Grading the New York Yankees: Offense Fails Again

I'm too angry right now to put together coherent paragraphs, so I'm just going to list all the mistakes the Yankees made Tuesday night in their terrible 11 inning 2-1 loss to the first place, yes first place, Tampa Bay Rays. 

Johnny Damon led off the top of the first by beating out a ground ball to the second baseman.  Now, after the Yankees failed to put any sort of offense together the previous night, wouldn't you think Joe Girardi would want to start the game by being aggressive on the base paths in an effort to spark the lineup and jump ahead of Edwin Jackson early? 

Nope, the manager didn't bunt, hit and run or send Damon as he remained stranded at first base until the end of the inning.

New York got its first TWO batters on base in the second inning.  Surely they would score here...

Nope.  Instead of bunting and moving the runners to second and third with less than two outs, thus giving the next batter a chance to give the Yanks the lead on an out or score two runs on a hit, Girardi chose to let Robinson Cano hit away and he grounded into a force out.  Luckily for the Yankees, the ball was hit too slowly to turn two so they had runners at the corners with one out. 

Stil.l a chance to score a run with an out—albeit a slim chance because Jason Giambi was on third and he's more of a liability on the bases than he is a help.  As it turned out, The Flash could've been on third and it wouldn't have mattered because Alberto Gonzalez grounded into an inning-ending double play.

In the sixth, with the Yankees now trailing 1-0, Derek Jeter hit a one-out triple to right.  Typically teams score when they hit a triple in an inning, especially when it comes with less than two outs, but not the Bombers.  With a chance to tie the game on any sort of fly ball or a ground ball to the right side, Bobby Abreu grounded out to the drawn in shortstop, stranding Jeter at third.

In the seventh, Girardi finally hit and ran with Cano batting and Melky Cabrera on first and, oh wow, it actually benefited the Yankees as the Rays weren't able to turn a double play on Cano's grounder to third.  With Cabrera now in scoring position at second base, the Yankees once again had an opportunity to tie the game. 

That was until Girardi pinch hit for Gonzalez (.290 average) with Shelley Duncan (.188 average).  Duncan then struck out, like he has three times in five career at bats versus Jackson.

After Hideki Matsui homered to tie the game in the ninth, Giambi walked with one out and represented the go-ahead run.  Girardi felt it unnecessary to pinch run for the slow first baseman and the Yankees went quietly to the bottom of the inning as Cabrera and Cano were retired.

Instead of going to Mariano Rivera, who many incorrectly feel is the best reliever of all time, in the bottom of the ninth of a 1-1 game, Girardi chose to roll the dice with Kyle Farnsworth, who after a four-pitch walk and sac bunt put the winning run in scoring position, was able to work out of the jam and push the game to extra innings.

Rivera was finally allowed to pitch in the 10th and even got the nod in the 11th.  Uh oh, two innings too much for Mo.  Rivera didn't retire an out in the 11th before losing the game, and thus once again showing why comparisons to relievers such as Goose Gossage, Hoyt Wilhelm, Rollie Fingers, Bruce Sutter and Dennis Eckersley, who regularly pitched more than one inning at a time, are ridiculous.

I was overjoyed on Sunday when Joe Torre pulled Dodgers starter Hiroki Kuroda after he lost his no hitter in the seventh inning, leading to his bullpen blowing a 5-0 lead and sending my friend Craig, a Dodger fan, into a fit very reminiscent of many I endured over the past seven years.  But as Girardi continues to make questionable managerial decisions for the Yankees this season, I'm beginning to wonder if anything has changed.

No individual grades for this one.  Everyone fails except for Chien-Ming Wang (another gem spoiled), Matsui and Jeter.  I'm taking a mental health day off from watching the Yankees Wednesday night and instead I'm going to a Serj Tankian concert to get my anger out.