Joe Girardi Hits the Bottle...

Or at least that's what appears to have happened during Monday's Yanks-Rays game. Granted, I am extraordinarily fond of a glass (or six) of a proper single malt Scotch whisky every now and again...and by "every now and again" I mean every afternoon. And evening before dinner. And after dinner. And before bedtime. And after I wake up and realize that "bedtime" is just a euphemism for passing out facedown on the couch in the common room down the hall and waking up to a re-run of the Ellen DeGeneres show on the TV.

But that is neither here nor there. And I am also not managing the Yankees. Joe Girardi, however, is managing the Yankees. And in Monday's rather lopsided loss to the Rays, Joe decided that Nick Swisher was the best bullpen arm he could summon. Not sure how I feel about this one. On one hand, I am a big fan of any and all kinds of shenanigans and tomfoolery that could and do occur during ballgames, and position players pitching is often highly entertaining, plus the Yanks were down ten runs with an inning to play. But on the other hand is the Yanks' bullpen really that exhausted seven games into the season? If the 'pen is that gassed this early, Joe better start calling the YES Network people to see if they're still holding his old job for him, because he won't be keeping Captain Jetes, Sabathia Claus, and Weapon X* company in the dugout much longer. This kind of stunt belongs in August when the Yanks are seven games out of a playoff spot and Joe is trying to figure out which teams are looking to hire a bench coach. I feel guilty criticizing this move, because that is one of the least relevant innings of baseball the Yanks will play all year. But in Tampa? Where The Boss, even though he's really not doing well these days, still hates to lose to the Rays about as much as Indiana Jones hates snakes and Nazis? Bad idea. I like Joe, I think he's a good manager, and I don't want to see him fired. As much as I enjoy watching position players pitch, and I'm sure I would have very much enjoyed watching Swish take a crack at pitching, I can't help but feel that this was a rather poor decision for a guy who is on the hot seat this year simply because he manages the Yankees.

*Weapon X would be Xavier Nady, who incidentally should be riding the pine in place of Swisher. A career four months (not even a full season!!) for the f***ing Pirates shouldn't make you the Yankees starting right fielder, especially when you still can't hit right-handers. Have to give a shout-out to Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke for that nickname- Pat Lackey does great stuff at WHYGAVS and is probably the main reason why I started reading baseball blogs- once I did start, I found some great stuff at several blogs, but Pat was the first blog of great writing by a regular fan that I came across. So go read him too- he's great. And sorry Pat for taking a shot at the Pirates- it's just too easy, and clearly we need all the help we can get here.

And now I feel shitty for raining on the "this inning doesn't matter for shit so let's screw around" parade. So here's me making up for it: as a Canadiens fan, I am supposed to strongly dislike if not flat out hate the Bruins, especially now that they are playing the Canadiens in the playoffs yet again- but I do have to hand it to their marketing/media people, this commercial is funny as hell. That said, Go Habs!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cr89xbl26g