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Joe Girardi seemed to give some credit for Alex Rodriguez' two-HR game against Kansas City Wednesday night to some critical columns written about him Tuesday night's game, in which he struck out after Royals' manager Ned Yost intentionally walked Robby Cano to load the bases in front of him.

"A lot of times, when we talk about guys, they do well the next day'' Girardi said, good-naturedly. "Do you want to talk about some more guys?”

Asked if he thought the criticism motivated A-Rod, Girardi said, “I don’t know, because I don’t know how much he reads. But remember, before the columns were written, he said he felt really good.”

Asked if he would like a similar column written about Mark Teixeira, Girardi laughed, but (wisely) did not reply.

Afterwards in the clubhouse, I asked A-Rod if he had read any of the negative columns -- yes, I wrote one of them -- and he said he had not. But he got a good laugh when I told him how many of my Twitter followers weighed in practically before his first HR off Royals' starter Will Smith had landed.

"Really?,'' he said. "That's hilarious. I told you I felt like I was ready to come around.''

Why didn't I listen?

"Our defense has been OK. We have had some guys who have been out of position. We have people, because of injury, playing places where they don't normally play. The balls that we get to, we are going to be really good at. I think our guys are very professional and they are going to do their job when they get to the ball.”

-- Joe Girardi prior to Wednesday's game against the Royals

Statistically speaking, the Yankees' defense doesn't rate as highly as Girardi's assessment, perhaps because they don't get to as many balls as they should.

By most, if not all, of the advanced defensive metrics, the Yankees rate poorly relative to the other teams in the majors. And though 44 games does not provide enough data to make predictions for the rest of the season, it does allow the ability to assess where some of the trouble spots lie.

We use a combination of measures via Baseball Info Solutions, a company that provides defensive data to teams and media, as well as the Team Defensive Efficiency stat tracked at Baseball Prospectus, and our own batted-ball data.

Those stats are explained in the charts to the right of this piece.

Let's look how the Yankees rate in a number of areas related to these stats.

Gold Glove candidacies for Teixeira, Cano?
Two Yankees defenders are off to good starts this season-- Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano. Each has saved the Yankees three runs this season, and plays like the game-ending stretch at first base and the Web Gem-worthy double play that Teixeira started in Wednesday's win help the statistical cause.

Teixeira ranks second in the majors in GFPs with 27, and his Good Play/Misplay Ratio is 5.4-to-1, the best among anyone in the AL. His offensive struggles and health issues have not hurt his play in the field.

Cano's strength has been in turning the double play as the pivot man. There have been 21 double-play chances in which Cano was the pivot man at second base. The Yankees have turned 17 of them, or 81 percent, the third-best pivot rate in the majors.

Grounded
The Yankees' biggest defensive liability may be their inability to turn ground balls into outs.

Opponents have reached base 30 percent of the time when hitting a ground ball, whether by hit or error.

The chart on the right shows how the Yankees' rate at turning grounders into outs, particularly compared to AL East teams.

Our data shows specifically that the Yankees are getting hurt by ground balls to the left of second base.

Derek Jeter, rates poorly, at -5 Defensive Runs Saved. Alex Rodriguez checks in as having cost the Yankees a run.

Jeter's issue is that a lot of ground balls have scooted through holes usually covered by a major league shortstop. He's made up for that with 11 GFPs and only 6 DM&E. His Good Play/Misplay rate is third-best among shortstops.

On the other hand, Rodriguez, who was one of the best-rated third basemen defensively last season, has only 4 GFPs and 6 DM&E. Last season Rodriguez fared much better, with a 26/17 GFP/DM&E tally.

Outfield Issues
The Yankees miss Brett Gardner, whose play was Gold-Glove worthy last season, but they have other things to worry about in the outfield.

The primary one is that for the second straight season, Curtis Granderson and Nick Swisher are not rating well. Combined, they have -8 Defensive Runs Saved (in other words, their defense has cost the Yankees eight runs).

The primary culprit in their bad ratings is that they are yielding hits on balls hit over their heads. Our hit location data charts the Yankees as having allowed 58 batted balls to center field, and the two outfield gaps, that traveled an estimated 350 feet or more and stayed in the ballpark.

Yankees outfielders allowed 26 hits on those balls. The average major league team is allowing 20.

One of the other things that hurts Granderson is that runners have taken 20 extra bases on the 29 times they've had the opportunity to advance (ie: take a base on a sacrifice fly or go first to third/second to home on a single). That’s out of line with the normal rate of advancement on Granderson’s arm (about 50 percent).

Perhaps that, like some of the other things mentioned in this story, will correct in time. They are among those that bear watching over the next 4½ months.

ROYAL PAIN
Same story, different day. The Yankees offensive troubles continued on Monday night in a 6-0 loss to the Royals, marking the first time they were shut out at home by Kansas City since 1999.

The Yankees went 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position and are now 6-for-72 in their last nine games.

The 13 at-bats without a hit in those situations is the second-most for the Yankees in the last 40 seasons, surpassed only by an 0-for-14 effort in 1990 versus the Twins.

Felipe Paulino pitched his second straight gem against the Yankees, tossing 6⅔ scoreless innings just two weeks after he threw six scoreless innings against the Yankees on May 5. Paulino is the first Royals pitcher ever to have consecutive starts of at least six scoreless innings versus the Yankees.

With the loss and the Red Sox win, the Yankees fell into a tie for last place in the AL East after the game. This is the latest the Yankees have been in last place in the division since June 2008. That also happens to be the last time the Yankees failed to make the playoffs.

A WIN IS A WIN
The losing streak ended but the offensive issues continued as the Yankees squeezed out a 3-2 win against the Royals on Tuesday night. Phil Hughes pitched well, allowing two runs in six innings with seven strikeouts.

Hughes mixed up his pitches, throwing curves and changeups 41 percent of the time, his highest rate of non-fastballs/cutters in a start since 2009. That made his fastball more effective; he threw 80 percent of his heaters for strikes, his highest rate in a start over the last four seasons.

However, Hughes did give up his 11th home run of the season and has now allowed at least one longball in each of his nine starts. That's the second-longest such streak at any point in the season by a Yankee righty, behind a 10-start streak by Jack McDowell in 1995.

A-BOMBS AWAY
The Yankees finally broke out of their offensive slump on Wednesday, beating the Royals 8-3. Andy Pettitte pitched another gem, throwing seven innings of two-run ball with eight strikeouts. It is just the third time in his career he's had consecutive games of at least eight strikeouts and two runs or fewer allowed, and the first time since 2003.

Alex Rodriguez hit two homers to lead the offensive outburst, recording his first multi-homer game since May 17, 2011. A-Rod now has 21 homers versus the Royals, passing Bernie Williams for the most by any Yankee against the franchise.

RIDICULOUS YANKEEMETRIC OF THE SERIES
Will Smith allowed five runs on three home runs in 3⅓ innings in his major-league debut against the Yankees on Wednesday.

Smith is the fifth pitcher in the last 90 seasons to allow at least three homers against the Yankees in his first major-league game, and the first to do so since the Tigers' Beiker Graterol in 1999. Smith is the only one of the five to do it in fewer than four innings.

Alex Rodriguez said Tuesday that he was about to "go off." On Wednesday, he broke his 52 at-bat homerless streak with not one, but two long balls.

"I said it because I meant it," Rodriguez said after he hit the two homers in his first two at-bats off lefty Will Smith, who was making his major league debut. "I said it because I've been working on some things. I said it with conviction, not because it was going to sound good here in my locker. It is good to back it up."

Rodriguez said he felt like he was getting good pitches to hit, but he wasn't in position to hit them.

"I thought today I was in position to take my 'A' swing," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez is now hitting .281 with seven homers and 18 RBIs. His seven homers are tied with Nick Swisher for second the team. Curtis Granderson, who also went yard, has 14.

"When you hit in the middle of the order, your team expects you to get big hits," Rodriguez said. "I was tired of making the news for taking third base on a fly ball or stealing a base. That's a big part of the game and I take a lot of pride in it, but I understand what my bread and butter is and that is to make big noise with my bat."

Before the Yankees defeated the Royals on Tuesday, Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi addressed the team. A-Rod also spoke up.

"I said, 'Let's go out and get these two and then let's go out to the west coast and play Yankee baseball,'" Rodriguez said. "This team has been together a long time. The one thing is don't underestimate this team. This is not our first rodeo. We understand what it takes to win."

Alex Rodriguez likes him some Will Smith. Against Smith, the rookie, making his major league debut, A-Rod has now gone deep twice. It is A-Rod's 60th multi-HR game.

Last time, A-Rod hit two in a game was a year ago, May 17th vs. Tampa.

Facing Will Smith in his major league debut, the Yankees have shot out to a 3-0 lead after one. Alex Rodriguez has hit his first homer in 52 at-bats, a two-run shot. Before that, Curtis Granderson hit a solo homer.

A-Rod has been a popular subject these days.

Here is Wally's take from Wednesday's game.

Here is mine from Sunday.

The New York Yankees are 22-21 and fourth in the AL East. What’s going on, Yankees fans?

From Notes: Hughes, A-Rod, Teixeira & Cano:

"Lets see were paying around 50 million dollars for two guys who can no longer hit the damn ball. That's a lot of money for two defensive players. I sure hope management has learned their lesson; but I doubt it.They will just keep charging outrageous prices so the average family can only afford bleacher seats.What a shame, its hard to watch are whole world fall apart; but that's what's happening."
- COOLSYL

Ed.'s note -- Let’s look at the stats: Alex Rodriguez is hitting .276, .371 OBP and .408 SLG (compared to his .301, .386 and .564 career numbers) and Mark Teixeira is hitting .229, .281 OBP and .386 SLG (compared to his career .280, .370 and .527 numbers). Bottom line: they need to step it up, especially with power.

"If all the Yankees pitchers gave them 6 innings of 2 run ball. I think we all would be very, very happy. Right now Hughes is looking more like the Yankees #3 pitcher then a 4 or 5. I hope he keeps up the good work, the Yankees need him."

Ed.'s note -- The Yankees only have 16 quality starts, 27th in MLB.

From A-Rod's days of being great are over:

"Not great anymore? He's barely average, on pace for 60 ribbys @ $30M!"
- genesaratoga

Ed.'s note -- On pace for 19 HRs with 57 RBIs, to be exact.

"I believe what he has now is referred to as warning track power."
- LIExile

From Rapid Reaction: Yankees 3, Royals 2:

"People it's a long season ; just sit back and wait for the playoffs to start. We will be in the hunt as usual !"
- tucan0903

Ed.'s note -- Finally, some optimism: hold onto it as long as possible.

"and someone needs to tell Granderson to get his eyes checked...how does he strike out so much?...thats what kept him from the mvp award last year...we need a lil more contact at the 2 hole swap him and cano in the lineup"
- steev201

Ed.'s note -- Curtis Granderson is striking out a lot (49 times, tied for eighth in MLB). Once he gets behind in the count he is having a hard time fighting back.

From Silent Hal not bothering Girardi:

"Lol, remember when this same thing happened last year and the standings ended up being

NY 97-65
TB 91-71
BOS 90-72
TOR 81-81
BAL 69-93

And that was a Yankees team who couldn't hit with risp AND didn't have a pitching staff.. still 97 wins.. huh."
- willisistheman02

Ed.'s note -- Point made: it’s still early: but this year it seems as if every other team in the AL East is better. So, fans, how do you see this year turning out for the Yanks?

Maybe Kevin Long sees something that is not apparent to the untrained eye, or maybe he is a man deep in denial.

But when the Yankees hitting coach looks at Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira, the two highest-priced bats in the Yankees lineup, he doesn't see aging players in decline.

"I expect them to be the players they’ve always been,'' Long said. "I remember us talking about Derek Jeter last year, people just basically destroying him, and I wouldn’t accept it. And I’m not gonna accept it about Alex Rodriguez or Mark Teixeira. They’re better than this. They’re going to work their tails off and they’re going to get it done.''

Long acknowledged that at some point, both will begin to show signs of decline. He just doesn't think this is that time.

"Yeah, it’s inevitable, it’s gonna happen, I understand that,'' he said. "But I don’t think Alex Rodriguez is done. Mark Teixeira is what, 29 years old? Fellas, he’s not done. Not by any stretch of the imagination. He’s going to be just fine. He’s going through a bad spell and he needs to get out of it.''

Told Teixeira is actually 32, Long said, "Well, that doesn't change my opinion.''

Long said Teixeira's long battle with a respiratory ailment was partially responsible for the first baseman's .227 average and diminshied power numbers (5 HRs and 20 RBI). "He won’t say it, but there’s times when we can’t work, and we can’t do the things we need to do because he’s coughing,'' Long said. "It’s detrimental to his health, so it's affected his workload, sure.''

As for A-Rod, Long said health is not the issue. "At times last year, we couldn’t even put him out there. He was banged up and his body was not in good shape,'' Long said. "This year, he's in good shape. we've been able to put him out there almost every day. So that's a positive. Let’s see what the next 120 games, what he can do, before we make a judgment.''

Alex Rodriguez' numbers may not say so -- his five homers and 15 RBI this season are the exact same power numbers Derek Jeter has put up, and Jeter's slugging percentage (.488) is nearly 100 points higher than A-Rod's .399 -- but he insists he feels as good as ever when he goes up to the plate.

"I feel great, that’s the frustrating part,'' he said after the Yankees were shutout, 6-0, by the Royals and Felipe Paulino. "I feel like I’m taking really good swings, I’m seeing the ball well, I feel like I’m going to crush every time. If you ask me before the game, I feel like I’m going to go out and hit three rockets. Every time I go up there, I feel like I’m going to crush.''

But A-Rod is crushing very little these days, although he did have a sixth-inning double that went nowhere.

"It’s very frustrating,'' he said. "We’ve talked about it over and over again. It’s not a lot of fun, obviously, going out and not getting the job done.''

The author of the now-famous "We're tired of tipping our hats to the pitcher quote'' refused to tip his hat to Paulino this time, although the Royals righty handled the Yankees as easily as he did on May 5 in Kansas City.

"I thought we had him on the ropes,'' Rodriguez said. "You look at that (third) inning, we score 2-3 runs there, different ballgame. He comes out and gets two big strikeouts, Raul (Ibanez) hits the ball a country mile, (Alex) Gordon makes a great play. That’s the way things have been going. But you draw up that map nine or 10 times, I think we’d do much better.''

Not lately. But on Tuesday, the Yankees face lefty Luke Hochevar, who they torched for seven runs in 2-1/3 innings on May 6 in KC. "We know we’re capable of doing a lot more, and we will,'' Rodriguez said. "But tomorrow would be a great day to start. ''

Hiroki Kuroda Stats To Watch For
Kuroda's roller-coaster ride through the American League continues on Monday night as he faces the Royals for the second time this season. He failed to make it out of the fifth inning in his previous start against them on May 5, allowing three runs on six hits.

Kuroda really struggled pitching from the stretch in that game, as the Royals went 4-for-11 and walked three times with runners on base. Kuroda has allowed an OPS of .823 with men on base this season, nearly 200 points higher than the .649 mark he gave up in those situations in 2011.

Kuroda has had trouble with the long ball recently, having allowed five home runs over his last two starts. It's just the second time in his career he's given up multiple homers in consecutive starts; he's never done that three starts in a row.

Over the last two seasons, 12 of the 33 home runs allowed by Kuroda have come in at-bats ending in his slider (four this year, 12 last year). In 2009 and 2010 combined, only three of the 27 homers he gave up came against his slider.

Felipe Paulino Stats To Watch For
This will be the second time Paulino has faced the Yankees this season, after he pitched six scoreless innings on May 5 in the Royals' 5-1 win. Paulino silenced the Yankees' bats that day, not allowing a hard-hit ball in play to any of the 23 Yankees he faced.

Paulino also got help from his defense, as each of the eight groundballs he generated were converted into outs. However, since then he's given up six hits on 13 grounders over his last two starts.

Curtis Granderson has seen Paulino the most of any Yankee, with nine career plate appearances versus the Dominican righty. He's really struggled in those matchups, though, netting just one hit with four strikeouts.

A-Rod's Power Outage Watch
Alex Rodriguez is mired in a 44 at-bat homerless drought, with his last home run coming on May 6 against the Royals. Just two of his 12 hits since then have been for extra bases, and he has driven in just one run over those 12 games.

He has hit the ball hard recently, though, with 16 balls in play classified as "well-hit" over those 44 at-bats (roughly one every three at-bats). In his first 104 at-bats of the season, he had 19 hard-hit balls, for a rate of one every five at-bats.

He had four hard-hit balls in four at-bats on Sunday afternoon, matching his most in any game since 2009. He also had that many on Aug. 14, 2010, when he hit the 602nd, 603rd and 604th homers of his career in a game against Kansas City.

Here is a portion of my column on A-Rod and the Yanks' offensive problems.

It is unconventional, going with the three lefties in a row, but it doesn’t have to be permanent. It could be a salve until A-Rod and Teixeira start to hit like the Yankees expect. Right now, it is generous to have them hitting fifth and sixth, let alone A-Rod in the clean-up spot.

If you watched the 36-year-old Rodriguez swing this year and didn’t know about his 634 homers and his bazillion dollar contract, where would he bat?

Without his “tic tacs” and with age, he appears like Samson sans his hair. He is powerless.

On Sunday, every time Rodriguez batted there were runners on base. Each time before the near homer in the eighth, he quickly and meekly didn’t come through. With a man on first in the first, on the third pitch he saw, he grounded out to short to end the inning. In the third, with two men on, he swung at the first pitch and flew out to right to finish off that inning.

In the sixth, after Cano’s leadoff double, A-Rod flew out shallowly enough to right that Cano couldn’t even move to third.

The regression of Rodriguez’s game becomes more troubling by the day. He now has less RBIs than Albert Pujols. Over the next six seasons, including this one, A-Rod is due to make $143 million, not including a potential $30 million in historic home run bonuses. Pujols will be paid $126 million from 2012 thorugh 2017.

To read more, click here.

Andy Pettitte Matchup to Watch: Right-Handed Hitters

Pettitte will likely have to deal with a lineup in which seven of the nine hitters are right-handed batters, and the respites are going to be two of the Reds' best hitters: lefties Joey Votto and Jay Bruce.

The good news for Pettitte is that Reds righties are hitting only .229 this season. That batting average and a .626 OPS rank fourth-worst among National League teams.

Pettitte gave up five hits and three walks to the 14 Mariners righties he faced last Sunday, with the last four of them getting hits.

He was in situations in which he had a chance to finish some righties off, but got just one strikeout out of the 21 two-strike pitches he threw. He gave up a pair of two-strike hits to righties in that game, including a home run to Casper Wells.

In 2009 and 2010, Pettitte got strikeouts against righties at a rate of about one of every six two-strike pitches.

The most dangerous right-handed bat in the Reds' lineup right now is second baseman Brandon Phillips, who is hitting .350 with 14 hits in his last 10 games.

Bronson Arroyo Matchups to Watch: Left-Handed Hitters

Arroyo, who pitched for Boston from 2003-05, is quite familiar with the Yankees' veterans, though most haven't faced him in several years. The intrigue in this one will be when he faces Alex Rodriguez.

Rodriguez is 7-for-20 with two home runs in his career against Arroyo, combining regular season and postseason. The most notable at-bat was the out in the eighth inning of Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS, when Rodriguez was called out for slapping the ball out of Arroyo's glove while running to first base.

Arroyo's biggest issue this time is going to be navigating through the Yankees left-handed hitters.

Lefties are hitting .361 against him this season. In his last start against the Nationals, they tagged Arroyo for nine hits. Over the last four seasons, that's the most hits he has allowed in a game to left-handed batters.

In what is a weird quirk, Arroyo has made six regular-season starts against the Yankees without recording a decision. That matches the longest such streak of no-decisions by a starter against the Yankees in the Live Ball Era (since 1920), a mark shared with Jamie Moyer and Dave Stieb.

Double the Pleasure for Cano

One of the results of Robinson Cano's recent tear is that he leads the American League with 15 doubles this season.

Cano has a double in each of his last four games, one game shy of his longest doubles streak -- five straight in 2005.

Thanks to Baseball-Reference.com, we know that in the Live Ball Era, only one Yankee has had multiple streaks of five straight games with a double: Dave Winfield in 1982 and 1986.

Russell Lacking Muscle

Since a three-hit game against the Royals on May 5, Russell Martin is in a 2-for-28 slump, though he does have six walks and a hit by pitch in that stretch.

The slump is not for a lack of good pitches to hit. Martin has seen 50 pitches in this stretch that were in the middle-third of the strike zone, height wise. They've resulted in 15 outs and no hits. Of the 12 balls he has hit against those pitches, only one has been a line drive.

Ivan Nova got through his bullpen fine. So after injuring his ankle on Monday in Baltimore, he will be fine to start on Saturday against the Reds at Yankee Stadium. For Nova (4-1, 5.44), the thing now is to pitch better.

"I have not been too consistent," Nova said. "Sometimes, I'm pitching good. Sometimes, I'm not. Too many hits."

Nova is allowing 12.1 hits per nine innings.

• Alex Rodriguez is just getting a day off today, but even Joe Girardi admits we haven't seen that much yet from A-Rod. Rodriguez has just five homers and three doubles in 136 at-bats.

"A little bit," Girardi said when asked if he's surprised by A-Rod's lack of authoritative hitting. "I've always talked about home runs coming in bunches. ... It hasn't happened for him either. Like I said, I think you could say that about every guy in our lineup."

A-Rod will turn 37 and his power trends are going the wrong way. Ed Marks on the Times' Bats Blog did a nice job of demonstrating the dip.

Since the start of the 2008 season, when that hip “irregularity” was detected, Rodriguez has been averaging one home run for every 17.1 at-bats. His 1994-to-2007 average translated to 42.3 home runs for a 600 at-bat season; his average since then yields 35.1 home runs per 600 at-bats, a decline of 17 percent. He hit 35 homers in 2008, and 30 in 2009 and 2010. In his first four seasons with the Yankees he averaged 43.3.

And it’s getting worse. Much worse. Last season he averaged one home run for every 23.3 at-bats; so far this year, with a total of five home runs in the Yankees’ first 37 games (two fewer than Raul Ibanez), he is averaging one for every 27.2 at-bats -- a rate that would give him 22 homers if he has 600 at-bats this season.

And he ranks only eighth on the team in slugging percentage (.412); even Eric Chavez (.523) and Andruw Jones (.472) are ahead of him.

• Girardi was talking about why he hasn't switched up the lineup again.

"This is not a game you play once a week," Girardi said. "This is a game you play every day. Hitters are going to go through their peaks and valleys. If you start trying to time it, it is like trying to time the market. It is dangerous. You are also managing personalities and egos. These guys have done it for us. Every year, we look up and Tex has got 30 and 100-plus. Would I like all of my guys to hit .350 and have an on-base of .425 and 35 homers? Hell yeah. But that is not going to happen. You have to be patient. This is a game where you have to be patient because it is every day. If you play one football game, that is 10 of our games. Our game is different."

Girardi is batting Ibanez fifth for the first time this year, ahead of Nick Swisher.

• The Yankees have picked up utility man Matt Antonelli off waivers from the Orioles.

Antonelli, 27, has appeared in 29 games with Triple-A Norfolk this season, batting .204 (19-for-93) with four doubles, one home run, seven RBIs and 19 walks. He has played first, second, third, shortstop and left field. Selected by San Diego in the first round (17th overall) in the 2006 First-Year Player Draft, he saw his lone Major League action with the Padres in 2008, batting .193 (11-for-57) with six runs, two doubles, one home run and three RBIs in 21 games as a September call-up.

He is more insurance with Eduardo Nunez now an everyday shortstop at Triple-A. Antonelli is headed to Triple-A now.

Following GM Brian Cashman's lead, Alex Rodriguez said he would one day like to sit with the Bleacher Creatures after he retires.

A-Rod, the first interview on The Michael Kay Show's debut on 98.7 FM, was asked by Kay if he would want to be involved in the roll call, like Cashman and his eight-year-old son Teddy were Sunday.

"That would be awesome," A-Rod said. "That has always been one of my secret wants that I always wanted to go out and mix it up with the Bleacher Creatures. They are one of our greatest assets here in New York."

Kay then said A-Rod would also have to do a couple of innings on YES. After an A-Rod chuckle, he said, "I'm not sure about that."

So mark your calendars for when A-Rod's contract finishes in 2017. At that point, ESPN New York 98.7 FM will be six years old. Cashman's son will be a teenager. And even if President Obama were to win a second term, he would still be out of office for a couple of years.

Check it out. Alex Rodriguez on with Michael Kay and Don LaGreca. It is all on the new ESPN New York 98.7 FM.