The Bronx Stop: A Yankees Blog

From Peter Abraham of the Journal News:

Terry Francona has literally said all the right things when it comes to the Yankees, even to the point of saying he’s hitting Derek Jeter second “because that’s where he deserves to be.”

Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz, J.D. Drew, Dustin Pedroia … the same. Respectful of the Stadium, the Yankees, the tradition, everything.

Then we have Jonathan Papelbon, who thinks he should close tomorrow night.

“If I was managing the team, I would close. … But I’m not managing the team,” he said today.

Sam Borden and some of the other writers there asked Papelbon whether Mariano Rivera had earned the right to close.

“I think we both earned that right.” he said

After acknowleding Rivera’s status, he said he earned the right to close by winning the World Series last season.

Talk about delusional. It’s Yankee Stadium, he’s having a Cy Young year, Mariano closes. Period, end of story.

Terry Francona wouldn’t bite when asked what he would do. But Joe Girardi seemed to have idea.

“Terry is a wise man,” he said. “He knows what to do.”