With Tuesday night’s rain-delayed game finally ending at 2:15 yesterday morning, manager Joe Girardi kept every starter except Alex Rodriguez out of the lineup of what he likened to a doubleheader.
“We had guys that probably got to bed at 4 o’clock in the morning, and to ask them to try to turn around and play a game, to me you’re just risking a lot physically,” said Girardi after the Yankees’ 5-4 11-inning loss yesterday. “You know, it’s kind of like if you’re playing a doubleheader.”
The Yankees issued a statement Wednesday to explain why Tuesday’s game didn’t start until after 11 p.m.
“The decision to play Tuesday night’s game vs. Baltimore was a collaborative effort between Major League Baseball and the New York Yankees,’’ Yankees president Randy Levine said. “Every possible effort was made to play the game because there were no suitable alternative dates on which to play a rescheduled game given the poor weather forecast for Wednesday.
“We certainly recognize the inconvenience to our fans and have invited them back to enjoy a future game at Yankee Stadium.”
A rainout in Baltimore caused by Hurricane Irene forced the teams to scheduled a makeup game there on Sept. 8 and left them without another non-travel off day that can be used for another makeup.
How badly have the Yankees been hammered by the weather? They have had 20 games affected, with 12 rain delays and eight more postponements. They have one off day left in September; they originally had four.
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Despite A.J. Burnett‘s struggles, Girardi wouldn’t be pinned down on when he might cut his six-man rotation to five.
“It’s worked pretty well for us, seemed to keep our guys pretty fresh . . . I’m not going to commit to one way or the other what I’m going to do.”
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Eduardo Nunez‘s fielding may have improved of late, but yesterday’s performance at shortstop — in which he had two of their season-high four errors and could’ve had a third — underscored just how far he has to go.
He has 18 in 97 games but just two in his last 30 games. And with the wet conditions, Rodriguez absolved the young infielder.
“You take [this], put an ‘X’ through it and literally throw it away,” said Rodriguez. “I don’t care if it was Ozzie Smith in his prime, he didn’t have a chance.”
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Jesus Montero kept hitting, with a game-tying two-run double off the wall. He’s hit in four of five games since being called up Sept. 1, including each of the last four.
He’s batting .353 with two homers, four runs scored and five RBIs.
