Yankees Sitting Half of Starting Lineup in St. Louis Finale

Despite the fact that tonight's game in St. Louis both decides the series and determines whether or not this road trip is winning, the Yankees have sat half of their starting lineup for the contest, The YES Network's Jack Curry reports. 

While Mark Teixeira not playing isn't necessarily surprising, the other three somewhat are, as Yangervis Solarte, Derek Jeter, and Alfonso Soriano will be replaced by Kelly Johnson, Brendan Ryan, and Ichiro Suzuki respectively. 

Now considering that Solarte and Jeter haven't gotten games off for a while (Solarte - May 5, Jeter - May 18), their break is reasonable, but since Soriano just sat Monday his is definitely a little strange.

As for who's replacing Teixeira, John Ryan Murphy technically's the guy, catching while Brian McCann plays first. The start at first will be the first of McCann's career, although the veteran isn't completely inexperienced at the position, recording two putouts in a game back on April 24.

Neither of those plays were necessarily hard for #34, as they each were just step-on-the-base-and-catch-it kind of putouts, but still, I wouldn't panic right now if I'm a Yankees fan. Clearly, McCann knows something about playing the position, otherwise he wouldn't be doing it.