We may not have a shortstop, but Nuni is certainly our right-handed DH

So long, Smiley. After waiting an entire season for Andruw Jones to awaken from zombiehood,  yesterday, we found the homeless replacement guy who should have been playing all year: Eduardo Nunez.

OK, you're right - it's not only wrong but it's bad juju to annoint Nuni "The New Brett" on the basis of one good game. (At bat, he's had three good games.) But Nuni's hitting HRs and tallying SBs, and all Andruw has done since Juneteenth has been to march to the water cooler grinning like Benny Hill. All this time, we had a .280 hitter with 20 HR pop and 40 SB speed, and because he couldn't field as well as Jason Nix, we banished him to the Thruway Rest Stop team.

So now the question is: Who replaces Raul from the other non-productive side of our DH mess? Well, who's that other guy who's been stealing bases and homering? Well, well, it's none other than Chris Dickerson, who also spent the whole 2012 season digesting the Roy Rogers dinner menus between Batavia and Rochester. Raul is something like 2 for 40 over the last fortnight. Frankly, I cannot remember his last base hit (though, to be fair, he always mashes a line drive foul down the right field line - big crowd-pleaser there.)

Nuni from the right, Dickens from the left. Two guys who can steal a base. Seriously, can they do worse than what we've seen during this swoon?

Listen: Joe Girardi is a loyal manager. He sticks with players, and that's noble. But his ancestor, the prescient Mr. Torre, used to say he lost friends in the playoffs. We squandered a 10-game lead waiting for the Dementia Duo to adjust their swings and start hitting. Aint gonna happen. The answer was always right in front of us - on the ever-traveling bus. Click your spikes, Joe, and repeat after me: There's no place like homelessness, there's no place like homelessness, there's no place like homelessness...