What a mess

Jorge Posada said his back “stiffened up,” but at the same time acknowleded to needing a day to "clear" his head, and therefore asked out of Saturday night's lineup an hour before first pitch.

And now the Yankees have a major headache to deal with.

After the game Posada took some shots at GM Brian Cashman and also admitted to feeling disrespected by the organization, dating back to last November when he was told his catching days were over.

He said asking out of the lineup had nothing to do with being scheduled to bat ninth in Saturday's order.

Asked if he sat more because of his back or because he needed to clear his mind, Posada said: “A little bit of both. I can’t lie to you … As soon as I wasn’t able to play, I took that and used it as an excuse of coming out of the game.”

Posada, hitting .165 as the team’s DH, didn’t say much about the conversation with Girardi, but he had much to add about Brian Cashman, who spoke to the media during the game. 

On Fox and then in a meeting with reporters, Cashman said “there is no injury,” regarding Posada, but didn’t comment further. Posada was not happy.

“I don’t know why he made a statement in the middle of the game,” Posada said. “I don’t understand that. So…that’s the way he works now.”

Is he mad at Cashman?

“I think we should have waited for the game to be over to talk to whoever during the game,” Posada said. “You’re not supposed to do that.”

Reached by Newsday's Ken Davidoff after Posada spoke, Cashman wasn't apologizing.

"It's disappointing,” he said of Posada’s reaction. “Jorgie knew what I was going to say, as well as his agents [Sam and Seth Levinson]."

The GM added: “It's a situation created by Jorgie, and it can only be explained by Jorgie…Myself, Joe Girardi and the medical staff know what happened prior to the game."

In the other clubhouse, a prominent DH had a lot to say.

"I'm going to tell you what I think, they're doing that guy wrong," David Ortiz said. "They're doing him wrong. You know why? Because, that guy, he is legendary right there in that
organization. And dude, DH'ing sucks. DH'ing is just, it's not easy. And from what I heard, they told him from the very beginning that you're not even going to catch bullpens, that straight-up starts messing with your head. You're going to tell me that Posada can't catch a game out there? Come on man.

"And I guarantee you, they throw him out there once in a while, they're mentally going to help him out cause he's just not thinking about hitting. To DH, when you just think about hitting and you're not hitting, it sucks man, it sucks. You're talking about a guy that he played a position his whole career now I got used to this because I got no choice, but I can imagine how hard it has to be for him, know what I'm saying? This is a guy that he's a good hitter, I don't care what anybody says."

But Ortiz, unaware Posada said he had a stiff back, said taking yourself out of the lineup isn't the right move.

"No, you don't do that, though," Ortiz said. "You don't do that. That's what I tried to tell you
guys, the confusion, the frustration that you're living into, that sometimes make you make this mistake. He's not perfect, he's a human just like everyone else and he probably thinks it was the right thing to do, but now you see it, but it's not easy though."