Robinson Cano not in starting lineup against Gio Gonzalez
New York Yankees' Robinson Cano flips his bat after a fourth-inning strikeout that stranded Mark Teixeira at first base in the fourth inning. (June 10, 2012) Credit: AP
WASHINGTON -- Entering Friday night, the Yankees had played 62 games and Robinson Cano had started all of them.
Therefore, there was quite a bit of pregame buzz when the second baseman, who had 60 starts in the field and two starts at DH, wasn't in the lineup.
"I'm OK," Cano said. "They just said they wanted to give me an off day."
With lefthander Gio Gonzalez on the mound, Joe Girardi saw an opportunity to give one of his more durable players two days off. The Yankees didn't play Thursday.
Cano was 0-for-9 with four strikeouts in his career against Gonzalez. Jayson Nix, who started at second, was 3-for-7 with a homer against him.
"It's preemptive," Girardi said of the off day. "And he got spiked . And we've got this stretch of games and then we have 13 in a row and I felt if there's a time to do it, now's the time."
That left Curtis Granderson as the lone Yankee to have started every game. "I was surprised," Cano said of not being in the lineup. "I said I wanted to play. But he's the manager."
"I have a kid who in three or four months is going to be 18," he said. "It's definitely strange. But you have to go over the scouting reports and try and figure out how to get the kid out."
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