I realize he's extremely talented, but he had time to set his feet before throwing to first.

Shouldn't the rule be always set your feet if you possibly can and never throw with your momentum going the other way if you can possibly avoid it?

but are you hot for teacher?

Man, he's really easy to strike out with that pitch.

Poor Wang, he's gonna allow one run and still lose this thing.

23 Nice. I agree, Cano is one of the best fielding 2b in baseball, let him do his thing. The hitting, on the other hand...

Simply waiting for runs to come is going to result in more losses.

...Edwin Jackson is an even worse pitcher than Matt Garza. I fully expect Kazmir to throw a perfect game tomorrow.

51 That list used to include names like Damon, Jeter, Abreu and Giambi. I wonder if it still does.

1st pitch to Abreu (1st inning)
2nd pitch to Matsui (1st inning)
1st pitch to Iwamura (1st)
2nd pitch to Giambi (2nd)
1st pitch to Hinske (2nd)
1st pitch to Navarro (3rd)
2nd pitch to Abreu (4th)
2nd pitch to Floyd (4th)
3rd pitch to Abreu (6th)
2nd pitch to Matsui (6th)

10, out of 19 called strikes total. This is, to me, inexcusable.

Seriously, I think even Torre's biggest fans have to be happy he is gone because if things were the same, things could have gotten ugly, making last year's departure look completely amicable. The problem with Girardi is he seems to be the spitting image of Torre.

http://tinyurl.com/63rkgw

a really obscure and irresistible reference.

that was more entertaining than this game.

the comment, not the show... well... maybe the show...

and a pinch hitter! Girardi awakens!

yeesh, this lineup is offal

I am very worried about Jeter. I am sure Orioles fans though Ripken would be an All Star forever, but then he entered his 30s.

I guess they just look lethargic because they aren't going well, but damn, this team looks old.

Oh good, I was worried that I'd have to find something else to do tonight, with this game finishing so quickly. I imagine this game should go about 15, 16 innings now.

Let the questions begin: Joba for 2, or Mo in a tie game on the road?

Oh god, no. Not Kyle Farnsworth. I guess it will be an early night after all...

C'mon Melky, let's bring it home!

You know, in that 10 inning Jays-Indians game last night, the one with both the CI and the UTP, the Jay's manager went with BJ Ryan in a tie game on the road, and then went with Scott Downs later on with a lead. It was Downs' fourth save, to Ryans' five, so maybe it was like the Yankees' situation, with two solid relievers. I guess some managers do the right think.

Bringing in Kyle Farnsworth is not the right thing.

Yeah, boo, Farnsworth, blah blah - except he's pitched well this year, and this is where he should be used: 7th hitter, 8th hitter, 9th hitter. Very low leverage situation. I'd like to see Joba go another inning, but since he's not - why burn Mo here?

Its one thing to not use Mo in a tie game on the road when its, oh, Game 4 of the Serious, and your other option is Jeff Weaver. This is not that.

190 Why use your best pitcher in a low leverage situation? Versus, might I add, a guy currently slugging .329 (Gross), a guy with a .369 career SLG (Navarro), and a guy with a .355 career SLG (Bartlett)?

Can Montero hit in the majors now?

200 Fair enough, but there's a huge difference between Game 4 of a Serious and a May regular season game vs Tampa Bay. Win Game 4 in '03, and you're up 3 games to 1; lose and its 2-2. The outcome of this game isn't anywhere near as important.

And, Weaver hadn't pitched in almost two weeks, and had been awful when he did pitch. Farns has pitched regularly, and has been pretty good to boot.

199 Unless Girardi didn't like what he saw from Joba.

He's been getting squeezed lately.

219 Uncle! I'll leave it be (though the next game has worse memories for me).

God Bless You, Mo.

Anyone catch the ESPN-Mag article on Yu Darvish?

Besides, whether we like it or not, Girardi seems determined to give Farns a chance, and Farns has actually pitched better recently than I've ever seen him pitch as a Yankee. Better to find out now whether he can handle these situations, instead of piling on innings for Mo.

This is going to be a long night, me thinks. Matsui was safe.

Floyd did a nice job getting in on that one. I'm not worried.

You have to score more than one run in eleven innings.

"Pinstripes & Putridness", your 2008 New York Yankees.

What was that about not relying on Mo to be perfect?

A-Rod comes back soon, and things will get better.

Anyone want to run the Yanks through the lineup optimizer tool Ken put together? I'd like to see how (if?) changing the lineup around might help.

Runs Created, American League Right Fielders
1. Emil Brown, OAK (28)
2. Bobby Abreu, NYY (27)
3. Nick Markakis, BAL (23)

Abreu and Damon are not the problem.

1) The Yankee hitters have completely lost their way. They don't take pitches, they don't work pitchers, they don't grind out at-bats.

2) Girardi, after running the team like Billy Martin's A's in the spring, won't put runners in motion, won't hit and run, won't play an aggressive style.

3) Cashman fails to react to roster problems. With Posada out, he carries both Molina and Moeller, who are basically the same player: good-field, no-hit. Why not put in a claim on Raul Casanova, inquire about Mike Piazza, or make a minor deal for someone like Adam Melheuse?

As a writer, I'm supposed to be more objective, but the Yankees have become very aggravating. The more I watch this team, the more I get the sense that the prevailing attitude among the players is this: "I'm getting paid my money, so what's the big deal." Where is the sense of urgency? Where is the sense of embarrassment?

Runs Created, American League Shortstops
1. Derek Jeter, NYY (22)
2. Michael Young, TEX (20)
3. Bobby Crosby, OAK (18)

So let's not overreact because the three of them had bad games. Cano, Giambi and Melky are the ones with below-average production, plus the injuries to A-Rod and Posada, that are bringing the team down.

I keep going back and forth between anger and the realization that this might be the price to pay for making the playoffs since 1995. If anything, the anger is probably better directed toward the 2003-2004 not winning instead of this aging team coming up short.

1072 AB, .236/.303/.381 (OPS+: 77)

Better than Molina (Career OPS+: 67) and Moeler (63), but not by much. He's also turning 36 this August. That's the cure?

Piazza would require a commitment for the rest of the year at the major league level, and then would not be happy riding the bench when Posada returned. He also hit .275/.313/.414 last year. Are you sure that's what you want to spend your money on?

And once again, winning breeds chemistry, not the other way around. But meanwhile the NY media seems content to try and squash whatever emotion the Yankees show (Joba's fist-pumps, Cano's dugout dance after his homer last week). It's either a "professional atmosphere" or "lifeless disinterest." The media has to pick one.

Cano, the 3B replacements, and the C replacements are the most unproductive hitters. Cano seems to be coming out of it, and there's nothing to be done there but wait it out. A-Rod's imminent return solves 3B. That leaves C, and short of going back in time to undo trading Navarro in the Randy Johnson deal, I don't see any fixes there either.

Giambi ranks 13th among AL first basemen in RC (Detroit's Guillen and Cabrera are both listed ahead of him). However, THT has a stat called prOPS, which tracks a hitters' predicted season OPS based upon their Three True Outcomes results. Giambi is first in the AL in this category, suggesting that he may retain future value. However, the past results of this season have not been helping the team.

I'm more concerned with the team carrying 13 pitchers at the expense of a bench player. Especially considering that the team is shorthanded offensively, having lost two of its top offensive players.