it. I worry about our players. The great thing is we’re going into the break and they’ll have four days to recover, but you really worry about it when you don’t have those extra days to recover.”
This is going to be a long day of baseball, the Yankees first split doubleheader of the year. Curtis Granderson is sitting out the first game, Alex Rodriguez will sit the second and Girardi said he’ll try to make sure his guys stay as rested and healthy as possible. Having a night game tomorrow helps because it allows a little more time to rest.
“I’m always concerned about a split doubleheader, especially with the games here because, as you’ve kind of noticed, we don’t play them very quickly,” Girardi said. “There’s going to be a lot of baseball today, and I’ll watch it. Hopefully we’ll have some cloud cover the first game.”
• Why hit Mark Teixeira second? Girardi said he simply wanted to keep his usual middle-of-the-order together in the same order rather than shuffle things around. “Just decided to move everybody up because they’re used to hitting in that order,” Girardi said.
• Cory Wade is here and available for both games. Girardi said he’s fine with some of his relievers pitching all three games this weekend because of the all-star break coming up. As for today, there’s a chance he could use a pitcher in both games, most likely Clay Rapada because he’s had two days off.