Shrewd Girardi saving his bullpen for next spring

Let's credit Skipper Joe for thinking 100 innings into the future: April 2012. Yesterday, by letting Freddy Garcia pitch to Victor Martinez -- a vote of confidence for the young hurler? -- the evil genius skillfully saved super-lugnuts Dave Robertson and Raphael Soriano, perhaps so they won't be used at all. It was a managerial performance worthy of Joe Torre, back in the days when the Yankees could lose a playoff series without phoning Mariano in the bullpen just to see if he was there.

But wait, there's more! In the ninth, the Mentalist called upon Benny Ayala, the hero of Game 162 against Tampa, who is as much responsible for the great 2011 Redsock collapse as Jonathan Papelbon. Benny was coming off a great stretch: After blowing a 7-0 lead against the Rays, he couldn't close game one with a 9-1 lead, forcing Mariano to save his butt.

So... three runs down in the ninth, what to do? Of course! natch! Put in Benny! Makes sense, eh? It's only one game in a five-game playoff. And, kaboom, Benny gave up a run.

But it was not just any run. It was the run that kept Detroit's closer, Goggles Valvoline, from blowing every gasket that holds his boatsized gut into place. The guy was coming apart. Did you see his eyes bugging? We had that Bozo on the ropes. We scored twice on him. But that ninth inning insurance run... Benny's run, Joe's run... damn, it killed us, KILLED US!

So now we're into game three, and two of our best bullpen pitchers haven't even set foot on a blade of grass. Considering how we looked yesterday, we'll probably be no-hit by Justin Verlander, so if we're down by two or three, who knows? Maybe Joe will break out the Bennyzadrine again! No sense wasting the big shooters in a loss. Let's keep Dave Robertson fresh for 2012. Pitchers and catchers report Feb. 15.