Joe Girardi, the man--Manager of the New York Yankees

     Joe Girardi. the Manager of the New York Yankees. He wears number 28, to represent how many World Series championships this esteemed franchise has won.

     Joe Girardi, who had a 15 year career as a catcher for the Chicago Cubs (7 years), Colorado Rockies (3 years), St. Louis Cardinals (1 year) and New York Yankees (4 years). An All Star once, for Chicago, in 2000. He had a lifetime .267 average with 36 home runs and 422 R.B.I. In 15 seasons, he was paid just over $21 million. His current compensation as manager is $16 million in 4 years.

     Joe Girardi, the 5' 11"man, still with the imposing forearms and the build of a linebacker. He grew up in East Peoria, Illinois, where he excelled in athletics and was coached in basketball by his father before attending high school, where he was the quarterback in football and the catcher in baseball.

     Joe Girardi, remembered as the Yankees catcher who preceded the lengthy career of Jorge Posada and became Posada's mentor. In his 4 years in New York as a player, he batted .272 and was an integral player on the 1996 team which won the World Series. The image still persists of Girardi galloping around the bases against the Atlanta Braves, pulling into third base with a triple off of Braves' Hall of Fame ace Greg Maddux to start a Yankees' rally. He also was on the 1998 and 1999 Yankees World Series teams. Girardi was the catcher for David Cone's perfect game.

     Joe Girardi, a graduate of Northwestern University, with a B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering. He was the first freshman elected as President of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity at Northwestern. And he was a star baseball player, who was drafted by the Cubs.

     Joe Girardi, the Manager for the Florida Marlins for one tumultuous season in 2006. He was the National League Manager of the Year despite having a minuscule payroll of $15 million for his roster. Girardi was fired by mercurial owner, Jeffrey Loria at the end of the season. Loria disliked his manager after being told by Girardi and his bench coach to stop heckling home plate umpire Larry Vanover during an August game, after Vanover had warned Girardi to get Loria to stop his harassment.

     Joe Girardi, the broadcaster. He worked for the YES Network in 2004-05 and again in 2007, where he worked in the broadcast booth as an analyst for 60+ games. In 2005, while being the bench coach for Manager Joe Torre, he hosted a children's program for YES, which was taped during spring training. Girardi did studio work for FOX during the 2006 World Series and he was a part of the No. 2 broadcast team for FOX in 2007.

     Joe Girardi, the man. On his way home from celebrating the 2009 World Series win, he risked his life and saved a woman who had crashed her car on the Cross County Parkway in Westchester County. The driver did not know who had helped her until the responding officers told her. He gives countless hours of charity for the Yankees. He is a devout Catholic and he is an exercise and health conscious individual.

     Joe Girardi, the family man. He and his wife Kim have 3 children. He is devoted to them. Just like he was devoted to his mother, who died from cancer while he was at Northwestern, and his father who passed away during the 2012 ALDS against the Baltimore Orioles after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. Girardi turns 53 on October 14. He stands erect during the National Anthem as well as when a service member or veteran is brought to the field for recognition in the middle of the 7th inning and "God Bless America" is played. Probably as a result of his father having been an Air Force veteran.

     Joe Girardi, the manager with a 910-710 record with the Yankees since 2008. His post-season record is 22-19. He has won one A.L. pennant the team's 40th along with the 27 World Series title in 2009. He answers the media's questions after every game and he is known to have bristled at some inquiries. Girardi performs his weekly YES show duties as well as any network in-game obligations.

     Joe Girardi, the tactician. He can tinker with lineups on a regular basis until he feels most comfortable about his personnel. He has adopted Sabermetrics to a degree. Sabermetrics is defined as the empirical analysis of baseball. especially utilizing statistics measuring in game activity, to decide who bats against what pitcher or how long a pitcher can stay in a game. Girardi has been known to pull a pitcher early from a game, even if ahead, based on history and statistics. He regularly brings in relief pitchers to a point close to overuse, although he has a rule not to use his top relievers more than 2 days in a row unless there are unusual or extenuating circumstances. Girardi believes in bunting when necessary, letting his top base runners steal on their own, and pinch hitting based upon a batter's history against a certain pitcher. His critics say that he interjects himself into games way too much. His fans are more than satisfied with his style, which readily translates into wins.

     Joe Girardi, perched along the railing of the dugout, seemingly always deep in thought. He does not show too much emotion, but shakes hands with a batter who hits a homer or pats the pitcher he has to remove from a game. He will passionately argue for his team when he feels that the umpires have wronged it. He is good at winning replay challenges.

     Joe Girardi, by his record as player and manager, is a fierce competitor. He is smart, he is responsible and his teams win games. A lot of wins, even if the last Yankees' World Series appearance was in 2009. His contract with the team ends with this season.

     Joe Girardi, 2017 candidate for A.L. Manager of the Year. He took a team which experts believed was maybe a third or fourth place team, to second place in the A.l East, nearly topping the East winners, Boston Red Sox, and in the process securing the home field for the A.L. Wild Card game. He overcame significant injuries to pitcher Michael Pineda, first baseman Greg Byrd, outfielders Jacoby Ellbury, outfielder Aaron Hicks, catcher Gary Sanchez, designated hitter  Matt Holliday and shortstop Didi Gregorious among others. He rode the hitting of all-everything rookie sensation Aaron Judge and pitching from starters Luis Severino and C. C. Sabathia along with his great bullpen to get to where the team is today. He survived the in-season meltdowns of his two top relievers, Dellin Betances and Aroldis Chapman. He successfully integrated the players acquired in multiple trades into his core groups.

     Joe Girardi is the reason why the Yankees take the field tonight at Yankee Stadium versus the white hot Cleveland Indians, behind 2-0 in the best of 5 series, and facing elimination. He is responsible for the staggering loss in Game 2, a game they led 8-3 in the 6th inning. A game where they had handled probable Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber with relative ease.A game where they had rebounded from a 2 hit performance in Game 1.

     Let's turn back the clock a little bit. Let's return to the A.L. Wild Card game on October 3, 2017. The Minnesota Twins shocked the Yankees in the first inning with 3 runs, two of them come from home runs against ace Severino. Girardi replaces Severino after he completed only 1/3rd of an inning--the shortest start by a pitcher in Yankees' post-season history--in this winner take all contest. Chad Green is called upon to rescue the team. Which he did in the top of the first inning by setting down the Twins. In the bottom of the first. New York responded with 3 runs of their own on a Gregorious home run, to tie the score. Brett Gardner hit a solo homer in the second inning to put New York ahead by 1. Green got into trouble in the third inning and was replaced by David Robertson, who allowed a run to score. Robertson went 3 1/3 scoreless innings, the longest stint he had pitched  in his MLB career. The Yankees took the lead for good on an R.B.I single by Byrd then via a 2 run homer from Judge. Tommy Kahnle came in and shut down the Twins, handing the game over to closer Chapman to finish off Minnesota.

     By bucking all trends and defying the odds, Girardi patched together an unusual pitching performance and banked on his hitters to come through. In the process, he rendered his venerable relief corps unusable, even if they had a day's rest before Game 1 of the ALDS. Which cost him and the Yankees dearly in Game 2.

     New York had jumped out to that 8-3 lead. Girardi then made some very bad moves. He took out Sabathia after 5.1 innings when he had walked a batter and had retired lefty-hitting Jay Bruce. Green was brought in. He was pitching on fumes, and he allowed a double. So there were runners at second and third with two outs when pinch hitter Lonnie Chisenhall came to the plate. Chisenhall worked the pitch count to 3-2 when, on the next pitch, the home plate umpire said that Chisenhall was hit on his hand to make the bases full.

     Chaos ensued within the Yankees. Catcher Sanchez motioned to Girardi that Chisenhall had not been hit on the hand with a pitch. Instead, the ball struck the knob of the bat and caromed into Sanchez's mitt for strike 3 and 3 outs. Sanchez adamantly wanted Girardi to challenge the play.

     But inexcusably, Girardi felt he did not have conclusive proof using replays to overturn the call in the allotted 30 seconds. So he did not heed Sanchez and he did not challenge the call. Just past the 30 seconds mark, slo-mo replays, not available to the Yankees' own video reviewer who has had a high rate of success this season, showed that Sanchez was correct and that the ball had in fact hit the bat knob.

     Instead of just relying on Sanchez, Girardi inexplicably deferred to his video replay man who did not have a complete picture of the play and let a spent Green pitch to Indians' shortstop Francisco Lindor. Lindor blasted a grand slam home run on the next pitch. Instead of ending the inning at 8-3, Cleveland was resuscitated with the score being 8-7.

     Robertson, coming off of that long Wild Card experience, managed to get Cleveland out in innings 6 and 7. But Jay Bruce homered off of a tired Robertson in the bottom of the 8th inning, tying the score at 8-8.

     In the top of the eleventh inning, third baseman Todd Frazier, having a solid night at the plate, was safe and on second base on a throwing error by the Cleveland third baseman. Girardi elected to pinch run for Frazier with the speedy Ronald Torreyes. Girardi then asked Gardner to bunt; Gardner pulled his bat away from the ball; Indians catcher Yan Gomes made a snap throw to second base; Torreyes  was called safe. The Indians did challenge the play and on replay, it showed Torreyes to be out by a hair. End of the Yankees' threat. The TV cameras caught a disgusted Frazier, now finished for the night and with nothing to show for his being replaced,  cursing and tossing his water cup angrily into the trash. Cleveland subsequently won the game in the 13th inning, to take that 2-0 series lead.

     Girardi has been vilified since the game ended by Yankees' fans and a ton of the media. Girardi's post-game explanations were unacceptable. His over managing in Game 1 along with his quick hook of Sabathia and over reliance on a wasted Green and Robertson essentially cost New York the win. Even with his necessary Saturday admission that he blew the replay opportunity, nothing could change the outcome of Game 2 in the minds of the players and the fans.

     I doubt that New York can thwart Cleveland and do the unthinkable--win the series. The sting from these gaffes will remain over the team--but for how long? The inevitable second question thus arises--should Girardi remain as the Yankees' skipper? Does his overall record warrant another shot at a World Series title with a team, a mix of veterans and young stars, which has the capability to reach that goal? Is he the one to lead New York for the future--and how long a contract should he have given the fact that his overall post season record is 22-19 heading into tonight and the Yankees have not been to the ALCS since 2012?

     These questions are for General Manager Brian Cashman and the Steinbrenners, owners of the team, to answer. Will they heed the fans who want Girardi's head and the media frenzy that will obviously ensue? Or will they continue to be patient and overlook these Game 1 and 2 moves and reward Girardi for his regular season managing? If Girardi is to be brought back, will he and the Yankees be able to reach a meeting of the minds as to compensation and length of contract?  This will play itself out in the upcoming weeks.

     One thing I do know--Game 2 was a bitter loss and hard to fathom.