Yankees: Girardi’s lying eyes distort what is plain to see

The New York Yankees brand is being marred by their manager making lame excuses for his players at a time when he should be exercising leadership and tough love that doesn’t enable senseless behavior on the diamond.

New York Yankees manager, Joe Girardi, comes up as a small man in a big game as he coddles instead of teaching about the consequences of weak and senseless behavior on a major league ballfield.

And Girardi’s reaction to the suspension of Gary Sanchez is particularly disturbing when the video of his catcher’s involvement in Thursday’s melee is there for all to see.

Girardi’s lying eyes tell us this as reported by the New York Post:

"“Gary is a fiery player and Gary has a lot of fight in him and that is one thing you don’t ever want to take away from a player,” added Girardi, who cited the comepetive nature of Jorge Posada."

Fiery is an adjective often used in baseball to describe the style of play of Latino ballplayers. Noticeably, Girardi thought to include Posada. But fiery has a line drawn when you see Sanchez pelting Detroit players who were being held down and defenseless. I mean, geez, even the brutal sport of boxing has rules that ban hitting below the belt.

All of which is ironic when placed against a glowing column I wrote just two weeks ago, pointing out Girardi’s new and more candid stance with the media.

Granted, the Yankees and Girardi both have a lot more problems to grapple with now. And it would be best to push this one under the rug and move on at a time when the team needs fewer, not more, distractions.

Still, let it be said, Girardi, if it were any other time, has a lot of explaining to do.

Bomber Bits

****Greg Bird will be donning the Pinstripes tonight for the first time since May 1. He’s coming with a hot bat from rehab games with Triple-A Scranton at a time when the Yankees need consistent offense.

It remains to be seen what the team will do with Chase Headley, who has performed without a hiccup since taking over at first base. The problem is complicated by the solid defense and occasional power being produced at third base by Todd Frazier.

Somehow, Girardi will squeeze Bird into the lineup as soon as tonight.

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**** Yankees hopes for a rebound from last night’s air out of the balloon loss to the Mariners in extra innings rest squarely on the shoulders of Sonny Gray. The team needs Gray to deliver that knock-out blow he is capable of with a minimum of seven strong innings, a la the performance turned in last night by CC Sabathia.

All of the major players in the bullpen appeared in the game last night. And with Aroldis Chapman hopefully relegated to purgatory, it starts to look like a bullpen on the verge of overwork, a bad omen when you consider next week with the Indians and Red Sox coming to town.

**** Starlin Castro busted down the line on a ground out and ran easily for a double last night, allowing the Yankees to breathe a little more easily in pronouncing him fit and fully ready to go.

**** Next Sunday’s game against the Red Sox, originally scheduled as an afternoon game, has been moved to a night game by those bastards at ESPN. This means the Yankees are expected to arrive at their hotel in Baltimore at 4:00 A.M. and will play an afternoon game that same day.

Next: Return of Bird will give Girardi more flexibility

To accommodate this scheduling nightmare, ESPN has graciously moved the game to a 7:30 P.M. start and the game in Baltimore will begin at 2:00 P.M. instead of the usual time of one hour earlier.

To the call-ups arriving from the minors, welcome to the major leagues.

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