Michael Young has not lived up to his own standards in 2012, struggling at the plate and really struggling to hit the ball with any authority, sporting a slugging percentage 100 points below his career average and an OPS of 150 points less than his standard. His last home run was at the beginning of May and he has just 18 doubles this season.
On Wednesday night, Young was given his first night off in two months by Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington, who has stuck by Young through thick and thin, arguably to a fault.
On Thursday against the New York Yankees, a day removed from his day off, Young chalked up two hits, a walk and scored twice in the Rangers' 10-6 win to avoid a four-game sweep. Both of his hits were singles, but one was driven.
Of course, Washington downplayed his decision to give Young a day off, saying it was just a routine day. But you'd think he'd be given more than one routine day off every two months. It sounds more like Washington has been leaving Young in the lineup to help him get out of this funk and had finally caved.
"I wasn't giving him the time down because I saw something or wanted to do something," Washington said.
Whatever you say, Wash. Let's hope his day off helped right the ship.
