George Will made me do it

If, as Michael Kay has asked repeatedly, Brett Gardner is the everyday leftfielder, why sit him last night?

Speed doesn't slump. And, while Curtis Granderson is the everyday centerfielder and struggles against lefties, he started against Jon Lester, and lashed a single to right in one of his at-bats.

Righty Marcus Thames, who fits nicely into the work-the-count Yankees, is inferior defensively and prone to strikeouts. And, Gardner got into the game late anyway and picked up a ducksnort single off Hideki Okajima, a tough lefty.

Dave Robertson started the 8th inning because Kevin Youkilis was 1 for 6 against. 1 for 6. We're not talking about some chump on the Royals, we're talking about the guy who is arguably the Sox best hitter and a chronic pain for the Yankees. You have Joba Chamberlain in the bullpen, superior in all ways to Robertson, who came in later that inning anyway and picked up two strikeouts, yet you allow Youkilis to start what could have been a rally for Boston. And you nearly turn over the lineup to force Mariano Rivera to face Victor Martinez and Youkilis in the ninth.

I'll type this many times this season: The Yankees win despite Joe Girardi's decisions.

How do you allow Okajima to face Derek Jeter when you have a righty warming? Even if that righty spent the last two years in Japan and later allowed Robbie Cano to lean into a hanger for a useful insurance run?

Does anyone in baseball throw an easier 95 than Jon Lester? The Sox would have been better off giving him the Beckett money.