ARE YOU SERIOUS?

I can’t decide whether my older son has rocks in his head, or is just jerking my chain.  He cannot be serious when he defends Girardi.  The man cannot manage.

I will grant certain of his arguments.  The Yankees do not want to return to the managerial merry-go-round of the ’80s.  And certainly injuries have hurt the team.  Plus the bats of the older players may be slowing down, although you wouldn’t know it from Johnny Damon’s performance this week.

But once again I must point out a prime example of Girardi’s inadequacy.  This afternoon Joba Chamberlain took the mound for the second time this week.  On Tuesday against the Red Sox, he opened the game by giving up four straight hits, culminating in Jason Bay’s three run homer.  After that, he was unhittable, striking out twelve in less than six innings.

In the first inning today Joba put the first two men on, then gave up a three run home run to Aubrey Huff.  For the next six innings he shut out the high powered Oriole offense (the Orioles’ lowly placement in the standings is the result of terrible pitching, not bad hitting).

So far this year, hitters are batting .481 against Joba in the first inning, and .235 in the subsequent innings.  Sounds like Joba needs a longer warm up before the start of the game.

Whatever it is, the coaching staff should be able to diagnose and correct the problem.  So far they have failed to adequately address the issue.  If Joba was having good games and bad games, you could blame him.  For example, Saturday night’s disaster was the direct result of Philip Hughes’ inability to throw his curve ball for strikes.  That loss is on him.  But Joba consistently pitches well once he is out of the first inning.  The pattern presents a diagnosable problem, but nobody is finding a solution.

Maybe the blame for failing to correct this situation should fall on Dave Eiland, but Eiland is Girardi’s pitching coach.  Ultimately he is responsible for Eiland’s failure.

I find failures of this ilk less troubling than the sense of panic and defeatism that permeates this team.  But the Joba issue just highlights that Girardi is failing on multiple levels.  Like Ray Handley before him, Girardi has been consumed by the challenge of replacing a legend.  The Yankees need to move on without him.

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