The top of the Yankees' lineup is going to have a new look this spring. From Newsday's Jim Baumbach:

Derek Jeter will be the leadoff hitter and Johnny Damon will bat second, a top of the lineup switch the Yankees will use for the rest of spring training. Manager Joe Girardi said the reason for the switch is because the team likes how Damon has looked batting second in spring training games. As long as the Yankees like what they see over the final week of spring training games, the team will bring this lineup into the regular season. The new look at the top of the batting order also is an indication that the Yankees will use Brett Gardner as their everyday centerfielder. Gardner figures to be the ninth hitter, and if Damon was batting leadoff opponents would likely bring a lefthanded specialist to face both hitters. Putting Jeter first splits the two lefthanded hitters.

It makes little or no difference whether it's Jeter-Damon or Damon-Jeter. Damon's a little bit faster, but Jeter's (probably) going to reach base a bit more often. And the tiebreaker is Gardner; there's no evidence -- none that I've seen, anyway -- suggesting that breaking up your left-handed batters is a good thing, but if you can make the enemy manager's job a little harder, why not? We generally make far too much of lineup construction. As David Pinto notes, this switch might be good for three extra runs over the course of the long season. But one of the manager's jobs is to find three runs where he can find them. Do that three times and you've found yourself an extra win. And every so often, a playoff spot is won or lost by that single extra win.