Joe Girardi is a very stubborn manager. Maybe that is why he was fired by the Marlins when he was the manager of the year. Letting Burnett pitch on three days rest was a big mistake. Not only were the analysis on MLN against that decision but even the St Pete Times writers felt the same way. Going against the best pitcher the Phillies have with a the second best Yankee pitcher with 3 days rest was all wrong. Now the rest of the rotation is at risk. Petitte and CC will only have 3 days rest again for games 6 and maybe 7. Ex Ray Gaudin should have pitched game 5 against Lee. Even if he loses the Yankees would have a normal rested Burnett and Petitte to pitch games 6 or maybe 7. I bet George and Hal Steinbrenner are examining Girardi bad judgement. If the Yankees don't win the 27th World Series, then I think number 27 (Girardi) will be gone. You don't spend 250 million to finish second in the World Series.

You have a point about spending that much and finishing second.

I think we're seeing Girardi over-manage. Frankly, when your team can spend and get that kind of talent, you should simply trust your talent. Decisions are pretty much made before the game even starts when you can put those kind of players out there.

I am not a big fan of taking players out of their routine, and pitching on 3 days rest comes under that umbrella. I still think the Yanks are going to win it, but the way Girardi makes moves and decisions, as in playing to a matchup, are more what teams do when they lack talent, not have it in spades.

Joe Girardi has overmanaged the Yankees in the World Series, the same way Joe Maddon has done in 2009. The games the Rays lost due to Joe Maddon's decisions contributed to the Rays not making the playoffs. They missed the wildcard by about 11 games and Joe Maddon did his fair share in those loses. As the reader said before, let the players play and don't use computers to make judgements. Baseball is still a game played with real human beings, not computers. Imagine taken out players like Joe Dimaggio, Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, because a computer said that they didn't match up well against a certain pitcher. A manager like Joe Maddon who has never played in the major leagues should count on the players he has to make the right moves. His job is to motivate and not play his notebooks with statistics.

Was I dreaming? Did the Yankees actually lose?..LOL..I guess they will fire Giradi now for such a lousy job..

Yeah, I know you're joking here but I think you're missing the point. Joe Girardi has the easiest manager's job in baseball. He has the best caliber players, and also has the ultimate trump card in Mariano Rivera. He only needs to fill out the lineup card and not do anything too stupid.

Do you really think the Yankees won because Joe Girardi was managing them? They won the championship in the off-season when they signed Sabathia, Burnett, and Tex.

I see your logic and to an extent I agree..Its much easier to manage when all you have to do is say next!!!...But keeping all the egos in check is not easy..This team did play together and even when the ones expected to deliver did not others came through...I can only congratulate them and wish it was us..

'Wish it was us', can't agree with you more.

Is there a difference between jealousy and envy? I'm not really jealous of the Yankees, but I am envious of how much cash NY can spend. The truth is even if the Rays sold out every game, it still wouldn't match what the Yanks can spend, simply because of their TV deal. The markets aren't the same.

Managing a team of superstars and their super ego's isn't the easiest job. Sure you have all the talent in the world, but you still have to keep the peace in the clubhouse. Plus managing in NY for the Yankees, every little move you make is scrutinized and magnified by the media. There's a reason you hear a lot of ex managers, players, analyst, etc. talk about how it's not as easy as you think to manage a team like the Yankees.

Girardi had a very difficult job. The expectations were extreme! All Yankee fans expected nothing short of a World Series victory. Everyone else was hoping the extreme salary exercise would fail. No other manager was under as much pressure as he was. Every loss in NY is magnified more than we could ever imagine in Florida. Every choice Girardi made was scrutinized by the media. If the Yankees lost a game, it was Girardi's fault. When they won, it was either the talent level or the dollars spent, never Girardi. The only way he could come out of the 2009 season looking even remotely acceptable was winning it all. He made some hard choices, especially at the end (i.e. pitching rotation.) We all saw (and most commented on) his pitching decisions. In the end he won, and is deserving of the credit. The only thing I'm not so keen on is his wanting to change his uniform number from 27 to 28. Thats a bit presumptious to me!