Is there trouble in Yankeeland between Jorge Posada and Joe Girardi?

Jorge Posada's had a busy week. Besides hitting the first homer at the New Yankee Stadium, and criticizing Nick Swisher for laughing while pitching in Monday's loss, he now seems to be hitting hard against manager Joe Girardi.

Girardi took Posada out of the game in favor of Jose Molina for defensive purposes after the Yanks took the lead in the bottom of the eighth inning in yesterday's game. The Yankee manager told reporters:

"I'm not knocking Jorge," Girardi said of Posada, who threw out Grady Sizemore on Thursday. "Jorge made a great throw yesterday. I mean that's just as good as it gets. I just felt I'd go with Molina today (Friday)."

Posada left the Stadium after Friday's game without talking to the press. But he complained to the media before today's game. According to Kevin Devaney at lohud.com:

Jorge Posada was not pleased about being removed late in yesterday’s game for Jose Molina. The move was a defensive one by Girardi, which was a blow to Posada's ego. “He’s the manager,” Posada said. “I guess I’ve still got to prove myself.”

Boo bleeding hoo.

I know I'm treading on sacred ground whenever I criticize one of the old-guard Yankees, but Posada is way out of line here. And there's not even an excuse that his snippy comments were made in the heat of the moment, since he said them this afternoon, not last night.

Posada is 37 years old, and coming off shoulder surgery. He's also thrown out only two of eight runners this year (Molina has thrown out one of three.) And Jorge has only had one hit - the Stadium homer - in the last four games.

I don't think it's a bad idea at all for Girardi to give him a rest here and there. But I do think it's a really bad idea for Posada to make these catty comments to the press.

For all the talk about how the so-called "True Yankees" are all about team first, I expect better from him. It was bad enough last year, when he insisted he should still be catching when he couldn't throw. Now we have him whining about missing one inning in April. Good grief.

And for all of Posada's self-important knocking of Nick Swisher, one of the bright spots of this season, talking the way Jorge did about his manager to the press is much more disrespectful to the game. Especially when Girardi had already told Posada this spring that he was going to replace him with Molina for defensive purposes in late innings.

Besides, I wish Posada would spend more time worrying about what the heck is wrong with Chien-Ming Wang, and less time griping because he missed one inning. Isn't that what being a True Yankee is all about?

What do you think? Leave us a comment.