A lost weekend: I am positively peeved at the state of the Yankees these days

Behind the scenes at Squawkers headquarters

Last week, I was talking with a fellow blogger about writing. And I mentioned about how sometimes I struggle to write and spend a long time on one piece. Other times, when I have a topic I feel very strongly about, I want to get to a computer as soon as possible to bang out an impassioned blog entry in a really short time.

Well, after this horrible weekend in Yankeeland, where the Yanks got swept by the Toronto Blue Jays and now only have a 1 1/2 game lead in the division, I am about to type like Kermit the Frog at the keyboard!

First of all, we have Joe Girardi's mismanagement of the Yankees' pitching. (An aside: does anybody ever use the phrase "first of all" to say something good? Like "First of all, I'm taking you to Per Se for dinner -- my treat!")

On Friday, Andrew Miller only threw six pitches in the ninth inning of a 1-1 tie game against the Toronto Blue Jays. He certainly could have pitched a second inning. But Joe instead goes to rookie Branden Pinder, who promptly blows the game, giving up a solo home run to Jose Bautista.

Then on Saturday, in what the Yankees' fan blog Pinstripe Alley called "Joe Girardi gave away the game 2: Electric Boogaloo," Joe leaves in Ivan Nova, who is coming back from Tommy John surgery, and who complained of a "tired arm" just a few weeks ago, even though Nova went over 100 pitches for the first time since before that surgery. It was clear Nova was done Saturday in the sixth, after he gave up two walks and a single. And Adam Warren was fully warmed up. So why the heck didn't Girardi take Nova out with the bases loaded? Instead, he leaves him in, Nova gives up a grand slam in a scoreless game to Justin Smoak, and the game is lost. Good grief.

Second, we have the immortal Stephen Drew getting crucial at-bats this weekend and not being pinch-hit for. It happened on Friday and on Sunday. Sounds like a perfect opportunity for Garrett Jones, but instead Girardi keeps his faith in Drew. When is the Stephen Drew Experience going to end? He must have really incriminating photos of both Girardi and Brian Cashman; it's the only thing that explains why he still has a job on this team! Enough! This team has gone 26 innings now without scoring. Why does Drew still have a spot in this lineup? Is this more of what Joe calls "strategy"?

To top it all of, we had multiple dumb fan moves. First, some knuckleheaded Yankee fan tossed back Yankee-killer Bautista's Sunday home run, and hit Brett Gardner in the head. The "throwing the ball back on the field" tradition should be left with the Cubs, where it started. It's just dumb. What are the fans proving? As Yankee analyst Jack Curry astutely pointed out when it comes to what he calls an "idiotic" thing to do, all that happens when a fan throws the ball back is that the ball boy gives it to another fan. And what I would like to add is this: Joey Bats isn't losing a moment of sleep over the home run ball being thrown back. The only thing this dumb maneuver proves is that the fan who tossed back the ball is a tool.

Also, Mark Teixeira got into it with a fan over a foul ball in the ninth. (Fans also need to know not to interfere when their team is trying to catch the ball!) Tex talked in the postgame about how fans should "insult not assault." Curry made a joke about that sounding like a great name for a punk rock band. I agree!

Anyhow, I am very irate over the state of the Yankees. They need to make up ground in Cleveland this week. Or I am going to be even more cranky than I am now!