Game 1 Analysis: Pick an order, and stick with it

Question: What is dizzying, moves around constantly and always seems on the verge of collapse?

A) A top
B) Health care reform
C) The pecking order of the Yankees' bullpen
D) All of the above

In this case, D stands for Defeat.

Thanks to Cliff Lee's complete-game gem and Chase Utley's two solo shots off C.C. Sabathia, the Yanks probably weren't winning Game 1 even if Mariano Rivera had pitched for two innings. But two runs in the eighth inning and two in the ninth for Philadelphia turned a long shot at a comeback into a certain loss for the Bombers.

The four late-inning runs by Philadelphia weren't amazing so much as the convoluted way the Yankee bullpen gave up those runs. Check out the box score from Wednesday's 6-1 loss. Joe Girardi used five relievers to get six outs and let Brian Bruney give up two nail-in-the-coffin runs in the ninth inning, yet somehow Joba Chamberlain wasn't used the entire time. Instead, Girardi used first David Robertson (allowed a two-run single in the eighth that made it 4-0) and then Bruney (couldn't even get to two outs in the ninth) while keeping Joba and his electric stuff in the 'pen.

Whaaat???

I just don't get it. Middle relievers and setup men are a mercurial bunch. Give them a defined role and they tend to do OK, but switch them around to the point where they have no earthly idea when their number will be called, and they will struggle. Girardi was a catcher for 15 years; he has to know this. So why did Damaso Marte suddenly become the go-to lefty over Phil Coke in the middle of the ALCS, after Coke had been the guy the entire season? And why was Joba suddenly behind Robertson and Bruney -- Bruney, who wasn't on either the ALDS or ALCS rosters -- when he got two huge outs in the seventh inning of Game 6 against the Angels in his last appearance?

I mean, everyone in the Stadium, the city, the country and beyond knew Bruney wasn't getting out of the ninth inning unscathed. Everyone.

The only explanation I can offer is Joba was hurt or otherwise unavailable, and that Marte's retired the last eight batters he's faced this postseason. The latter explanation I can live with. If the former isn't true, then Girardi is spinning his bullpen like a roulette wheel and doing what most roulette gamblers do -- losing.