Jays Beat Yanks: It's Time To Drop Sergio Mitre From the Rotation

The Yankee lineup couldn't bail him out this time.

Sergio Mitre allowed five runs (three earned) on six hits (two homers) and a walk as New York's seven-game winning streak was snapped in a 5-4 loss to Toronto.

The fifth starter entered Monday with a 7.50 ERA, but a 1-0 record thanks to six and a half runs of support per game over his first four starts.  But the Bombers could only muster four runs on this night, thanks to Joe Girardi's refusal to play small ball.

It's time to remove Mitre from the rotation and replace him with Alfredo Aceves. 

Some say the Yankees shouldn't make Aceves a starter because he's too valuable out of the bullpen, but how valuable were his four scoreless innings of relief Monday night?  Worthless, thanks to the guy who threw the first five.

Ace is 1-0 with a 3.42 ERA in five career starts and it's time to give him another shot in that role.  The last time he worked four innings out of the bullpen was on July 5, when the Yanks were stretching him out for a start.  Hopefully, the same is true this week.

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

Joe Girardi, Manager: (D+) This was Girardi's most poorly managed game in a while.  In the sixth inning, with the Yankees down a run, Robinson Cano led off with a double. 

Then, instead of having Jerry Hairston Jr. bunt him over to third to give New York a chance to tie the game with an out, the skipper elected to let him swing away and Hairston grounded back to the pitcher, stranding Cano at second.

The following inning, Derek Jeter led off with a single.  He would advance no further than first base because Girardi didn't have Nick Swisher bunt, he didn't hit and run with Mark Teixeira, and he didn't have Jeter steal second with Alex Rodriguez up.

I understand the Yankees are hitting a lot of home runs in the new ballpark this year, but they cannot just sit back and wait for the long ball in every situation.  This is the mentality that got them booted from the playoffs in the first round from 2005 to 2007.

Derek Jeter, SS: (A+) The captain led off the game with his 13th homer and later added two more singles, another run scored and a stolen base.

Nick Swisher, RF: (C) Swisher had a sac fly in the third but also struck out three times, including once to end the game.

Mark Teixeira, 1B: (C-) Teixeira was 1—for—4 with two Ks.

Alex Rodriguez, 3B: (A-) A-Rod was 1—for—3 with a walk, but he also grounded into a double play and struck out.

Jorge Posada, DH: (F) Posada was 0—for—4 with a strikeout and is now a career .200 hitter as the designated hitter.  He bats .280 when playing catcher.

Robinson Cano, 2B: (A) Cano was 2-4 with a double and a solo homer (49 of his career 79 home runs have come with the bases empty).  His costly fielding error that led to two unearned runs in the fourth inning was rightly changed to Mitre's mistake after the game because of the poor throw.

Jerry Hairston Jr., LF: (A-) Hairston homered in the fourth, but he couldn't advance the runner in the sixth.

Melky Cabrera, CF: (C-) Cabrera singled in four at bats.

Jose Molina, C: (F) Molina was 0—for—3, including an at bat with a runner in scoring position.

Johnny Damon, PH-LF: (INC) Damon grounded to first for Hairston in the eighth.  It was an interesting move by Girardi to pinch hit a lefty for a righty who had already homered in the game, but Damon was 2—for—2 in his career against the southpaw Jesse Carlson, so I can't say that I completely disagree with the decision.

Hideki Matsui, PH: (B+) Matsui singled for Molina in the ninth to improve to 7—for—12 against Jason Frasor.

Ramiro Pena, PR: (INC) Pena pinch ran for Matsui but was erased on Jeter's force out.

Sergio Mitre, SP: (D-) This was one of Mitre's better starts with six strikeouts, but that's not saying much.  His ERA is still 7.04 and it's time for him to go.  The starter even committed the throwing error that led to two unearned runs in the fourth.

Alfredo Aceves, RP: (A+) Could he be starting Saturday night at Seattle?  I hope so.

Yankees Overall Grade: (B-) You can't be too mad at them after a seven-game win streak that concluded with a four-game sweep of Boston.

Follow me on Twitter at JordanHarrison.

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]