Awful

Joe Girardi: Hmmmm, here's the pitcher we're facing tonight. He's left-handed. Hitters have a .302/.345/.466 line off this guy. And lefties hit like .360 with an .800+ OPS off him. What should I do?

(thinks with that great engineer mind of his)

Joe Girardi: Sit two of our best hitters (Damon, Giambi) for two of our worst hitters (Christian, Sexson). And I'll bat one of those worst hitters leadoff.

OK, I can maybe understand sitting Damon because of the turf and the shoulder. You want to keep him fresh. But WHY, GIRARDI?! WHY?! WHY DO YOU ALWAYS SIT JASON GIAMBI AGAINST LEFTIES, ESPECIALLY LEFTIES HE WOULD EAT FOR LUNCH?!

Jason Giambi (2008 vs. lefties)
.247/.402/.517

And for those of you who want to claim it's an aberration...

Jason Giambi (career vs. lefties)
.270/.385/.473

JASON GIAMBI CAN HIT LEFTIES!!! WHY DO YOU ALWAYS SIT HIM AGAINST LEFTIES? ESPECIALLY A LEFTY LIKE PERKINS?!

Jason Giambi vs.
Mark Buehrle: .368/.500/.789
Nate Robertson: .538/.563/.846
Brian Burres: .500/.500/1.000
Casey Fossum: .419/.514/.581

See a pattern here? Lefthanders, particularly those who rely on guile and control, do not bother Giambi. If anything, he LOVES facing them. Jason Giambi crushes finesse pitchers regardless of whether or not they throw with their right or left arms. Why is it so hard for Joe Girardi to grasp this?

Derek Jeter is worthless at the plate, and if it weren't for his defensive resurgence he'd be completely useless. He tried to prove me wrong with those last couple games in Texas, but he's not breaking out of the funk he's been in practically the whole year. It's just not going to happen. His approach sucks and his pop is gone. Unfortunately, it's not uncommon for players like Jeter to lose it around this age. I'm hoping that it's just a bad season and that he bounces back next year.

Sexson's numbers off lefties this year are likely just fluky. He sucks. If you want to get him in there against lefties, fine. Just stop putting him in at the expense of Giambi's .910 OPS.

Robinson Cano needs to have more nights like he did last night. 13 pitches in his 3 plate appearances. Bad luck aside, this year he's made too much contact with pitches out of the strike zone. Even though he's swinging outside the strike zone less frequently than last year (28% vs. 34%) he's making a lot more contact with those pitches (80% vs. 69%). A guy who hits like he does with a lot of moving parts and is very much reliant on feel, when off, needs to just take more pitches and make pitchers come to him.

Melky Cabrera is a much better player than this. But he fell in love with his HR stroke after his great stretch to begin the season. Melky, you are not a home run hitter. Shorten up your swing and hit through the ball, not under it. Last year, he had that 90 game stretch in which he hit .325 with an .846 OPS IIRC. When he hits the way he should, he's a groundball-line drive type hitter who every now and then gets under one of those liners and gets enough on it for it to get out of the ballpark. I still think he's capable of hitting .290-.300 with 15 homers, maybe 20 in a good year, and put up a good .360-.370 OBP, but he's not going to do that if he keeps his current approach at the plate.

Ugh, this team is not as bad as they've played. Come on, stop underachieving dammit...