Joe Girardi does things his own way, media be damned.
The New York Yankees manager can be quite prickly when being questioned about his baseball moves, but he has made it clear that the second guessing will not stop him from doing what he thinks is best for his team. Just in case we needed any more proof of that, he rested Alex Rodriguez and Brett Gardner (both of whom entered the game later) yesterday and put Mark Teixeira as the designated hitter, replaced at first base by inferior fielder Lance Berkman in the swing game of a key series against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Granted, I probably wouldn't have rested both Gardner and ARod on the same day against the team's top rival, but I don't think Girardi was completely out of line. ARod definitely needed a mental break from the weight of his pursuit of 600 homers. The Tampa turf is unkind to all players and even a player as young as Gardner needs an occasional day off to ensure that he doesn't lose his greatest asset: his legs. And to be fair, all first baseman are inferior fielders compared to Tex, who has saved countless runs with his defense.
I have to admit that I'm a bit surprised at all the negative press Girardi's lineup decisions are generating, but I probably shouldn't be. The media will turn every little tidbit of information into a potentially huge story, will question every decision made no matter what the circumstances. Girardi's job is to simply answer the questions and ignore the newspapers in the morning. Even if he doesn't like the criticism, he's always going to do what he thinks is best for his team and no amount of questions is going to change that.
The New York Yankees manager can be quite prickly when being questioned about his baseball moves, but he has made it clear that the second guessing will not stop him from doing what he thinks is best for his team. Just in case we needed any more proof of that, he rested Alex Rodriguez and Brett Gardner (both of whom entered the game later) yesterday and put Mark Teixeira as the designated hitter, replaced at first base by inferior fielder Lance Berkman in the swing game of a key series against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Granted, I probably wouldn't have rested both Gardner and ARod on the same day against the team's top rival, but I don't think Girardi was completely out of line. ARod definitely needed a mental break from the weight of his pursuit of 600 homers. The Tampa turf is unkind to all players and even a player as young as Gardner needs an occasional day off to ensure that he doesn't lose his greatest asset: his legs. And to be fair, all first baseman are inferior fielders compared to Tex, who has saved countless runs with his defense.
I have to admit that I'm a bit surprised at all the negative press Girardi's lineup decisions are generating, but I probably shouldn't be. The media will turn every little tidbit of information into a potentially huge story, will question every decision made no matter what the circumstances. Girardi's job is to simply answer the questions and ignore the newspapers in the morning. Even if he doesn't like the criticism, he's always going to do what he thinks is best for his team and no amount of questions is going to change that.
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