The Yankees closed the clubhouse doors on Monday for a team meeting according to Daniel Barbarisi of the Wall Street Journal. The meeting wasn’t so much about deflecting the A-Rod noise, but rather to get the message across that losing won’t be accepted anymore.
Manager Joe Girardi, injured captain Derek Jeter and second baseman Robinson Cano all spoke, addressing the team and making a point that the playoffs have already begun; every game is do or die.
“This meeting [Monday], it was to make sure that we’re all together, working toward that goal, and not getting off track and saying, ‘[losing] is going to be how it is,” one veteran player said. “If we start thinking bad thoughts, we’re not going to be successful. I think we kind of got a little bit of that, where we started feeling sorry for ourselves, and we can’t do that, because then it doesn’t work.”
The message was also conveyed that the Yankees need to get back that intensity that got them off to such a good start in the beginning of the season, a second player said. “It just seems like we’ve kind of lost that a little bit. But it doesn’t take much to get it back,” the unnamed veteran said. The losing has nothing to do with Alex Rodriguez and his situation, CC Sabathia said in Barbarisi’s article. “We live in the circus here,” he said. “We’re used to it.”
As it stands right now, the Yankees would miss the playoffs for just the second time since the strike shortened year of 1994 – the other year being 2008, the last season at the Old Yankee Stadium. Entering play Wednesday night, the New York finds itself 10.5 games out in the division, and 6 out of the second Wild Card spot. CC Sabathia takes the mound tonight, trying to not only right the Yankee ship, but his as well. He’s 0-4 with a 7.85 ERA in his last five starts. After tonight, the Yanks head home to begin a three-game series with the talented Detroit Tigers, which begins on Friday.
If the Yankees don’t start turning it around within the next couple of days, Yankee Stadium’s gates will be locked in October.
