Joe Girardi

As a Mets fan, this has been a long, terrible season, and yet, for me personally, it all came together with one blast off the bat of Alex Rodriguez.

I went to see the Mets on opening day, the first time all of the rivals came to Citi Field, and I was fortunate enough to see the team finish the season with a 10-7 record at my games.

Carl Pavano robbed the Yankees of $38 million from 2005-2008 and on Sunday night, New York will look to make him pay for it.

The 33-year-old right-hander is the only thing standing between the Bombers and their first trip to the American League Championship Series since 2004, and there's more on the line in Game 3 than just the satisfaction of sweeping the Twins and exacting revenge on Pavano.

Ok, New York Yankees, you have the best record in baseball. You have 50 come-from-behind victories, you have a clubhouse full of likable players, who seem to enjoy playing with and for each other, and beginning next week what does it all mean? Absolutely nothing.

Notable nattering nabob of the Detroit Free Press Drew Sharp recently took a break from his negativity to proclaim Tigers manager Jim Leyland as the easy pick for American League Manager of the Year.

When Sharp writes, I instinctively believe exactly the opposite.

But maybe he's on to something.

Leyland won the award in 2006. In just his first year in Detroit, he guided the Tigers from perennial bottom-feeder to their first playoff appearance since 1987.

On balance, the Yankees had a successful first half.

They hit a bunch of home runs, had some nice comeback wins, received extended stretches of quality pitching, and managed to overcome injuries to key players. Because of that, they are comfortably above .500 heading into the All-Star break.

But things aren't exactly as they seem.

I'm not a guy who enjoys dogging Joe Girardi, not in the least bit possible.

I love supporting him, even when people question every little decision he makes when the Yankees lose games.

Being the manager in New York isn't a piece of cake, and Girardi seems to handle the pressure well.

People tend to forget it is only his second year managing.

Alright praise time over, time to get down to my first real criticism of an in-game move by the Yankee skipper.

Joe Girardi has been around the New York Yankees for a number of years in several different capacities. He has seen a bunch of Subway Series with the Mets.

And he has learned how much it means to Yankee owners to beat the Mets.

Girardi has apparently been under a great deal of stress to win the series with his cross town rivals to the point of ignoring the last few games trying to prepare for the Metropolitans.

Much credit has been given to Yankees Manager Joe Girardi for his “inspiring and motivating” rant and subsequent ejection on Wednesday night.

Girardi was on a mission to not only light a fire under his team, but to also make opposing manager and “ejection extraordinaire” Bobby Cox proud of his tirade.

Joe Girardi is an absolutely horrible manager and the decisions he made in a crucial situation on Wednesday night prove it again.

The Yankees were playing the worst team in all of baseball, the Washington Nationals.

The Yankees were behind 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth inning. 

Mark Teixeira got on base and Girardi sent fleet Brett Gardner in to run for Tex.

Gardner stole second and soon stole third when the Nats' catcher dropped the ball trying to transfer it from his glove to make the throw to third.

They just didn't have another one in them.

A day after the Yankees completed their 22nd come-from-behind victory, the Bombers stranded the tying run at third in the ninth to fall 3-2 to the Washington Nationals.

Robinson Cano, who tied a career-high with four hits on Tuesday, stepped to the plate with the game on the line Wednesday. All he needed to do was hit a lazy fly ball to the outfield to score the speedy Bret Gardner to tie the game. But on the ninth pitch of the at bat, he bounced into a 6-4-3 double play to end the contest.