The Yankees' Game 5 lineup was without both Alfonso Soriano and Jason Giambi. Joe Torre benched Soriano, who had gone 7-48 in the ALCS and World Series while striking out 19 times prior to yesterday's game. The manager hopes having two days off will help Soriano regroup, allowing him to contribute more when the series returns to New York. Nevertheless, he sent Soriano into Game 5 as a pinch-hitter, giving him another strikeout to think about on the plane ride back home.

Despite Soriano's obvious struggles, I don't think the possibility an extra day's rest will help him in the future was worth losing his potential contribution in Game 5 when the best player available as a replacement was Enrique Wilson. Wilson's relative success in the game does not excuse the decision. Soriano led off Game 1 with a single against Brad Penny, and while the rest of his at-bats didn't go as well, the advantage of having seen Penny recently could have helped him break out of his slump.