Mariano Rested For All Star Game.

Before today's game, John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman opined that Joe Torre could manage the game like it was Game Seven of a playoff series.

Their point being that the Yankees have an upcoming four-day break, so Torre didn't have to worry about saving the pitching staff for tomorrow. Or the day after tomorrow. Or the day after that. Or even the day after that.

With this in mind, maybe Suzy Baseball could ask Joe Torre some questions:

1. Why didn't Jorge Posada start?
2. Why didn't Mariano Rivera pitch?
3. Why did Scott Proctor pitch?
4. Why didn't Mariano Rivera pitch?
5. Why did Kyle Farnsworth pitch?
6. Why didn't Mariano Rivera pitch?
7. What are you saving Mariano Rivera for?
   

Do you ever get the feeling that Joe Torre just expects the Yankees to make the playoffs this year, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary?

Do you ever get the feeling that Torre has played in so many "big games" with the Yankees that he can't shift the paradigm and recognize that a July Sunday afternoon game vs. Tampa Bay is, in fact, a big game?

Why isn't Joe Torre managing this game like it was a playoff game?

Then I remembered Jeff Weaver and Javier Vazquez.

Joe Torre did manage this game like a playoff game. That's the problem.