Alex Rodriguez, Joe Girardi, David Wright and a new ESPN documentary on the Yankees

Alex Rodriguez isn't starting for the Yankees tonight, after playing in just two straight games since returning from the disabled list with a left calf injury.

He's fine, both A-Rod and Joe Girardi said. It's just an act of preservation. Said A-Rod: "I think Joe's just being careful. I think he's being smart."

Two thoughts:

1) It just furthers the perception that A-Rod is aging rapidly, as he approaches the end of year three of his 10-year contract with the Yankees.

2) If A-Rod and Girardi aren't as close as A-Rod and Lou Piniella were back in Seattle, then they do seem to have a passable, working relationship. And that's saying something, since A-Rod and Joe Torre could barely tolerate each other and A-Rod and his old Texas manager Buck Showalter got along even worse. Of course, that didn't stop A-Rod and Showalter from chatting during pre-game batting practice tonight.

I don't think Girardi deserves credit for doing anything remarkable to make this happen. Shoot, in Girardi's first year, 2008, he and A-Rod didn't have much of a relationship, at all. But A-Rod's 2009 humbling impacted his relationship with his manager as well as his teammates. In his effort to be "just a baseball player" now, rather than a one-man mega-corporation, he has managed to avoid stress in this area.

--David Wright is sitting out the Mets' game at Washington because he has a bruised left ring finger. Man oh man, Citi Field is going to be an absolute ghost town for the rest of the season.

--Remember when the Mets traded Brian Stokes for Gary Matthews Jr.? Matthews was an utter flop for the Mets, as we know. Well, Stokes was equally dreadful for the Angels, who released the reliever today. It fits with the evaluation of the Mets' 2009-10 offseason. The players they passed on (Randy Wolf, John Lackey, Jason Marquis) or traded (Stokes) didn't burn them terribly. It was the guys they decided to acquire (Jason Bay, Matthews) or bring back (Jeff Francoeur, Alex Cora, John Maine) who really cost them.

--I went to the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center this morning to attend a screening of "The House of Steinbrenner," part of ESPN's "30 for 30" series. It airs on ESPN two weeks from tonight - Tuesday, Sept. 21, at 8 p.m. ET.

My review? If you're even a casual Yankees fan, you're not going to learn much new. It's mostly a reprise of George Steinbrenner's life, and of the Yankees' move from the old Yankee Stadium to the new one.

The only real items of note were some exclusive footage of the old place being torn down, and some exclusive interviews with Hal Steinbrenner, who has grown only more reclusive as he continues to run the Yankees.

Otherwise, though? It's not real good.

--Have a good night.