Yankees Girardi might as well throw away his binder

Yankees' manager Joe Girardi might not be using his trusty binder as much these days.

The numbers were impossible to ignore, but for the second time in five games Girardi refused to be seduced by them and didn’t start Ichiro Suzuki against Red Sox left-hander Jon Lester.

“I looked at possibly sitting down one of the other lefty hitters against Lester,’’ Girardi told reporters. “You look at Ellsbury and he has had success and you look at Brett Gardner and he has been playing extremely well and important at the top of our lineup.  Soriano has had a double and homer in two games he has played against him this year. Part of it is, possibly you would like to give one of your lefties a day off and I am going to play the guys we have been playing every day.’’

So, Ichiro took a seat despite having a .340 (18-for-53) average against Lester. That came after Ichiro wasn’t in the lineup Tuesday night in Toronto against lefty Mark Buehrle, against whom he was batting .421 (24-for-57).  I know the game has a heartbeat, but even I would have made sure Suzuki was in the lineup against Lester and Buehrle.

Soriano went 0-for-3 and is now hitting .273 (6-for-22) against Lester.

Girardi was correct saying Gardner has been very important to the top of the lineup, but he is 3-for-13 (.231) against Lester after going 1-for-2 with a walk. Ellsbury went 1-for-3 and is 4-for-9 (.444) against his former teammate.

A regular player in the big leagues since 2001, Soriano has had trouble adjusting to not playing every day. His last homer was May 17 and he is without a homer in 62 at-bats. His skills have eroded, and this is likely his last year in the majors.  The Yankees are unlikely to get any significant production out of him for the remainder of the season.

YES Network, Michael Kay make much ado about nothing in Cano's return to Yankee Stadium

Sometimes news people have to somehow generate stories when things are slow. Last week's return of the Seattle Mariners' Robinson Cano to Yankee Stadium was an example of this.

While Cano was an outstanding player for the Yanks, and would definitely make a list of the top fifty Yankees of all time (on my list he'd be around number 43 or so), the team has many great players through the years who have gone on to play for other clubs.

If I had been in the stands I would not have booed him. Nor would I have cheered.

Yes he left for a bigger paycheck, but Yankee fans need to realize many of their star players through the years (and even this past offseason) have bolted their teams to take more money from the Yankees. So why should Cano be vilified for that? He should not be.

The Yankees management also made the right decision (for a change) by not offering Cano a contract for longer than seven years. Seven years is enough for a player who is already 30 years old.

So no boos or cheers for Robinson. Maybe Seattle will have a contending team within the next few years. Maybe they won't and he’ll finish his contract in a rainy town.

The most absurd aspect surrounding Cano's return was Michael Kay's reaction to the fans jeering of the second baseman. The boos weren't that overwhelming. It just may have sounded that way because Yankee Stadium was two-thirds empty. If the place was at full capacity of 50,000 people, the jeers may not have been as noticeable. If Yankee fans were really that angry about Cano taking the money and running, wouldn't they have put up with the bad weather, bought and a ticket to the game, and boo with everyone else. But that didn't happen. Not enough fans cared enough one way or the other.

Kay made it sound like the fans' reaction was the most horrible thing in the world. Please. This is a non-story. The real story, if any news writers are interested, is how Yankee Stadium is half empty even on days when the weather is nice. Either the ticket brokers or the team is taking a bath on sales. Somebody is losing money. Not many people want to spend $100 to watch two boring teams for three hours. And that's with or without Cano on the roster.

Yankees' lazy Cano one of MLB's most over-rated players

There was plenty of blame to go around in the Yankees' losses in the 2012 American League Championship Series against the Detroit Tigers. No one really hit well so it's unfair to get on any one guy such as Alex Rodriguez. Of course, we must recognize that the Yankees did win 95 games in the regular season and 26 other teams in baseball wish they were in the Yanks' shoes. Plus, the Tigers are hardly slouches.

Still, Robinson Cano is one player who gets a lot of accolades from some members of the media (well maybe just the Yanks' TV and radio announcers) but doesn't really deserve them. Yes he's a good hitter most of the time and provides solid defense in the field.  But he's not the kind of player who can carry a team and doesn't always hit in the clutch during the regular season. He hasn't done much in any of the Yankees' post-seasons, batting .222 with a .267 on-base percentage in 203 at-bats. The 2009 world series was won without any help from Cano, as he went 3 for 22 with one RBI.

He's been defended as appearing lazy when he's really just making plays look easy; that may be true, but it’s also true he doesn't always run out ground balls.

Cano can be included among the fifty greatest Yankees of all time because of his numbers, but let's not get his plaque ready for Cooperstown just yet. He still has a ways to go to be included among the game's greatest second basemen of all time.

Hey Yankee-Haters, why don't you buy some of those empty seats at Yankee Stadium?

Hey Yankee-Haters, why don't you buy some of those empty seats at Yankee Stadium?  There's plenty of space to boo the team you hate.

Contrary to what Michael Kay and the YES Network say, there are some empty seats at New York's Yankee Stadium during games. Why don't Yankee-Haters buy some of those empty seats, jeer the Yankee players, and cheer for the opposing team?

"A sold out Yankee Stadium..." Well, maybe the tickets have been bought by brokers, but the seats are still empty. Fans who are Yankee-Haters ought to buy all those tickets, then go to the game and boo the Yankees. They could applaud when a Yankee strikes out or makes an error, and cheer when an opposing player gets a hit or makes a great defensive play.

Now, I know most reasonable fans don't want to spend their hard-earned money on going to a lot of baseball games to watch a team they don't even like, but think of the consternation that it would cause the Yankee management. They wouldn't be happy to hear people cheering the Yanks' opponent. And on the other hand, for the seats that aren't being bought by brokers - would they want to not bring in more money, by not selling those tickets? That would be quite a dilemma for the Steinbrenner clan.

So Yankee-Haters, put your money where your mouth is. Literally. Here's your chance to get some satisfaction and put your energy to good use.

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