Pedro is right

Maybe it was the manager: old Joe Girardi occasionally blew lava chunks like a vent on the Ring of Fire. Maybe it was the vets: You never saw old Jeet or A-Rod jogging out grounders, and O'Neill destroyed water coolers for sport. But this week's words from Pedro Martinez - that the Yankees don't seem to be hustling - has electrified a nerve of truth.  

Last night, in his most memorable at bat, Greg Bird slammed a liner off the pitcher's butt, then loped to first while the guy recovered, found the ball and threw him out. I realize that the play unfolded directly in front of Bird, who was surely demoralized by the loss of a rare base hit. But there he was, jogging merrily to first. Bird's batting average is near .200. If his past is prelude, it's almost time for him to announce that a foot hurts, requiring surgery, but he'll be rearing to go next spring! Listen: I am still pulling for Greg Bird. We all want him to succeed. But jogging out grounders is a virus, and the Yankees seem to have come down with it 

Last night, Aaron Hicks - generally a work horse in CF - lashed a single into right-center and smartly took second base on the throw to the plate. The YES team applauded his savvy. But on the replay, you saw Hicks break slowly from the batters box and not start running hard until he was halfway to first. On the Yankees, this is normalcy: Batters watch the ball and then, after a few steps, decide whether to run hard. The fellow in the opposing dugout - old Mr. Mattingly - must have been shaking his head. You never saw him jog out of the box. Those were the most important steps a batter would take.

Last night, after a dismal loss to a horrible team, our de facto Yankee captain, Brett Gardner, reacted to Pedro's comments, noting that an ex-Redsock will always show a pro-Boston loyalty. But as a TV analyst, Pedro has shown himself to be quite neutral and frankly, if he were really pro-Boston, he would not criticize the lackluster Yankee play. If anything, his comments look like what the Yankees need to hear. He was basically posting locker room quotes.

So what did Gardy say? He goes on to rattle off excuses. Excuses!

"We have the second-best record in the game. They have the best and have a great team that is playing well. We have dealt with injuries, have the toughest schedule and the worst travel. We went to Boston and they beat us four straight. We played Sunday night, they were off and we played in Chicago. Then we played a night game on getaway day and didn’t get home ’til 5 a.m. We played 20 games in 20 days. It’s fair to say guys were a little [weary]. We are doing the best we can.’’

Wow. That was no interview. It was a perjury trap. Yeah, the Yankees are tired. They use 13 pitchers and only 12 position players, and they don't have fresh arms in the bullpen. But where is the manager? The other day, after a close call went south, the YESsirs openly wondered if this could be the moment for Aaron Boone to go ballistic and light a fire under his team. Nope. Didn't happen. Boone is a modern manager, the kind who orders from the vegan menu and holds rookies' hands through their first menstrual periods.  

But I'm tired of watching batters decide whether to run hard. Pedro is right. The Yankees look lifeless. They better take his criticism to heart. If they have any.