I just don't know any more. Its an old, injured team, with probably one of the worst managers in baseball who is just unable or unwilling to put this team in a position to succeed.

I mean, Andruw Jones starting today against Ricky Romero is beyond infuriating, not only because everyone knew how it would end, but because I honestly thought he had gotten over this last time we faced Romero. Joe even SAID "sometimes lefties hit Romero better than righties"

But low and behold, here comes Jones, who is hitting no one period, has never hit Romero, and Romero in general has no issue with right handed hitters. Joe Girardi is the only human being on earth that thought this was a good matchup for the Yankees.

He's so obsessed with what hand a pitcher throws with that seemingly he never takes any other data into consideration. Righties hit lefties. Lefties hit righties. No one ever hits same handed pitching. Thus ANY right handed batter is a good bet to hit ANY left handed pitcher. These rules are non negotiable.

And that, my friends, is the mark of a bad manager.

Matt, when Girardi first became Yankee manager, I thought he was going to be brilliant. Four years later, I'm greatly disappointed.

He made a lot of questionable moves today, starting with the Andruw Jones insanity, which is loyalty to the point of foolishness.

He could have left Pettitte in to face Heccheviara (spelling?), but instead he went to Chamberlain, who gave up the game-turning double.

Also in the ninth inning, why not have Dickerson pinch-hit for Stewart instead of Martin? Dickerson has put up great numbers since his recall, plus if he gets on, you have some speed on the bases.

Girardi just doesn't make out a lineup very well, nor does he have a feel for managing a game. I hope Cashman (or somebody) is taking notice, because the New York mainstream media continues to give Girardi a pass.

[2] I think the Pettitte-Joba move is probably straight lefty/righty as well.

Its exhausting.

Andy was getting hit pretty hard when he was removed... including that shot that Granderson managed to haul in. Should he have come out? I don't know. Andy is clutch, but Joba was fresh and threw with the 'right' hand.

It's a crap shot. A certain percentage of time players succeed, and a certain percentage of time players fail. We never know which we are going to get. Neither does Joe.

Remember when Grady Little left Pedro in to face Posada?
He did this because Pedro was his best.
And Pedro did his thing.
He got Posadaa with a broken bat pop up.
Po didn't hit the ball well at all.
But.... it dropped in. Noman's land. Dumb luck.
And Grady Little is now the worst manager on the planet.

A manager is supposed to put his players in a position where they can succeed. But it is still up to the player.
The BP is full of fresh arms, and is supposed to save pitchers who are tiring or losing it.
Statistically, most of the time, same handedness works in favor of the pitcher.

Should Joe have left Andy in?
I don't know.
It's a crap shoot.

The bigger issue however, is the Yankees played like crap.
2 for 11 with RISP. Bases loaded, no outs, twice.
Opportunies to succeed galore.
But they just didn't succed.

[4] I agree that a manager needs to put his players in a position to succeed. I don't think Joe does. The combination of the constant pitching changes and using inferior players solely because of their dominant hand just isn't working.

[4] OYF, did you just defend Grady Little? Really, you can't find a better "managers don't matter too much" example than that?

So, the Joe Girardi Death Watch™ is back on?

[7] At this point, I kinda hope so. Watching this team is exhausting, even when they win. I find it difficult to root for a team that makes you mad most of the time, win or lose.

Managers seemingly have a short shelf life for tolerance/being tolerated in NY, and I'm beginning to understand why. If you have a front office that assembles a bad or difficient roster, there really is only so much you can accomplish, so I give Girardi credit for that. But then he really sucks the air out of the whole stadium sometimes, which good team or not is one of the reasons I've not followed as extensively as I have in the past. I won't be sorry to see him go if it comes to that, but I'm afraid of who would replace him since no one really stands out as an ideal balance between The Two Joes (who is available, *ahem*) and I'm not really that confident with the judgment of those making decisions in the front office. And then there's the roster construction problem again.

All I know is, some bad patterns have been revealed for quite a while now and they need to be broken on and off the field.