Clueless Joe? Far from it.

As we embark on what should be a World Series full of story lines involving former and current rivals, Hall of Famers in waiting, champions of past, present, and future, lets not forget the men who led them there. I co-host a sports talk radio program in an industry that fields call after call, roasting players for bad games and managers for poor decisions. How about taking the opposite approach.

Why do we put all the blame on the manager when a team loses, but only praise the players when they win?  Phillies manager, Charlie Manuel, was all but run out of town early in 2007, when coming off of two straight 2nd place finishes, his team started out 3-10 and looked destined to underachieve. Now, after three consecutive division titles and two NL pennants, Charlie is the best thing to hit Philly since some guy put cheese and steak together on a sandwich.

On the other side of this World Series lies Yankee manager, Joe Girardi. The former scrappy catcher-turned-manager began his career on the bench by guiding a rebuilding Marlins team to within a week of a wild card spot in 2006. He was promptly awarded the National League manager of the year award – along with a pink slip. Due to “differences in opinion” with ownership (shockingly, the fiery Girardi can rub some the wrong way), he was fired after only one season.

After spending 2007 in the booth as an analyst, he was named manager of the Yankees following the resignation of the legendary Joe Torre. New York won 89 games in his first season last year, but finished in third place behind Boston and Tampa. The Yankees missed the playoffs for the first time in 14 seasons and the common denominator seemed to be that Girardi’s overbearing demeanor was a detriment to the team after all those years of the laid back  Torre. Fans wanted a reason for the team’s failure and failed to look at the make up of a roster that had stagnated. They handed Girardi with aging veterans and three rookie pitchers in the rotation, all while expecting the usual results. When the inevitable underachieving occurred, the Yankees augmented their roster like never before leading up to 2009. Last winter they paid almost a half billion dollars to lure Mark Teixeira, C.C. Sabathia, and A.J. Burnett to the Bronx. With great power comes great expectations. Welcome to 2009 for Joe Girardi.

If you listen to the majority of Yankee fans who enjoying expressing their opinion, you would think that the team had a disappointing season under Girardi’s watch. He has been hit with the labels of over managing, panicky, and too reliant on numbers to make decisions. Lost in all the critique of his managerial acumen, is just how many great decisions he has made in getting the very most out of his wonderfully talented roster.

He made the decisions in spring training to flip-flop Johnny Damon and Derek Jeter in the lineup to take advantage of their strengths while hiding their weaknesses. Jeter had become a double play machine in recent seasons, frequently grounding into double plays after Damon led off with a hit. By batting Jeter leadoff in 2009, he had far less chances to ground into double plays and did so while enjoying a renaissance at the plate. Damon was able to use the number two spot in the order to drive pitches out to the short porch in right field rather than work the count as a prototypical lead off hitter. He responded by matching a career high with 24 HRs.

Many thought that Girardi should use Mark Teixeria to protect Alex Rodriguez in the lineup when he returned from hip surgery. It turned out that Teixeria needed the protection that A-Rod provided. Tex hit below .200 until Rodriguez returned batting behind him. Seeing better pitches to hit enabled Teixeria to produce an MVP type of season. A-Rod was able to give the Yankees a tremendous regular season and what has been a legendary postseason, partly because after playing him everyday for the first three weeks he was off the disabled list, Girardi realized that he needed to pace his star. By giving Rodriguez a day or two off per week through the middle of the season, he was fresher than ever for the stretch run. It wasn’t easy sitting down the best hitter on the team once a week, but Joe was playing for the big picture.

The decision to keep Hideki Matsui strictly at designated hitter has been overlooked, but contributed largely to the big year he provided. Matsui wanted to play the outfield all season long. Yankee doctors told him that he could try it in June, but after his knees swelled up while shagging fly balls, Girardi announced that he wouldn’t put him out there under any circumstances.

This was particularly tough during a nine game road trip through interleague play that essentially made a pinch hitter out of one of the best left-handed hitters in the game. It would have been easy to let him go out there for a game or two and hope for the best. Instead, Girardi stuck to his plan and was rewarded with the highest slugging percentage from Matsui since 2004.

Girardi was also flexible with his CF platoon of Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner, refused to overwork his bullpen (Joe Torre’s Achilles heel), adhered to the Joba Rules even when they were maddening the fans, turned Phil Hughes into an eighth inning weapon when most were calling for his demotion to Triple-A in order to progress as a starter in the future, overcame the horrible season by Chien-Ming Wang, and navigated his way through a potential season ruining rift between Jorge Posada and A.J. Burnett.

Has Girardi been perfect in 2009? Not at all. Some of his decisions, from removing David Robertson in game three of the ALCS to pinch running for Alex Rodriguez in game five, have been down right puzzling. Does he try to always stay one step ahead of the opposing manager during each game, sometimes to a fault? Absolutely. Is he blessed with the most talented 25 man roster in the league? No doubt about it. Is he Clueless Joe? He is four more victories from being far from it.