Reporters scratch heads over Girardi moves

With Joe Girardi as the manager of the New York Yankees, I've made my peace with seeing head-scratching managerial moves on a regular basis. Apparently, the New York media has not. Let the second guessing continue!

Reporters were perplexed as to why Girardi would send Chad Gaudin and Sergio Mitre into a scoreless game against the Tampa Bay Rays instead of David Robertson and Joba Chamberlain. I must confess that I wondered the same thing when I saw Girardi take out Boone Logan after one batter for Gaudin in the 10th inning and was yelling at the television as Gaudin proceeded to walk people. But Girardi is prone to over thinking matchups so we shouldn't have been too surprised.

What was most baffling to reporters is that Girardi said neither Robertson nor Joba was hurt, a fact that both players confirmed. The Yankee manager just felt they needed a day off, despite not having pitched on Sunday. It’s a strange stance considering the Yankees were in a tight battle against their toughest opponents and it would seem to be an all-hands on deck situation, but Girardi doesn’t think that way.

Girardi is less than eager to defend his daily moves and he was incredibly rude to the reporters, especially Kim Jones, who dared to ask him about his decisions and the loss that put the Yankees behind their division rivals.

For the record, I have no problem with Girardi wanting to protect his relievers. He's absolutely right when he said they've been used a lot lately and he's obviously thinking ahead to the playoffs in trying to get them some rest. But as the manager of the Yankees, he can't bristle and get defensive when reporters approach him with legitimate questions about his managerial moves.

Girardi, Yankees losing patience with Burnett

AJ Burnett is really starting to wear on the nerves of the New York Yankees.

The fact that manager Joe Girardi did not dismiss the possibility of shipping AJ to the bullpen is a sign that he is clearly frustrated by managing the weekly headache that Burnett has become.

Imagine the very real possibility of Sergio Mitre or Chad Gaudin pitching key games for the Yankees against the Tampa Bay Rays or Boston Red Sox in September because Girardi & Co. simply don't know which AJ will show up on the mound at any given day. As risky as it may be, Girardi may need to trust Mitre or Gaudin more than he trusts his supposed #2 starter as the Yanks fight for the American League East.

I think Girardi's biggest frustration comes from Burnett's inability to step up when the Yankees need him, especially now with Andy Pettitte's injury taking longer than expected to heal and Phil Hughes closing in on his innings limit. The Yankees manager would much prefer to send Mitre or Gaudin to pitch the last four innings of Hughes' September starts. Instead, he may have to use them in Burnett's place and hope they can win big games in a tight division race.

It's a bad spot for the manager to be in and that's partly Burnett's fault.

Bad blood doesn't boil over for Yankees, Tigers

Thankfully, the bad blood from last night's game between the New York Yankees and the Detroit Tigers didn't boil over into today.

The Yankees and Tigers played a relatively quiet game, with Phil Hughes pitching an efficient game, helped by some sparkling defense, and the Yankee offense finally coming back to life. I was concerned that some of the ugliness from last night would filter into this afternoon's game, but the players retreated to their neutral corners and focused on baseball.

I was surprised to see Johnny Damon of all people stirring things up on the Tigers' side, accusing Brett Gardner of a dirty slide that put Carlos Guillen on the disabled list. Damon should know his former teammate better than that, but he obviously wasn't the only Tiger who felt that way. Jeremy Bonderman hit Gardner in the first inning last night, triggering a warning from the home-plate umpire that turned out to be completely pointless.

There's no question the umpires did a bad job last night. Bonderman hit Gardner on the leg, which I have no problem with, and that should have been the end of it. But the warning led to any ugly dispute later in the game between Tigers manager Jim Leyland and the umpires after Miguel Cabrera was hit after hitting two home runs. I don't believe Chad Gaudin intentionally hit Cabrera, but the umpire boxed himself into a corner by issuing the warning. The Tigers were rightly enraged when he didn't throw Gaudin out of the game and later threw at Derek Jeter. No question that was on purpose.

But I'm glad it ended there, rather than the Yankees retaliating for their captain being thrown at. With about six weeks left in the season, the Yankees have a lot more to lose than the Tigers.

Pettitte a tough loss for Yanks to overcome

I've long believed that a major injury to one of the Core Four would have the greatest potential to derail the New York Yankees this year. That injury came yesterday to Andy Pettitte.

Pettitte is heading to the disabled list, out for at least four to five weeks, according to general manager Brian Cashman. While I think losing Mariano Rivera for that amount of time would be a greater loss due to the mess that is the Yankees bullpen (which actually did well in yesterday's victory), Pettitte has been the most reliable member of the Yankees rotation all year. Losing him will be tough to overcome and the fans know it, with 60% saying they are very concerned about his injury in a Daily News poll.

The media is now begging for a trade and I'm sure Cashman will look at all available starting options. But I doubt he's going to mortgage the future with the Yankees still in the first place with the best record in baseball. None of the internal options such as Sergio Mitre or Chad Gaudin can really take Pettitte's place, but if they can hold opposing teams to three or four runs each outing, that might be enough to keep the Yankees in games, especially with Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez finally swinging the bats well.

But no matter how the Yankees play it, losing Pettitte is a major blow. With AJ Burnett’s struggles, Pettitte had become the stopper of losing streaks and I doubt that’s a role that either Mitre or Gaudin can fill.