I wish the Yankees had played well without ARod, but they didn't.

I take no happiness in the fact that the Yankees played poorly without their best player. I wish Ransom had batted .300.

Most particularly, I never want to hear again how much better the team will perform without ARod. I don't understand the theory in the first place. But you could take a pitcher out of the bullpen and blindfold him and he'd probably bat better with RISP than Mark Teixeira.

You know, even if you hate your teammate, you still need to see the ball and hit the ball. Don't worry too much about the postgame interview:

"Just look at all that's gone wrong in the five weeks of the regular season that he's missed:

Xavier Nady and Jorge Posada have gone down with injuries. Mark Teixeira is probably putting far too much pressure on himself with A-Rod out. Brett Gardner as the starting centerfielder lasted, oh, a few weeks.

Should we keep going? OK, Rodriguez's replacements at third base have been a disaster. No one can come through with a big hit. Doesn't it seem that when the Yankees need a big hit, it's constantly Jose Molina or Ramiro Pena up? And, the bullpen is pathetically bad. Maybe A-Rod can pitch, too."

Obviously, ARod can't pitch and ARod will sometimes fo 0-for-5, too.

ARod won't solve all these problems by himself.

My biggest gripe is that this team seemed willing to tread water while they waited for ARod to return. That is largely Girardi's fault.