Nice show by Joe Girardi, huh? We probably haven’t seen something like that from the Yankees manager in the last 12 and a half years.
And, I think it helped tonight. Motivational people always talk about breaking the patterns of undesired behavior. And, that’s what Joe did in the ninth. Tie game, one-up, Matsui does his job leading off…then A-Rod goes down on strikes and ditto Giambi (with some help from the ump). I truly believe, if Girardi does nothng there…then we see more bad things. Even if Abreu still got the walk without Joe’s act coming before it, Cano, who was having a bad night at the plate, would probably continue to ride the overall negative vibe that was present.
But, Joe does his thing…clears the air, resets the mood, gets the crowd going, ices the O’s pitcher a bit…and, presto! A beautiful win.
I’ll talk about Ian Kennedy tomorrow – he’s part of the story here too. But, for now, this one’s for General Joe.
11 Responses to “May 22nd vs. The Orioles”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
May 22nd, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Didn’t Torre go nuts in a game v. (iirc) St. Louis?
I thought the 9th highlighted the need for a pinch runner off the bench.
Anyway, I agree that Girardi’s outburst was a welcome sight.
May 22nd, 2008 at 11:22 pm
Absolutely right, Steve. Johnson had just struck out A-Rod and was getting back in a groove. I also think Joe’s arguing bought Abreu some close calls in his at bat.
May 22nd, 2008 at 11:24 pm
FWIW, Torre’s ejections as Yankees manager:
1996 (1), 1997 (2), 1998 (1), 1999 (2), 2000 (2), 2001 (2), 2002 (2), 2003 (1), 2004 (2), 2005 (2), 2006 (2), 2007 (2).
May 22nd, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Um, seriously? I doubt Joe’s tirade had anything to do with Cano getting a hit. Managers always look silly screaming their heads off at umps, and so did Joe, but I loved every minute of it. I also loved the crowd’s reaction.
He gets rewarded by a clutch hit from his second baseman and everyone goes to sleep happy. Cool night.
The important thing is that the two pitchers under intense scrutiny — Kennedy and Farnsworth — both pitched well under pressure.
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:03 am
You got that right, baileywalk.
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:51 am
Sadly this was the first game since the beginning of the season that I was able to watch from start to finish. I’m glad I saw this team pull out a win and saw some frikin fire from the Yankees bench. Maybe this won’t be the best Yankee team in recent memory but it will be an interesting one that should be fun. The tools are their the Yankees have a strong offense that needs to be more consistent and our pitching will be giving us a wild ride. Maybe its time for the Yankees to be taken down a bit and be in the cellar for a few games to get that fire up.
I don’t believe you can say it’s early anymore but I do believe in this Yankee team until the very last day.
May 23rd, 2008 at 7:46 am
Cano would be no professional, let alone an all-star, if he would have “let the negative vibe” effect him.
Alternative glimpse of reality:
Abreu, one of the most selective (some would say passive) hitters in the game, squeezed out a walk. Then Cano got a pitch up on the outer half and laced it into LF for the game winning RBI.
Had absolutely nothing to do with Girardi’s childish behavior.
May 23rd, 2008 at 8:26 am
Childish? Right. If so, it’s the MLB norm.
May 23rd, 2008 at 9:24 am
Had absolutely nothing to do with Girardi’s childish behavior.
———
True, but it makes for better press.
Understand in the sports world, correlation equals causation, so it should come as no surprise that people credit Girardi with the Yankees comeback.
May 23rd, 2008 at 10:53 am
Understand in the sports world, correlation equals causation
-
That’s not the sports world, it’s the media in general and most people swallow the media like Kool Aid.
May 29th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
[...] he might have gotten run for that. Now, that may have led to an even better show than the one on May 22nd. May 29, 2008 | Filed Under WheelHouse [...]