hooray: joe girardi named yankees manager

It's not easy being a Yankees fan in Chicago. It was especially difficult this fall:

1. The Yankees imploded in the playoffs - again - with lackluster hitting and uninspired pitching. Teasing us down the stretch with great play made their post-season collapse all the more disappointing.
   
2. The Red Sox won the Series - again - with gutsy hitting and inspired pitching. Congrats. I take some small comfort in the American League showing the National League who its daddy is.
3. The artless stooge that is Alex Rodriguez failed in the playoffs - again - and then thumbed his nose at a deal that would have made him richer than Croesus. Phooey, good riddance to bad rubbish, and kudos to Brian Cashman for refusing to negotiate a new deal. For all Rodriguez' skills and ridiculous numbers, his selfishness was locker room poison and utterly inconsistent with what it takes to win a championship. There is no "team" in Alex Rodriguez.
   
4. The even more artless stooges that are Yankees management showed - again - that they don't know how to handle a management change with class. It may have been Joe Torre's time to go, but giving him a F--k-You offer only served to illustrate how the New Bosses are as boorish and classless as the Old Boss. Joe, you personify dignity and grace under pressure, and I will miss seeing you in pinstripes.

So it is with some relief that I see the New Bosses have done the right thing by hiring former Yankee catcher and Manager of the Year Joe Girardi as the new Yankee skipper. It is also the clearest sign that Old George will be spending his twilight years dribbling into a cup instead of making coaching decisions - if the Old Boss was still really in charge, Don Mattingly would be getting ready to move in. Sorry, Donny Baseball, but you've got to bear some of the responsibility for the Yankee collapses of recent years, and while that's probably unfair, that's how it goes.

I see a bright future for the Yankees as they nurture their deep bench of young talent under the tutelage of a coach who knows how to get the best out of young players. It might take them a few years to bring it all together, but when they do, those of us who are proud to call ourselves Yankee fans will have something to be proud of again.