3 of 4

This weekend sucked. It sucked because we lost 3 of 4 games against the Red Sox. I'm going to do my thing and blame Joe Torre, yet I must acknowledge the terrible spot he was put in. Blame the two rainouts. Torre handled them about as poorly as you could, but this weekend makes him look worse.

At 1:05 Saterday, the Yankees kicked off a marathon 4 games in 36 hours. It was hell. We all know beforehand that barring a complete game from Randy and Wang, Sunday was going to be one hell of a pieced together day. With an 11.5 game lead, Torre had a great opportunity:

Don't give a shit.

Although we were facing the rival Red Sox, these games were 100% meaningless. Joe Torre had the opportunity to pitch his big guns only once or twice during these four games and let Sean Henn, Octavio Dotel, Jose Veras and T.J. Beam take the brunt of the damage. What did he do?

The Yankee bullpen pitched 13.1 innings during this series. Brian Bruney pitched two. Scott Proctor pitched three. Ron Villone pitched 2.1. Farnsworth pitched two. Myers pitched two.

Beam appeared once but did not get an out (he clearly needs more time in the minors). Dotel pitched just one inning. Veras pitched just one. Sean Henn didn't even get in to a game!

The result? Our bullpen is taxed beyond belief. We're going to rely on Rasner to go some innings today, because there is no one to take the ball for him.

There is one advantage however of playing so many games in so little time. Torre can now set the postseason rotation however he wishes. However, it also screws up the Yankee pitching rotation. We won't have any starter ready to go on Wednesday.

Possibilies include Villone, Henn, Lidle (who is currently injured), and one more. I know it's a major long shot, but Phil Hughes is currently on the 40 man roster. It won't happen because he stopped throwing two weeks ago... but you never know.

I'm betting on Lidle.