Howard: Girardi hasn't made a difference

From Johnette Howard:

It's too early to say Joe Girardi will not be the manager the Yankees thought they hired, but this hasn't been said enough: Girardi has not had a good year.

If you haven't noticed, Torre's Dodgers have been on a 12-2 September tear that's vaulted them to the top of the NL West while Girardi's Yankees were sleepwalking through a road trip last week with the sort of galling losses that moved one team member to mutter, "It looked like we quit."

Injuries took a toll on the Yankees, sure. But the other day, veteran pitcher Mike Mussina took what could be construed as a shot at Girardi when he said that sometimes the Yankees don't play baseball "the right way" - yet another criticism from within.

Even Girardi's too-late decision to punish Robinson Cano, this year's leading recidivist, on Sunday and Monday for a lack of hustle was muddled needlessly by Girardi's unnecessary qualifier that some guys are just "gliders" who are trying harder than it looks.

Girardi often has trouble going negative no matter how warranted it is. What's seemed more necessary at times - especially as the Yankees were listlessly slogging through August - was another of those closed-door dressing-downs that Girardi gave the Yanks on July 3 after an embarrassing effort against the Red Sox.

The 2008 Yankees' sometime lack of pride or shame or urgency - take your pick - suggests there are at least some players on this team who Girardi simply doesn't influence or reach. And he's seemed unable to change it. Girardi may look like a drill sergeant with that impeccable crewcut and fitness-nut build and cinch-waisted uniform of his, but what will you remember about his first season?

The sharp young manager who made a tangible difference with the Marlins is not the Girardi we've gotten here. Even if you account for the injuries, the Yankees' problems run deeper than that. A lack of offense has killed them. When Girardi told his veterans to report to camp in shape and be ready to do a lot of running, when he had the Yankees bunt twice in one game (on purpose!) to manufacture some runs in their first homestand, it did seem like the ship might be run differently and tighter and more aggressively.

It didn't last.

Girardi isn't to blame for everything that's gone wrong. But he hasn't been the guy the Yankees thought they hired, either.

I don't think Girardi has done a good job this season either, and agree with pretty much everything Howard wrote in the article. But if you've been reading this blog all year, you probably already knew that.

I also agree with her when she says that Girardi is not to blame for everything, he's not, but he does deserve some of the blame. And when you have players on the team that feel the team quit and doesn't play the "right way" that cannot be a good thing.

Girardi has had his moments when he's looked the manager I expected him to be, but they were too few and far between. And that's a shame because the team did seem to respond from these moments. For example, after the July 3rd team meeting they won 13 out of their next 17.

I do believe Girardi was feeling his way through this first season in New York, and that's why we may not have seen the real Girardi, the Girardi we expected. Maybe he was too worried about management or the media, maybe he couldn't handle the pressure, after all managing in New York isn't easy, and managing the New York Yankees is even harder. I wouldn't be surprised if next year we see a very different Joe Girardi.