The Yankees are 0-3 to start the season after being swept by one of their main division rivals.

The Yankees’ top 2 starters, CC Sabathia and Hiroki Kuroda, had lousy outings. The vaunted Bomber offense was shut down in the series finale. Fielding mistakes were made by Eduardo Nunez and Raul Ibanez that led to Tampa runs in two different games. Joe Maddon’s infield shifts were highly effective. There are plenty of reasons why the Yankees have a big zero in the wins column.

However, there is another major reason the Yankees went winless over Easter weekend, and that reason is Joe Girardi. The Yankees’ manager directly impacted the outcome of all three games with absolutely horrific decision-making. This isn’t Monday Morning Quarterback-type stuff either. These were all blatant errors that were painfully obvious at the time they occurred. Some of them directly led to runs, while others put the Yankees at a disadvantage before the first pitches were even thrown.

Game 1 / Opening Day

With two outs in the first inning of the first game of the 2012 season, Girardi orders CC Sabathia to intentionally walk Sean Rodriguez to load the bases for Carlos Pena. Heading into the AB, Rodriguez had a career line of .229/.307/.367, and had only been intentionally walked 3 times in 1,030 plate appearances. Carlos Pena then hits a grand slam.

Game 2

Girardi is already resting players in the second game of the season, as he puts Jeter at DH and uses Eduardo Nunez at SS. We also see a hint that Girardi plans on platooning Brett Gardner when facing LHP, as Andruw Jones gets the start in LF.

Nunez is a terrible defensive player and Gardner is arguably the best defender in all of baseball, and defense is where Gardner derives a huge chunk of his value. In the second game of the season against a division rival, the most optimal setup would have been Jeter at SS, Jones at DH, and Gardner in LF. Instead, we see Eduardo Nunez botch a routine grounder in the 1st inning that eventually led to 2 runs.

And this was borderline retarded…in the bottom of the 7th, after walking Carlos Pena to kick off the inning, lefty specialist Clay Rapada is kept in the game and allowed to pitch to Evan Longoria. During his career, righties have hit Rapada to the tune of .367/.485/.709 — in other words, right-handed hitters turn in the best hitters of all-time when they face Rapada. Probably not the best idea for him to pitch to Longoria, right? Longoria launches a double (which was initially ruled a HR), which contributes to a 2-run inning for the Rays.

Game 3

In the third game of the season, Girardi feels Nick “Best Shape of His Life” Swisher needs a rest. So, Girardi puts a human statue in RF who goes by the name Raul Ibanez. Ibanez is so bad defensively that he shouldn’t be allowed to own a glove, yet Girardi starts him in the outfield in the third game of the season.

Naturally, in the first inning of the game, Matt Joyce hits a ball to RF, Ibanez does some weird diving thing, and the ball rolls to the wall for a triple, knocking in Longoria from second. Yanks down 1-0.

The fun doesn’t end here. As we know, Joe Girardi has a thing for his pal “Booney.” He thinks that Booney is effective against both RH and LH batters, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. In the bottom of the 6th, with the Yankees down 2-0, Girardi allows his buddy Booney to pitch to right-handed Jeff Keppinger after the aforementioned Booney recorded two outs. Keppinger hits a HR.

Terrible, terrible managing.


Don’t you know Girardi’s loco?