Girardi's Ragtag Lineup Silenced by Oliver Perez

Joe Girardi has been doing a very good job managing the Yankees lately, but what he did on Sunday in the final game of the Subway Series really frustrated me.

As has been his practice all season long when the Bombers face a lefty pitcher, the skipper loaded up his lineup with a bunch of right-handed hitters, three of which were bench players.

Girardi started Wilson Betemit (.266 average), Jose Molina (.225) and Justin Christian (.200) instead of Bobby Abreu (.286), Jason Giambi (.262) and Robinson Cano (.244).

And it's not like the three righties are better hitters against lefties.  Betemit's average against southpaws is .261, Molina's is .205 and Christian is 3 for 10 in 2008.  Meanwhile Abreu is hitting .312 versus lefties this year, Giambi is .260 and Cano is .267.

It's okay to give your starters a rest every once in a while, but not all on the same day and especially not when your lineup is already depleted by the injury to Hideki Matsui and the fact that the pitcher has to bat in NL parks.

The end result was that Betemit, Molina and Christian combined to go 1-10 on Sunday as the Yankees managed just one run on four hits in a 3-1 loss to the Mets.

Here are the grades from that defeat.

Joe Girardi, Manager: (F) Girardi gave his team no chance to win with the lineup he assembled.

Johnny Damon, LF: (C-) Damon went 1-4 with three strikeouts.

Derek Jeter, SS: (A) The Captain was one of the few bright spots for the Yankees on Sunday, as he went 2-4.

Alex Rodriguez, 3B: (F) A-Rod nearly tied the game in the top of the ninth when his shot off of Billy Wagner died near the warning track.  He went 0-4.

Jorge Posada, 1B: (F) Posada was healthy enough to be in the lineup and play defense but not catch?  I don't get it.  Jorge also was 0-4.

Wilson Betemit, 2B: (B+) Betemit did his job, supplying the Yankees with their only offense on a bomb that appeared to hit Citi Field on a bounce in left field.  He went hitless, however, with two K's in his other three at bats.

Melky Cabrera, CF: (F) 0-3 with a strikeout.

Jose Molina, C: (F) 0-3 with a K and a passed ball.

Justin Christian, RF: (F) Another result of Girardi's wacky lineup was that it weakened the defense.  I'm not saying that Abreu definitely would have thrown out the speedy Jose Reyes tagging up from third in the sixth, but he would've had a better chance than Christian, who also went 0-3.

Chad Moeller, PH: (INC) Moeller pinch hit for Rasner in the sixth and almost hit a homer, but it fell short for a fly out.

Jason Giambi, PH: (INC) Giambi pinch hit for the pitcher's spot in the eighth and promptly flew out to left on the first pitch he saw.

Darrell Rasner, SP: (C+) Rasner gave up eight hits and three walks but worked out of some jams to only surrender two runs before being pinch hit for in the top of the sixth.  He pitched better than he had in his previous three starts, though, which is a good sign for the Yanks, who need him to produce out of the fourth starter's spot until Chien-Ming Wang returns or the team trades for another pitcher.

David Robertson, RP: (C-) Robertson gave up four hits in just two innings of relief, but he only surrendered one run in a shaky Major League debut.

Edwar Ramirez, RP: (A) Pitched a perfect eighth.

Yankees Overall Grade: (D) The pitching wasn't too bad, but the hitting was atrocious as Girardi put together one of the weakest lineups of the year on a day in which the Yankees had a chance to take three out of four from their cross-town rivals.  Instead, the Yanks split the series, which isn't too bad considering the starters they had going this weekend.