Burn the Binder. Now!

The Yankees started a 3-game home series with the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night, and were just 3 games ahead of the O's when it began.

This was a chance for the O's to make a statement, and they sure did on Friday night.

Hiroki Kuroda had pitched wonderfully for the Yankees lately, and he pitched pretty well on Friday, too -- except for a 4-batter stretch in the top of the 2nd. Adam Jones led off with a single, Matt Wieters singled him to 3rd, Chris Davis got Jones home on a sacrifice fly, and Mark Reynolds homered to make it 3-0 Baltimore. Kuroda allowed J.J. Hardy to homer in the 6th, and despite otherwise pitching well, was the losing pitcher (12-10).

Manager Joe Girardi let Kuroda pitch into the 9th, and he got Wieters for the 1st out. Then Girardi removed him. What happened, Joe, did your binder tell you that Kuroda had reached his pitch limit? It was only 4-0, not good but overcomeable.

Girardi brought in Clay Rapada. Rapada got Davis to ground out. Okay, so leave him in to get the last guy in the 9th, right?

Wrong. Girardi consulted the binder again. He brought in Derek Lowe, who is finished. The 1st batter Lowe faced was Reynolds, who hit another homer. Then he allowed a single to Robert Andino, and a single to Manny Machado, and an RBI single to Nick Markakis. It took Lowe 5 batters, and 2 runs, to get 1 out.

What does the binder tell you about Lowe now, Joe?

Curtis Granderson hit his 34th homer of the season in the bottom of the 9th, to mess up the shutout, but Miguel Gonzalez (6-3) and the Oriole bullpen otherwise limited the Yankees to no runs on 3 hits and a walk. Orioles 6, Yankees 1. Yankee lead down to 2 games.

*

So the Yankees had a 10-game lead, and the Orioles had closed it to within 2 games.

Just like 1996.

More precisely, according to Baseball-Reference.com (a website which is your friend, whether you know it or not), in 1996, the Yankees were 12 games ahead of the Orioles on July 28, were down to 2 1/2 ahead on September 10, and ended up winning the Division by 4, before beating the Texas Rangers in the Division Series, the O's in the ALCS, and the Atlanta Braves in the World Series.

This year, we were 10 up on July 18 -- remember, the Boston Red Sox were 9 1/2 ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers and 14 ahead of the Yankees on that date in 1978 -- and at the close of business on Friday, August 31, were up by 2.

So Saturday, September 1, the Yankees needed a win, badly. And in the bottom of the 4th, it wasn't looking good, with the Orioles 3-0 up, as David Phelps -- effectively, Andy Pettitte's replacement in the rotation -- didn't have it.

Then Robinson Cano pulled a run back with his 28th home run of the season. But the key inning -- maybe of the entire season thus far -- was the bottom of the 7th. Until then, Wei-Yin Chen had done a fabulous job on the mound for the Bay City Birds. He got Andruw Jones to pop up for the 1st out.

But then Steve Pearce came up. A "Quadruple-A" player who wasn't good enough to stick with the Pittsburgh Pirates – before they got good again this season – the Yankees got him from the Houston Astros for cash, and he came into yesterday's game as Granderson got hurt, and Girardi moved players around, taking Nick Swisher off 1st base and putting Pearce there. He singled to left.

After a Russell Martin fly out, Jayson Nix drew a walk, and Eduardo Nunez -- remember him? He can hit a little -- singled home Pearce. Buck Showalter, the last Yankee manager who never won a Pennant, replaced Chen (12-8) with Pedro Strop. But it was Ichiro Suzuki who got stroppy, drawing a walk to load the bases. Then Derek Jeter worked another walk, forcing home a run. Then Hardy made an error to allow Swisher on base and force home Nunez.

Boone Logan (6-2), David Robertson and Rafael Soriano (35th save) shut the O's down the rest of the way. Yankees 4, Orioles 3. It wasn't pretty, and there was plenty of help from oppositional incompetence, but the Yanks got their biggest win of the season to this point. And were back up by 3.

*

But yesterday's game is one that may end up living in infamy. The following key personnel were now unavailable: 3rd baseman knd main slugging threat Alex Rodriguez, slugging 1st baseman Mark Teixeira, slugging center fielder Curtis Granderson, speedy right fielder Brett Gardner, starting pitcher Andy Pettitte, starting pitcher Ivan Nova, starting pitcher Michael Pineda, and relief ace Mariano Rivera.

The Yankees got off to a good start, with Chris Dickerson, filling in for Grandy, hitting a 2-run homer in the 2nd. But in the 5th, Reynolds homered again, this time off starter Phil Hughes, who had been much improved lately. A Swisher single in the bottom of the inning made it 3-1 Yankees, and things were looking up.

But if the Yankees fail to win the AL East, or fail to make the Playoffs entirely, the top of the 6th is the one that we'll look back on as to where it all went wrong. This won't be entirely accurate, since we'd already gotten from 10 games up down to 2 up 2 days earlier. But it will have been the surest symbol of a collapse nearly as bad as the Red Sox of last season.

Nate McLouth opened the inning with a walk. Jones singled McLouth over to 2nd. Wieters singled McLouth home. Yankees 3, Orioles 2.

The next batter was Reynolds, who'd already hit 3 homers in the series, including one off Hughes the previous inning.

Hughes threw Reynolds a curveball that didn't curve enough. Steve Politi's column in today's Star-Ledger tells the story:

Reynolds hit that pitch into the left-field seats, too, turning a one-run lead into a two-run deficit, and no matter who Girardi trotted out there next — and he tried everyone — it didn't matter.

Baltimore won 8-3. What could have been a 4½-game lead over the Rays heading into a 10-game trip that starts in Tampa today is just a two-game lead over the Orioles. And Girardi had no one to blame but himself.

Imagine that: Girardi, the binder-toting micromanager who has never met a pitching change that he didn't like, getting burned for not making one.

"That was my decision, okay, to leave him in there," Girardi said, his voice rising, when asked a third time for an explanation. He had to be pressed because his answer made no sense.

He said he stuck with the flat-lining Hughes because there were no outs, and had he gone to righty Cody Eppley, he’d have to use left-handed Boone Logan to face DH Chris Davis before bringing in another righty to face third baseman Manny Machado to finish the inning.

"If it's one out, it’s a different story," Girardi said, "but it's nobody out."

For fuck's sake, as they say in English soccer.

No. You do not bring in a pitcher to face only one batter. Ever. That is blatant stupidity.

I don't give a damn what your binder or "the book" -- as in "he manages by the book" -- says. Use your eyes! If a pitcher is pitching well, you leave him in. If he's not, you get another pitcher ready to come in.

If you know you're going to need a lefty pitcher in the coming inning, bring that pitcher in to start the inning. Don't waste 2 pitchers when 1 will do just fine.

Forget all this left-to-lefty, righty-to-righty stuff. If a lefty pitcher can't get righty hitters out more often than not, he doesn't belong in the major leagues. Same with a righty pitcher who can't get lefty hitters out more often than not. If you can't trust a pitcher to pitch to a batter who's of "the opposite hand," then you can't trust him to pitch to any batter.  Simple as that, baby.

I am a liberal Democrat. I am against burning books, because it is an insult to freedom of expression. But if "Girardi's binder" actually exists, burn the goddamned thing! Burn it on the pitcher's mound at Yankee Stadium! Let the press see it. Let the cameras roll! Let 'em roll, baby, let 'em roll! The whole world should be watching!

If the Yankees do not win the 2012 American League Pennant, the game of September 2 should be Exhibit A for the prosecution in the firing of Joe Girardi.

Get rid of him, and replace him with a manager who knows how to use his eyes.

Anyway, as Politi said, the final was Orioles 8, Yankees 3. WP: Randy Wolf (4-10), the former Philadelphia Phillies ace lefty. I didn't realize he was still in the major leagues. No save. LP: Hughes (13-12)

*

So, going into the action of today, Labor Day, Monday, September 3, 2012, with 29 games to go, the Yankees are 2 games ahead of the Orioles, 3 1/2 (4 in the loss column) ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays, who've also surged and must be stopped, 15 (16 in the loss column) ahead of the Red Sox, and 16 ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Elimination Numbers: 17 for the Jays, 20 for the Sox, 29 for the Rays and 31 for the O's.

Jeter has said that every other team in the Division would trade places with the Yankees. Which is true: It's better to be in 1st place than not to be. If you don't mind the oblique reference to William Shakespeare. Which is better than an oblique strain.

The good news is, A-Rod is back in the lineup as the designated hitter, as the Yanks begin a roadtrip with a series in Tampa Bay. And CC Sabathia, the ace, is starting. Grandy should be back tomorrow. Teixeira should be back in time for the weekend series in Baltimore -- where the Maryland native, who snubbed his ome-area team to sign with the Yankees for 2009, will once again be lustily booed. Pettitte and Nova look like they will be back in a couple of weeks.

I just hope Girardi, whom Politi calls "the ultimate micromanager," doesn't find a way to fuck this up.

Find the binder. Burn it. Stop Girardi, before he consults again! And if he says, "The only way you're going to get my binder is to pry it from my cold, dead hands," well...

As Girardi's fellow Chicagoan, Jack Benny, would have said, "I'm thinking it over!"

But at least I'm not letter a binder do my thinking for me!

Yanks Dethrone "King" Felix

Last night, the Yankees began a 3-game series against the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field.

The Mariner starter was Felix Hernandez, a 25-year-old righthander from Venezuela who is known as "King Felix."

What has Hernandez done to earn the nickname "King"?

Has he helped a team win a World Series? No.

Has he helped a team win a Pennant? No.

Has he helped a team to even reach the Playoffs? No.

Has he won 300 games in his career? No, he's just 25, and has won 85 thus far. At this rate, he'll probably win 200, but not 250, and certainly not 300.

Has he struck out 3,000 batters in his career? No, as I said he's just 25, and his career total stands at 1,257 -- which means he could reach 3,000, but has a long way to go.

Has he won 20 games in a season? No, his best is 19, in 2009.

Has he pitched a no-hitter? No.

He has been named to 2 All-Star Teams. In 2009 he led the American League in wins, winning percentage, and fewest hits per 9 innings -- but also in wild pitches. He went 19-5, and finished 2nd in the voting for the Cy Young Award to Zach Greinke, even though the award, which is supposed to be given to "the pitcher judged to be most valuable to his team," should have gone to CC Sabathia of the Yankees, who was the best pitcher on the League Champions, and thus, by definition, the most valuable pitcher in the League that season.

In 2010, Hernandez finished a mere 13-12, but led the AL in earned run average, starts, innings pitched, batters faced and hits per 9 innings, and won the Cy Young Award, even though his efforts didn't help his team get anywhere near the postseason. Finishing 2nd in the voting was David Price of the Tampa Bay Rays, who did win the AL Eastern Division, thus Price was far more deserving.

According to Baseball-Reference.com, his "10 Most Similar Pitchers" through his current age are: Dennis Eckersley, Dave Boswell, Gary Nolan, Don Drysdale, Bret Saberhagen, Joe Coleman Jr., Ken Holtzman, Fernando Valenzuela, Larry Dierker and Milt Pappas. Of these, only 2 went on to make it to the Baseball Hall of Fame: Eckersley, who only did so after being converted to a reliever; and Drysdale, who is a borderline case.

In his 6 full seasons with the Mariners, they have finished 26, 17, 6, 34, 10 and 34 games out of a Playoff berth. If the current MLB standings hold to the end of the season, the M's will finish 24 games out of the AL Wild Card.

So while Felix Hernandez has been rather successful on an individual basis, this has not translated into team success.

"King," my ass.

There has been a lot of talk that the Mariners will have to cut costs and will thus trade Hernandez. Possibly to the Yankees, one of the few teams that could afford someone with his kind of hype.

*

So last night's game was between starting pitchers "King" Felix Hernandez and Phil Hughes -- who is younger than Hernandez (albeit by just 2 months), and has already been a contributor to 4 postseason teams (counting this season), has already helped win a Pennant and a World Series, had a 2010 season at least as good as Hernandez', and was once considered worthy of being included in a package to trade for Johan Santana, who was, at the time, considered an even better pitcher than "King" Felix. (Then he got traded to the Mets... but that's a story for another time.)

The game was 1-1 in the top of the 4th, when the Yankees decided to have a little revolution. Off with King Felix's head!

Broadcaster John Sterling began the inning with a pause for station identification. No sooner had the WCBS recording finished than Mark Teixeira crunched one, hitting his 37th home run of the season to right field. Sterling didn't even have time to go into, "It is high! It is far! It is gone!" He did, however, do, "Mark Teixeira sends a Tex Message! Ho-ho, you're on the Mark, Teixeira!"

Then Robinson Cano hit his 41st double of the season. Nick Swisher singled, although Cano could only get to 3rd. No problem: Eric Chavez, filling in for Alex Rodriguez who continues to sit out with a thumb injury, got Cano home with a sacrifice fly. Then Brett Gardner doubled to left with an inside-out swing to bring home Swish.

Then up came Chris Dickerson, playing right field, with Swisher playing 1st base, with Teixeira as the designated hitter. Dickerson is a 29-year-old Southern Californian in only his 49th game for the Yankees, who has never had 300 plate appearances in a season, and had a grand total for 8 home runs in his career.

Make it 9: He hit one out to right, scoring Gardner ahead of him. Sterling didn't even have a line to use for him, like "Tex Message" or "Jorgie juiced one!" or "Robbie Cano, don't ya know!" or "An A-Bomb for A-Rod!" or "Swish-a-licious!"

So the Yankees smacked "King" Felix for 5 runs in an inning, including a homer from a highly unlikely source. And yet, at exactly the point where you would have expected him to do so, Sterling did not turn to his broadcast partner Suzyn Waldman and say, "You know, Suzyn, you just can't predict baseball!"

"You Just Can't Predict Baseball" would be a great title for a baseball-themed blog. Especially a Yankee-themed blog. Certainly, it would be a better title (though not necessarily a better blog) than "Scott Proctor's Arm."

Unfortunately, after the Yankees scored 3 more runs in the 7th (thanks in part to Cano's 42nd double) to take a 9-1 lead, Joe Girardi decided that Scott Proctor's arm should be used in this game. Hey, even Proctor can't blow an 8-run lead with 3 innings to go in a pitcher's park like Safeco, right?

He did his best. In the bottom of the 7th, he allowed a double and a wild pitch, but got out of it. In the 8th, he allowed a leadoff single, got a double play, then walked Justin Smoak and allowed a homer to Miguel Olivo. (If Smoak is ever acquired by the Yankees, Sterling can say, "Oh-ho, Justin smoked one!")

That made it 9-3, and Proctor did no further damage, but Girardi isn't stupid: He sent Luis Ayala to close it out, and he got 3 weak grounders.

Yankees 9, Mariners 3. WP: Hughes (5-5), who pitched 6 strong innings. LP: Hernandez (14-12), who also pitched 6 innings, and really only had the 1 bad one, but it was bad enough to put the game out of the reach of even a team facing Scott Proctor.

The Boston Red Sox were idle last night, but the Tampa Bay Rays won again. This means the Yankees are now 4 games, including 4 in the loss column, ahead of the Red Sox with 16 to play. The Magic Number to clinch the AL East is 13. It also means the Rays have closed the Wild Card race gap to 3. The Sox' Magic Number to clinch at least the Wild Card is 14.

In the AL Central, the Magic Number for the Detroit Tigers to eliminate the Cleveland Indians and clinch is 5; to eliminate the Chicago White Sox, 6. In the AL West, the Texas Rangers are down to 13 to clinch over the Whatever They're Calling Themselves This Season Angels of Anaheim.

In the National League, the Philadelphia Phillies' Magic Number to clinch the East over the Atlanta Braves is 5. The Milwaukee Brewers are down to 9 to eliminate the St. Louis Cardinals and clinch the Central. The Arizona Diamondbacks are down to 7 to eliminate the San Francisco Giants and win the West. The Braves' Magic Number to eliminate the Cardinals and clinch the Wild Card is 11. To eliminate the Giants, it's 9.

*

Tonight, A.J. Burnett goes for the Yankees. The Mariners' starter will be Charlie Furbush, a 25-year-old lefthander from Maine, whom the Yankees have never seen before. A lefty? That the Yankees have never seen before? From Red Sox Nation? Against A.J.? Uh-oh... At least it's not a Fox or ESPN game!

Ah, who knows, maybe "Good A.J." will show up tonight.

Jeter hits 3074 DONE
Rivera saves 599 3
A-Rod homers 628 135
A-Rod hits 2769 231
Magic Number 13 (to eliminate Scum for Division, 10 for Rays for Playoffs, 1 for Jays, O's done)