Grading the Yankees: Rally Falls Short Because of Blow Off Mo

These are the games people ignore when they label Mariano Rivera "The Greatest Reliever of All Time."

With the Yankees in the middle of a comeback, Mo was called upon to hold the deficit at three runs in the top of the ninth, but the closer surrendered a home run to the first batter he faced, Aubrey Huff, which extended Baltimore's lead to 7-3.

Harmless?  Not exactly.

The Bombers scored three times in the bottom of the ninth but the rally fell one run short.  Mo's run.

Many will excuse Rivera's mistake because "he's not used to pitching in non save situations."  Apparently they move the mound back 15 feet when your team isn't leading by one to three runs in the ninth.

Mariano has been perfect in save situations this year (26 for 26 with a 0.33 ERA), but less than stellar in non save spots (4-3, 2.70 ERA).  Someone needs to tell him those games count too.

But Rivera certainly wasn't the only reason the Yankees lost to the Orioles 7-6 Tuesday night.  New York once again squandered a couple run-scoring opportunities early on, putting the pressure on starter Darrell Rasner to be flawless.  He wasn't and the Yankees paid the price.

And Damaso Marte, who the Pinstripes just aquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates to improve their already outstanding bullpen, just made things worse, giving up two runs on three hits and a walk in one inning.

Here are the grades from the Yankees' one-run defeat to the Baltimore Orioles.

Joe Girardi, Manager: (D) Did someone forget to tell Girardi that the Yanks just added Xavier Nady for his bat?  Just three games into his tenure with the team, the manager gave the .325 hitter the night off, despite the fact that New York really needed to win this game to avoid losing the series to the last place O's.  Instead, Wilson Betemit found his way into the lineup and went 0-5.

Johnny Damon, LF: (A) Damon went 2-5 with a run scored and got his first start in left since returning from the DL.

Derek Jeter, SS: (A) The Captain doubled, scored, walked twice and stole a base.

Bobby Abreu, RF: (A) Abreu had two doubles, a single, two runs, and an RBI.

Alex Rodriguez, 3B: (A) A-Rod went 2-3 with a homer and a walk, but he struck out as the tying run in the ninth.

Jason Giambi, 1B: (A) Giambi stranded five base runners, four in scoring position, in his first two at bats, but he made up for it, going 3-3 the rest of the way with a big two-run single in the ninth.

Robinson Cano, 2B: (C) Cano had a two-run single in five at bats.

Wilson Betemit, 3B: (F) Betemit went 0-5 with two strikeouts, including one that ended the game.  The fact that Girardi didn't pinch hit for Betemit in the ninth with Richie Sexson, who they got to bat in those situations against lefties, shows you how worthless that pick-up was.

Melky Cabrera, CF: (F) Melky went 0-4 and left two men on base.

Chad Moeller, C: (B+) Rasner's personal catcher went 1-3 and double clutched attempting to throw out the stealing Nick Markakis early in the game.

Justin Christian, PR: (B) Christian pinch ran for Giambi in the ninth and promptly got himself into scoring position by stealing second.  I give credit to Girardi for that aggressive move.

Xavier Nady, PH: (INC) In the eighth inning, the bat boy leaned over to Girardi and reminded him that Nady was on the team.  The skipper put him in and Nady struck out.

Jose Molina, C: (INC) Molina caught the ninth and will be catching Joba Chamberlain tomorrow in a game the Yanks need to win in order to avoid being swept at home by a last place team in late July.

Darrell Rasner, SP: (D) Rasner wasn't as bad as Sidney Ponson was on Sunday, but these last three starts, including Mike Mussina's on Monday, illustrate why the Yankees need to trade for another arm.

Damaso Marte, RP: (F) The ex-Pirate was confused when he walked off the mound after giving up two runs in the seventh.  Not because he was being booed, but because there were still fans in the stands that late in the game.

Jose Veras, RP: (A) Remember when Jose Veras used to come into the game in the seventh and get everyone out?  Those were the days.

Mariano Rivera, RP: (F)

Yankees Overall Grade: (D+) The Bombers are not playing with the urgency they had during their recent eight-game winning streak.  They've now lost three in a row and have to turn things around quickly because after Wednesday's matinee finale with Baltimore, the Yanks welcome the World Series favorite Angels to town for a massive four game set that they must at least split.

The good news is that the Red Sox continue to lose, so the Yanks are just two games back of them in the Wild Card race.  But the Twins have now won four straight to jump back ahead of New York and the Rays won Tuesday to increase their division lead to four.

Jordan Schwartz is Bleacher Report's Yankees Community Leader. His book "Memoirs of the Unaccomplished Man" is available at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and authorhouse.com.