When Northwestern defeated Michigan, 21-14, in football on Nov. 15 at Michigan Stadium, Northwestern alumnus Joe Girardi sent a text message to Derek Jeter, who attended Michigan for one semester in 1992.
"The last time Northwestern won at Michigan [1995], the Yankees won four of the next five World Series," Girardi wrote.I sure hope that history repeats itself!!!
Jeter responded: "Thank you for providing a silver lining to my misery."
These little blurbs from skipper Joe Girardi are courtesy of Yankees.com beat writer Bryan Hoch's Bombers Beat Blog. If you have not checked it out yet, please do!
- The Yankees want C.C. Sabathia, no surprise there, but Girardi acknowledged that the needs are beyond more than one guy. The Yankees ranked the list of potential pitching free agents with scouts in the room during the organizational meetings in Tampa. They were ranked in order, and different views were incorporated into that order.
"We would like to add as many as we can," Girardi said.
- Girardi said that he is excited to have LHP Damaso Marte back, and reiterated that he believed the early workload wore him down and led to the 5.40 ERA. Girardi said he has not called players with recruiting pitches for the Yankees yet but believes it will be beneficial to bring players in to tour the new stadium.
"When players get a chance to look at our new stadium, they're going to be quite impressed," he said.
- The Yankees want to get better defensively and more athletic defensively, he said. Girardi called first base "a void to address" and said it was among their most major concerns. Girardi sees Brett Gardner and Melky Cabrera battling for center field. Johnny Damon is the leadoff hitter and left fielder.
- New first base coach Mick Kelleher brings the perspective of an organizational man who has existing relationships with players like Robinson Cano and Derek Jeter, having been around in Spring Training. Tony Pena, the new bench coach, boasts big league managerial experience, though that should not be taken as a slight against Rob Thomson.
Caught this over on Bryan Hoch's Bomber's Beat Blog and thought I would pass it on.
Joe Girardi, whose father Jerry is afflicted with Alzheimer's, will be joined by YES Network Yankees voice/1050 ESPN Radio host Michael Kay and CBS Sports' signature voice Jim Nantz as the guests of honor and keynote speakers at "Remember When, Remember Now" at the venerable Grand Central Oyster Bar (Lower Level, Grand Central Station) in New York City on Wednesday night, November 19.
All proceeds from the fundraiser and celebration of the Grand Central Oyster Bar's 95th Birthday will be earmarked toward Alzheimer's research and care. The New York City Chapter of The Alzheimer's Association, the Central Illinois Chapter, based in Peoria, and Alzheimer's Research at the Texas Medical Center's Neurological Institute will be the beneficiaries of the event.
Tickets are priced at $250 per person, while tables of 10 are priced at $5,000 (exclusive "Box Seat Table" which include celebrity table host), and $2,500. Cocktail hour begins at 6:30 PM, with the dinner and program starting at 7:30 PM . For information and ticket purchase contact 212 490-7108 and 800-622-7775 or info@oysterbarny.com.
Yankees co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner confirmed on Monday that Girardi -- who is piloting the club in the first year of a three-year contract -- will return next year. "Joe will be back," Steinbrenner told the Associated Press Monday at the club's Spring Training complex. "He's done everything he could. That's the bottom line."The Yankees appear likely to miss the postseason for the first time in more than a decade, but the club plans to retain Joe Girardi as manager for the 2009 season.
Mike Lupica/New York Daily News:
A sweep this weekend doesn't win the Yankees the AL East or settle anything with the Red Sox and Rays, because nothing gets settled in baseball the last weekend of July. It would just feel as much of a shot to the heart as the Yankees have thrown at Boston since they swept them in that five-game series two years ago.
Two of three at Fenway, where the Red Sox are 36-11 this season, would feel big enough in Boston, don't worry. But a sweep would make the Yankees 59-45 at the end of the weekend and the Red Sox 60-46. And even though the schedule favors the Red Sox the rest of the way - especially in September - it would feel as if the Yankee season were starting all over again.
The Red Sox are vulnerable right now, more than they were last season, even if their record is just 2-1/2 games worse than it was one year ago. They are vulnerable even getting David Ortiz back, finally, vulnerable on the road and vulnerable in their bullpen and with Manny Ramirez doing crackpot things again. That is why, even with the run the Yankees made at Boston last season, the sides look even again.
Now the pitching is better than anybody thought it could be. That includes all those cockeyed optimists who expected big things this season from Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy. The ace of the staff is now Mike Mussina, who has become as much a pitching star of the season as anybody in the sport.
The Yankees are in the game even though A-Rod has dominated the tabloids more than American League pitching and Robbie Cano is just now starting to hit. Just to have the Yankees be where they are right now going into Boston makes this one of the most surprising Yankee teams in a good long time, makes them look like the toughest rich kids going.
There are still holes in the batting order, still questions about how Ponson and Rasner hold up, still questions about whether or not Brian Cashman will make some kind of major play at the trade deadline, something more than Richie Sexson.
But these Yankees make a move now and their new manager will bring them to August with as much a chance to win the East as anybody. It does seem they have been chasing the Red Sox for years. They have certainly been chasing them the last two years. This is a good time to catch them.
In a fascinating pennant race, maybe the Yankees are the most fascinating team...
Are you kidding me???? You are going to stress Mariano by pitching him in a one hour rain delay and then your going to take him out for LaTroy Hawkins???? Are you freaking kidding me Joe Girardi????
Mark Feinsand/New York Daily News:
Whether the incident on Thursday night was actually responsible for the Yankees’ eventual 2-1 win or not, it was good to see Joe Girardi show some fire in that situation. Through the first
seven weeks, Girardi had come out of the dugout a few times to protest a call, but he typically pleaded his case for a few seconds, heard the ump’s response and headed back to the dugout.
I’m not suggesting that managers should always act like Billy Martin in these situations, but once in a while, it’s not a bad thing. Girardi slammed his hat down, kicked it, kicked some dirt and did his best Lou Piniella impression after he was ejected, making sure to get his money’s worth.
“It was funny,” Derek Jeter said. “I enjoyed it. I was hoping he would kick it all the way to the dugout like Piniella.”
Whether he intended to or not, he may have taken Orioles reliever Jim Johnson out of his game with the tirade, as Johnson proceeded to walk Bobby Abreu and give up Cano’s game-winner after Girardi had departed.
Girardi was still running on adrenaline when Cano hit his game-winner, and according to the manager, the couch in his office took the brunt of that energy.
“I had a pen in my hand, and I was so happy that I threw it extremely hard into the couch,” he said. “I hope my arm doesn’t hurt tomorrow.”
Anthony Dicomo/MLB.com:
From the comforts of his manager's office, with its wide desk and leather couch, Joe Girardi sat on Thursday night and watched about five minutes of baseball. Perhaps still simmering a bit from his ejection only moments earlier, Girardi watched as Robinson Cano laced a walk-off single through the left side of the infield, and as Hideki Matsui motored around from second base to score the winning run.
Then Girardi leapt out of his chair and hurled his pen across the room.
"I'm not so sure I am decompressed yet," he said just after the game.
That might take some time, considering the magnitude of his argument, and the depth of the slump that had been vexing his Yankees. But now with a well-pitched and downright emotional 2-1 win over the Orioles in tow, perhaps Girardi can finally relax.
Because goodness knows he didn't on Thursday night.
Stuck in a 1-1 game in the bottom of the ninth inning, Girardi lost his cool -- and his seat in the dugout -- when Jason Giambi struck out with one down and Matsui standing on first base. Orioles reliever Jim Johnson had delivered a pitch high and inside to Giambi, who, with two strikes, couldn't yank his bat entirely out of the way. Home-plate umpire Chris Guccione didn't think so, at least, ruling that the ball skimmed the knob of Giambi's bat and deflected into catcher Ramon Hernandez's glove, good for a strikeout.
That's when Girardi stormed onto the field and engaged Guccione in a lengthy argument. Within moments, he was ejected, throwing his hat on the ground and kicking it toward the dugout. Then he picked it up, kicked some dirt, and began arguing all over again.
"Maybe that was the little spark that we need to get us going," Giambi said. "We've been playing good baseball, but not great baseball."
What followed, coincidence or not, was great baseball.
Bobby Abreu, batting with two outs, took a five-pitch walk to advance Matsui to second base, and then Cano drilled an inside fastball into left field to win the game.
"This means a lot," Cano said. "Every time I get a hit to help the team win, it means a lot to me. Because it's not about just the numbers. It's about winning."
Filip Bondy/New York Daily News:
During the ninth inning Sunday night at Yankee Stadium, the lame-duck cathedral sounded as if there were only Met fans left in the Bronx. The visitors were up by nine, on the way to an 11-2 clobbering. The fans with the curlicue N-Y's on their caps stood and cheered, alone, triumphant.
It was hard to imagine a more humiliating moment for the Yanks and their new manager, Joe Girardi. Their two best starters were knocked around like bums for two days by cross-city rivals, who had scored a total of 18 runs in 18 innings - not counting a three-run homer by Carlos Delgado, incorrectly ruled foul by overzealous, overruling umpires.
This is how bad it was: If Joe Torre were still managing here, then he probably wouldn't be managing here anymore.
Funny how a wet, one-sided weekend can change everything. Willie Randolph entered the borough on Friday reeling and rationalizing. He was supposedly losing control of his clubhouse. Two games later, the Mets are one game out of first place, while things are Subway Serious for the last-place Yankees and their beleaguered manager.
"Any game you don't win I take as an embarrassment," Girardi said, downplaying the crisis. "It's not about this week. It's not about 20-24. It's what you do Tuesday. We all have to do better. It starts with me. I'm the leader.
"I gotta find something."
Associated Press:
"I'm with a new team now," Torre told The Associated Press Friday night after his Los Angeles Dodgers were beaten 4-2 by the Angels. " (Yankees manager) Joe Girardi is a coach for the All-Star Game, and deservedly so. They usually take the local city's managers as coaches. Besides, I'm not sure that if I got a call, I would say yes. Going over there at this point in time, I may serve as more of a distraction than to go over there and help the manager win a ballgame."
National League manager Clint Hurdle, who guided the Colorado Rockies to their first pennant last year, decided not to add Torre to his coaching staff for the game on July 15. Instead he invited San Diego manager Bud Black and New York Mets skipper Willie Randolph, who was a member of Torre's coaching staff in the Bronx for 11 seasons — one of them as bench coach.
"I have no problem with that," Torre said. "I mean, anything that happens at Yankee Stadium is a spectacle, and I'm sure that it's going to be a very special time there. But I have no emotional feelings about it at all."
"I mean, I spent so many days and games in that ballpark and so many special nights — postseason," Torre said. "I mean, I've got a bucket full of memories. The All-Star game certainly is going to be a spectacle, but I'm certainly satisfied with the time I put in there."
Yankees fans will get to cheer Torre's successor, Joe Girardi, who was chosen by AL manager Terry Francona.
I don't get it. That game tonight is just not what the Yankees or their fans signed up for when they brought Joe Girardi in.
He was the manager that was supposed to bring style and superior in-game management to the Yankees. But some of the things I've witnessed thus far in the season are just bewildering me.
I mean why the hell do you sit Cano, Matsui, Abreu, and Posada in a game that the struggling rookie Ian Kennedy is pitching in?
If your going to give them days off at least give them a day off when your ace, Chien-Ming Wang, or another of your veterans is on the mound!!!
We all knew that Kennedy would need all of the run support he could get and Girardi sits three of the Yankees best hitters in Abreu, Matsui, and Posada (you can sit Cano for a game when he is batting .150 but not the others). These guys are men. Quit babying them with days off every other day and let them earn the millions of dollars they are getting paid.
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Note to Joe Girardi: It was Jeremey Sowers on the mound for the Indians!!! I don't care if he is left-handed, he is not Sandy Koufax!!! He is Jeremey Sowers.
If you honestly think the best thing to do in that situation is to sit the majority of your best hitters because Jeremey Sowers is left-handed than this team has real, serious problems.
Via Anthony McCarron of the New York Daily News:
Joe Girardi will not manage tonight because he is sick with an upper respiratory infection. He will stay inside the clubhouse while bench coach Rob Thomson takes over.
“If we need something, he’ll obviously be on hand,” Thomson said.
Thomson has one year of experience at rookie ball - Class A in Oneonta in 1995 - and he managed one season in the Australian Winter League, he said. Of his experience in Oneonta, he said, “I think we were below .500.” Oneonta was 34-41 that year, according to Yanks’ media relations.
Here’s a taste of Thomson’s managerial philosophy: “Managing, to me, is just communicating with the coaches…I’ll try to be as calm as I can. It all depends on the players, their strengths and weaknesses.”
As for whether Girardi will manage Saturday, Thomson said, “I think he’ll be fine.”
From Mark Feinsand and his Blogging The Bomber's Blog:
4/4/08- Well, not exactly-- but Joe Girardi is certainly making his presence felt in the American League.
Back-to-back bunts, playing the infield in with a guy on third in the fourth inning it was a successful first series for the Yankees, capped off by a very un-Yankee-like win.
Now, let’s not revise history and say that Joe Torre never called a bunt. He may have done the exact same thing tonight in the eighth, but the infield-in call in the fourth was what caught my attention.
In a scoreless game with a man on third, one out and the middle of the Jays order coming up, Girardi brought the infield in, not wanting to concede a run on a ground ball.
Interesting thought, especially with the way the Jays pitched this week and the cold weather impacting the Yankees’ offense. Alex Rios hit a single that would have been a hit no matter where the infield was playing, but when Rios reached third base on a steal and an error, Girardi brought the infield in again.
“It’s not something that you’re going to do very often, but when runs are at a premium, the weather, the pitcher you’re facing, you don’t want to give them easy RBIs,” he said. “You want to make them work for it.”
As for the bunts in the eighth that led to the winning run, let’s also note that Girardi would have approached the inning differently if it had been A-Rod and Giambi due up instead of Damon and Jeter. Once Damon’s bunt was bobbled by Scott Downs and it was first and second with no outs, Jeter’s bunt was an obvious call. Either way, Girardi is showing that he’s prepared to do whatever is necessary to win, and the players are buying into it.
“Especially against tough pitching staffs where one run can be the difference, we’re going to have to do that kind of thing,” Damon said. “We plan to be in most of our ballgames this year, so if we can get an extra run or two across, it’s going to be huge.”
Not that Joe Torre didn't do the small things like walking the length of the dugout in Spring Training to congratulate guys for sac flies, but I have a feeling Joe Girardi does them just a bit more this season.
Joe Girardi met with Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy yesterday to discuss pitching one day after the neophyte right-handers were spanked by the Twins Wednesday in a 7-5 loss at Legends Field.
"I enjoy that part of the game," Girardi said. "I talked a little bit (yesterday). I talked to Ian and Joba and Alan Horne, just talked about things I saw and the importance of establishing the fastball and pitching in. It was just pitching strategy."
Kennedy gave up a monster two-run homer to Delmon Young, and Chamberlain watched a Garrett Jones blast land far into the seats of the right-field party deck with a runner on. Falling behind hurt each pitcher.
Just read an article in the London Free Press discussing the level of competition that is in the American League this year. From the Red Sux, Tigers, Indians, Mariners, Angels and even teams like Toronto and the Rays-- it is imperitive the Yankees win every game they should. That to me is the one of the most important things the Yankees master this year. Winning when you should.
I have said this before on this blog. If the Yankees could have just picked up a few more games when they were in the terrible stretch they had last year before the All Star Break, they would have easily clinched the East.
Consistency is all the Yankees need this year--and all they need it from is the pitching. If we have just a tiny bit of that, I predict our offense leads us to another 94-100 win season. We will see.
Here's some quotes from Girardi:
"There are so many worthy teams in the American League that you're going to have to be able to sustain a certain level of play for the entire season, a certain level of consistency," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.
"You can't afford to go into a slump or a slide because the other teams are going to make you pay for that."
And Jeter:
"We are always going to be a team that people shoot for," Derek Jeter said.
"We're the Yankees, and there's always going to be people who'll hate us because of that."
I don't hate you Derek.
Bryan Hoch of Yankees.com had a great piece on Phil Franchise and his pitching mechanics this morning:
Having just completed receiving Phil Hughes' latest bullpen session, an impressed Jose Molina told Posada, "You know what? Phil looks like he has more pop."
It looks like Phil is really trying to earn his keep. Things will be different this year Yankee fans-- you can bet on that.Posada concurred, and the backstops aren't the only ones who have noticed.
Said manager Joe Girardi: "You watch him and he leads the groups in running. He just looks like an athlete, a thoroughbred and a leader."
Hughes confirms he's hitting the glove with more force than in his debut season, when he won five games for New York, plus one more in the playoffs. But more importantly, he has confidence that nothing else will go wrong."It's not so much the velocity," Hughes said. "It's really the fact that I've felt more comfortable and I've been able to trust my body. I don't have any inklings or thoughts in the back of my head that something will flare up again. I think that's the key, to trust all my pitches and finish everything."
It helps, of course, that Hughes heeded the call for better fitness. Girardi let it be known that Spring Training '08 would not be a country club, and Hughes showed up ready to go. Spending weeks over at the Minor League complex under the supervision of pitching coach Dave Eiland have been paying dividends early.
"He's in great shape," Girardi said. "All the reports on him that I saw from when he was working down at Himes said he was different this year. That he'd worked really hard."
Hughes added, "I know what I expect out of myself and what my goals are this year. There are no guarantees. You have to go out and earn every bit of what you want."
We kind of knew this last year but I wanted to get the part about Girardi on the Blog.
SI.Com's Jon Heyman has the story:
When Johnny Damon walked out of spring training early last year, he thought he was walking away from the game, SI.com has learned. The Yankees explained Damon's absence early last spring as "personal reasons,'' and there was a lot of wrong speculation about something or other happening with Damon's family that would necessitate the time off.
"I was just exhausted .... burnt out,'' Damon explained to SI.com Tuesday. "It (retirement) definitely crossed my mind.''
After a few days, Damon decided to return. "I knew these guys needed me,'' Damon said with a smile. How true that was.
New manager Joe Girardi, who had a special sitdown meeting with Damon at the GM meetings in Orlando in November, was well aware Damon nearly retired last spring. Girardi told Damon how vital he is to the team's success, and that seems to have helped rejuvenate the Yankees' leadoff hitter. "Johnny sets the tone,'' Girardi said. "And he's a great presence in the clubhouse.''That definitely seems to be the case now that Damon is back to being himself. However, he knows he won't last forever, and that when the time comes to walk away, he can deal with it. "I'm OK with looking in the mirror and knowing when it's time to go,'' Damon said.
The Yankees are very glad Damon isn't ready to do that just yet.
River Avenue Blues just posted a list of nine of Joe Girardi's seventeen new commandments for Yankee players. Here's what has been discovered so far...
1. Be on time. No excuse for lateness.
2. Shorts and T-shirts only permitted during spring training.
3. Curfew of 1 a.m.
4. Jewelry - only one chain is permitted. No earrings.
5. Only neatly cut beards, mustaches, goatees. No long hair or “unshaven looks.”
6. No family members in the clubhouse until after games.
7. No cell phones in the dugout.
8. Cell phones only allowed in the clubhouse until one hour before games.
9. No competing speakers in the clubhouse.
Pay special attention to #5 as it looks as though it supersedes King George’s Law of Facial Purity. No one knows if these are only Spring Training rules or if they will extend into the regular season. I will try to post the rest of the commandments as they are uncovered.
Future Major Leaguer:Dante has a little Yankees uniform with No. 27 and his own catching equipment. The Yankee should send him to live in the Dominican and sign him when he’s 16.
Gettin' Work:
Mike Mussina, Chien-Ming Wang, Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy, Edwar Ramirez, Sean Henn, Jeff Karstens, Darrell Rasner, Ross Ohlendorf, Mark Melancon and Billy Traber were among the pitchers who threw in the bullpen today.
Hideki Matsui and Shelley Duncan took part in drills and took BP. As injury rehab players, they’re allowed to be in camp early.
Jesus Montero took some BP. The 19-year-old goes the other way with ease. He generates a ton of power. Scouts are right, he looks like a first baseman.
Girardi's Hands On:
