Swisher's Situation

We all know the ugliness of Nick Swisher's postseason so far. It's one marred by bad swings, bad outs and a lot of frustration. When the Yankees acquired Swisher last winter, which was a steal of a trade and if you forgot all we gave up was Wilson Betemit, it wasn't expected he'd be an everyday player. Then Xavier Nady went down early and for the year and Swish was the one who answered the call. Swisher in the regular season batted .249/.371/.498/.869 with 29 homers and 82 rbi's. But so far this postseason Swisher has been the invisible man. In this ALCS he's 2-for-17 and he's left 16 out on the pond to be wasted. Swisher has also let his patience go to waste, he's only walked 3 times as he's struck-out 10 times this postseason.

After growing frustrated, I, like many of you who attend the chat's said, "Swisher needs a day off." But who would play in his place? The general consensus was Brett Gardner, or at least thats who the fan wants.

Marc Craig from the Star Ledger had a little light to shed on the whole thing.

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Here's a passage from the article,

In Game 2 of the American League Championship Series, Swisher went 1-for-2 with a run scored off Saunders. Lifetime, Swisher 5-for-21 (.238) with a home run off Saunders. He also has four walks and three strikeouts against the pitcher.

- If he had made a switch, Girardi said he would have opted to go with Jerry Hairston Jr. But Hairston has only 12 plate appearances since Sept. 23, when he left a game at Anaheim with a wrist injury. He missed six days before returning.

"It's hard to expect a lot from a guy like that," Girardi said.
He has two at-bats in the postseason, including a pinch-hit single in the 13th inning of Game 2. He later scored the winning run.

You can read the whole article here.

I find it interesting that Hairston Jr would still get the start over Gardner even with the speedy Guzman off the bench. I don't know if I like Hairston Jr in the line-up, or the outfield this postseason, to me Gardner should get the start. He covers a lot of ground, would allow you to stick Melky in RF, who has the best arm out of the 3 and if he gets the start, it might help open up his run game since he gets a better, longer look at the pitcher.

Last night though Swish was on the card and it's expected he will be again tonight.