Loss Pinned on Girardi

Because of Joe Girardi, the Yankees were unable to put the Twins away in the seventh inning. That inning opened the door for the Twins after the Yankees were leading the entire game up to that point. Phil Hughes loaded the bases in the seventh and was to face Denard Span, who he dominated in three previous at-bats. Instead of letting Hughes, who was at 99 pitches, face Span, Joe elected to bring in the mighty lefty Boone Logan. That turned out to be a joke as Logan allowed all of Hughes' runners to score as well as one of his own. I trusted Phil Hughes to make the out he needed against Span, but Girardi did not. What will that do to the confidence of Hughes, who was pitching a gem until that point? It certainly gives Hughes the right to scrutinize Boone Logan and Joe Girardi. He had one more out in his arm but Girardi chose to go to the bullpen and the decision blew up in his face.

To add to this debacle, the Orioles lost again tonight to the Blue Jays which would have given the Yankees a 2.5 game lead in the division with a win. Instead, the Yankees continue to hang on to this division by a thread and keep giving the Orioles hope which is what fuels their fire. Tonight, the offense was able to get four runs against a bad pitching staff but it should have been enough for them to pull out with a victory. Instead, they are in danger of losing the series to a sub .500 team and Joe Girardi looks like a clown.

CC Sabathia will try to keep the Yankees losing streak at one game tomorrow afternoon as he faces the Twins. The Yankees must win tomorrow to put themselves in position to wrap the division up by the weekend.

The Yankees magic numbers only go down by one tonight. 7 for the division and 5 for the playoffs.