BOSTON — Remember the part in “Speed” when Keanu Reeves’ character had to somehow get everyone off the bus while knowing that, if the bus slowed to below 50 miles per hour, a bomb would be activated?
Joe Girardi will be asked to conduct the baseball equivalent of that over the next two months.
The Yankees have an arguably strengthened ball club in the wake of their July acquisitions, although that didn’t stop them from losing their August opener, 4-3 to the dramatically retooled Red Sox at Fenway Park. New Yankee Stephen Drew, playing at second base for the first time in his major league career, struggled and failed to turn a first-inning double play, crisply initiated one in the seventh and then served effectively as the middle man in the eighth inning while going hitless in four at-bats. Drew’s fellow new arrival, Martin Prado, pinch-hit for Ichiro Suzuki in the seventh inning and wound up 0-for-2 and is a good bet to make his first big league start in right field Saturday.
But this operation will require some hands-on management, for sure. Unless you can remember any other time a contender tried to integrate a pair of veteran players into new positions on the fly.
“These moves give us a lot of flexibility,” Girardi said in a pregame news conference. In the approximately eight-minute question-and-answer session with reporters, Girardi used the word “flexibility” six times. He scored points by staying on point.
The Yankees went with 13 pitchers and 12 position players Friday and plan to do so for at least the short term, because they think their new arrivals give them versatility. They provide unwanted mystery, too, however.
Drew, in his own pregame news conference, expressed supreme self-assurance he would handle the transition quite smoothly.
“It’s just confidence in yourself,” he said. “Being a really good shortstop, I think for the past three years, top-rated and everything else. I still think I’ll be able to do it.”
After the game, Drew said he struggled throwing across his body and keeping his foot on the bag in his first shot and felt more comfortable after that.
Prado, who played two innings in right field in a 2009 game, said: “It’s been a while since I was in right field, but I told them I’m open for anything. I will prepare myself for any challenge.”
As the Yankees learned just this season when they saw Kelly Johnson struggle to switch from a second baseman to a third baseman and (even worse) to a first baseman — fittingly, Johnson went to the Red Sox in return for his good buddy Drew — speed bumps can arise.
Asked what he’ll monitor with the Drew and Prado projects, Girardi said: “I think making the plays. Being in the right place at the right time. Seeing if it carries over to their offense if they get frustrated.
Girardi mentioned he could play Drew at shortstop and Brendan Ryan at second base on days when Derek Jeter rests. Prado could give his fellow newbie, Chase Headley, a blow at third base, and Headley and Ryan both could help at first base. Headley, too, could assist in the outfield, if needed, although he doesn’t seem enthusiastic about such an endeavor and reiterated Friday with multiple nice plays that he plays a very impressive hot corner.
There’s flexibility, all right. It’s on Girardi to use it properly to both help this chronically underachieving offense and increase defensive efficiency. All while continuing to squeeze blood from the turnip that is his starting rotation and trying to protect his recently struggling bullpen from an exhaustion-fueled collapse.
“I believe this offense is capable of doing a lot more,” Girardi said after the game, and he added, “We’re missing some pretty good opportunities [to win games].”
They actually hit several hard outs against winner and New Jersey native Anthony Ranaudo in the young man’s big league debut Friday, and another Boston rookie, center fielder Mookie Betts, made a spectacular, leaping catch to rob Jacoby Ellsbury of extra bases in the eighth inning. Yet these Yankees, whose 432 runs placed them 10th in the American League entering Friday’s late action, have lost the benefit of the doubt.
“I think we’ve made improvements,” Girardi said. “Only time will tell.”
It’s a suspenseful story, for sure.