Girardi Making Some Questionable Decisions

It seems to be a long way off before too many Yankee fans start to cry to see Joe Torre sitting on the bench again making horrible decisions, however, his successor Joe Girardi, who has only been manager for a total of 25 games, seems to have been making a few bad decisions of his own.

The first real decision that Girardi was criticized for was for allowing Mike Mussina to pitch to Manny Ramirez with a base open and the go ahead runs on base in Boston about two weeks ago, after Ramirez had already hit a monstrous homerun off of him earlier in the ball game and is a Yankee killer.

Mussina did pitch to Ramirez and made every Yankee fan watching cringe as Ramirez promptly nailed a shot in the right enter field gap and the Yankees wound up losing a heart breaker.

Today was a completely different story. Close games will happen. Games that you feel you should have won, you will sometimes lose, an vice versa, however, this was more like sabotage. It was as if Girardi was giving this game away.

Is it good to rest your every day players? Absolutely - it will keep them fresh as the season progresses, however, with youngster Ian Kennedy on the mound looking for a good start and stop the Yankees two game slide and pull them back above .500 instead of dipping below the .500 mark, Girardi decided to bench half his every day roster.

Robinson Cano probably needed a day off to clear his mind as he has had a tough stretch here in the beginning and with A-Rod just comming off his quad injury, it wasn't a bad move to play him as the DH. However, that softens your line-up as Matsui can no longer DH taking him out of the game as Damon started in left - where he belongs. However, that is life when guys need a day off.

Where Girardi went wrong was giving Jorge Posada another day off from behind the plate - which unless he was unable to play, which I do not believe was the case, seems rather silly to take his bat out of the line-up and inserts Jose Molina. Molina is arguably one of the best back-ups currently in the game. On a smaller market team, he could play every day, and he has done a nice job filling in while Posada was unable to throw, but Posada is back now; Why was Posada on the bench?

Maybe Posada was ailing a little and you want to give Girardi the benefit of the doubt, but then why bench Bobby Abreu as well? The Yankees had just brought up Shelley Duncan from Triple A, sending down Billy Traber, who has been ineffective out of the pen of late, and started Duncan in right field immediately.

So, Matsui, Posada, Cano and Abreu all got to take a seat and watch the Yankees lose to the Indians where they lost in the bottom of the ninth. Maybe, just maybe, if Girardi gave just one or two guys a days rest today and then a days rest for the other two maybe tomorrow, the Yankees could have won today. Besides, outside of Posada, who is a switch hitter, they are all lefties. Tomorrow, C.C. Sabathia will be taking the mound for the Tribe. Why not give one or two of the lefties tomorrow against a tough veteran instead of today against a young pitcher? After all, they are both left handers. Why sit four All-Stars? It just doesn't make logical sense.

The Mussina decision a few weeks back was a tough one, however, this one was not. You do not bench four All-Stars at one time and expect to win. However, this is a long season and Girardi will make some bad calls and he will make some good calls and he will make some calls in between, but he better hope that he makes more good calls than bad if he wants to stay in the good graces of the Yankee fans and management and go on to be a legit playoff contender.