baileywalk, I’m not sure that’s the reason. Cashman was rather cool to Sheff during Spring Training when he asked for an extension and I’m not sure he’s Torre’s favorite guy either. I just think Torre believes Sheffield is his best option in the 3 hole. He is notoriously mercurial in his “logic.” Loved to alternate lefty/righty, but now doesn’t think it’s an issue. Prefers hard throwers out of the pen (pace Colter Bean) but won’t tolerate the higher walk rate that naturally comes with that (hence too many pitching to contact types pitching to too much contact). His early dismissal of Farnsworth is just another example of this. His treatment of Phillips again shows he’s a self-contradictory wonder: hates strikeouts and promotes smallball but then, if you watch closely, he never puts on plays, bunts, or runs when the team is behind (????). Cairo stealing against KC with a 5 run lead is Torre shooting fish in a barrel. It took Zimmer to give him the steel to be offensively aggressive. But Zim’s long gone.

Giambi so far this year:

.344 BA, .543 OBP, .781 SLG, 11 RBI, 4 HR, 12 BB, 7 K.

Sheffield so far this year:

.288 BA, .309 OBP, .538 SLG, 11 RBI, 3 HR, 2 BB, 8 K.

Would Torre wake the hell up, stop being so scared of Sheff and his eventual tirade, and move Giambi to the three hole? I know people say Sheff never struggles and that he needs to get his swing in order, but he’s been very inconsistent, and looking at his strikeouts-to-walks, I’d say he’s struggling. Giambi, on the other hand, is on fire. His OBP is over .500. Over 200 points higher than Sheffield’s. Giambi is getting on base more and hitting for more power — why is he batting fifth? Put Giambi third, A-Rod fourth, Sheffield fifth, and Matsui sixth. You get the hot guy in the three hole and break up the lefties. I seriously think they’re not doing this because Sheff would be pissed off. And that’s pitiful.

It’s a long way to october