Girardi channels Yogi: “A lot of times part of it is mental.”

That's what he told the Gray Lady. (No, not Meredith Marakovitz.)

“It’s important, because guys feel better about themselves,” Girardi said of the weekend. “A lot of times part of it is mental.”

Hm-mm. Girardi is a master of communication. He used to be a YES announcer, the highest pinnacle of precise, verbal analysis. He's arguably on the same level as Paul O'Neill, (that is, when O'Neill is not gorging himself on the press box buffet. How can America speak about conquering world hunger, when O'Nell in one game consumes what a third world family eats in a month?) What did Girardi mean? This being an analytical Yankee web site, devoted to pure science and the betterment of all Yankeekind... let's crunch some numbers...

"A lot of times..." - He didn't say "most of the time," just a lot. Thus, it's got to be lower than 50 percent. I'm estimating Girardi puts the starting figure at 40 percent.

"... part of it..." - Again, a qualifier. I think this has to be fewer than "a lot of times," because if it were higher, he would have said "a big part of it..." So, I'm saying 30 percent, with a margin of error of - let's say 15 percent.

So, we've got the original 40 percent, divided by the 30 percent - hm-mm, three goes into, carry the naught, hold on, where's my Texas Instruments.. wait.. OK: I got it:

Girardi believes 13 percent of baseball - give or take 15 percent - is mental.

Thirteen. Wait a minute. That's A-Rod.

Hm-mm. A-Rod barely played this weekend. If you take the 15 percent margin of error from the 13 percent part mental, that would roughly be the number of at-bats that A-Rod had. (Which I think was 2.) Is that what Girardi means? He's a complex man. A lot of times, he's partly right.