Girardi already manages to inspire Phils
PHILADELPHIA >> Gabe Kapler was the Phillies’ manager for 10 minutes, less than that probably, and already Philadelphia fans had made a ruling.
Thumbs down. Nope. Not the guy. Not him. Nah.
They ultimately would be proven right. But even if they weren’t, they weren’t going to change their minds about a California salesman with a commitment to lineups and bullpen rotations based on up to three years of data. It’s the way they are. They are demanding, but with a streetsmart gut feel.
That was two years ago, and by Monday it felt so much longer. For there for the very same yank-the-ill-fitting-jersey-overa-tie photo-op was Joe Girardi. And there was another ruling.
Thumbs up. Yep. The guy. Him. Yes.
Never mind that the Phillies had just hired a bookworm, proud of his Northwestern engineering degree. Never mind that he was recognized world-wide as a Yankee, or that he once was so committed to making decisions based on numbers that he would lug around a stat book and earn the nickname, “Binder Joe.”
In Philadelphia, the one-time world-championship manager was immediately recognized as the regular guy from Peoria with half-a-Chicago accent, and as the right manager at the right time for the right customer base.
“It means a lot to me that the fans are behind me,” Girardi was saying, in an impressive introductory conference at the ballpark. “I grew up in the era of playing against the Phillies in the ‘90s when they were great with Darren Daulton and John Kruk, who ran me over in 1991 and broke my nose and then visited me in the hospital.
“I’m well aware of the importance of winning in this town. I had a chance to manage against a team in the 2000s that was great. So think about it: In the ‘90s they were great, in the 2000s they were great and this team has a history of being successful. And I’m selfish. I want to win.
That’s why I came here. I think there’s a great opportunity to win here because you have a dedicated ownership, you have dedicated general manager and front office, and you have dedicated fans that support this club and want the same thing.”
Dusty Baker may have been a popular choice, but he is 70, while Girardi is 55. Buck Showalter was a finalist, but his Orioles lost a buck-15 games in his last season there (2018), an analytic unlikely to sneak past the morning talk-show hosts. Girardi brought no negatives. He was a 910-710 manager who’d won the 2009 World Series with the Yankees, a onetime National League Manager of the Year with the Marlins and a recognized competitor when he caught for 15 years in the big leagues.
“I think, and this has nothing to do with who Gabe is as a person or what he did as a manager, but it’s the experience,” said Rhys Hoskins, who watched the show from the side of the room. “He’s done ‘it.’ And ‘it’ is what we’re all trying to do. Win.”
The same rule applies to Girardi as it did Kapler. He must win, and he has only a threeyear contract, with an option, to do so. But with the way he projected focus and the way he preached trust, he won instant support in his first afternoon in red pinstripes. And at a time when the Phillies’ image was soiled by another bad September and a cruelly prolonged decision to fire Kapler, they needed someone with Girardi’s background and achievement as a cleansing agent.
“He has won in the toughest markets,” Matt Klentak said. “And he has hoisted that World Series trophy over his head.”
His mother was the youngest of 15. The father of three has been married for 30 years to his wife, Kimberly, whom while courting he once took to the Wrigley Field bleachers for a game against the Phillies, where she would step on a home run ball and claim it for her own. And he truly believes he was meant to manage in Philadelphia.
“I was just impressed with how important good people are to him, how important family is to him,” Hoskins said. “I think it’s really awesome that he brought his family around today. He wants them to know where he works, and how important this is to him. How important they are to him as well comes across quite obviously.”
Everything Girardi did Monday came across well, from sharing a story about playing for Pete Mackanin in the minors, to the way remembering for Larry Bowa with the Cubs, to laughing about the time he sent a ball to the Phillies’ clubhouse and asked Ryan Howard to sign it for his son, Dante. And even if he once banned facial hair in the Marlins’ clubhouse, he has mellowed. All he asks is that everyone in the room is listening to the same song at the same time.
In a vacuum, none of that would matter. But when it flows from a manager with 11 years of experience who has been at the top of his profession, it all rings in concert.
“I loved every word he said in that press conference,” said Bowa, his grasp of the connection between the Phillies and their fans ever firm. “I thought he was dead on with the fans, with the city, with the players. He embraces analytics but I guarantee he goes with his gut.” To Phillies fans, guts matter. Their guts say Joe Girardi is right for the job.
For the second straight time, they should be correct.