"This was about 11 o’clock on Saturday morning before a Red Sox-Yankees game, second Saturday of the season, and Joe Girardi wasn’t just explaining why Derek Jeter wasn’t in his starting lineup — maybe you missed it, but Jeter’s retiring at the end of the season — Girardi was also showing you why it is so easy to root for him, and how well he does handling a job as big as there is in sports."
I sure hope ths is a mindblowing quote from Girardi.
“ 'I have to manage (Jeter) with a focus of winning games and keeping him healthy, not being a farewell tour,' Girardi said. 'I wasn’t hired to put on a farewell tour.' "
Yes, Jeter is old.
"Right there, before Hiroki Kuroda threw the first pitch on Saturday afternoon or a run was scored, ..."
On account of it being about 11 o'clock in the morning and the game started about 1 o'clock in the afternoon.
" ... Girardi had given you the money quote of the day, and the headline."
Jesus, you really don't even bother watching the games, do you?
McCann's two HRs didn't surpass that quote as the headline?
"But Girardi, who wasn’t being pressed on his decision or braced in the interview room, talked about that decision as if he wasn’t just playing to those of us sitting across from him in the interview area across from the Yankee clubhouse, but playing to the bleachers as well."
Well, gee.
A manager was using the press to communicate with the fans.
Maybe if Girardi kisses Lupica's butt just enough, Lupica will write a nice article.
"So Jeter was a story on Saturday because he wouldn’t be starting a day game after a night game."
Was Jeter a story? Was this a headline? Was this a money quote?
I haven't seen mention of these things anywhere else.
It's also not the first time this season that Jeter has been rested.
"But the more intriguing absent player for the Yankees is the one — Cano — who will be missing all the games this season, and next season, and the eight after that because he is playing for the Mariners. The Yankees try to beat the Red Sox and everybody else now without their best hitter and one of the best in the game."
Errr ... nice transition.
If you wanted to write an article about Cano, why didn't you just write an article about Cano?
"The Yankees lose Jeter next season. But now they’ve lost Cano forever, because of a business decision so clearly informed by what the end of Alex Rodriguez’s 10-year contract looks like, and the disaster it has become for them, and not just financially, even with Rodriguez off the books this season because of his drug suspension.
Once Jeter stood there at shortstop at Yankee Stadium and had Rodriguez, when he could still play and still hit, on his right and Cano, with his own immense talent for baseball, on his left. Both gone from Yankee Stadium. Rodriguez’s locker, no name plate on it, is next to Jacoby Ellsbury’s now. Cano’s locker, to Jeter’s right, near the entrance to the showers, belongs to Carlos Beltran, whose job it is to supply runs and danger in the middle of the lineup the way Cano did for a long time."
Thanks for the informative update regarding the layout of the Yankee locker room.
Guess what, everybody? Beltran's locker is near the entrance to the showers.
I don't get it. Are you trying to convince us that you were inside the Yankee locker room? We believe you.
The rest of the information provided is very old news. Jeter's retiring, Cano's gone, ARod is supspended, Beltran and Ellsbury have joined the Yankees.
"Still: Taking Cano out of the lineup is like taking a Cabrera away, or a Mike Trout, or a Papi Ortiz."
If Papi is on steroids, that is.
Yes, we are in total agreement. The Yankees lost their best hitter. That was in December. This is April.
"You have to know the deal with managers and coaches, whether they’ve got long-term contracts or not: They want to do everything in their power to make sure the farewell tour isn’t their own."
Money quote, Lupica! Money quote!
So your point is ... well, I'm not sure. It sure took a long time to get there.
Jeter is old, and Jeter no long plays with Cano or ARod, whose lockers no longer house their clothes, since they're no longer on the team, so why would their clothes be in that locker if they're no longer on the team? The manager of the Yankees will have to manage the players on the team instead of managing the players who used to be on the team, and some of the current players are old, and all of the current players are inferior to Cano, who is no longer on the team. and whose locker is now occupied by Ellsbury ... I mean, Beltran ... wait, who got Cano's old locker?
In summary, Alex Rodriguez.
"Oh, I get it:
Now Alex Rodriguez just wants to be left alone."
Yes, why won't your newspaper just leave him alone?
Or can you at least write something interesting about him?
In the last week or so, I've read a lot about ARod doing nothing.
Good investigative reporting about the empty nameplate on his locker. Almost as good as the article about how ARod was not going to be a MLB TV analyst.
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