Hell, even Girardi couldn't defend it. Before the game: "I put a lineup up. Johnny's played a lot." After the game: "Justin Christian has had a lot of success off of left-handers for us and has played very well. That is why Justin Christian played."

That last comes close to a defense, but it begs another question: Melky Cabrera has had no success off of left-handers for the Yankees and has played very poorly. So why did Melky Cabrera play?

The only other really reason I could come up with is that he tried to defuse the mounting pressure by putting out an "ain't no thang" lineup. Which would be really ridiculous. But I'm stretching here.

The Girardi honeymoon may be over soon. One day's lineup oddities don't concern me as much as the seeming lack of hustle. Any one who frequently watches Cano play couldn't be surprised by his terrible defensive play on Sunday. Any one who frequently watches Abreue play couldn't be surprised that he appeared scared to slide home in the first inning. I really thought that Buzz Cut Girardi would have a different effect than Nice Guy Torre.

Then the season comes down to whether they can actually take care of teams like Toronto and Baltimore before the brutal stretch run -- or whether the likes of Cabrera, Burnett and Guthrie will continue to throttle this baffling offense, ending the season for good.

anybody remember a band called "World Party"?

Cano's OBP for his career is 93% comprised of batting average.

Sori's is 88% BA. I'll give Cano a break here since he started his career at a later age than Sori, but through Soriano's first three full seasons as a ML player he was at 88%.

Soriano for his career has hit a HR slightly more frequently than he has taken a walk. He hits a HR about every 19 PAs, and walks about every 20 PAs.

Cano hits a HR about every 35 PAs, but only takes a walk every 28 PAs.

Now, some players use "economy of motion" and some players always stay composed. This can be confused with slacking. Cano does not exhibity "economy of motion," he exhibits minimal motion. Even running to first base -- he pulls up at around 80 feet, so he won't have to overrun the base and exert himself for 120 feet.

Outside of ARod, IMO Cano is the least of the problems with this team going forward.

1) A lot of over-the-hill payroll hits the road at the end of the season. Hopefully, that indicates an end to the "land the biggest FA every year" strategy that got us into this aging mess.

2) The only trades we made mid-season resulted in either (a) Nady whose continued presence in 2009 actually helps us this offseason or (b) guys who will bring supplemental picks. We didn't give up anything big, and we didn't get saddled with any albatrosses.

Cano is definitely frustrating, but the flip side is that I don't see a whole ton of better (i.e., available, reasonably-priced) options at 2B right now.

Looking back in hindsight (and even at the time we did it IMO), giving Jorge a long-term deal was probably the biggest boo boo we made all year in terms of the long-term future of this ballclub. Other than that, we had an effing terrible year, loaded with unexpected injuries and a manager who seems to have lost his clubhouse. Pick up the pieces and move on...

That play on Sunday was one of the most amateurish plays I've ever seen. Right up there with the time Mussina fielded a ground ball and threw to second base and Soriano was standing next to the base instead of on top of the base.

Unfortunately, the calls have been sounding mighty steadily to throw gobs of money at Teixiera, Sabathia, and Dunn in order to right this ship.

I think Sabathia's too good not to make a play for.

Teixeira, I'm less sold on. Especially if Giambi is interested in a 2-year deal.

Why?

Well, because of the way that the CBA works.

When you sign rated free agents, you can only lose your own picks, and not the picks that you acquire from other teams that sign your rated free agents.

If the yankees sign the 3 guys above, that almost certainly means that the following guys will be gone:

giambi
abreu
pudge
and 1 of mussina/pettite

that's 4 likely type a free agents and potentially 4 1st round and 4 supplemental round picks (not saying that's what would happen, only what could)

the same thing could hold true next offseason, if we wanted to sign a big free agent, we're covered by the fact that damon and matsui could very well be type A players

thus it is quite possible to both sign free agents and continue to aggressively build a farm system when you are essentially exchanging them with free agents leaving your own team, because of the way that MLB draft compensation is structured.

* not saying they should, just that they could ...

I like the kid, and I think he'll be successful, and I'd like to see the Yankees just bring him up and let him take his lumps. He might learn something.