Yanks Announce Plan to Start Playing Really Hard Next Week

NEW YORK _ The defending American League Wild Card Champion Yankees announced today that it's still too early to actually start playing hard, as they march ever forward in pursuit of the 2008 post-season.





"There's 30 games left, and we don't want to lose key players to injuries," manager Joe Girardi told reporters, somewhere in the middle of a 11-3 game, which was called due to all 56,000 fans having left the stadium. "We're going to wait to make our move. Victor Zambrano is getting it together in Trenton. Phil "the Franchise" Hughes is looking good at Scranton. When we get those big guns back, we can rev it up. Let me get back to you sometime around Sept. 15."



A pivotal moment in Wednesday's game came when Bobby "The Wallflower" Abreu made certain that he didn't come within spitting distance of the right field wall, while chasing a fly ball triple. Abreu flailed and waved at the ball with his glove, as it hit about four feet up on the wall.

Girardi hailed the instincts of the veteran star.



"If we were later in the season, and we absolutely, absolutely needed to win the game, then I'd want Abreu to go all out," Girardi said. "Some players would chase that ball right into the wall, but it's much too early, there's too much baseball left to play, and we need Bobby for the stretch drive."

Girardi also praised Jason Giambi for his fighting spirit in hitting a bases-empty home run to make the score 11-3.

"He showed them something tonight," the manager said. "Some people might have been counting us out, but when we're down by 9, that's when we're most dangerous. They had to find out the hard way. Ha. The joke was on them, I guess."