WHERE HAVE YOU GONE BILLY MARTIN,

the empire turns its lonely eyes to you, ooh, ooh, ooh.

The secret to playing small ball, otherwise known as Billy Ball, is to be relentless, to press every opportunity. In the midst of trying to separate himself from the passivity of the old Joe, the new Joe showed he just isn't there yet. In the top of the ninth in a tie gae today against Cleveland, Girardi took adavantage of having Damon on first with one out tohit and run Melky. The result, first and third with one out, and Jeter at the plate. Now you have a couple of options, with Cleveland playing half-way in the infield. One is to send Melky, either on a straight steal or a hit and run. Remeber, the man behind the plate, Victor Martinez, has a notoriously bad arm. This would be one way of protecting against the one outcome that can kill you, the double play. Jeter fouls off the first pitch and noone moves on the bases. Now a second and even better option present itself--the suicide squeeze. And I'm screaming at the TV to do just that. With Jeter's skill at the bunt, only a pitch out would prevent him from getting his bat on the ball, and with Eric Wedge already ejected, it seems unlikely that anyone in the Cleveland dugout is thinking on those lines. What's more, even if the surprise element doesn't actually score Jeter a hit, one run scores, Melky's on second and AROD is at the plate. That is, you've made sure they have to beat Mo in the ninth, and you still have a chance for a bigger inning. Instead (sigh!) Giardi plays it safe, lets Jeter hit an easily buntable ball, and he hits it hard, smokes it in fact, right into a DP. Ohlendorf, who is noone's idea of a late inning pitcher, comes in to give the game away in the ninth. And we have another game lost by Yankees management.