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April 06, 2008

Gardner Hits Big Fly

Via the Scranton Times Tribune:

It’s not a question about what Yankees fans will be excited about when they scan the Triple-A box score this morning.

Nor is it a question of what they should be excited about.

There, in the small type next to the home run category, they’ll find Brett Gardner’s name. They’ll see that he hit a two-run blast in the fifth inning that helped the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees put away Lehigh Valley for the third consecutive day — this one a 7-2 triumph. And that will be exciting enough.

What they won’t know is that this wasn’t a cheap home run. It was a blast off a fastball from a pretty good left-hander named Brian Mazone that landed in the net that hangs from PNC Field’s message board in right-center field, just to the right of the power alley and the 371-foot sign on the blue wall.

Fans will see that, and see a brighter future. All that debate about whether the 5-foot-10, 180-pound leadoff man could ever drive the ball well enough to stick in pinstripes will probably end for a while. This will be all the proof some fans will need.

If you’re one of them, just keep this disclaimer from the man himself in mind.

“That’s one at-bat, so you can’t say I’m a power hitter after I hit one home run in however many at-bats,” Gardner said. “It’s not a case where I’m going to try to hit a bunch of home runs this year to try and prove people wrong. I’m just going to try to become a better hitter, whether I don’t hit another homer all year or end up hitting 15. I’m just trying to be more consistent all year.”

Interesting timing. When Giambi came up lame yesterday, my first thought was "If they D.L. him, maybe Gardner gets the call-up? And, maybe he can be a spark for this team like Cano in 2005 and Melky in 2006?" But, then, thinking about it, the question was "Where would he play?"

Damon, Cabrera, Abreu and Matsui fill the outfield and DH slots. And, Gardner is not going to play first. Basically, for Gardner to have any shot at playing time, he needs one of the Yankees outfielders to go down, not Giambi.

The numbers are just not working here for Gardner, now - in terms of getting a window to join the Yankees (this season).

Posted by Steve Lombardi at April 6, 2008 08:37 AM

Comments

Gardner hit 16 doubles in 2006, 18 in 2007. Let's see him put 30-35 this season before we talk about him being ready to spark this team on a consistent basis, except as a 4th OFer.

As an aside, Matsui is not really an OFer, except in the technical sense.

Posted by: Rich [TypeKey Profile Page] at April 6, 2008 09:47 AM