Under Girardi the Yankees "Expect the Best"

The Yankees appear to be enjoying life so far with new skipper Joe Girardi. From the Miami Herald via WasWatching.com:

'He's a perfect fit here,'' Yankees first baseman Jason Giambi said. ``He played here. He coached here and he knows the Yankees. Joe is Joe. He knows players, and he knows how to handle veteran guys because he was a veteran player here, and even though he managed a young team in Florida, he'll be even better with veteran guys here. He's straight and he's to the point. There's not going to be any confusion with Joe.''

''I know Joe, and he knows how I run business from his days here,'' Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. ``The one thing about Joe is he is not going to complicate things. You can dress it up with the pinstripes and what people's salaries might be; dress it up with 50,000 people in the stadium, but at the end of the day it's still the simple game of baseball. And that's a great thing Joe will bring to the table.''

''They're still people,'' Girardi said of his high-priced Yankees. ``Of course, you manage differently, because every person is different. There are some team things you do and there are expectations, but personalities are different and you adjust to that. . . . It's a family, and you've got to figure out how to get the best out of your family. Joe Torre taught me that a team is a family.''

Girardi is a players' manager, according to Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte, who was Girardi's former battery mate.

''He was a tough, scrappy player who worked hard, and he manages the same way,'' he said. ``But he's honest and to the point. You know what you get with Joe. There's no grey area. You are going to work hard. Look at him. He's in great shape, and he's going to work us hard and expect the best.''

That's Girardi's mantra: ''Expect the best.'' He says it all the time. Girardi spoke to his team Wednesday and delivered the same message he had once before.

''I told them I expect to win the World Series,'' Girardi said. ``And I told the Marlins the same thing.''

The Yankees expect nothing less.

''He's going to manage the same way,'' Yankees catcher Jorge Posada said. ``He's still going to push guys. Just because we are older than the Marlins doesn't mean he doesn't need to push us. He's going to do the things he knows to do to push us to get the best out of us.''

Here's more good news out of camp Girardi, from today's NY Times:

To prepare his players for small ball - bunting and tagging up and taking the extra bases - Girardi has had them running more than Torre did in training camp. He passes on the message to his players even before training camp.

I'm not going to say that the Yankees are happy to have Joe Torre gone, but they do seem happy to have Joe Girardi here. I think he's a breath of fresh air for these guys who may have become bored with the way Torre ran the ship.

I'm not trying to knock Torre, I never thought they should have let him go in the first place, but from everything I've read and seen so far it seems like the Yankees may have made the right move.