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Tag: Robinson Cano

Blogs • Yankees

Oct 15, 2012

Nick Swisher Is a Sensitive Guy, Bro

The fans let Nick Swisher know they aren’t happy with him in Game 1 of the ALCS, so he turned on them.

In the 12th inning of Game 1 of the ALCS, Nick Swisher once again misplayed a ball in right field that led to the Tigers taking an extra-inning lead, and that’s when it started.

“Citi Field Nick! Citi Field Nick! Citi Field Nick! Citi Field Nick! Citi Field Nick!”

The chants implying Swisher would be a New York Met starting in 2013 rained down following his second defensive miscue in three nights that would also lead to another extra-inning loss. The Stadium grew quiet and fans let Swisher know he wouldn’t be given a free pass for his postseason failures at the plate when they had now made their way to the outfield and were costing the Yankees games. No one in the Stadium wanted to see Swisher’s Grinch smile/smirk combination that he was likely giving following his latest blunder and no one thought he would redeem himself at the plate in the bottom of the 12th, and he didn’t.

There’s a case to be made that Nick Swisher is the worst postseason player in the game’s history for the amount of opportunities he has had. In 45 postseason games he has a postseason career line of .167/.284/.300 with four home runs and seven RBIs in 147 at-bats. With the Yankees he’s played in eight postseason series and has hit .083, .150, .133, .333, .091, .211, .111 and now .250 in this ALCS. He was so bad in the 2009 World Series that he was benched for Jerry Hairston Jr. in Game 2.

During that World Series, Alex Rodriguez drove in six of his 18 postseason RBIs and beat the Twins and Angels by himself before changing Game 3 against the Phillies with a two-run home run (his sixth of the postseason) off Cole Hamels in the pivotal game. A-Rod is the No. 1 reason the Yankees won the World Series in 2009 after putting together one of the best postseason performances in history.

Prior to 2009, A-Rod was booed heavily in the Bronx during both the regular season and the postseason for his postseason failures stemming from the final four games of the 2004 ALCS. After A-Rod put the team on his back in 2009, you would have thought the booing would be over forever for a guy who finally brought the franchise and city a championship. Nope. The booing continued for A-Rod. Not at first , but it found its way back into his at-bats and his life almost as if 2009 never happened and his Yankees career consisted of only World Series-less seasons.

This postseason A-Rod has been pinch-hit for and benched. He took the heat for the Yankees needing a fifth game to eliminate the Orioles and he’s taking heat now for the Yankees being down 0-2 to the Tigers. For eight years now, A-Rod has drawn negative attention from his supposed own fans, the New York media and the nation as the game’s highest-paid player. Through all of this, A-Rod has called out the fans and complained about their antics exactly zero times. Zero. He has taken it like a man who understands the stakes of not only having a $275 million contract, but the stakes of playing for the New York Yankees.

Here’s what A-Rod said after the Yankees’ Game 2 loss on Sunday.

“We haven’t scored a run in a long time. I’m right there with them. You can’t blame them. You can’t blame our fans. We’ve got to go out there and score runs. We have the ability.”

A-Rod has been terrible this October. For all of the awful Octobers he has had with the Yankees this one has been his worst. The 2-for-15 from the 2005 ALDS, the 1-for-14 from the 2006 ALDS, the 4-for-15 from the 2007 ALDS, the 4-for-21 from the 2010 ALCS and the 2-for-18 from the 2011 ALDS are all looking a lot better than his 2012 right now (3-for-23, 12 strikeouts).

A-Rod has become the scapegoat for the Yankees’ inability to score runs. He has been the only regular from the lineup to be pinch-hit for and also benched in seven postseason games. He has watched his spot in the order be given to Raul Ibanez (and thankfully or the Orioles would be in the ALCS) and also Eric Chavez, who is 0-for-11 with five strikeouts in the playoffs. In three Octobers he has gone from the most feared hitter on the planet to an easy out and a platoon player. But he’s not alone.

Robinson Cano has now set the record for longest hitless streak in the Yankees’ postseason history and is 2-for-32 in the playoffs.

Curtis Granderson, the left-handed Mark Reynolds, is now 3-for-26 in October.

Mark Teixeira has one RBI in these playoffs.

The fans have finally started to come around on the rest of the Goof Troop, deciding that the booing should be divided up since A-Rod isn’t responsible for all 27 outs and every loss. (It only took nearly a decade for everyone to figure this out.) And it only took four Octobers for everyone to turn on Nick Swisher.

I will always get to say I was at the Stadium for the historic night when Yankee fans turned on Nick Swisher. And I will always remember the day that Nick Swisher turned on the fans, starting a battle he can’t win and punching his ticket out of the Bronx via free agency at the end of the season.

Unlike A-Rod, Swisher can’t handle the bright lights of New York when those bright lights are shining in a negative light. Swisher couldn’t handle the heckling on Saturday night or questions from fans asking him if would be doing a back-flip while in pursuit of the next ball hit to right field. For the first time as a Yankee, the Anti-Nick Swisher Club gained some steam and made some noise and it was too much for Swisher and his $10.25 million contract to take.

Swisher has been treated exceptionally well by the fans for four years despite not always deserving it. And for the first time, fans reached the tipping point with the postseason disaster that is Swisher and he couldn’t deal with it. So, Swisher took his ball and went home.

Bald Vinny described his salute to Section 203 during Roll Call on Sunday as one he had to make rather than one he wanted to make and he refrained from turning around to face the bleachers throughout Game 2. He made his warmup throws before each inning just beyond the infield rather than in his usual spot in right field. Swisher was hurt by the fans turning on him and his offensive and defensive postseason failures, and he wanted everyone to know about it by making it this noticeable. There has been exactly zero instances in the history of sports where a player has turned on his team’s fans and it has worked out well. Zero. But that’s what Nick Swisher chose to do after Game 2 of the ALCS and now he will have to deal with the consequences.

Here is some of what Swisher said about his relationship with the fans after Game 2.

“I’ve been so fortunate to be here and play every day. When things kind of turn like that, obviously it kind of hurts a little bit. This is the type of city and crowd that really rallies around its team. That’s the reason why we’ve got 27 championships.”

I didn’t realize Nick Swisher won 27 championships. What does he do with all the rings? He can really only wear 10 of them at a time unless he also wears some on his toes. But let’s say he doesn’t wear any on his toes. Does he just rotate them? Like does he wear the 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953 and 1956 ones on Monday with the 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2009 ones and then switch them on Tuesday for 10 more? He must plan on wearing them in chronological order, right? That would make the most sense. I really want to know how he organizes this. This sounds like a future segment for Yankees On Deck on YES.

“To go through a stretch like this where it’s kind of a negative attitude, a negative-type setting, it’s tough. But hey man that’s part of the game. Rightfully so. There’s a lot of expectations here and I guess when you don’t get the job done, you’re going to hear about it.”

You guess?! You guess?! Is this real life? Nick Swisher “guesses that when you play for the New York Yankees there are a lot of expectations.” That’s nice of him. But in all seriousness, is this real life?

Apparently Nick Swisher thought that when you become a Yankee, you just put on the pinstripes, salute Section 203 every home game and everything is gumdrops and lollipops and it’s like living in Candy Land and results don’t matter. It doesn’t matter if you win or lose as long you give it your best and try your hardest, Nick! And the most important thing is that you have fun, Nick! Winning and losing isn’t important  if you lose in the playoffs as long as you have fun, Nick! Everyone is a winner here!

“Last night was pretty big. A lot of people saying a lot of things I’ve never heard before. For example, I missed that ball in the lights and the next thing you know, I’m the reason that Jeter got hurt. It’s kind of frustrating. They were saying it’s my fault.”

I have a hard time believing Swisher lost that ball in the lights. Why? Have you ever seen Nick Swisher play right field before? It’s a little hard to believe a guy that just two nights prior rolled around in the outfield after a ball like Chris Farley and David Spade pretending they’re being attacked by bees in Tommy Boy. If he hadn’t sucked so bad at fielding only 48 hours before and the four years with the Yankees before that then maybe I would believe his excuse. If Ichiro misplays a ball in Game 3 and blames it on the lights I will believe him because he’s Ichiro and a 10-time Gold Glove winner and not the guy who plays right field like he’s had a few cocktails and laughs whenever he screws up or makes an out.

Could Swisher really be that upset about people blaming him for Jeter’s injury? How was he not more upset about the “Citi Field Nick” chants (which I was proudly a part of) suggesting he would be a New York Met in the offseason. The idea of being a Met has to hurt more than thinking you’re responsible for the injury to the most iconic Yankee since Mickey Mantle, no?

“I‘m one of those guys where if you give me a hug I’ll run through a brick wall for you, man.”

And then there are sometimes when Swisher will overrun the brick wall or do an unnecessary barrel roll to reach the brick wall or dive and miss the brick wall completely.

“It just kind of seems right now like there’s a lot of … It’s tough. It’s really tough. You want to go out there, you want to play for your city, for your team. Just right now, it’s just really tough.”

It’s really tough to get up for playoff baseball games at Yankee Stadium when you’re making $10.25 million. That’s a tough spot to be in and not something I would ever wish upon anyone. The $10.25 million isn’t enough for Swisher to play baseball and get up for playoff games, he also needs you to give him a hug.

“That’s the last thing that I ever thought would be in this ballpark, that people would get on you that bad, especially you’re home where your heart is, where you’ve been battling and grinding all year long. It’s just frustrating man. You never want to be in that spot. It’s not like you’re trying to go out there and do bad on purpose. It’s just tough.”

Aww, Nick Swisher never thought people would get on him at Yankee Stadium. Aww, poor Nick. Wait, Swisher has played for the Yankees for four years. That would mean that during the 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 seasons he never heard fans boo A-Rod at Yankee Stadium. Hmm that’s a little odd. I’m pretty sure I have heard A-Rod booed at the Stadium over the last four years. Actually, I know I have. And it hasn’t just been four years. A-Rod has been booed heavily at the Stadium since 2005. That’s eight years. A-Rod has been called things Swisher would have to look up on Urban Dictionary and some of the things he has been called in the Bronx are even too terrible for even the Internet.

“Sometimes I’m a sensitive guy and some of the things people say, man, they get under your skin a little bit. Hey, man, I’ve been lucky to be here for the past four years bro, and we’re not going to go out like this. We’re going to go to Detroit, man, give everything we’ve got and we’re going to go from there.”

The Yankees have to win two of the three games in Detroit to return to Yankee Stadium in 2012. If the series gets back to New York, Nick Swisher will have to face the fans he called out. If it doesn’t get back to New York, he will have to face the fans he called out in another uniform at another time because Nick Swisher won’t be a Yankee in 2013. He decided that on Sunday.

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Oct 15, 2012

ALCS Game 2 Thoughts: Second Verse, Same as the First

The Yankees were shutout in Game 2 of the ALCS and are now in an 0-2 hole with Justin Verlander waiting in Detroit in Game 3.

When your starting pitcher has a perfect game through five innings, you’re usually going to win the game. I say “usually” because if your offense is the Yankees offense in the postseason then those are the games you’re going to lose when your starting pitcher is throwing a perfect game through five innings.

There’s not much to say about Game 2. The Yankees can’t score. I said going into the postseason that the Yankees would get great pitching, but that it would be up to A-Rod, Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher to produce. And the Yankees have gotten great starting pitching and have the best rotation in the postseason, but A-Rod, Teixeira and Swisher have been their usual October selves. When I made that statement before the postseason, I didn’t factor in how bad Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson would be as well, and that’s why the Yankees are in the worst possible position heading into Game 3.

Hiroki Kuroda took the mound on short on rest for the first time in his career. He earned a no-decision against the Orioles four days before despite going 8 1/3 innings and allowing two earned runs on five hits, and on Sunday, Kuroda was even better. The Yankees’ best starter in the regular season went 7 2/3 innings against the Tigers, allowing three earned runs on five hits while striking out a career-high 11. Kuroda tried to put the team on his back, but no one got on.

The Yankees recoreded just three hits off of Anibal Sanchez in seven innings and one off of Phil Coke (who is in the Josh Beckett tier of hate for me) in two innings. Robinson Cano set the Yankees record for most consecutive at-bats without a hit in the postseason with an 0-for-4, A-Rod and Nick Swisher each struck out two more times and Curtis Granderson, to no surprise, struck out three times.

Saturday night had the same feeling of an elimination game once Derek Jeter went down for the season and Game 2 only helped to justify that feeling. Now the Yankees are sitting in an 0-2 hole with Justin Verlander waiting in Game 3. Let’s hope the NHL and NHLPA settle the lockout this week.

This train carries Phil Hughes in Game 3.

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Oct 14, 2012

ALCS Game 1 Thoughts: The Emotional Swings of the Postseason

Game 1 of the ALCS was full of emotional swings that ended with the loss of Derek Jeter and a loss to the Tigers.

“There’s no other game in which fortunes can change so much from hand to hand. A brilliant player can get a strong hand cracked, go on tilt and lose his mind with every single chip in front of him. This is why the World Series of Poker is decided over a No-Limit Hold ‘Em table. Some people, pros even, won’t play No-Limit. They can’t handle the swings.” – Mike McDermott, Rounders

Welcome to Game 1 of the 2012 ALCS.

Sometimes the highs and lows of a postseason game are too much to handle. Every Yankees baserunner feels like an accomplishment and every opposing baserunner feels like an inevitable pitch. When you factor in the Yankees’ offensive struggles, these two feelings are taken to another level.

I sat in the right field bleachers with Keefe To The City contributor Dave Heck and watched the Yankees load the bases and fail to score. Then load the bases again and fail to score again. And then fail to score again and again and again. For eight innings the Yankees couldn’t score against Doug Fister or Phil Coke or Joaquin Benoit. I’m not sure they would have been able to score against Daisuke Matsuzaka or the former Zales Fan Marquee guy.

In the ninth inning I was wishing I spent my Saturday night going out in the city and getting drunk at a bar and ordering Domino’s at 3:15 a.m. I would have even settled for wasting a Saturday night and just being in my bed sleeping. I had been at the Stadium for three hours and 31 minutes and 12 innings on Wednesday and four hours and 31 minutes and 13 innings on Thursday night. I was exhausted and went to Game 1 with a sleep-deprived, alcohol-driven headache hoping that the Yankees would take a 1-0 series lead and instead I had watched them endure another offensive postseason slump.

Russell Martin singled to center to lead off the ninth off Jose Valverde and moved to second on defensive indifference. Derek Jeter struck out for the first out and then Ichiro hit his first career postseason home run an 0-1 count to make it 4-2.

“Get it to Ibanez,” I told Dave.

Robinson Cano continued his hot October by striking out for the second out on seven pitches. Mark Teixeira fought for seven pitches, bringing the count full and before the eighth pitch of the at-bat, I turned to Dave again.

“A walk and then Ibanez,” I said.

“He can’t do it again,” Dave replied.

The eighth pitch was ball four and I did the Derek Jeter fist pump mixed with a little Joba Chamberlain 360-fist pump for good measure as Raul Ibanez walked to the plate.

With an 0-1 count, Jose Valverde threw his 28th pitch of the inning to Ibanez and he rocked it. Everyone in Section 203 was already standing, but now people were jockeying for position by standing on the actual bleachers to watch it arrive. Everyone in the Stadium knew by the swing and the sound of the bat that the ball was headed for the seats, but those in right field knew because when you’re in the path of a home run, the ball just gets bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger like you’re waiting for the ball to drop on New Year’s before the mayhem ensues.

For the third time following a Raul Ibanez at-bat in four nights I looked like Theo Fleury following his goal againt the Oilers in the 1990-91 playoffs. I was yelling and screaming in a shower of beer and high-fiving and hugging strangers. The Yankees had a postseason hero for the first time since A-Rod in 2009 and it was the unlikely source of the 40-year-old Ibanez on a one-year, $1.1 million deal making less than Boone Logan, Andruw Jones, Freddy Garcia and Pedro Feliciano. And for the second time in four nights, Raul Ibanez had kept the Yankees alive with a ninth-inning home run turning to depression into jubilation.

Up until that 0-1 pitch, the Stadium was quiet (though it would get a lot quieter). The moat seats were empty and the upper deck looked like a scene from the Stadium in the 80s. The Bronx reeked of devastation, but in one swing the ultimate high replaced the ultimate low. But then Derek Jeter broke his ankle and the ultimate low found a new low.

I have never heard Yankee Stadium that quiet. I have never heard any stadium or arena that quiet. I have never heard a library that quiet. When Jeter was carried off the field I quickly entered Phase 1 of the Yankees elimination process that I endure any October that doesn’t end with them winning their last game. The Tigers took a two-run lead and didn’t give it back. Another four hours and 54 minutes at the Stadium.

This train carries Hiroki Kuroda in Game 2.

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Oct 12, 2012

ALDS Game 4 Thoughts: Everyone Left on Base

The Yankees lost Game 4 and are now faced with the scenario they fought so hard to avoid: a one-game playoff.

I remember this feeling. I felt it on Oct. 6, 2011. It was Game 5 of the 2011 ALDS. This feeling sucks.

The feeling is when “elimination” becomes a real possibility. It’s a word that no baseball fan wants to hear. It’s the strongest word in the sports vocabulary because it’s so final.

You don’t face elimination unless you screw up along the way, and the 2012 Yankees have done just that. Their regular season problem found its way to the postseason and the team’s inability to hit with runners in scoring position will be their downfall if the season doesn’t extend past Friday night.

One run in 13 innings. That’s how I will remember Game 4. I won’t remember it for Phil Hughes stepping up, Derek Jeter coming through on one good leg, Nick Swisher and Ichiro playing horrible defense in the eighth inning or A-Rod getting pinch-hit for once again. One run in 13 innings. That’s what I will remember about Game 4. The theme from April 6 through October 3 didn’t go away during the three off days before Game 1 of the ALDS. And now it has the Yankees in the scenario they fought down the stretch to avoid: a one-game playoff.

The Yankees haven’t made it out of the ALDS against a team not named the Minnesota Twins since 2001 when they came back from down 0-2 against the A’s. The Angels knocked them out in 2002 and again in 2005. The Tigers took them down in 2006, the Indians got them in 2007 and the Tigers did it again last October. Now the Yankees are one more bad game of leaving men on base from having their season end.

The Yankees will play their 167th game of the 2012 season on Friday night. The heart of the order will determine if they get to play for the 168th time on Saturday.

***

Here are my thoughts from Game 4 of the ALDS.

– Four runs in the last 25 innings and two of those runs are Raul Ibanez’s solo home runs. That’s disgusting and embarrassing on so many levels. I would take the San Francisco Giants offense in Game 5. At least they have guys who will deliver a big hit.

– Phil Hughes stepped up in Game 4 (6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K) and delivered as good of a performance as he did in Game 3 against the Twins at the Stadium in Game 3 of the 2010 ALDS (7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K). He deserved to win on Thursday night the same way that Andy Pettitte deserved to win on Monday night. I didn’t trust Hughes entering Game 4, but I will trust him if there’s an ALCS for him to get the ball in next week.

– I really hope Nick Swisher’s roll in the 13th inning like he was 007 dodging gunfire makes hisYankeeography. It was the latest in what I call Nick Swisher Unnecessary Antics. My favorite has always been him climbing the wall on home runs that he is unable to catch or come remotely close to making a play on. You’re the worst, Nick Swisher. The worst.

– I always laugh when people say, “The moment always finds A-Rod.” The moment always found David Ortiz when the Red Sox used to make the postseason and Ortiz loved the moment and owned it.

– Hey, Yankee Stadium music guy, don’t play Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” while I’m walking out of the Stadium following a 13-inning loss in which the Yankees score one run, forcing them into an elimination game. Maybe that’s the time for you to play Howie Day’s “Collide” rather than in Game 3 when the Yankees were losing before Raul Ibanez’s game-tying home run.

– Remember when Robinson Cano was tearing up the Twins’, Blue Jays’ and Red Sox’ pitching in the last week of the season and everyone was calling him the best and hottest hitter on the planet. Good call, everyone! Cano will be as responsible for a first-round exit as anyone if he doesn’t show up in Game 5 and the Yankees don’t advance to the ALCS. He is now 2-for-18 in the series and is supposed to be the most important hitter in the lineup, even if Joe Girardi still doesn’t think he is.

– The Stadium has a montage for every moment. The problem is that most of them involve plays from previous years. There isn’t a “Left On Base” montage to the Rocky theme to be played when the team is trying to rally late, but there should be. Instead there are hundreds of clips from the last few years of big hits, plays and pitches from the Yankees. I think my friend Andrew said it best last night at the game when talking about great moments being shown: “I’m starting to think these aren’t real.”

– There was a time when there was a pitching change or a mound visit during the beginning of a Yankees rally meant “Black Betty” would fill the Bronx night and the Yankees would come through in the clutch. That time is long gone.

– Tommy Hunter helps win a Game 4 at the Stadium again. TOM-MY HUN-TER! Is this real life? Yes, it is.

– Curtis Granderson (1-for-9, nine strikeouts) is making Alfonso Soriano’s 2003 postseason look like A-Rod’s 2009 postseason. I find it hard to believe that the Yankees are going to look to lock up Granderson along with Cano. Yes, he has 84 home runs in the last two years, but I don’t see the Orioles rushing to sign Mark Reynolds to a long-term, massive deal. And yes, Granderson has become the left-handed Reynolds.

– Joe Girardi made the best decision of his managerial career in hitting Raul Ibanez for A-Rod in Game 3. But if Girardi is going to hit for A-Rod then when does he start hitting for Swisher and Granderson too? It’s not too late to do so, but the time is running out.

I’m not ready for the baseball season to end. This train carries CC Sabathia in Game 5.

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Oct 11, 2012

ALDS Game 3 Thoughts: Saving the Season

Joe Girardi made the biggest decision of his managerial career and saved the Yankees’ season.

As I did after Game 1 and Game 2 and I will continue to do after every Yankees postseason game, here are my thoughts from Game 3 of the ALDS. Well, just one thought because really it’s all that matters from Wednesday night.

***

I didn’t see where Raul Ibanez’s game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth landed. I didn’t see where Raul Ibanez’s walk-off home run in the bottom of the 12th landed. I didn’t see them because I was getting pulled and hugged and crushed and trampled in a shower of Bud Light, Miller Lite, French fries, Skoal, sweat and tears. It didn’t matter where they went because I knew they were gone.

The feeling before Raul Ibanez pinch-hit for Alex Rodriguez in the ninth inning was not a good one. For 8 1/3 innings I watched the Yankees struggle to hit another average starting pitcher in the playoffs. The home runs dried up again in October for the Yankees with just one in 25 1/3 innings (Russell Martin’s Game 1 home run) and I started to think that maybe all the small ball fanatics and home run critics in the regular season shouldn’t have been laughed at for saying the Yankees’ only offense was the home run. I had visions of Paul Byrd and Tommy Hunter coming to the Stadium and winning an October game. I had flashbacks to the Stadium last October when everyone was left on base in Game 5. I sat there thinking about how we got to this point so early into the postseason and wondering if Phil Hughes, of all people, was really going to be relied to extend the season.

And then Joe Girardi pinch-hit for Alex Rodriguez.

The relationship between A-Rod and Yankee fans is a weird one. From the time he walks from the on-deck circle to the batter’s box with “Ni**as In Paris” playing, A-Rod is loved. The Stadium is full of applause and cheers in an attempt to will a home run or an extra-base hit or even just a single or a walk out of him. The fans want A-Rod to succeed. They want to have a reason to feel optimistic about him even if the 2009 playoffs should have bought him a lifetime of immunity. After that walk to the batter’s box, A-Rod has until the end of his plate appearance for the cheers to continue. If his at-bat ends well then he’s loved until his next at-bat. If it ends poorly he’s hated until his next at-bat. The perception of A-Rod as a Yankee is about life between at-bats and about him buying time between boos. In a game where failure is expected, he faces unrealistic expectations.

If I’m not the CEO of the Anti-Joe Girardi Fan Club then I’m at least on the Board of Directors or the VP of one of the departments. I’m against bunting and hitting Robinson Cano fourth and letting Boone Logan face righties and letting Eduardo Nunez play shortstop, so it only makes sense that I don’t understand most of Girardi’s managerial decisions. But you have to give credit where credit is due and to take a page out of A-Rod’s book, “All I can do is tip my cap to Joe Girardi for his Game 3 managing.”

Girardi was willing to give himself up to the New York media and sports radio and the Internet to go with a gut instinct in the ninth inning. He was willing to have the Steinbrenners and Randy Levine and Brian Cashman wondering why their non-injured $275-million cleanup hitter was pinch-hit for in the ninth inning. Girardi showed that maybe, just maybe his binder doesn’t control his life and that he finally understands that “Alex Rodriguez” is just a name at this point and that name doesn’t get you what it did three years ago. Girardi showed he had balls when he hit A-Rod third again in Game 3 when the whole world thought he wouldn’t and he showed just how big those balls are when he took him out of the game in the ninth inning.

In Game 3 with the season on the line, Joe Girardi went against everything believes in and has been as Yankees manager by doing something he had never done before. He pinch-hit for the game’s highest-paid player and asked A-Rod to be someone he has never been before. Then he asked Raul Ibanez to extend the game. Thankfully, he did one better and saved the season.

Two down, nine to go. This train carries Phil Hughes in Game 4.

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