"It's great to be young and a Yankee."

Ok, this one did bother me. Unlike my uncharacterstically (eerily calm?) assessment of yesterday's loss, I'm not as forgiving of tonight's mishaps.

Maybe it's because I didn't leave the office til well past the game's end, which meant that I had to listen to every single inning As Seen Through The Eyes of Sterling & The Voice of Waldman. I don't mind when I'm tethered to my desk for the first part of the game, so long as I can then enjoy the benefits of making my own interpretations of play. While I adore Sterling & Waldman, their commentary tends to be a little, um, unpredictable at times--peaking in the early innings, tempering a bit around the 4th and 5th, then waffling around muted interest or upbeat tangents.

But how can anyone with a soul find something like this anything other than endearing?

With Posada on the DL, the Yankees just called up Francisco Cervelli from Trenton. But Suzyn let's just be clear that there's no replacing Posada. I mean, there's no Sears or K-Mart section that sells Posadas. No, sir!

Almost sounds like a Paula Abdul American Idol analysis: "You know, what's great about Jeter is that he's like a great... big...um.....DINOSAUR HUNTER. Ya know? He just goes out there...and...well, you know what I mean. And there's ball 2."

That said, for whatever the reason, the game did not sit well with me. Yesterday I said that when a loss bothers me, the upside is that it means I have to player backseat driver and come to my own comparatively uneducated conclusions about what the "real" problem is that's at the heart of any losing pattern.

And after Girardi pulled out Joba essentially in mid wind-up, AFTER 12 OF THE LAST 14 OUTS HE HAD RECORDED WERE STRIKEOUTS, well that's when I found the elusive boil on my back.

Joe Girardi isn't doing a good job.

Most Yankee fans probably came to this conclusion about 29 centuries ago, but as the eternal defender of respecting "older and wise," I kept saying to myself over and over that he knows what he's doing. I loved Torre, but I tried to get on board with his dismissal. The Boss was right. Close is only good in horse shoes and hand grenades, and Torre couldn't pull the trigger on a World Series bid ever since 2000.

But Torre's got his new team smooth sailing at the top of the NL. And Girardi's getting thrown out of games. He's also apparently in some kind of MIT-conducted statistical challenge to see how to maximize the number of men left on base while still maintaining a top percentile team batting average.

"Mr. Girardi, how does it take you 10 at-bats to score an RBI, when it takes the entire run-scoring MLB 7? Do the laws of physics CEASE TO EXIST ON YOUR FIELD?? Are these magic bats? Did you buy these players from the same guy who sold Jack his beanstock beans?"

And now he's pulling Joba after less than 6 innings, when he not only hadn't let up a run since the first few hits, but was fanning batters in what the most obvious example of "being in the Zone" ever to cross GNH's mound. He struck out 12 batters in 5 2/3 innings...9 looking. I can rationalize almost anything, and for the life of me, I cannot understand why anyone would want to pull a pitcher who's throwing like he could penetrate a brick wall. ESPECIALLY when it means you have to turn to your Russian Roulette of a bullpen.

There's no excuse. None. Was Girardi thinking, "Wait a minute, wait a minute...let's not all forget about the Joba Rules. Yeah? Ok then."

Which begs the question:

When did Girardi, exactly, become Michael Scott?

Get your f'n head back in the game, Girardi. I question coach decisions even less than Jeter argues calls. Your loyalty to A-Rod was admirable but in the wake of the messy decisions you've been making, it reeks a little too much of trying to drown stale pancakes in syrup.