Yankees' Joe Girardi, Joe Espada talk of Puerto Rico hurricane devastation

Real-life problems were brought into the press room at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday when Joe Girardi and third-base coach Joe Espada spoke of the devastation in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

“Joe Espada has joined me today because he is from Puerto Rico, and I want you to hear the human side of it instead of donating and all that,’’ Girardi said before taking questions on Tuesday night’s night’s wild-card game with the Twins.

“Almost two weeks ago, Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico and just left catastrophic damage. Millions of people are still without electricity and running water,” Girardi said. “Jorge Posada and his wife, Laura, have spearheaded fund-raising and have raised over $400,000 through YouCaring.com And they have also taken dozens of other donations and collected items. Today Jorge and his family, Bernie Williams, and Pudge Rodriguez are flying down to Puerto Rico to distribute those items.

“Carlos Beltran, who is also from Puerto Rico, and his wife, Jessica, donated $1 million to the relief fund through their foundation, have raised nearly almost $400,000 more through their fund, and it is called crowdrise.com. And if you go to the homepage and you type in Carlos Beltran, it will come up where you can donate.

“Puerto Rico has been devastated, and I don’t want people to think that they have everything back. That’s why I have Joe here, who has not been able to speak to his parents directly for two weeks.”

“It’s been a tough two weeks,” Espada said. “You’re trying to focus and trying to concentrate on getting to the postseason, but when your heart and your soul is with your family in Puerto Rico, it makes it tough. But I wanted to thank Joe, the Yankees, the first responders, all the people that have done all they can for Puerto Rico.’’

Espada was asked if he heard from his family. “The only time I had like a probably ten-second message that my mom was able to leave on my voicemail a couple days ago. She drove like 25 minutes so she could have a signal.

“My sister is flying to Puerto Rico, thank God, and she’s going to get them out of there for a couple of weeks until things get back to normal in Puerto Rico, which is going to be a while. They’re in good health, which is important. The people of Puerto Rico, we’re strong, and it’s been tough, but I hope that they get power soon because they’re big Yankees fans, and they want to turn their TV on and cheer for the Yankees. Hopefully, that happens soon.’’