How will Girardi handle his October debut?
Of the eight managers in the postseason, Girardi is the only one without October experience. He danced around the topic Tuesday, saying he’d been exposed to the playoffs as a player and a coach – and noted, “[Rays manager] Joe Maddon didn’t have any experience last year, either,” before piloting Tampa Bay to the World Series. But Girardi knows better than to believe anything he’s done duplicates the pressure of leading a $209 million team that hasn’t won a world championship in nine years. Girardi already has one strike against him – he ended the Yankees’ postseason streak after 13 years – and is in a non-negotiable position of having to win a pennant this time around. The Yankees haven’t been challenged since the All-Star break; the American League all but conceded by August. That allowed Girardi’s natural tension to recede, at least temporarily. But the Bombers will be watching Girardi’s body language, the way he speaks to them in the dugout, the aura he gives off. It all matters gre
