I'm Sorry, Ben Who??

Joe during his postgame presser last night after saying the team only had 3 healthy outfielders with C-Grand out again and having to be reminded that Ben Francisco existed:

“Oh yeah, Francisco.  Four. So disregard what I said. I don’t know what we’ll do. We have so many roster issues, I’m not sure what we’re going to do.”

If that isn't just the perfect statement to sum up the Ben Francisco Era.  Joe just straight up forgot about the guy.  I guess you can't really blame him though.  Francisco is still barely hitting, sitting at .114/.220/.182 for the season (13 wRC+!!!!), and he's played in just 3 games in the last 2 weeks, 1 since May 17th.  He's an empty roster spot at this point and yet he'll continue to linger around like a bad fart because players keep getting hurt.  Brennan Boesch will get called up to assume the 4th OF role again while C-Grand is on the DL, but don't be surprised if we see Francisco's name on a few more lineup cards in the weeks to come.  That is, as long as Joe doesn't forget about him again.

So, Ben Francisco, What Would You Say ... You Do Here?

The Yankee offense's struggles against left-handed pitching are long and well-documented.  It's not like this is the first season they've failed to produce against southpaws, it's just that the lack of production this season stands out even more due to the large absence of good right-handed regulars.  There are a litany of reasons one can give as to why the production has been so putrid, all of them perfectly legitimate and easy to understand.  But there's one particular reason that continues to eat away at me.  Basically what it boils down to is the simple fact that Ben Francisco sucks at baseball.