Girardi won't appear daily on WFAN
New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi, left, talks to bench coach Tony Pena before the Yankees spring training baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies. (March 10, 2011) Credit: AP
CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Joe Girardi said Sunday that he is not going to appear on Mike Francesa's WFAN radio show nearly every weekday during the season, as Francesa announced earlier this month.
"That's not happening," Girardi told Newsday.
Francesa announced on his March 7 show that Girardi had agreed to appear briefly between 1:30-2 p.m. before every Yankees weekday night game in addition to his regular, lengthier spot on Thursday afternoons. Girardi said that isn't quite right.
"The way it was announced is not the way it was talked about," he said. "It just didn't work out the way we thought it was going to work out."
Girardi will continue the Thursday afternoon appearances.
"We had planned to do it every weekday all season, but Joe asked to go back to our previous deal of once a week with Mike," WFAN operations manager Mark Chernoff said. "He felt it was going to be too time- consuming having to do it every day . . . We were perfectly understanding of Joe's feelings."
Extra bases
Brett Gardner (2-for-4, RBI) hit first and Derek Jeter (1-for-4) second in the Yankees' 8-1 win over the Phillies as Girardi continued to tinker with the top of the order . . . Alex Rodriguez hit his fourth homer in five games and CC Sabathia allowed one run in 62/3 innings. A-Rod (.432) has at least one hit in all 13 games in which he has played. Mark Teixeira and A-Rod went back-to-back off Joe Blanton . . . Reggie Jackson made his first appearance. The 65-year-old Hall of Famer had back surgery in the offseason.With Neil Best
