Congratulations to Shawn Hill for his first MLB win in two years.

Girardi sets a lax tone by starting Nunez, Jones, and Stewart:

"With those rallies short-circuiting, first-inning sacrifice flies from Robinson Cano and Granderson were all the Yankees managed. Toronto's bullpen combined for six scoreless innings, with Shawn Hill contributing three for the win, and New York's third-inning opportunity stood out as its most glaring miss.

In that frame, the Yankees loaded the bases against Romero with no outs, but Granderson popped out, Andruw Jones struck out and Eduardo Nunez lined out hard to second base.

Struggles with runners in scoring position have been a nagging, season-long theme for the Yankees, but they would agree to a man that this latest flare-up came at a most inopportune time.

'We couldn't make it happen,' Swisher said. 'That's no reason to get down on ourselves. We've got to keep pushing and come back here with a fire, and hopefully pull off that win tomorrow.' "

Awesome!

The Yankees can totally do it!

Get psyched for the World Series!

Good night to the Andruw Jones era.

MOTO Joel Sherman calls the Yankee loss "unacceptable":

"Romero loaded the bases again in the third. The Yankees get a big hit here, and the Blue Jays probably roll over and play dead.

'We didn’t do a good job with runners in scoring position,' Andy Pettitte said. 'We didn’t add on.'


Curtis Granderson popped out. Romero hurt his knee pitching to Andruw Jones, stayed in and struck Jones out on the next pitch. Jones came to the plate twice with the bases loaded. Twice struck out. Why is Andruw Jones — he of the woeful second half — still playing?"

Andruw Jones's first strikeout was not with the bases loaded, it was with runners on first and second.


In 105 at-bats in the second half of the season, Andruw Jones is batting .143 with 3 homeruns.

I am flabbergasted that Girardi puts him out there in a game like this. I guess Girardi is hoping Jones gets hot and earns a spot on the playoff roster. Which assumes the Yankees make the playoffs. With four games left and a four-game lead on Tampa, am I the only person who thinks Tampa has the Yankees right where they want 'em?

So much for that theory.

The idea was that a pennant race would force the Yankees to rise up and play high-quality baseball rather than sleepwalking into the playoffs.

Well, with seven games to go, they sleepwalked:

"Can anybody here play this game?

On a night when so much was on the table for the Yankees, they delivered a miserable performance against a putrid team that started a good pitcher.

Ivan Nova didn’t pitch well. Robinson Cano dropped a relay throw and made a baserunning mistake. Right fielder Ichiro Suzuki botched a ball on the warning track. And the hitters wilted in front of Brandon Morrow."

Felz Stat of the Day

For his career, ARod has 2,027 strikeouts. A lot, but a fair tradeoff for 647 homers and not a bad ratio when compared to 1,210 walks.

This season, ARod has 111 strikeouts, but with only 18 homers and 44 walks.


Warning track power and the pitchers are no longer scared to pitch to him.

I think Hughes is a five-inning pitcher.

It's tough to analyze "killer instinct," but this team really doesn't seem to have it. Despite their excellent play in the past two weeks which has enabled them to maintain their AL East lead.

The Orioles had already lost.

The Yankees were beating a team that is a million games under .500.

The Yankees had a 2-run lead in the 7th inning.

John Harper blames Logan, and Logan deserves most of the blame. Losing pitcher Hughes also deserves a lot of the blame:

"In a month full of close games, the bullpen has been more crucial than ever for the Yankees, and for the most part, Joe Girardi has been typically aggressive in getting the best out of it. But Tuesday night he was too quick with the trigger and it cost him.

You can argue that bringing in Boone Logan to face Denard Span with the bases loaded in the seventh inning was the book move — lefty vs. lefty and all that.

However, Phil Hughes was pitching a gem, and bases loaded or not, 'he still had good stuff,' catcher Russell Martin said afterward, when Girardi gave him the hook."

I was thinking Hughes should have never started the 7th in the first place. Predictably, the bases were loaded before I could say "Chien Ming Wang."


"At the time he was leading 3-1, his pitch count was at 99 and he’d just struck out Pedro Florimon for the second out of the inning. No wonder he was doing his best, after the 5-4 loss to the Twins, not to let his anger spill out publicly.

Besides the fact that Hughes deserved the chance to pitch to Span, the bigger issue is the workload on the bullpen. At some point there’s a price to pay for pushing relievers to the limit, and this may have been a case in point."

Congratulations on striking out ... ummm, who? ... Pedro Florimon?

Hughes has allowed more HRs than just about anybody in the American League. Denard Span isn't Lou Gehrig, but he isn't Pedro Florimon. I absolutely don't trust Hughes on his 100th pitch with the bases loaded and the game on the line.

Logan blew it bigtime. Maybe it's due to overuse, but Logan was only asked to get one batter out.

Get one batter out and guess what happens? Girardi is a genius and the Yankees have a 2 1/2 game lead.

You got your hustle in my clutch hitting.

You got your clutch hitting in my hustle.

What a second ... it's delicious!

Hustle and clutch hitting: Two great tastes that taste great together:

"If those writing and/or posting to my e-mail and Twitter accounts are an accurate barometer – and from the insane nature of many of them, please, please let that not be true – then the leading reason why the Yankees have not run away with the AL East is because Robinson Cano will not run quickly to first base."

It definitely doesn't help a baseball team win baseball games.


"If only Cano were like, say, I don’t know, Paul O’Neill because, wait, come to think of it Paul O’Neill tended to trot to first when he hit a routine grounder or pop. But he showed his emotions outwardly, punched a water cooler, slammed a bat and so he was The Warrior."

Yes, Paul O'Neill tended to trot to first base when he hit a grounder.

I remember a World Series game where he petulantly walked back to the dugout after popping up a sac bunt attempt. The pitcher let the ball drop and turned it into a double play.

Why are we talking about Paul O'Neill?

If only Cano were like, say, I don't know, Derek Jeter. Play the game in a fundamentally sound manner and hustle. Cano would be an MVP candidate and the Yankees would have a few more wins this season.


"So if Cano just learned to fire a batting helmet into the ground, would all be forgiven? Or is there something deeper at work here?"

No, I don't think anyone is asking Cano to act outwardly angry. I think the fans are asking Cano to hustle on the basepaths and in the field.


"Before we get too sociological, let’s focus on why the Yankees are not comfortably ahead of the Orioles. There are many reasons, of course. However, it you want to home in on Cano, the problem is not hustle, it is big-moment muscle."

Right ... No doubt.

By asking Cano to hustle, is anyone suggesting otherwise?


"Ten games. Fifty at-bats. Sure it would be more aesthetically pleasing to see Cano bust it to first base. But the Yankees need him to drive in runs way more than they need him to run fast."

I have an idea: Both!

I find it amusing when Mike Lupica writes funny things.

This is from July 1st, but I still think it's funny to read an article praising Valentine and Collins:

"Collins: The baseball lifer making it work at Citi Field, not believing all the coverage in the offseason about how his team wasn’t even supposed to play the season. He continues to believe and make the team believe, the Mets team that is 43-36 and still right there in the National League East.

Who knows where the Mets are in two months? But that is the beauty of it all, in a season that has been a gift to their fans, isn’t it? We can’t wait to find out."

In the wake of today's 16-1 loss, I challenge anyone to claim the Mets didn't quit.

Mets playing important games in September.

Ninth-inning HR keeps Phillies' playoff hopes alive as the Mets lose their 8th straight home game and fall to 1-10 in their last 11.

I will now make predictions about the Mets:

1. Terry Collins will keep his job.
2.  David Wright will sign with another team.

Sta-Puf Marshmallow Man will remain on DL longer than expected.

"Mark Teixeira is unlikely to be back in the 10-14 day timeframe provided by the Yankees last Monday. 

GM Brian Cashman conceded on Tuesday that Teixeira is not 'close' to returning after he irritated his calf strain on Sept. 8 trying to stay out of a double play that controversially ended a loss in Baltimore. Cashman is hoping to have him back for the Sept. 27-30 series in Toronto. It’s the Yankees’ second to last series of the season with a matchup against the Red Sox scheduled to finish off the year."

If two runners are on base with two outs, I honestly trust Steve Pearce to get a hit as much as I trust Mark Teixeira. 

Alex Rodriguez is playing well.

Since returning from the DL, ARod has played in 12 games.

AB: 47
H: 14
BA: .298

2B: 2
HR: 3
Runs: 11
RBIs: 9

He really doesn't see it?

If one combines revisionist history with a total lack of self-criticism, then one can create a world where they are never wrong.

In a way, it must be fun to be Mike Lupica:

"Somehow there is still the quaint notion, a leftover from the 1990s, that it is still World Series or bust for the Yankees, even as they have been staggering to the finish line in the American League East for two full months, from the time the rest of the division was told by the media to go home when the Yankees were 10 games ahead in July."

In July, Lupica told his readers to focus on the exciting Mets rather than the ho-hum Yankees.

Sir, you are "the media."

"The media" is you.


"We still hear that about anything less than Series title No. 28 means the season is a failure the way we hear, constantly, about how the Yankee 'brand' must be preserved and maintained at all costs, and I do mean at all costs, because of the way they keep spending money to make money."

The World-Series-or-Bust idea is another Lupica Special. I thought he copyrighted it 15 years ago.

As for the branding, the Yankees are a money-making machine. The branding is working.


Which got me to thinking: What is Mike Lupica's brand? A Jimmy Breslin ripoff who counterbalances his children's books with occasional forays into politics?

A man who can't be bothered with viewing sports on daily basis.

Instead, Lupica is a gatekeeper to the sports conversation.

He doesn't want you to focus on silly things like wins, losses, balls, strikes, batting averages, and other events that occur on the field of play. He wants you to talk about the people who play the sports.

It's a gossip column about pro athletes, written by an author of children's books.


The branding is working, to be fair.  Lupica seems to be quite successful in his various ventures.  Similar to the 2012 Yankees, his branding does not correlate with reality. Similar to the 2012 Yankees, he's a fraud.  The 2012 Yankees, in contrast, still have an opportunity to redeem themselves.


"But then you look at the standings. Then you see they don’t even have as good a won-loss record as the 'Moneyball 2' Oakland A’s. Then you remember that the Yankees have played in one World Series in the last nine seasons at a time in baseball when the Red Sox have won two, the Cardinals have won two, and the Texas Rangers have played in the last two."

At least he gives some dap to the A's. I guess the Boston Valentines fell too far out of the race.


There's nothing here, folks.  Lupica looked at the standings for the first time in two months and noticed the Yankees are struggling.  The rest is him explaining what the Yankees are "supposed" to do.  Which is win the World Series.  Which is the exact branding message that he mocked.


"Even if Mark Teixeira hadn’t gotten hurt, the Yankees might have ended this season without a single 100-RBI guy."

Curtis Granderson has 90 RBIs.

Lupica has decreed that Granderson won't get 10 RBIs in the next 2 weeks.  

I don't know how Lupica knows this, but it doesn't really matter.  If Granderson finished the season with 120 RBIs, Lupica can just say that the media doubted Granderson's ability to get 100 RBIs.

"I love Mike Trout, but Miguel Cabrera is the MVP of the American League."

Mike Trout can sleep well at night.  He has Mike Lupica's seal of approval.  Mike Lupica loves him.


Mike Trout is also leading the league in batting average, stolen bases, and runs scored while winning a gold glove in CF.  So he's also got that going for him.

If you're going to spend time analyzing the arguments in the Trout-vs.-Cabrera MVP battle, I wouldn't rely on the opinion of the gossip columnist who writes children's books.  You may as well rely on the opinions of Dr. Seuss or Cindy Adams.

I will kick 'em when they're down.

At least someone is paying attention to the Mets:

"And with that, the Mets concluded another depressing stay at home, where they have not won since Aug. 26 and where they have not scored more than three runs since Aug. 12.

'It’s frustrating for all 35 guys in that clubhouse, the players and coaches and front office, to not play well at home, to not score runs,' Manager Terry Collins said. 'But, you know, I’ve been sitting around thinking about things, and we set the bar pretty high in April and May. For a club that wasn’t supposed to be very good, we set the bar up there, and I’m proud of that.'"

Bad News/Good News.

"Derek Jeter doesn't even want to miss one inning of the New York Yankees' playoff push.

The shortstop pulled up lame after lunging for first base on his double-play groundout to end the eighth inning of New York's 5-4 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night. Manager Joe Girardi had to talk him into coming out of the game, but Jeter said he would be back in the lineup when they try to hold onto first place in the AL East again Thursday."

Bad news: Yankee All Star shortstop Derek Jeter injured his leg while hustling to first base in an attempt to beat a relay throw on a double play.

Good news: Yankee All Star second baseman Robinson Cano is forever immune to this particular injury.

Stop saying $189 million.

"If the Yankees were actually to fall not just out of first place but all the way out of the playoffs, I suspect there will be a groundswell for the organization to behave like, well, the Yankees.

In 2008 when the Yanks missed the playoffs for the first time since 1993, they invested $423.5 million on CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett. The further impetus was provided by the need to fill an expensive new stadium opening in 2009."

They won the World Series that year.

"And I wouldn’t be surprised if, after all the talk about getting under the $189 million luxury tax threshold for 2014, the Yankees U-turn should this season end poorly. They are not going to jeopardize the brand — worth billions — to save the millions available via the new collective bargaining agreement for going under the threshold."

Hank and Hal are trying to sell a Shoe Dini to you.

 

Don't buy it.

If the Yankees win the World Series this year ... if they sweep the playoffs, winning every game by 10 runs ... they should still make a U-turn and spend more than $189 million.

 

 

"Since the end of last season, four teams invested more to assure a playoff spot in 2013 than any others and if the season ended today, none would be in the postseason:

* The Marlins bought free agents Heath Bell, Mark Buehrle and Jose Reyes to build — by far — their largest payroll ever and the seventh-largest in the game. By midseason, Miami was in sell-off mode and today is a last-place team.

* The Angels made Albert Pujols the second-highest paid player in baseball and also signed C.J. Wilson. Total offseason investment: $317.5 million. That wasn’t enough, so in July the Angels traded three of their top eight prospects to Milwaukee for Zack Greinke. They have all of that and arguably the greatest rookie year ever being produced by Mike Trout. Yet, they not only have so far failed to accomplish the mandate — overtake the Rangers to be the supreme AL West team — but actually also trail the A’s."

Sure, you should need to spend the money wisely.  Nothing guarantees a playoff spot: High payroll, low payroll, young team, old team. new stadium, old stadium.

Would the Angels be better off without Albert Pujols?  Of course not.

Is Joel Sherman really saying that the A's are the new model for success?  Because I can list a lot of low payroll teams who are purty darn bad.  Like every low payroll team besides the A's.

Jacoby Ellsbury was never the AL MVP.

"The Yankees gave leads of 1-0 and 3-2 to starter Hiroki Kuroda, but the right-hander who has been the Yankees most consistent starter could not hold either. The Red Sox, who snapped a four-game losing skid and won for just the second time in their last 13 games, were led by two of the stars — their two former American League MVPs — who remain.

...

Other than Jeter’s double, the Yankee bats were stagnant. Alex Rodriguez, who showed signs of life in Baltimore, went 0-for-4 with 3 strikeouts. And Curtis Granderson, who hoped his slide was over, went 0-for-3, and left three runners in scoring position. The Yankees dropped to 4-22 in games in which they do not hit a home run. This has been a theme lately, in the postgame sessions, especially with Jeter and Rodriguez."

Logan forgot to cover 1b on a ground ball. Nunez doesn't know how to slide into second base.  Yet again, I'm forced to wonder about the coaching in the Yankee minor leagues.

1-for-12 with RISP.

4-22 in games where they don't hit a HR.


7-13 in their last 20 games.


There is no easy part of the schedule.  The Yankees are the easy part of the schedule.

Heck, ARod already has stepped it up.

"Tuesday night exemplified how badly the Yankees need A-Rod, who went 0-for-4. He came to bat three times with men on base — twice with a runner in scoring position — and came up empty each time. Heck, he couldn’t even make a productive out with runners at second and third and no outs in the first, grounding out to third base."

ARod has been very productive prior to his broken wrist and in the 8 games since his return.

I don't see the big deal about the first inning ground out.  When a 2012 Yankee player fails to get a hit with RISP, it just means he's a 2012 Yankee.  Girardi and Long have kidnapped a puppy and threatened to kill that puppy if any Yankee hits a sac fly.  So before you criticize ARod's poor situational hitting, think of the puppy.


"The Yankees went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position in the 4-3 loss to the Red Sox, the lone hit coming off Jeter’s bat in the sixth. They left nine runners on base, a crime in a one-run loss to a last-place team that had seemingly stopped caring weeks ago."

It is incredible, and it has been that way all year. Long called them out a couple of weeks ago, but his message fell on deaf ears.

The 2012 Yankees:

• 17-22 in one-run games.
• .231 team BA with 2 outs and RISP.
• 5-9 vs. AL East rivals in pennant stretch.
• Worse record than the A's.

 

Maybe it's all statistical noise and they're about to win 5 straight one-run games, get a walkoff win, tear off an 11-2 winning streak in September.

There is no Yankee fan on Earth who has any reason to think this is going to happen.

This team will likely hang on and make it into the playoffs.  When the playoffs start, anything can happen.  What I'd expect, however, is more of the same: A listless team who swings for the fences and hopes the opposing pitcher throws the ball into their bat.

I heard the fastball was up to 88 MPH.

"Clemens, however, told KRIV-TV in Houston on Monday night he would only want to pitch against a contender. 

'I can tell you right now -- and they would know, too -- that if I was going to go do it, I am going to pitch against a contender, that's who I want to knock out,' Clemens said. 'Why would I want to waste my time running around and getting in shape. I get over to Minute Maid [Park], I'll crank it up and get it over 90 for a contender. We'll knock them right out of the playoffs. That would be the fun. Pitching against somebody that's not in contention wouldn't be any fun for me.' " 

Please pick the Yankees to pitch against!  The Yankees are in contention!  Steinbrenner will pay you $1 million and send a limo to the airport.

Derek Jeter Top Ten AL MVP 2012.

"There can't be a conversation about the American League's Most Valuable Player Award without including Derek Jeter, and doesn't that make this whole season even better?"

Person #1: Who do you think is the AL MVP this year?
Person #2: Not Derek Jeter.

Person #1: Who are your top AL MVP candidates?
Person #2: You mean the players who are having better years than Derek Jeter?

I guess Richard Justice is correct.  I tried to have an AL MVP discussion without mentioning Derek Jeter and I couldn't do it.

 
"Jeter is leading the AL in hits and is second in batting average and fourth in runs. He batted .389 in April, and his average has fallen below .300 for just two days the entire season."

1) What about the guy who's first in batting average?

2) What about the guys who are top three in runs?

3) Why are you ignoring all the other batting statistics?

4) April batting average?


"His defense at short has been terrific, as usual. Meanwhile, his Yankees have had at least a share of first place in the AL East for 93 straight days, and now with the stretch run upon us, Jeter is hitting .378 in September."

1) His defensive range is comically bad.

2) The Yankees blew a ten-game lead and have the 3rd-best record in the league (barely).


"He's part of what appears to be a close race for the AL MVP Award. There's a case to be made for Mike Trout, Miguel Cabrera and Josh Hamilton as well."

You left out a few, including at least one of Jeter's teammates.


"The case for Jeter is this: 

• Doing his job at the top of the lineup spectacularly well.
• Playing nice defense.
• Winning.
• Leadership.
• Being at his best when the pressure is cranked up the most, which is pretty much every day of the year with the Yankees."

•  .367 on-base% and 89 runs are darn good.  Not spectacular.
• Defense is garbage.
• Not winning.
• Jeter leads by example for sure.  Sixteen years of hustling to first base.  But it doesn't rub off on at least one of Jeter's teammates ... and few fifth-place collapse teams usually get high marks for their leadership.  So let's see how the final three weeks play out.
• He has had a great year, just not the best year in the AL.

"Regardless of how it plays out, it's fun just having Jeter in the discussion. Scouts have marveled at the quickness of his bat and his ability to get hits on pitches in tough locations."

He has been great.

Isn't that enough?

Isn't it possible to appreciate his greatness without exaggeration?

I don't get it.

"Every which way Chipper Jones turned at Citi Field, someone wanted to thank him.

Mets chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon presented the Atlanta star with a pricey piece of 3-D artwork. A policeman gave him a firm handshake, an usher provided a pat on the back. A man intercepted Jones in the hallway near the clubhouse, reached into a shopping bag and handed over the Braves flag that flew over Shea Stadium and a framed part of the outfield wall."

This is the blog to read if you want to see Nick Swisher's batting average described as "sinusoidal."

Nick Swisher's 2012 batting average by month:

Apr .284
May .207
Jun .321
Jul .222
Aug .306
Sep .057

One play can't cost a team the pennant.

"Just another one of those nights that could only happen to the Yankees.

The first-base umpire butchered a call that may have cost them a victory and sole possession of first place."

Bad umpire calls seem to occur every day.

This play certainly will live in Yankee Universe infamy if the Yankees miss the playoffs.  I think Dave D'Alessandro and everyone else knows their 2012 collapse is not due to one unlucky play.


Teixeira is called safe.

Tie game, top 9, ARod coming up.

No guarantee the Yankees win the game.

Children.

Blown call in a pennant race.

Girardi loses his cool with reporter.

Reporter writes a column in which he calls the Yankees "losers."


I don't even disagree with Sherman's observations.  The Yankees had their chances and CC was the goat of last night's game.

But a grown man using a newspaper column to passive-aggressively call another grown man a loser?

He may as well have a column of Yo Mama jokes.

Theoretical physicists would claim that it's not possible to go back in time and watch yourself play baseball.

The multiverse will accommodate all things that are possible.  However, no combination of probability waves will create a situation that is not possible.  Therefore, Rickey Henderson can't go back in time and watch himself play baseball.

On the other hand, theoretical physicists never predicted the singular greatness of Rickey Henderson:

"Under our Turn Back the Clock ground rules, not only can you go back to a game you saw in person, you can also go back to a game in which you actually played. And maybe it's no surprise who chose such a game.

'I would like to see myself play,' Rickey Henderson said, choosing Game 2 of the 1989 ALCS.

Well, you don't need the ego of Rickey to want to have seen him in action that series. He stole eight bases, scored eight runs, homered twice and had a 1.609 OPS in five games. He stole four of those bases in Game 2 alone when he pretty destroyed much the will of the Blue Jays' pitching staff.

'That was a fantastic series and a fantastic game for me, Rickey said. And I think that was one of the most important times and one of the most fun times in baseball.' "

PS - Thanks to my buddy who sent me the link.

They aren't losing because Joba pitches; Joba pitches because they're losing.

Still, the Yankees have lost eight games in a row in which Joba has pitched.

Soft.

At this rate, he should be ready to go by early November:

"First baseman Mark Teixeira ran 10-12 sprints Thursday at what he called '80 percent' effort and said 'things are headed in the right direction.'

While Teixeira, out since Aug. 27 with a left calf strain, did not rule out a return to the lineup tonight, from all indications Saturday is more likely.

'I ran close to full speed,' Teixeira said. 'But game speed and practice speed are different, so it’s difficult to really go full speed in practice, but it was encouraging.' "

You're not a sprinter in the Olympics, you're a first baseman in a pennant race.

If you're 80%, you play.

Maybe they wouldn't listen for the first five months.

"Hitting coach Kevin Long suggested an altered approach after the Yankees failed to produce more than six hits for a fifth straight game, the first time since 1990 they've accomplished the dubious feat.

'We have to get back to the basics,' Long said. 'We might start having some guys bunt that you don't normally see bunt until we get it going . . . everybody should be capable of doing it and if we're not all in, then something's wrong. At this point, when you're not scoring runs, you have to try something. This is an important time right now. We need to get the guys in this room to sell out, and trusting everybody on the team, from the guys on the bench to our big horses. We have to come together and we have to do it now.'

While manager Joe Girardi has been hesitant to use words suggesting worry in the clubhouse, Long wasn't.

'You've got a 10-game lead and it'd down to zero so there's some added pressure and guys are probably trying to do too much,' Long said. 'Obviously we've lived on some home runs . . . at times like this it might be moving runners, that's just as important as hitting home runs. The biggest concern here is we've lost our cushion so we have to turn it around and we have to turn it around in a hurry.' "

I think it's probably too late to change the team's bad habits since you encouraged it for so long. (I think there was a stat from last night that the Yankee batters struck out 9 times on changeups?)

Maybe this team will wake up and meet the challenge of, you know, playing important baseball games. Or playing baseball games as if they were important.

Grace Under Pressure.

Sub-.500 record in one-run games.

Zero victories (I think) when trailing after seven innings.

The manager's snitty answers at press conferences.

The manager using five pitchers in one inning.

The manager cracking.

The team cracking.

Just a lot of indications this team really can't handle adversity.

Though I give Girardi credit for finally benching Ichiro.

Robinso Cano diving for a ground ball is MLB's equivalent of Haley's Comet.

"Cano said he believes he would have kept that ball in the infield, but as he reached down to field it, his left foot came up awkwardly and he felt his left hip grab. He stayed in the game and was planning to remain in if the game went beyond the ninth. Cano said he never felt anything pop, and described the injury only as tightness.

'Right when I tried to bend, my left foot just came straight up and I felt my hip,' he said. 'It will be hopefully just nothing bad.' ”

I sure hope Cano is OK and I don't want to completely dismiss the injury ... but, if his hip injury is preventing him from bending over ... then this hip injury has been lingering for about seven years.

Here Comes the Backlash.

"A two-out groundball single by Chris Gimenez in the eighth scored Ryan Roberts from second with the decisive run. The winning base hit barely got past Robinson Cano, who could have likely smothered the ball if he decided to make a diving attempt."

When a team is playing .600 ball, the fans don't pay attention to a catcher who bats .195 or a second baseman who acts like he's bored out of his mind.

Earlier in the game, Cano stalled on the torturous 90-foot run to first base. But that isn't really news, because he jogs to first base just about every at-bat.

Joba Chamberlain recorded one out, and that was a fly ball that travelled over the fence

Why is Joba Chamberlain pitching in the 8th inning of a close game?

Why is Joba Chamberlain pitching in the 8th inning?

Why is Joba Chamberlain pitching?

Why is Joba Chamberlain?

Why?