One important decision was removed for manager Joe Girardi yesterday — but not the one the Yankees needed.
He will not have a chance to be considered to manage the Cubs, who instead of waiting on Girardi’s season to end opted to elevate Mike Quade from interim to full-time manager. Girardi then did everything possible to make the Yankee season end.
So in all yesterday, Girardi lost the Cubs, ALCS Game 4 and perhaps the season. Maybe any goodwill the Yankees fan base had also seeped away.
Girardi did this by investing trust in his least trustworthy player, A.J. Burnett. After a postseason spent running away from the erratic righty, Girardi stuck with a pitcher with a pretty pronounced loser gene long enough for Burnett to lose. It was Mismanagment 101: Rely on the Unreliable.
The final score — Rangers 10, Yankees 3 — suggests the Yankees were going to fall anyway because they wasted too many offensive opportunities, lost Mark Teixeira to a season-ending right hamstring injury and simply could not match the Rangers’ defense and aggressiveness.
But there was one way Girardi could not let the Yankees lose yesterday, and fall behind three games to one in this ALCS, and that was with Burnett as a main culprit. That became even more obvious when Burnett actually climbed way above the low bar established for him in this game. He lugged the ball through five innings, allowed just two runs and the Yankees led 3-2. Girardi would have signed up for just this before Game 4.
Girardi had Mariano Rivera for as much as two innings, a remnant of the manager’s iffy choice not to use the closer to keep the Yankees within 2-0 in the ninth inning of Game 3. So Girardi would have had to fill just two set-up innings here.
But he got greedy or caught up in the moment. He stuck with Burnett, though Joba Chamberlain was warming. That seemed to mean Burnett would go one batter at a time. But Vladimir Guerrero led off with a single and, still, Girardi did not flinch. Maybe because the next hitter, Nelson Cruz, had homered off Chamberlain in September. Cruz grounded into a force. Yet Girardi stayed with Burnett against Ian Kinsler, who flied out, but Cruz smartly tagged to take second.
That opened first base. A lefty, David Murphy, was due. In general, you do not intentionally walk the go-ahead run on base, but Girardi did to set up a righty-righty matchup against Bengie Molina, who had been hit by a pitch and singled against Burnett.
“If you take A.J. out there and you give up a couple of runs, people say, ‘Why did you take A.J. out?’ “ Girardi said.
No, that would not have been the conversation. New York is now well versed on Burnett. No one could think it was a good idea to have him on the mound at that moment: tying run in scoring position, go-ahead run on first, season on the brink. Burnett has spent a career breaking hearts, throwing the pitch he absolutely could not at the wrong time.
And he did here. He talked about the masterly control he had of his fastball, especially spotting it away to righties. But he is A.J. Burnett, so the one time that the ball did not obey, the one time it leaked over the plate, was the moment that would crush an entire team’s spirit. Molina, a noted first-ball, fastball hitter, did not miss that faulty pitch, driving it inside the left-field foul pole. Three-run homer. Rangers lead.
Girardi had given a baseball arsonist matches and the Yankees season went up in flames.
“You take away that one pitch and he really threw a good game,” Girardi said. “You can’t take away that pitch. I understand that.”
But Girardi was the one man empowered to take away that pitch. His mantra all day should have been to remove Burnett before irreversible damage was done. Girardi has managed Burnett for two years. He knows Burnett’s thought process and execution go askew in such spots.
“He was throwing the ball good and we decided to leave him in,” Girardi said.
So that decision is on Girardi. It was a losing move on a day in which Girardi lost the Cubs, leverage in negotiations with the Yankees and possibly the ALCS.
Audio: Teixeira: I Knew It Wasn’t Good
Audio: Berkman: I Thought It Was Fair
Audio: Gardner: One Game At A Time
Audio: Jeter: We Can’t Feel Bad For Ourselves
Audio: Burnett: I Came Out And Gave All I Had
Audio: Girardi: AJ Was Throwing The Ball Well
joel.sherman@nypost.com