Yankees-Blue Jays: Johnny Damon Drops the Ball in Another Yankees Loss

They just keep finding new ways to lose.

Not scoring runs was getting a little old for the New York Yankees, so they decided to throw in a new wrinkle: bad defense.

In his first game as the team's new regular center fielder, with Hideki Matsui now filling the DH spot, Johnny Damon dropped two balls in the game against the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night.

The first one, scored an error, didn't hurt the Yanks, as starter Darrell Rasner did a great job wriggling out of a second and third, one-out jam in the first inning.

But the second drop, which was scored a double, had more catastrophic results. 

With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Marco Scutaro hit a long flyball to deep center off of reliever Jose Veras. Damon turned one way and then another, before appearing to be in position to make the play, but the ball ticked off his glove and Joe Inglett scored from first, giving the Jays a 2-1 victory.

But that's only one of the reasons why the Yankees lost for the 15th time in the past 23 games. The other reason has become far too familiar.

New York once again managed just one run on six hits against A.J. Burnett and B.J. Ryan, and the four and five hitters, Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi, went 1-8 with seven strikeouts and left six men on base.

Just another day in Yankeeland.

Here are the grades from New York's 2-1 loss to the Blue Jays.

Joe Girardi, Manager: (C-) Let's start with the good. Girardi's hit-and-run play with Damon on first and Bobby Abreu at bat in the first inning led to the Yankees' only run of the game. He also had Ivan Rodriguez steal a base later in the contest.

Now, the bad. The bottom of the seventh inning pretty much summed up the difference between how the Yankees handle their pitchers versus how the rest of baseball does things. 

With Burnett sitting on the bench at 110 pitches, manager Cito Gaston didn't have anyone warming up in the Jays' bullpen. Why not?  Probably because the starter was mowing down the Bombers to the tune of 13 strikeouts. He returned to the mound in the eighth and got three Yankee hitters to ground out on just 10 more pitches to earn the victory.

Meanwhile, Girardi had two different relievers warming up while Rasner pitched the seventh, despite the fact that the Yankees' starter had thrown 30 less pitches and given up one less run than his counterpart.

The skipper eventually pulled Rasner with two outs and 86 pitches and brought in Veras, who did a pretty good job, but wound up losing the game on Damon's blunder in the eighth.

Maybe, just maybe, this is why New York pitchers keep getting arm injuries. Perhaps all the babying and obsessive pitch counts aren't letting the guys work up their arm strength, and then guys like Joba Chamberlain, Dan Giese, Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes keep getting hurt.

My last gripe with Girardi is one I've been over many times. Nearly every Yankee hitter is to blame for the lack of offense this season, but probably none more than Giambi. His .209 average with runners in scoring position and .111 average with the bases loaded continue to obliterate Yankee rallies.

Yet, for some reason, the manager keeps batting him right in the middle of the order in the five hole, where he has a .207 average, as opposed to the six and seven spots, where he hits .339.

Johnny Damon, CF: (D-) I thought the bad part about playing Damon in center would be that his lack of arm strength would be exposed even more. I didn't think it would lead to him dropping two balls. At the plate, he went 0-3 with a walk and a run scored.

Derek Jeter, SS: (C-) The Captain went 1-4 with two strikeouts.

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

Alex Rodriguez, 3B: (D-) A-Rod struck out three times and left three men on base in his first three at-bats, but his biggest mistake came in his fourth plate appearance. Rodriguez didn't hustle out of the box on his leadoff blooper to right in the ninth and was subsequently thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double.

Jason Giambi, 1B: (F) Do golden sombreros come in leopard print?

Xavier Nady, LF: (C-) 1-4 with a K.

Hideki Matsui, DH: (F) Not the easiest pitcher to face when you're coming off the DL after two months. The return of his clutch bat will probably be too little, too late.

Robinson Cano, 2B: (F) 0-3.

Ivan Rodriguez, C: (A-) Pudge went 1-3 and stole a base.

Darrell Rasner, SP: (A) Rasner did his part against one of the worst offenses in the league. Too bad his offense was even worse on this night.

Jose Veras, RP: (C-) He got the loss but that ball should've been caught by Damon.

Yankees Overall Grade: (D+) When you have the opportunity to win a game against Burnett, you have to take it, especially when you're facing Roy Halladay on Thursday.  This season is pretty much over.

Jordan Schwartz is Bleacher Report's New York Yankees Community Leader. His book "Memoirs of the Unaccomplished Man" is available at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and authorhouse.com. Jordan can be reached at [e-mail]