My biggest objection to Girardi's management style, whether the Yanks win or lose, is the inevitability of him being outmanaged by a smarter manager.  Or let's say his lack of imagination or looking into the future.

One example is having the G&G boys (Gardner and Guzman) both on the roster, and not having a legitimate pinch hitter to come off the bench in an extra inning situation.  (Even Hinske or Shelly Duncan... anybody!)  And I agree that his management style should seriously be questioned by how allowing a mediocre prima donna pitcher (A.J. Burnett) pretty much dictate who catches and thereby guaranteeing a sure once every time through the order with Molina.

But something is really bugging me a LOT.  Why oh why do you not bat A-Rod third and have Teixeira protect him instead of the other way around??  The way things stand now, A-Rod will be walked in any critical situation, particularly in the most dire situations -- the late innings of close games when Matsui (and Posada?) have been replaced by pinch-runners Gardner and Guzman.  Hell, I'll walk A-Rod 100 out of 100 times!  But if he's batting third, and you have the A.L home-run and RBI leader coming up next, automatically walking him and taking the bat out of his hands is something that an opposing manager might need to think twice about doing.

Bat him first, bat him second, I don't care, but it's clear that the way things are now, there is ABSOLUTELY NO PENALTY for walking A-Rod.  The way things stand now, you're taking away at-bats from A-Rod in the most critical situations.

The fact that Girardi hasn't even considered this, evidently, is grounds enough for firing him, in my opinion.