Girardi's Brain Fart Costs Yanks as they Fall to Sox 4-3

The Yankees fell to 6-6 on the year with a 4 - 3 loss to the Boston Red Sox today at Fenway Park.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
N.Y. Yankees	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	0		3	6	0
Boston	0	0	0	1	0	3	0	0	X		4	9	0

Mike Mussina got the start and pitched OK. In 5.2 IP he allowed four runs on eight hits and no walks, he also struck out one. Moose made two major mistakes on the day, both to Manny Ramirez. In the 4th inning Manny took him deep over the Green Monster to give the Sox a 1-o lead. Then in the 6th with the Yankees leading 2-1, Mussina allowed runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out, but he was able to strike out the slumping David Ortiz for the second out of the inning.

This is where Joe Girardi's brain fart comes into play; with first base open, Girardi comes out to the mound to discuss how they were going to go after Ramirez. Mussina tells Girardi he wants to go after him, and for some stupid reason Girardi listened to his pitcher (shouldn't it be the other way around?) and decides to let Mussina pitch to Ramirez. On the first pitch Manny sees he smacks a 2-run double into the right-centerfield gap to give the Sox a 3-2 lead. How Girardi allows Moose to pitch to Ramirez in that situation is beyond me. Maybe he was trying to show Mussina he still has confidence in him, but it was clearly the wrong move. And now Mussina feels worse then he would have had they walked Manny. Anyway, after the double, that Mussina was taken out of the game and replaced by Brian Bruney.

The fourth Red Sox runs came when Kevin Youkilis singled off Bruney to score Ramirez from second. Bruney then pitched a scoreless 7th and Latroy Hawkins pitched a scoreless 8th.

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Mussina (L, 1-2)	5.2	8	4	4	0	1	1	4.15
Bruney	1.1	1	0	0	2	1	0	0.00
Hawkins	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	12.60

RED SOX PITCHING

The Yankees scored their first two runs of the game in the top of the 6th inning; Jose Molina led off the inning with a single, Alberto Gonzalez followed with another single, Johnny Damon then laid down a very nice sac bunt setting up 2nd and 3rd with one out. Melky Cabrera hit a sac fly tie the game, and then Gonzalez scored on a wild pitch.

The third Yankee run came on a Robinson Cano RBI double that scored Jorge Posada who had previously singled and then moved to second on a wild pitch.

The Yankees had their chance to tie the game in the top of the 8th when they were able to get two on with two out and had Alex Rodriguez at the plate, but then the rains came. Finally after a 2 hour 11 minute rain delay the game started again and A-Rod struck out on three pitches. The Yankees then went quietly in the 9th.

NY Yankees AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG Damon, LF 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 .195 Cabrera, CF 2 0 0 1 1 1 0 .267 Abreu, RF 4 0 1 0 0 2 0 .310 Rodriguez, 3B 3 0 0 0 1 1 2 .289 Giambi, 1B 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 .080 Posada, DH 4 1 1 0 0 2 0 .250 Cano, 2B 4 0 2 1 0 1 0 .188 Molina, C 3 1 1 0 0 1 2 .345 Gonzalez, SS 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 .364 Totals 30 3 6 2 2 9 7 BATTING 2B: Cano (2, Beckett). TB: Abreu; Posada; Cano 3; Molina; Gonzalez. RBI: Cabrera (5), Cano (2). 2-out RBI: Cano. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Damon; Molina; Rodriguez. S: Damon. SF: Cabrera. GIDP: Giambi. Team LOB: 4.

BOSTON HITTING

This game is on Joe Girardi, if he managed this game like a normal manager the Yankees probably win. Hopefully he learns that you never allow Manny Ramirez to beat you when you don't have to. Stupid, stupid managerial decision by Girardi today, Joe Torre would have walked him.

The rubber game of the series is tomorrow night at Fenway Park. Phil Hughes goes for the Yankees, and Daisuke Matsuzaka starts for the Sox. First pitch is set for 8:05 PM, and the game can be seen on ESPN, and heard on WCBS 880 and XM radio.