FROM JOEL SHERMAN
I sense Joe Girardi is going to manage in a way more familiar to the National League and certainly not familiar with recent Yankee history. Besides Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano and mostly Bobby Abreu, I believe Girardi will be more aggressive about playing matchups with his starting lineups, turning to better defensive alternatives late in games, and also using pinch-runners and pinch-hitters in greater frequency. He sees now just how flawed his team is and after 60 percent of the season there is no reason to hope that the deficiencies are going to get better. Already it has become obvious that he wants to play Jose Molina behind the plate as much as possible and will use him to play defense late in games the Yankees lead in place of Jorge Posada.
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