Time Growing Short On Girardi Era

It's not fair and it's not totally Joe Girardi's fault, but if you listen carefully, you just might hear the chant ever so faintly.

joe must go!

In his first season as manager, the Yankees missed the playoffs for the first time in 15 years. The whispers began.

joe must go!

During the offseason, we heard the Yankees needed to get off to a fast start, or ...

joe must go!

And so far the season has not gone as anyone associated with or rooting for the Yankees could have imagined. An Opening Day loss, followed by Chien-Ming Wang's ineffectiveness. The disappointment of the new Stadium's Opener and the 22-run embarrassment against the Indians.

Then it got worse. Losing the first five against the Red Sox for the first time since 1985 and enduring a painful, ugly five-game losing streak.

joe must go!

And then there was Saturday.

Phil Hughes allowed eight runs in the second inning and all the good feelings created by Alex Rodriguez's homer and CC Sabathia's shutout the night before were gone. The Yankees were on their way to a 12-5 pounding at the hands of the Orioles in Baltimore. The Yankees have lost six of seven, are 14-16 and have already allowed 10 runs in a game six times this season.

As I said, it's really not entirely Joe Girardi's fault. The players have not performed. Injuries have played a significant role. There is plenty of blame to go around, and most of it should be reserved for Brian Cashman.

Given a payroll of $201 million, Cashman has assembled a team that as no bullpen, no bench and a lineup that has no speed, has not been clutch and has shown no heart. If the Yankees don't turn it around, I will be stunned if Cashman survives this season. But that is a story months down the line. Firing the GM midseason does nothing to fire up a team.

And that leaves Girardi vulnerable to be the scapegoat as the chants grow louder.

joe must go!

Firing the manager is a tactic that has been tried often, especially by George Steinbrenner. Occasionally it works. Last season, the Mets fired Willie Randolph and Jerry Manuel got the team into playoff contention, even grabbing first in the NL East for a while. The Brewers fired their manager with a week to go in the season and wound up grabbing the wild card from the Mets.

Even worse for Girardi is that right there on his bench is sitting another candidate who interviewed for the job Girardi ended up getting. Hal and Hank Steinbrenner have a ready-made answer for who would replace Girardi if they were to make an in-season move: bench coach Tony Pena, the former Manager of the Year with the Royals.

joe must go!

Girardi came in with a reputation of being fiery, with a good handle on statistical analysis and a good grasp of the tactical aspects of the game. The concern with was his people skills and whether he'd be able to command a room filled with veterans, some of whom were his peers.

His in-game management wouldn't be the reason he would be fired. Yes, he's made his share of questionable decisions. But so did Joe Torre, who often seemed to have the golden touch and would get away with those moves.

No, Girardi's failure will result from his struggles in the locker room and his inability to get this team going.

Torre should never have been fired (I know he technically wasn't, but we all know better). Making the playoffs every year clearly was an accomplishment that was vastly underappreciated. His ability to deal with his players, the media, ownership and the whirlwind that is New York was his greatest strength and underrated.

He knew how to push the buttons and was smart enough to recognize when something wasn't working and change. Sometimes it took a while for him find the right combination, but he always did and the team always took off.

Girardi does not appear to have that ability, causing the chants to grow louder.

joe must go!

Last season, Girardi struggled to communicate effectively with his players and ran into trouble with the media. He vowed to learn from his makes, and in many ways he has.

But the team is still not responding. The team is playing uninspired ball and not showing enough signs that it will snap out this funk and go on the big run that eluded it last season. And that has Yankees fans starting to grumble loudly.

joe must go!

Don't expect anything to have in the next week or two, but if the team continues to play poorly, eventually management is going to have to ask itself what it can do to shake things up, especially if it feels this team is capable of making the playoffs.

There aren't many options to shake up the roster right now. There just isn't any major league ready talent on the farm (another Cashman failure). Joba Chamberlain isn't going to be moved to the pen, especially with Ian Kennedy out with an aneurysm and Hughes certainly ticketed back to Triple A Scranton upon Wang's return. There is only so much Girardi can do with the lineup.

And even though Girardi deserves to finish out the season, that leaves one move.

joe must go!

Girardi does have time to turn things around. But not much. He needs more starting performances such as Sabathia's Friday. He needs the offense to start producing like it did during that four-game winning streak last week. He needs a few people in the bullpen to step up and actually produce. Mostly, he needs to get this team to start playing with pride and passion.

And if he doesn't ...

joe must go!

There is one thing ownership fears right now. The Steinbrenners, Cashman, et al desperately want to avoid having to admit failure and their mistake in firing Torre. The didn't appreciate what they had in Torre and set out to find the next Terry Francona.

But the absolute last thing they want to see in the opening year of their new $1.6 billion palace is it turned into the Meadowland of the mid-1980s. To see Yankees fans morph into Jets fans begging Leon Hess to fire Joe Walton. To hear thundering off the stadium walls:

JOE MUST GO! JOE MUST GO! JOE MUST GO!

The chorus is warming up. Can you imagine a more embarrassing scene?

Runners In Scoring Position
Saturday
1-for-5 (.200)
Season
69-for-282 (.245)

Up Next
Sunday at Orioles, 1:35 p.m., YES
Joba Chamberlain (1-1, 3.77 ERA) OR Alfredo Aceves (0-0, 4.15) vs. Koji Uehara (2-3, 4.42)

Joba burst a blood vessel in his right thumb during batting practice Saturday and is questionable for the start. Giradi thinks Joba will be able to go, but Aceves was held back just in case.