Refsnyder v White Sox: three singles, a double and a walk. All together now: Small Sample Size!

Yesterday, Rob Refsnyder - the lost fairy of Wilkes Barre -went 2 for 3 and lashed a drive to the centerfield wall, to be robbed of a double. His batting average now stands at .273.

Imagine that: Seventy-three points over over .200. As John Sterling would say, "Isn't that amazing?"

Wait, I hear you chanting: SSS! SSS! SSS! Small Sample Size! And you're right. There is nothing to be gleaned from a weekend of at bats against a team that, right now, is to Chicago as the Yankees are to NYC: The town's second tier team.

SSS. That's all it is. In fact, it's the most carefully crafted SSS in baseball. And the reason is simple: The Yankees have two veteran infielders (neither at 2B, though) being paid a coalyard full of money and, thus, have required a BAFSS: (Big Ass Frickin Sample Size). Stephen Drew and Brendan Ryan needed the entire 2015 season to prove they cannot move the needle offensively.

Now, with a finger-count of games left, Girardi is looking at Refsnyder and finally weighing the idea of a hitter at the bottom of the order... in an SSS.

Isn't is amazing? All season, they jerk the kid like a yo-yo, and now they plug him in like chewing gum on the bow of a leaking barge. Don't get me wrong: I'm happy to see if Refsnyder can do the job. Like every idiot fan in the Yankiverse, I've watched Scranton box scores all season, waiting for Refsnyder to get a chance. And we've all wondered: How bad can his fielding be? How horribly can he mangle groundballs? I watched him when Scranton came to Syracuse. He handled every grounder. How incredibly wretched can the guy be, when nobody is watching? And who in Scranton was getting on the phone to NYC and saying, "He's a plate of bad clams! Forget that 2 for 3 in the box score! He's an abomination! Stick with Drew! He's going to start hitting, any day!" Or was it Girardi's blind spot for Drew - who surely is a prince of a fellow, when not lashing balls into the defensive overshifts. Was Girardi simply incapable of saying, "Dude, you gotta start bunting, or you'll be out of baseball." Why did we go an entire year and now we're looking at Refsnyder and saying, SSS!

Refsnyder came up around September 1 and sat for three weeks. Did something magical happen to his glove while perched on the Yankee bench? Suddenly, he's the 2B equivalent of Nick Rumbelow, which is to say, "I'll trying anything, just please don't subject me to any more of what's already out there." Why did we wait until the last dreary days of the Wild Card race to give Refsnyder an SSS? And is the guy any good? Could he be our second-baseman in the playoff?

Truth is, we don't know. It's just an SSS.