Rozner: As always, Yanks' Girardi in a good place

Joe Girardi would have quite obviously preferred to see his own team win the World Series last fall.

When you're the manager of a baseball team, there can be no other answer.

And when you're a manager in New York, and it happens to be the Yankees, there is only one satisfactory conclusion to a season.

But once eliminated, Girardi's heart led him back to the place of his childhood. It's the team he loved and the team that gave him his start in professional baseball.

"It was amazing to watch. There were a lot of emotions," Girardi said Tuesday morning from New York. "I was thinking about my father a lot."

Jerry Girardi died in 2012 after a long battle with Alzheimer's, having raised a family of Chicago Cubs fans, not to mention one Cubs player.

And having had his heart broken by the North Siders so many times.

"He almost made it. That would have been something to see," said Girardi, whose Yankees invade Wrigley Field this weekend. "I thought about all the time we spent in the car listening to the games, and the time we spent watching games.

"We talked a lot about the World Series and hoping to see that together. We came close a few times."

The Peoria native was at Northwestern in 1984 when the Cubs won the first two games of the NLCS, and was the starting catcher for three of the five NLCS games in 1989.

"I really thought 1984 was the year, and then a few years later we had that great chance in '89. There were a lot of those years when we thought it would happen," Girardi said. "I'm just so happy for Cubs fans all around the country and all around the world who have been waiting so long for it, and happy for all the people working there who have been a part of it.

"The pure joy it brought people is something that you can't even measure, and I found myself thinking of my dad when all that was happening. I'm sure a lot of people went through something similar."

Girardi's focus is, naturally, back on his own team, which has been at or near the top of the American League East after a great spring training that was a shock to most baseball observers.

And in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year after selling off pieces last summer to start the process, the Yanks are arguably the biggest surprise in baseball.

Girardi is enjoying it very much, but he's seen too much baseball to get caught up in a month's worth of games.

"Fairly early in spring training, I could see the talent level of the young players was pretty strong, and, combined with our older guys, you could see pretty fast that we had a chance to be good," Girardi said. "Then we started the season 1-4 and you think maybe you're not the same team. You start to say, 'Spring training is spring training.' "

And then the Yankees won eight in a row.

"Yeah, we took off and that's kind of who we've been ever since," Girardi said. "Baseball is so unpredictable. I try to slow down and just take each day as it comes.

"I've always thought 60 games is a pretty good judge and then you know who you are, but I don't get too far ahead on that.

"It's been really enjoyable so far. There's a lot of youthful enthusiasm and even some of our so-called older guys are still pretty young in their careers, but the kids have been really impressive.

"Matt Holliday was a great addition in so many ways, and he's been great off the field. The young guys are all over him, picking his brain constantly."

Yes, the young guys have been good, and there's many more coming, a result of those trade-deadline deals that rejuvenated the New York farm system.

"Gleyber Torres, wow, he looks like the real deal," Girardi said. "He's a special player. I mean, you can't blame the Cubs. They gave up a lot, but they won the World Series. You have to say it was worth it.

"But I'll be surprised if he's not really good for a very long time."

Girardi has been back in New York for a long time, already in his 10th year as Yankees manager, good for fifth on the all-time list of games managed - and victories - for the most celebrated franchise in sports, behind only Joe McCarthy, Joe Torre, Casey Stengel and Miller Huggins.

But Girardi is also in the final year of his contract, as is GM Brian Cashman. It's not the first time Girardi has been in this spot, and it probably won't be the last.

It also doesn't seem to bother him in the slightest.

"Things have always worked out, and that's where my faith comes in and plays an important role in my life," Girardi said. "It's gonna work out the way it's gonna work out.

"I wouldn't trade the way it's went for me at any point along the way.

"Sometimes you dream about playing for a team and think you're gonna be there forever, and then you get opportunities in other places and it works out great.

"I have proof in my life that things work out for the best."

The man always seems to be at peace with his decisions and with the outcomes.

Pretty hard to argue with that.

brozner@dailyherald.com

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