When Refsnyder plays, the Yankee "baseball minds" must collectively hold their breaths and hope he doesn't hit

Last night, 24-year-old Rob Refsnyder - the Higgs boson of the Yankiverse - started his first game at 2B since July 18. He lashed a single off of Chris Sale, a known Yankee killer, and you couldn't help but imagine Joe Girardi thinking, "Aw, phooey!"

The reason, of course, is that - on or around July 19 - some Oracle at Delhi within the Yankee brain trust ruled that Refsnyder could not play 2B, or that he didn't bow and scrape, or that he had bad breath, or something equally pertinent, so the guy needed another 50 days at the Scranton Gitmo Motor Lodge Inn. Thus, the Evil Empire went two more months of waiting for Godot - I mean Stephen Drew - to figure out that defensive over-shifts had transformed him into an offensive eunuch. Drew never did adjust. He just lashes balls into reconfigured defenses, and once a month hits 2 HRs in a game. Since July 18, the Yankees have 18 times - (eighteen times, I looked it up , and that's 1/3 of their games!) - scored less than three runs. It wasn't pitching that caused us to fall into second place. It was the fact that in one of every three games, our offense simply disappeared - the way Rob Refsnyder did.

Now, here's where we - as bootless and unhorsed Yankee fans - are obligated to bow and scrape to the Oracles: I mean, what do we know? We are mere fans. We are scum. We have no right to voice an opinion. We sit in the cheap seats. All we do is follow the team with our hearts - and then judge the team by its success or failure. And the overwhelming narrative of the 2015 season is supposed to be: We're excited! The team did better than expected! The Yankees are making the post-season! Right?

Wrong.

I want this to be clear. Because it will be a defining point on this web site.

THE ONE GAME WILD CARD IS NOT THE POST-SEASON. 

WE ONLY REACH THE POST-SEASON IF WE WIN THE ONE GAME WILD CARD.

Remember that. I will fight to the death over that point. You can kill me, but you cannot kill the truth: WE ONLY REACH THE POST-SEASON IF WE WIN THE ONE GAME WILD CARD.

So last night, Refsnyder singles off of Chris Sale, and every Yankee fan is captivity - like me, like you, like all of us - just as Girardi is thinking, "Huh?" - we're sitting in our trailers, clipping our toenails and saying - very nicely and politely to our mothers' mummified corpses: "GIRARDI, YOU BASTARD! WHY THE HELL DIDN'T WE BRING THIS GUY UP AND PLAY HIM? HE DOESN'T HAVE TO FIELD IN THE LATE INNINGS! THAT'S WHAT DEFENSIVE REPLACEMENTS ARE FOR! WTF! THERE'S 10 GAMES LEFT, AND WHY THE HELL DIDN'T WE USE THIS GUY?"

Oh, phooey. Soon, it won't matter. Soon, we'll either be in the post-season, or not. Next winter, the Yankees will probably trade Refsnyder. (BTW: He hit .271 at Scranton, despite going into a huge slump after being demoted) for another David Carpenter. Probably, we'll obtain some Howie Kendricks type - a 2B-version of Chase Headley - and lash ourselves to him - like Ahab to the whale - for four years. That's the Oracle's way.

Oh well, all we need to do is win 10 straight. Behind Rob Refsnyder, maybe? If not, phooey.