ARLINGTON, Texas — Yankees manager Joe Girardi says he has to get Boone Logan going.
After watching the left-handed reliever pitch last night against the Rangers, Girardi has the right words if not the correct direction.
The manager wants Logan to retire left-handed hitters. Perhaps the Yankees would be better served if Logan vacated the Yankees’ bullpen.
“We need him to pitch well,” Girardi said after the lone lefty in his bullpen handed the Rangers a 7-5 loss in front of 49,574 at Rangers Ballpark. “We need to get him going.”
The loss dropped the Yankees into a first-place tie with the Rays in the AL East. It’s the first time since April 14 the Yankees aren’t alone at the top.
Bartolo Colon put the Yankees in an early 5-0 ditch by giving up five runs in the first two frames. And after scoring four in the third and tying the score, 5-5, in the sixth on Nick Swisher’s homer, the Yankees’ lineup went limp.
But it was Logan who wears the Yankees’ fourth loss in six games because he didn’t do the only job he is in the big leagues to do: get left-handed hitters out.
Summoned to replace Colon in the fifth with two on and one out, Logan retired the left-handed hitting David Murphy and the right-handed hitting Yorvit Torrealba on fly balls to right.
But in the sixth, Logan reverted back to a season-long bad habit of giving up hits to lefties.
For the year they are batting .364 (8-for-22) against Logan.
Mitch Moreland and Chris Davis, both lefties, opened with a double and single, respectively. With runners at the corners and no outs, Girardi went to the mound to talk about Julio Borbon, the No. 9 hitter, executing a squeeze bunt.
“It’s hard to execute and a gutsy call,” said Girardi, who instructed first baseman Mark Teixeira to charge hard.
Nevertheless, Borbon made Logan field the ball and Moreland scored the go-ahead run. David Robertson allowed the runner he inherited from Logan to score for a 7-5 lead.
Logan blamed his troubles on a slider that lacks bite.
“My slider needs to come around better,” Logan said. “It’s looping around a bit. I don’t want no-one to give up on me. It’s a minor detail that is a big deal right now that I need to correct.”
Big deal indeed because Logan doesn’t have the track record of other Yankees who have been given plenty of rope to overcome slow stretches. Lefty relievers are hard to find but harder to look at when they can’t get lefty hitters out.
When the Yankees signed Pedro Feliciano they figured Logan would be the second lefty in the pen and be protected from the high-wire acts.
Yet, Feliciano never made it out of spring training and nobody knows if he will pitch this season due to a barking shoulder.
So it’s left to Logan to get lefties out and he hasn’t. Girardi said he believes David Robertson and Joba Chamberlain can do it and after last night it wouldn’t be surprising to see those right-handers employed against lefty swingers in tight situations.
“Like all our relievers, we need consistency,” Girardi said. “His work has been somewhat spotty. He gave up the homer in Detroit and tonight he gave up the hits.”
Girardi is right: Logan needs to get going. Some place else than in key situations.