Rah-Rah

Joe Girardi held a closed door meeting before the game last night. What happens in these meetings? It's one thing if there's been a team incident that needs to be addressed or something like that, but when a team is simply playing bad baseball, what does a manager say to them that they don't already know? This isn't like a football or basketball halftime where some fiery motivation or the installation of a quick new scheme or adjustment might help. The best you could possibly do, it seems, is to repeat the lollygagging speech from Bull Durham, and it's not like that's going to work with a veteran-laden team like New York.

My guess? Girardi closed the doors and said "guys, I'm just doing this so Hank thinks we give a crap about what he says and to get the media off your back for a few minutes. Who's got the cards?" Or at least I hope that's what he did. It's a long damn season. Motivational speeches probably don't help all that much, and getting A-Rod and Posada back will cure the Yankees' ills more than any words will.

No matter the case, don't expect the meeting to help all that much.