I must admit, I go back and forth on Brett Gardner, whose bat sometimes looks too Quadruple-A-ish too often, but whose speed is slump-proof and whose attitude is as much a part of the Yankees’ likeability quotient as anything else on the roster. But the stand-up way he responded to two mistakes yesterday against Cleveland really seals it for me: you win more games with a guy like him on your team.

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This is a debate for a different day, but right now it is hard to think that the Mets have ever made a smarter free-agent signing than when they got Frankie Rodriguez in the fold.