On Monday, Girardi made the following comments in reference to Joba Chamberlain: Do we start him or do we leave him in the bullpen? We have four days to kick it around, and we don’t really need that fifth starter until (July 21).”

If you’ve been listening to what I have to say on the subject, you probably know that I’ve been what some might call a proponent of the move. (Proponent being what those of us in polite society call a person who won’t shut up about something.)  I’ve been pretty clear about the fact that I think of Joba as a closer. Yet, call me crazy and contradictory, but at this particular moment in time, the fact that this is even a discussion makes me wonder if perhaps Joe Girardi isn’t maybe, just possibly, not totally paying attention to what’s going on.

Let’s review the current state of our starting pitching.  Chien-Ming Wang is on the DL indefinitely – we’re probably looking at a return sometime in August. Phil Hughes is in the bullpen, and it seems like that’s where he’ll stay for the remainder of the season. The Great Alfredo Aceves Experiment yielded results that were unfortunate enough to deem it unlikely to be repeated.

So, where does this leave us?

More likely than not, it leaves us with Sergio Mitre as our fifth starter, assuming he’s able to rise to the occasion. Mitre is currently 3-1 with a 2.40 in 7 Triple-A starts.  At the moment, we’re hoping that record translates into an ability to get the job done in the majors. Historically speaking, making it click in the Bigs has been something of an issue for Mitre. (Exhibit A: 10-23, 5.36)  Best case scenario: Mitre works out until Wang is healthy again.  In the aforementioned scenario, Wang is not only healthy but performing to ability.

In light of the above, who, dare I ask, was Girardi planning on using to fill Joba’s spot in the rotation if we were, in fact, to move him to the pen?

Well, of course the obvious answer to that is Roy Halladay.  I didn’t say correct. I said obvious.  With the All-Star Game over and the trade deadline approaching by the day, the Halladay as a Yankee story continues to gain a disproportionate amount of momentum.  Disproportionate, that is, to the likelihood that it will pan out. Of course, the recent story that Jay’s director of player development Dick Scott showed up at a Florida State League game between the Yanks and Cubs Single-A affiliates only helps fuel that gossip.  The speculation is that the people in the Jays camp have their eyes on Yankees prospect Jesus Montero.

Maybe it’s just wishful thinking on my end, but I still don’t see it happening. It’s a move that seems short-sighted in a way that’s extreme — even for us. Particularly since we seem to be moving away from that kind of boneheaded blunder.

Assuming we do go on the prowl for another starter, this shouldn’t be the play. The potential cost is far too high. Until we do, with Chien-Ming Wang on the DL, I think Girardi’s got to focus less on where Joba belongs and more on how to get the most out of him as a starter in our rotation. At the moment, it’s clear we need him there.

But, then, if Girardi is in fact stuck in the aforementioned Lakehouse, we have no idea where he is on the spacetime continuum.  Maybe May? Maybe a month from now?

Given this, we should allow for the possibility that raising the debate at this otherwise completely impractical  moment actually makes sense.

He was subsequently dubbed, “Grumpy Griffey” by the New York Post. (They’re very clever over there.)

I prefer to call him “The Kid.”

It all began over twenty years ago when Griffey Sr. was a utility player for the Yanks.  A group of fourteen Bombers’ kids were playing in the corridor, and apparently Billy Martin, not a fan of Pop Griffey, decided to giver the Brothers Griffey a bit of the old Martin guff.

In a Times article from 1991, Griffey was quoted as saying, “Martin told one of his coaches to go up to my dad.  He wanted us out of there. Just me and my brother, nobody else. Not Lou Piniella’s kid. Not Graig Nettles’s kid. Not Don Baylor’s kid.”

Clearly, it was an event that had a strong impact on Griffey, and he famously vowed never to play for the Bombers.

Griffey goes on, “I hold it against them and I will always play harder against the Yankees.  It’ll never change. Every time we play these guys, I try a little extra.”

When you’re twenty-two, it’s easy to say this or that will never change.  Ultimately, only time will tell. Based on his statement from last year, his grudge remains intact.  “I never forget,” he comments.  “That’s just who I am.”

This says something about Griffey, though it’s hard to know exactly what.  His dogged refusal to let go of something that happened so many years ago might seem a bit stubborn, almost petty.   Yet, Griffey Jr. is one of the most universally liked players in baseball. He has integrity, class, and has made it consistently and abundantly clear that he values family above all other things. Moreover, he is one of the few power hitters in this era of performance enhancing drugs whose name will almost certainly never be tainted by an accusation of steroid use.

If it seems strange that more than twenty years after getting kicked out of the Yankees clubhouse by a manager who has long since been dead, Griffey Jr. still uses this event as a source of motivation, bear in mind that the man has over 600 career home runs. Far be it for us to judge.

True to his word, The Kid. tried “a little extra” last night in the Mariners outing against the Yankees.  He hit his 621^st career home run, putting the punctuation mark on a Hall of Fame career spent torturing the team he so resents. It was a two-out, sixth-inning, first-pitch fastball from Pettitte.  Griffey Jr. knocked it over the right field wall with a swing that’s just as graceful as it ever was.

One of my readers, The Thunderphobe, pointed out that long before any current member of the Yankees team, including coaches (leaving aside special advisor Mr. October) had set foot in the House That Ruth Built, The Kid was there, running around those hallowed halls with dear old dad.  That he was, in fact, being ejected from those hallowed halls by a surly Billy Martin before some of the younger Bombers, such as Joba and Hughes, were even born.

For better or for worse, the Yankees have loomed large in Griffey Jr.’s imagination for the greater part of his career, for the greater part of his life, it would appear.  If this does in fact turn out to be The Kid’s last season, it’s fitting, poetic almost, that his swan song should come in the form of a solo home run in The House That George Built.

(Sorry, I couldn’t resist. And this from the girl who has a running beef with writers who choose titles like, “David’s Got The Wright Stuff.”)

The point, however, is that Wang is back in our rotation.  Supposedly, so is his sinkerball. On behalf of those of us who have been pacing the floors and tearing our hair as we’ve watched Wang languish in the bullpen this past week, can I get an “Amen?”

I’d like to say that no one is happier than I am about this development, but it wouldn’t be true.  Jorge Posada, apparently Wang’s number one fan, is elated beyond all measure.  He commented, “Wanger is our number 1.  He’s still, for me, the number 1 pitcher in this league. I think he’s proved it, he’s been there…he’s our guy.” You’ve heard the same from me, but since a lot of people seem disinclined to take my opinion as gospel, hopefully Jorge has cleared up any doubt. If you’re not listening to Jorge, I don’t know who you’re listening to.

Phil Hughes would likely fall into the “not-so-elated” category, seeing as that he’s the one who’s been eliminated from the rotation in onrder to make room for Wang. But Hughes isa good sport, which we like. He claims he saw it coming and that he “took it fine.”

I’m glad to hear that, but at the risk of beating a dead horse, there are others I would have picked before Hughes to clear out of the the rotation. You know who I’m taking about. Starts with a “J,” rhymes with baba. I hate to stoke the flames of a new controversey, but if people remain committed to not going in that direction, there remains another option: Starts with a “P” and rhymes with shmettitte.

So, here it is: I told you so.

Since I tend to “I told you so” with almost as often as I open my mouth, you might be wanting a little clarification.  At the moment, I’m “I told you so-ing” about my undying belief in the untapped potential of Phil Hughes.  And if you watched last night, you know what I’m talking about.

It’s not just that Phil gave us six solid shutout innings against Detroit, during which he allowed only two hits and two walks.  It’s that for the first time since 2007, he looked like the pitcher he once promised to be: dominant, confident, a force to be reckoned with.

Of course, my “I told you so” is only a partial victory.  My rallying cry on behalf of Hughes was part of a larger argument that, rather than sign Pettitte, we should use Hughes as our number five guy.  And, of course, once we had signed Pettitte, I was a huge proponent of the send Joba to the bullpen school of thought.  And, in an ideal world, I still think we should.  (If you’ve been paying any attention to our bullpen, then you’re aware that to say, “I told you so” about this would not only be unnecessary but actually just sort of obnoxious.)  The problem at the moment, of course, is Wang. And, obviously, until we’re sure that Wang is both healthy and able to deliver, that’s not a move we can consider.

Still, let’s project a positive outcome. (Because, hell, if you know me, you know that’s just the kind of girl I am.) Let’s say Wang comes off the DL totally healthy and once again in full possession of his sinker.  Let’s say last night was not fluke but a sign of things to come where Hughes is concerned.  Assuming both of these best case scenarios, I think it’s time to re-open the Joba file.  I know we’ve beaten that debate to the ground and people are sick of it, but given the strong possibility that Bruney may be gone for a while, we have got to figure out a way to get through the 7th and 8th innings.  If we’re really being optimistic, then we can hope that Melancon ends up being part of that equation.  But I remain convinced that Joba holds the key to our late inning success.

In any event, our late inning guys actually managed to hold it together yesterday. Not only did they maintain an eleven-run lead — not enough of a lead to guarantee anything for us these days — but Melancon, Veras and Ramirez each pitched a scoreless inning to get us through the game with an 11-0 victory.

Leaving aside the Hughes resurgence, the highlight of last night’s game was definitely that it was our team and not the other team that got the ten runs in the 7^th – a refreshing change of pace.  Still, Molina, who capped off the hit parade with a grand salami, points out that when it comes down to victory, size doesn’t matter.  He commented, “Whether it was 1-0 or 10-0, we just cared about winning the game.”

True.  But I think I speak for Yankee fans everywhere when I say that 10-0 makes us feel a little better.