A hot Matsui back in Yankees' starting lineup
NEW YORK - For three games in Philadelphia, Hideki Matsui played the role of the dangerous lefthanded bat off the bench. It worked well: Matsui was 2 for 3 with a home run as a pinch-hitter.
Now, back in an American League park with the designated hitter rule in play, Matsui and his potent bat can return to the New York Yankees' starting lineup tonight for Game 6 of the World Series.
"He's been clutch for us all year," rightfielder Nick Swisher said. "He's still got it. He's still got a lot left in the tank, and he's a lot of fun to watch because you never know what he's going to do."
Throughout the postseason, the 35-year-old Matsui has swung a hot bat, hitting .308 with three home runs and seven RBIs. In the first two games of the World Series, when Matsui was the DH, he was 3 for 6. And in Game 2, he hit the go-ahead home run in the sixth inning off Pedro Martinez, who will start for the Phillies tonight.
Matsui had been seeing the ball so well that Yankees manager Joe Girardi said earlier in the series he was contemplating playing Matsui in left field.
But Girardi stuck with using Matsui as a pinch-hitter in Philadelphia.
"This guy has a chance to turn a game around every at-bat," first baseman Mark Teixeira said of Matsui.
Lineup changes?
In Game 2 against Martinez, Girardi used Jerry Hairston Jr. in right field instead of Swisher because of Hairston's decent career numbers against Martinez.
Girardi left the door open for changes to his lineup in Game 6. He said he would talk with his staff after yesterday's workout and this morning, as usual.
"I won't do anything out of the ordinary," Girardi said.
Sign games
Those frequent trips Jorge Posada made to the mound during the games at Citizens Bank Park, prompting many boos from the stands, were a necessary part of the game, the catcher said.
Posada said the Yankees are constantly changing signs in the dugout between innings, and even in the middle of an at-bat. That's not unusual for a team to do. Even during the regular season, teams will change their signs multiple times during the course of a game to keep the opposition from stealing them.
One reporter asked Posada whether the Yankees would report the Phillies' attempts to steal signs to Major League Baseball.
"Right now, we're trying to win the game," Posada said. "That's all we can really take care of. It's something that's in baseball. It's happening. We think guys are aware of it. Every team is doing it."
Jail time ahead
Jackie Standley, the mother of Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain, faces up to 20 years in prison after pleading no contest to a felony drug charge.
Standley entered the plea to a charge of delivery of a controlled substance Monday, according to court records in Lincoln, Neb.
Lincoln police said the 44-year-old Standley was arrested in May after selling a gram of methamphetamine to an undercover officer at her home. She will be sentenced next month.
Contact staff writer Matt Gelb at 215-854-2928 or mgelb@phillynews.com.
