Girardi Pushes Panic Button, Decides to Start Hughes to Avoid Sweep Against Red Sox

With the New York Yankees tumbling to the finish line, manager Joe Girardi has decided to finally show some urgency by starting Phil Hughes on Sunday night against the Boston Red Sox. He replaces Dustin Moseley.

Hughes is 17-8 with a 4.31 ERA.

The Yankees are making the move because the Red Sox suddenly have a shot to make the final week of the season very interesting if they can win on Sunday. The Yankees, losers of 13 of their last 19, have a magic number of three to clinch the wild card. If they were to win on Sunday night, the Yankees would basically end the Red Sox chances.

However, if Boston were to win, the magic number would remain at three and the Red Sox would still have life, though they still would almost have to win out, while the Yankees would have to lose nearly all of their remaining games. Boston plays four games in Chicago against the White Sox, while the Yankees are in Toronto for three with the Blue Jays. The Yankees go to Boston for the final three games of the season.

Sunday was Hughes' turn to start, but the Yankees were skipping him because he has an innings limit of around 175 innings. He entered Sunday at 169 1/3.

When Girardi made the move earlier in the week, he didn't think the Yankees would need to win Sunday night as badly as they suddenly do. The Yankees began Sunday 1½ games behind first-place Tampa Bay in the AL East and 5½ games ahead of the Red Sox in the wild-card race.

This move comes on the heels of the media ripping Girardi apart after it has appeared in recent games that he has hit the cruise control button and doesn't care whether his team wins the AL Wild Card or the AL East.

Many in the media believe that Girardi is hogging the spotlight, doing and saying things that, if true, makes him seem delusional at best and incompetent at worst. They have a very famous third baseman who squarely pointed the finger at the team's starting pitching as the problem of late. And they are tumbling toward the finish line, losing 13 of their last 19 and suffering their first four-game home losing streak of the season.

On Saturday, the Boston Red Sox again shellacked the Yankees in a 7-3 beating as rookie Ivan Nova could only pitch 4 2/3 innings, which left Alex Rodriguez to draw a line between the hitters and the pitchers.

"It's hard to play with an edge when you are down five or six runs," said Rodriguez, refreshingly honest, if impolitic.

Even as the Yankees slowly fade -- they are now 36-31 since the All-Star Break -- their manager, Joe Girardi, says that if the Yankees were in a tighter playoff race he would be handling his pitchers the same way.

That means, even if the Yankees weren't at the postseason one-yard line, Girardi claims he would have turned to Chad Gaudin and Sergio Mitre in a first place showdown with the Rays on Sept. 13.

"I would manage the same way," Girardi said before the Yankees' latest no-show.

Girardi said that he values the players' health first and that they are more productive rested. Of course, if the Red Sox were a game back and the Rays were up a game -- which is the exact scenario a reporter put forth to Girardi -- it is unfathomable he would turn to Moseley to avoid a sweep. But those were the manager's words. That is the message he sent out.

Girardi is very careful not to say that he is managing like the Yankees are already in, but his actions belie his nonsensical words. The Yankees' magic number to clinch the wild card is still just three, meaning they would guarantee at least a tie if they win Sunday night.

"We're still in a good spot," Girardi said.

With that in the back of his mind, Girardi continues to use his pitchers as if it were spring training. Girardi is valuing health over home-field, which is not an unreasonable way to go. However, the jogging to finish line approach may play better in theory than in reality. As programmed as many of the Yankees act, they are still people.

But similar to when the tumble began gaining steam with Girardi in the middle of it all on Sept. 13 -- the Gaudin-Mitre game -- this season is becoming all about Girardi, not his players. From every decision he makes from here until November, which includes the "Will he stay or will he go to the Cubs?" drama that awaits the day after the Yankees are either eliminated or win the World Series.

Being the manager of the Yankees is praise-less position, and Girardi is setting himself up to take all the blame if the Yankees fail to play through October and into November when the World Series ends. They increasingly look as if they will cede the division to the Tampa Bay Rays and take their chances as the wild card.

Quite honestly, at this point, I couldn't care less if Girardi were to take the job with the Cubs. I don't like the way he manages this team and I don't like the way he speaks. He tends to over-manage more than he let's his best players play the game, which has cost the Yankees numerous times over the past two seasons. It will certainly be interesting to see who replaces Girardi if he were to leave for the North Side of the Windy City.

The Yankees were tremendous in the first half, sprinting out to a 56-32 record at the All-Star break. They were up two games in the American League East.

Since the break, they entered Saturday with 30 losses. There were 11 teams who entered Saturday with 30 losses or fewer. So, basically, the Yankees have barely been a playoff team in the second half of the season.

Currently, they have lost four in a row -- and to A-Rod's point -- by allowing six or more runs in each of the games. It is the first time they have done that in three years, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

They have lost 13 of their last 19 games and their manager is elbowing out Rex Ryan at the top of the list for listeners who burn up talk radio lines.

"Bottom line, we need to win games," Girardi said.

They do, but he is not managing like it. He said his team is not tight and he is comfortable. It may get a lot more uncomfortable if they don't win soon.