I’d say a real big move that worked for Joe Girardi this past year was moving Jeter into the lead off spot and taking Johnny Damon out of it. Derek Jeter is batting .382 in first inning at bats. He has scored 30 runs and has 50 hits. If you compare that to Johnny Damon’s first inning at bats, he’s batting only .233, scored 22 runs and only has 27 hits. Jeter also has a .414 on base percentage in the first inning compared to Damon who has a .326 OBP. It’s important to have your best hitter batting first in the line up. I haven’t figured out how many times Mark Teixeira drove in Derek Jeter but Mark’s most RBI’s this year came in the first inning. In the first inning, he drove in 23 runs. A-Rod also has the most RBI’s in the first inning with 23 but for some reason A-Rod’s best inning is the fifth inning where’s he’s batting .426. I remember when people gave Girardi heat over moving Jeter into the lead off spot and moving Damon out of it. It seems to have paid off for the whole year and it made the whole lineup better.
