Our defensive results are not good and we have to figure that out

NEW YORK -- Having lost his everyday designated hitter job due to a season-long slump, Alex Rodriguez was back at first base taking ground balls before the New York Yankees opened the second half against Boston on Friday night.Rodriguez, who turns 41 on July 27, has not been in the field this year. He had two appearances at first last season, playing the entire game April 11 against Boston and moving there for the final three outs of a blowout loss to Texas on May 23.Last year we were not able to get him comfortable. He wants to try it again, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. He came to us, and Im not going to deny a player a chance, in that sense, so the fact that he wants to try to get comfortable is a good sign.Rodriguez is hitting .220 with eight homers and 28 RBI in 186 at-bats, including .198 with five homers and 17 RBI in 126 at-bats against righties. A-Rods start Friday night against All-Star knuckleballer Steven Wright was just his second since June 30.I think its a mental test for him, in a sense, Girardi said. Physically I think he has the skills. He has the hands. He has the ability to throw. He understands the game. So I think its more of a mental: Do I feel comfortable enough to go out there at first base?Girardi would like more options at first. Mark Teixeira, Dustin Ackley, Greg Bird and Chris Parmelee have all spent time on the disabled list. While back, Teixeira is limited by his right knee.Four days has been about his limit. He gets fairly sore, Girardi said.Girardi also disclosed slumping Nathan Eovaldi will rejoin the rotation Tuesday against Baltimore, a day after Ivan Nova starts the series opener. New York began the second half at 44-44, 5 1/2 games back for the ALs second wild card.Only four Yankees had outstanding first halves: right fielder Carlos Beltran, and relievers Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman.Consistency is the word thats going to ring out loud here, Girardi said. Thats how you put long streaks together where you win six out of seven, you win 14 out of 17, if your starting pitching is consistent. Our offense has to be consistent, where we put up runs on a consistent basis. And the other thing I think is really important is the bullpen besides the last three guys.The 10-game homestand, which ends with three games against San Francisco, likely will determine whether the Yankees start to deal veterans before the Aug. 1 trade deadline.Yeah, I think its fair to say that, Girardi acknowledged. I think that we have to make up ground or win games, or were going to be in a pretty tough position. Jimmy Carson Jersey . -- Kyrie Irvings last-minute 3-pointer helped seal another victory for Cleveland -- and the Cavaliers longest winning streak since LeBron James left. Norm Ullman Jersey . James, who turned 29 on Monday, injured his groin Friday during the Heats overtime loss at Sacramento. He sat out the following game, a 108-107 win Saturday in Portland, before coming back to help send the Nuggets to their seventh consecutive loss. https://www.cheapoilers.com/1355s-benoit-pouliot-jersey-oilers.html . MORITZ, Switzerland -- Fog prevented downhill racers from getting their Olympic dress rehearsal. Caleb Jones Jersey . After Gasquet beat fifth-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia 7-5, 6-3, Tsonga followed up with a 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2 win against sixth-seeded Edouard Roger-Vasselin in an all-French match. Boyd Gordon Jersey . In what the team had called a retirement, Ryan said Thursday that he is resigning as chief executive of the Rangers in a move effective at the end of this month. MIAMI -- Trey Mourning was the last Georgetown player to get into the game, as well as the last player to leave the court after posing for plenty of photos and hugs with friends and family.Best of all, his team got a win.L.J. Peak scored 24 points, Rodney Pryor added 19 and Georgetown closed with a flourish to beat La Salle 93-78 on Saturday in the Hoophall Miami Invitational. It was tied at 67 with 8:44 left, before the Hoyas finished on a 26-11 run.We have a happy plane ride back to D.C., Mourning said.Jessie Govan scored 19 points and Jagan Mosely had 14 for the Hoyas (6-4), who won their fourth straight. Georgetown shot 53 percent for the game and 58 percent from 3-point range.We had a pretty good week of practice, working with different offensive situations, Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. And I think the week of practice showed up. We got out ... they tied it up, and then I think our guys really locked in and focused at both ends of the court, to be honest.Jordan Price scored 23 points for La Salle (4-4), which got 19 more from B.J. Johnson and 10 from Pookie Powell. The Explorers were outscored 36-22 from the line, getting there 10 fewer times than Georgetown.We just lost control of it, La Salle coach John Giannini said. My kids are good players and they work hard. I just have to figure out our defensive problems. Our defensive results are not good and we have to figure that out.The last substitution of the night came with 23.2 seconds left, when Mourning got into the game -- a homecoming moment.He was a Miami Heat kid, once worked as a ballboy for the team and getting on the floor in the arena that his hometown team calls home had a certain significance. He spent some time working in the NBA visiting locker room, the one Georggetown used Saturday.dddddddddddd. The Hoyas even sat at the end of the floor where his father Alonzo Mournings No. 33 sways from the rafters as one of the numbers retired by the Heat.Its just good to be home, whether its at the hotel or dinner with my parents or on the court or on the bench, said the younger Mourning, who wears No. 33, just like his dad did for Georgetown and with the Heat. We dont get home very often. And to have it intertwined with the basketball season, it worked perfectly.BIG PICTURELa Salle: The Explorers were playing outside of Philadelphia for the first time this season -- it had four home games, one at the famed Palestra, and played Temple and Drexel on the road. ... La Salle still leads the all-time series against the Hoyas 15-10, though the programs have met only twice since 1965.Georgetown: Alonzo and Tracy Mourning sat courtside, and some of the proceeds from the event will benefit their Mourning Family Foundation. ... This was the only game the Hoyas have between Dec. 4 and Dec. 17. ... Moselys season-high coming into Saturday was six points, done on three occasions.HALL OF FAMERSA handful of Basketball Hall of Fame members were in attendance -- Mourning, of course, along with former Heat assistant Bob McAdoo and Heat President Pat Riley were among those present Saturday. When Riley was introduced, the de facto anthem for Miamis three NBA championship teams, Bruce Springsteens The Rising, blared through the arena.UP NEXTLa Salle: The Explorers get a week off, before hosting Florida Gulf Coast on Dec. 17.Georgetown: A great rivalry gets renewed on Dec. 17, when the Hoyas visit Syracuse. ' ' '