Davidoff: It's time for Cervelli to catch more, Posada to DH more

When he goes out there, Francisco Cervelli explained last night, "I play like it's the last game of my life. I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow."

But here's what should happen tomorrow, and the day after that, and so on:

Cervelli should remain in the Yankees' lineup.

The Yankees continued their pleasure stroll through 2010 last night, embarrassing the rival Red Sox at Fenway Park, 14-3. They are a ridiculously successful 21-8, and that's with Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira just starting to look like themselves.

Nevertheless, they have to keep functioning with the same intelligence that got them to this point. And with their players continuing to go down at an alarming rate, they still have to make actual decisions. It's not quite time to put their feet up and gaze toward October.

So with 1) Jorge Posada just about ready to come back from his right calf injury; 2) Cervelli winning admiration for both his offense and defense; and 3) Nick Johnson out for the foreseeable future with a right wrist injury, it makes great baseball sense for the Yankees to use Posada at designated hitter and Cervelli at catcher the majority of the time.

Joe Girardi doesn't quite seem convinced. "The more you roll the dice" with both catchers in the lineup, he said, "the more likely that something could happen."

In other words, if Cervelli were to start at catcher on X night and had to leave the game with an injury, you'd have to switch Posada from DH to catcher and lose your DH that game.

That's the cost. The benefit is a lineup better equipped to win more games. If that scenario actually occurred, then you suffer for one night and make a roster move afterward to remedy the problem.

Cervelli went 3-for-4 with a walk and a career-high five RBIs yesterday. The last catcher to tally five RBIs in one game against the Red Sox was Yogi Berra, who drove in eight runs on July 3, 1957.

The 24-year-old now has a ridiculous .500 on-base percentage and .500 slugging percentage for an admirable 1.000 OPS. Those numbers will drop (call it a hunch), yet we've seen enough from Cervelli to believe that he won't embarrass himself at the plate.

"This guy improves more and more every day," said Teixeira, who hit three homers.

Behind the plate, meanwhile, no one would dispute that Cervelli ranks as an upgrade over Posada.

"He's really good. He has a lot of energy," said CC Sabathia, who fell a strike short of going the five innings needed to pick up the victory. "To have a guy behind the plate like that is huge."

This will be a sensitive topic for Posada, who takes such great pride in his defensive work. But look: We're not talking about doing this all of the time.

Against righty pitchers, start Cervelli at catcher and Posada at DH. Against lefties, start Posada at catcher and Marcus Thames at DH. Tweak when necessary to get other players a half-day at the DH spot, such as the healing Robinson Cano yesterday.

The Johnson signing, a $5.5- million gamble by Brian Cashman, looks like a failure at this point. Who knows when or if we'll see him again?

Yet Posada, signed through next year, can transition over to being the full-time DH. Cervelli can see if he can handle the everyday catching responsibilities while stud prospect Jesus Montero works on his catching at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

This isn't about pushing Posada out of his catcher's gear. It's about optimizing the current roster. It's about planning for tomorrow as well as working for today.

And no matter whether you're discussing big picture or small picture, Cervelli deserves to be in the frame.