Joe Girardi takes Robinson Cano shot while analyzing Gleyber Torres' odd hustle play

Robinson Cano, fresh off terrorizing the New York Yankees with his new team, the Diablos Rojos, was fresh in the mind of his former manager during Sunday's broadcast, too.

Joe Girardi took third chair duties for the Yankees and Astros' series finale, pairing up with Michael Kay and Paul O'Neill to provide his unique insight, as both a core player and tight-ship-keeping World Champion manager.

Midway through Sunday's game, Gleyber Torres -- often a target of fan ire for his (perceived) casual attitude -- popped one up to Jose Altuve on the edge of foul territory and didn't think much of it ... until Altuve dropped the ball. That resulted in a late spring to first and a force out, rather than a pop out.

Clearly, Altuve thought he could deke Torres, based on the resulting smirk. It didn't quite work, but it did bring to mind the commonly held fan criticism of Torres' occasional hustle-related mental lapses. When asked to address whether it was even possible for a manager to get a blase player to start booking it to the bag on sure outs, Girardi brought up -- who else -- Cano, describing the strategy he used to employ to try to make a dent.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi had some Robinson Cano advice for Gleyber Torres

As Girardi claims he stated directly to Cano, "Robbie, I'm gonna show you what it looks like. And that's what the FANS see." He'd then proceed to run some footage of Cano's hustle -- or lack thereof -- just to send some form of a message.

Of course, as Girardi noted, you just can't change some people. Why would you run on a foul ball? It won't matter 98 out of 100 times. Plus, as the ex-manager also cautioned, he believes some people play the game too hard; hustle can become careless. Just look at Bryce Harper, flopping over the railing while the ball falls behind him.

And oh, by the way? Cano doesn't work here anymore, but Torres does, and a minute later, he actually stole a run with his hustle. If you impugned him for messing around (briefly) on a pop up, you might've missed him booking it first-to-third on this Juan Soto single, setting up an Aaron Judge sacrifice fly that wouldn't otherwise have occurred.

And this is what the fans see, too. So far, when it comes to the 2024 Yankees, those fans have seen heads-up base running and well-worn at-bats, more often than not.