Lost in Cliff Lee's continuing wizardry was the Yankee bullpen's ninth-inning meltdown, which turned a 2-0 nailbiter into an 8-0 blowout. And as It's About the Money notes, it didn't have to end that way:

Rather than bring Mariano Rivera in to face the Rangers' 3-4-5 hitters, Joe Girardi opted to start the [ninth] inning with Boone Logan. Logan allowed a double to Josh Hamilton, and then Girardi turned to ... David Robertson. After all was said and done, even Sergio Mitre had pitched in the inning, the Yankees allowed 6 runs, and what should have been an opportunity to win the game in the bottom of the 9th turned to an after-thought as the Bombers dropped a game that will look like a laugher in the box score tomorrow.

--snip--

Joe Girardi doesn’t deserve to be blamed for this loss. No one deserves to be blamed with the way Lee was dealing. But Girardi made a major blunder on a decision that’s solely in his control, and for that he does deserve to be blamed for not doing what he could to give his team the best chance to win.

I wish I'd thought of this, while it was happening. But I've seen so many hundreds of Yankees games over the years in which Mariano Rivera did not enter while the Yankees were losing, that the prospect just didn't occur to me. Because the Yankees manager just doesn't use Rivera that way. Nor did the previous Yankees manager.

No question about it, though: If you're playing a computer game, you bring in Rivera to keep the game close. Absolutely. A game this important, a lineup this potent ... You bring in Rivera, if only to force Cliff Lee to throw another dozen or more pitches. Or put some mileage on Neftali Feliz's arm.

In the real world, though? For better or worse, managers don't like to ask relief pitchers (or anyone else) to do things they've never done before, or haven't (at the least) been asked about doing. Pitch two innings in October? Sure. Rivera's done that 27 times since taking over as the Yankees' closer in 1997.

Pitching while the Yankees are behind, though? Actually, I was surprised to discover that Rivera entered two games last October in which the Yankees were losing: Game 2 of the Division Series, and Game 5 of the ALCS. In both cases, the Yankees were behind by one run and two runners were on base. Which is to say, in both cases the situation was more dire -- in more need of Rivera's singular talents -- than it was Monday night against the Rangers.

Still, the situations weren't that different ... except for this. After Game 2 of the Division Series last year, the Yankees had a scheduled day off. After Game 5 of the ALCS last year, the Yankees had two scheduled days off (an idea so brilliant that even MLB realized it was idiotic). Point being, Joe Girardi didn't have to worry about tomorrow because there wasn't any tomorrow.

This time, there was a tomorrow. Two tomorrows. You want to guess how many times in 2010 Rivera has pitched on three straight days?

Zero. He hasn't done it, not even once. And while the Yankees scored so many runs that save opportunities were scarce in 2010, it's a fact that Rivera didn't pitch on three straight days even once. And Girardi might be loath to ask him to start now. Especially with two big games coming up, in both of which Girardi might want the greatest postseason relief pitcher in history to toss a couple of innings.

I'm usually a big proponent of being aggressive with your best relievers in big games. But with two terribly important games right around the corner, this might have been the time to keep it in the holster and live to fight another day. Or two.