1. Morgan Ensberg hit his first Yankee homer on Monday night. Yet his presence on the Yankees does not make sense to me. The Yanks had spoken all offseason about how important it was for them to find at least 300 plate appearances for Shelley Duncan to see if the righty power he flashed last year was legit. The Yanks initially began this season with both Duncan and Ensberg on the roster. Which was illogical. They are essentially the same player, except Duncan had the ability to go to the outfield while Ensberg could play third. Of course, the backup third baseman to an Iron Man such as Alex Rodriguez does not hold much value, but battinig righty as a counterbalance in the outfield to Bobby Abreu, Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui does. The other reason that carrying both was silly was because there are so few lefty starters in the AL in general and the AL East in specific. Only 20 lefties have started a game in the AL this year, and just three (Bostonâs Jon Lester, and Baltimoreâs Adam Loewen and Brian Burres) are in the AL East. Fourteen games into the season, the Yanks have faced on lefty starter, Kansas Cityâs John Bale. So unless Joe Girardiâs plan was to pinch-hit late for players such as Abreu, Damon, Matsui or Jason Giambi, then what exactly was the value of having both? When the Yanks had an early roster problem due to injuries, Duncan was sacrificed because he had options and because the moment the Yanks put him on the roster, they guaranteed him $1.75 million. That was a waste of money and also plain unfair to Duncan. He is a homegrown guy who had earned this opportunity and only through poor roster management is he not getting it. To his credit, he did not sulk. He has gone to the minors and in his first 25 plate appearances put on a show by going 11-for-22 (.500 batting average) with three walks (.560 on-base percentage), and five doubles and three homers (1.136 slugging percentage).
2. That Pedro Martinez is going to need more time than initially announced to heal his hamstring injury isnât exactly a Giants over the Patriots size upset.
3. Lastings Milledge vs. the Mets. OK, Iâm in. And the fringe benefit might be we see Duaner Sanchez pitch in the majors for the first time since July 2006.
