Joe Girardi stayed with switch-hitter Nick Swisher instead of righty Jerry Hairston against Angels lefty Joe Saunders in the Yankees’ Game 6 lineup — but rain got in the way.
“If we were going to play somebody out there it would be Jerry, and Jerry has had two at-bats in three weeks,” Girardi said when questioned why he stayed with Swisher, who was 2-for-17 (.117) in five ALCS games and 3-for-29 (.103) in the postseason.
Girardi said Hairston, a utility man, would have been the choice instead of using left-handed hitting Brett Gardner in center field against Saunders and shifting Melky Cabrera to right field.
“There were a lot of things I thought about. Johnny (Damon) was scuffling and Johnny came out of it. Tex (Mark Teixeira) was scuffling and he got a huge hit for us (in Game 5). I didn’t have a hit in the (1996) World Series until my triple in Game 6 and Joe (Torre) didn’t bench me,” Girardi said. “Swish plays a good right field and it’s not always the easiest right field to play and he has had good at-bats against Joe Saunders. He was 1-for-2 with a walk the other day (Game 2).”
Swisher is a .238 (5-for-21) hitter against Saunders in the regular season.
So why was Swisher, who ended Game 5 with a pop up and the bases loaded, 3-for-29?
“He is chasing balls out of the zone and when you do that it’s hard to get hits,” Girardi said of normally ultra-patient Swisher. “They are throwing him a lot of off-speed behind in the count and he has to find a way to lay off.”