Another Lost Night

Much was made of how Joe Girardi would be a great motivator, how he was a natural leader of men and would bring a spark that the Yankees had been missing during the stoic and calm Joe Torre years.

But this year has been full of nights like tonight, where the team looks as though it is going through the motions. It's as though the offense fails once early on, and then starts pressing and pressing, attempting to make it all up with one swing. Not the right way to get what is supposed to be a good offensive team off the snide.

Ivan Rodriguez and Melky Cabrera spit the bit bigtime tonight, stomping out the only rally the Yankees were able to muster against randomly unhittable Glen Perkins. It is amazing to me that Melky Cabrera has nine lives this season. How does a team that presents itself as a contender, plugs in 3 major league veterans at the deadline, allow a literal automatic out all year long to remain in the everyday lineup?

It's not as though Cabrera is some 10-year veteran who has a long track record of steady play. He's had one good full offensive season. This year he looks completely out of sync at the plate. Girardi seems to love Justin Christian enough to sit Johnny Damon, who is only leading the AL in hitting, but he won't sit Cabrera for an extended stretch after he keeps burning the Yankees' offense with a terrible approach and complete offensive futility?

The problem is that Gardner and Christian are not good enough to make anyone forget Melky. At the same time, though, they can't be too much worse at the plate. Gardner looked pretty terrible in his cameo, but are there no repercussions for 4 straight months of terrible baseball? Atlanta demoted what they considered a future offensive star, Jeff Francouer, for his terrible hitting throughout the year in an effort to get him started. Didn't work.

Isn't it worth a shot? And, this is in no way intended to point all the team's offensive blame at the feet of Melky, the expected #9 hitter who in a perfect world would be an offensive afterthought. But if he's going to remain in the lineup, there's going to be a chance for him to have important at-bats. And if he fails in those at-bats all year long, why does he keep getting the opportunity?

4 straight losses and a 2-6 road trip is a complete disaster. Best case scenario of 4-6 is ugly, and just getting to that point seems like an extremely up-hill climb considering Rasner throws on Wednesday afternoon. Things are looking bleaker by the day with the 2008 Yankees.