New York Yankees News: Stubbornness

Mood Music - Long Time by Boston

Well, if anyone was waiting for New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi to back down from his formulaic bullpen-by-the-numbers approach, he's not going to.  After receiving some criticism for the Rafael Soriano and David Robertson debacle in the Twins series, Girardi stood by his move.

And it's not like Girardi is caving in to the media, backing down from the move. He said he would absolutely put Soriano in the same spot despite the overwhelming criticism.

I wish the article had a direct quote from Girardi, but I'm really not surprised by his stance.  At this point it's just feeding quotes to the media, and supporting his players is much more important than revealing actual insight into his strategy.  I can only hold out hope that the concept of using his best pitchers to get the biggest outs will descend upon Girardi, but I won't be holding my breath.

Derek Jeter is not going to talk about his batting stride anymore.

"I ain't talking about it anymore.  I'm good. People made so much about it. I'm fine."

"What am I doing?  I'm not doing anything different really. I've talked about it enough, to be quite honest with you. I'm not thinking about it, I'm just hitting so I feel pretty good."

The advice that Kevin Long gave to Jeter about striding towards the pitcher and maintaining his balance seemed intuitive and logical, and Jeter definitely improved at the end of last season while working with Long.  I hope he knows what he's doing.

Finally, here is LoHud on Russell Martin's big day and various other Yankee related topics.