Sometimes managers out think themselves. Both managers in the Yankees/Red Sox game did so tonight in a game the Yankees were fortunate to win and the Red Sox were unfortunate to lose. Let's break down the two decisions.

First you have the top half of the ninth inning. Mike Mussina has pitched a heck of a game and is up 5-1. He's only thrown 102 pitches at this point. Okay. If you want to use your closer, Mariano Rivera, the time to bring him in is at the start of the inning. Who cares if it's a save situation! You want to win the game. These closers are a rare breed and I've watched hundreds of games pitched by closers. These guys are much more effective if they start the inning and nobody is on base. When you bring them in with base runners, you're asking for trouble.

Mussina, to his detriment, starts off the inning with a walk. Mussina never walks anyone. It was just one of those fluky things that should have had nothing to do with him being tired. The next batter gets a single and you now have first and second. The unspoken rule in baseball is that you only leave your starter in the game late until there is no way for him to lose. Mussina had two more base runners before he was in that situation. If you were going to start Mussina in the inning, you could have gone two more batters before you yanked him and then go with matchups (lefty-lefty).

Instead, Mussina gets yanked and Rivera comes into a situation that is uncomfortable for him and the inning blows up. The Yankees are very fortunate for the athletic ability of both Jeter (to snag a line drive and get an out) and Soriano who had the presence of mind to stop a ricochet with his bare hand and then throw the runner out at home to keep it a tie game. Now a 5-1 win is a 5-5 tie all because Torre out-thought himself.

Now it's Grady Little's turn. The Red Sox closer, Lyon, is still in the game and easily gets Jeter to start the inning on a ground out. The next batter is Matsui who lines one over Manny Ramirez' head. Manny, who is usually a good fielder, must have gotten turned around picking up the ball because he threw the ball in where nobody could catch it and Matsui ended up on third. The Yankees now have the winning run on third with one out and Soriano up next.

This is where Little out-thought himself. First, he walks Soriano. Good call. The man has been the Yankees best hitter and is very dangerous. Giambi has called himself the "designated out" most of this season and he's pretty much correct. He is slow and has pounded an awful lot of balls to second base. The play here is to keep the corners in and keep the middle going for the double play.

But Little walks Giambi too to load the bases! Gosh! That's asking an awful lot of your young closer. Why do that? I can see it on the one hand because Soriano can steal second and there goes your double play. But you can at least try it. What have you got to lose? Even if Soriano steals second, face Giambi, who hasn't hit anything, and see if you can get a popup or something. Then you have two outs and can play it straight for the third out.

Instead, you have bases loaded with a very patient batter at the plate who has been in pressure situations his whole career. The count goes 2-2 with a couple of fouls. There is a close fastball inside that is called ball three. The Red Sox thought that pitch cost them the game and the post game NESN announcers were outright indignant that the ump robbed the Sox. The pitch looked inside to me. But none of it matters. Grady Little should never have loaded the bases to force this issue and it never would have happened. In a comeback, exciting game, you should never put yourself in the position to lose the game with a walk.

Of course, the Red Sox Nation will curse their bad luck and bad umpiring and bad karma and the special treatment that the Yankees receive by the umpires but the truth here is that the Yankees almost blundered into a loss because of Torre's decisions and then lost because of Grady Little's decisions. The game sure is easy from the comfort of a rocking chair isn't it?