Our lineup today, via Baker:
RF Ichiro
1B Russell Branyan
2B Jose Lopez
LF Ken Griffey Jr.
DH Mike Sweeney
CF Franklin Gutierrez
3B Chris Woodward
C Kenji Johjima
SS Ronny Cedeno
Griffey's in left to make room for Sweeney at DH, who's playing because Wakamatsu wants to get his bat in the lineup more often. The only problem is that Mike Sweeney isn't a better hitter than Ryan Langerhans. At all. And by playing Griffey in the outfield instead of the new guy, we're shooting ourselves in the foot. Over a full season, Langerhans is probably 35-40 runs better than Griffey in the field. 35-40. You would literally have a hard time exceeding that difference. And yet here we are, as we kick off a series against one of the most prolific lineups in baseball. Unless there's a legitimately good reason for this (and as far as I know, there very well may be), Wak is making a decision that is mathematically more egregious than batting the pitcher cleanup.
This sucks. I don't like to overreact or sound impatient when it comes to these kinds of things, but now is not the time to dick around. Langerhans was acquired for a reason.