This week's Fenway Fiasco has the 'Joe Girardi should be fired' crowd screaming from the mountaintops this morning.
Stop it already! It's foolish, knee-jerk reaction panic and it's not even close to being justified.
Despite losing three in a row to Boston, and eight straight overall to the Red Sox, the Yankees wake up this morning just two games out in the American League East -- with 102 games left to play. Yep, the season is lost.
Oh, and they do have the second-best record in the AL, which would put them in the playoffs. Yep, Girardi has blown the season.
Whether you like Girardi or not -- and I know I am sometimes critical of some of his in-game decisions -- he will be the Yankee manager for the rest of 2009. So, you might as well relax and stop calling for his head. It's not happening.
If the Yankees make the playoffs he will likely be their manager for a long time. If they don't, he's gone.
You can argue that Girardi mishandled last night's disastrous eighth inning. He had two ways to play it, and no one of those did not include asking Mariano Rivera to try and get six outs. He told reporters there was "no chance" of that happening, and I agree with him. This is not the in his prime Rivera of several years ago. There are simply sme things you should not ask him to do at 39 coming off shoulder surgery.
Girardi chose last night to leave an obviously tiring CC Sabathia in the game to face left-handed hitting J.D. Drew, then to bring in Alfredo Aceves. He saved Phil Coke for David Ortiz. Obviously, we know it did not work out. But, I can't argue with the manager too much on this one. Sabathia is the Yanks' No. 1 guy, and even tired he is a better pitcher than Coke.
The other choice Girardi had would have been to use Coke against Drew, then depending on what happened bring in Aceves or Mo. In this scenario, Mo would have been in the game no later than when Ortiz came to the plate.
But, slice and dice Girardi's decisions any way you want. The Yanks went 3-for-26 with runners in scoring position Wednesday and Thursday. Last night they had a number of chances to score and could not get it done. Can't blame the manager for that. Blame Nick Swisher for being a total bonehead on the bases.
It doesn't feel good to be a Yankee fan this morning, but there is a lot of baseball to be played. When it is all said and done, then Girardi's fate will be decided. Not today.