The Road to Perdition

The Yankees are on the verge of disaster, disaster spawned by overconfidence and managerial incompetence.  For the last month everyone has assumed the Yankees had the American League East rapped up.  Certainly, Joe Girardi believed it.  Since the Yankees swept the Red Sox in early August, Girardi has run the team as if the division title was a foregone conclusion.

Now he is about to blow the lead.  And the division.  As I write, Andy Pettitte is down 2-0 in the first inning against the Angels.  If he loses this game, the Yankees will be only four games ahead of the Red Sox, and only three in the loss column.  The Red Sox have all their pitchers back, they have a pussy cat schedule the rest of the way, and they play the Yankees three games this weekend.  If they take two out of three at Yankee Stadium, they will fly right by the Yankees and win the division.  Which means the Yankees will play the Angels in the first round of the playoffs instead of the easier Tigers, and if they are not careful, the Angels will also pass them and take home field advantage.

How did this happen?  Well, for starters, Girardi overused his Big Three of Sabathia, Burnett and Pettitte.  Time and again, he forced long innings out of them unnecessarily.  Overuse has made Burnett a .500 pitcher, and given Pettitte   a tired arm.  Andy has missed a start and appears ineffectual so far tonite.  Girardi has worn out his key starters.

And he only has three starters, because he has destroyed Joba Chamberlain.  The obsession with limiting Joba’s innings may not reside solely with Girardi; the entire Yankee infrastructure appears to share the blame for this disaster.  But Girardi is the guy in control on the field, and the buck has to stop with him.  By taking Joba out of the rotation and pitching him odd innings, Girardi has rendered him totally ineffectual.  Chamberlain gave up seven runs in two innings to a mediocre Seattle attack this weekend.  He is now so fouled up that he has become worthless.  If the Yankees somehow get to the second round of the playoffs, they will have to start Sergio Mitre in game four.

In the process of destroying Chamberlain, Girardi has given us a steady diet of Mitre and Chad Gaudin, a couple of fringe players.  The lack of both a fourth and a fifth starter has caused the once insurmountable lead to dissipate.  If Joba had been allowed to take his regular turn, the Yankees might have won some of those games, and Chamberlain might still be an effective pitcher.

If the Yankees blow the division lead, it will be one of the greatest collapses in baseball history.  And if the health of the starting pitching does not turn around, we can look for a speedy departure from the playoffs.  It would be a terrible end to what looked like a great season.

If all of the above transpires, there could be one silver lining.  Maybe Cashman and the Steinbrenners will finally wise up and fire Girardi.

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