Major League Baseball

Girardi spared A-Rod's feelings?

Published Oct. 25, 2012 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

It's no secret that Alex Rodriguez struggled mightily throughout the 2012 postseason, but the common refrain was that at least he was saying the right things and acting like a good teammate amid all the attention. At least, of course, until that little incident where A-Rod apparently hit on a fan behind the Yankees' dugout, which called into question his focus and intensity.

Well, things are about to get a whole lot worse.

According to CBS Sports' Jon Heyman, Yankees manager Joe Girardi personally called the Yankee Stadium public address announcer "during a Yankees playoff game" to request that Rodriguez not be mentioned by name when he was pinch hit for by Eric Chavez. The call was not only confirmed by general manager Brian Cashman, but believed to be specifically to protect the superstar's feelings.

Now, the interesting part is that it's unclear if this actually breaks baseball's rules. Particularly in the context of matchups and pitching changes, a player is considered to be officially in the game when they are announced over the P.A. system. Although Chavez was announced, tampering with the announcer may be, at best, frowned upon.

But either way, it shows the lengths the Yankees are willing to go to cater to Rodriguez, and further emphasizes just how brittle they view his psyche.