Joe has a Joe moment

During the insanely successful Joe Torre era, there were times, especially during the dynastic years of the late 1990s, when Torre seemed to conjure managerial magic where others saw only helpless failure. (And yes, I know, Torre made his share of mistakes, disastrous ones, but that's another post...)

Leaving Mariano Rivera in for a third inning of relief against Boston in game seven of the 2003 ALCS? Joe did it, and the Yankees won.

Putting Aaron Boone in to run for Ruben Sierra in the same game, when Boone was a terrible post-season player? We all know what happened not long after that.

We could do this all day. The point is, every manager lives and dies with two things, one he controls, and one he doesn't.

The one he doesn't: Players coming through not when they're supposed to, but when they have to. No manager can make the play from the dugout steps. Only players in the field can.

The one he does: Making the right call at the right time.

Joe Girardi got both things right in Tampa last night.

With the game inexplicably tied at 7-7, after disastrous 7th-inning relief appearances by Billy Traber and Brian Bruney, Girardi tried to shake things up offensively. He had a slumping Robinson Cano on the bench and a young Alberto Gonzalez at the plate. Gonzalez had a walk in three appearances and was 0-for-2, and with the very hittable Al Reyes (13 home runs given up in 60 innings in 2007) on the mound for Tampa, Girardi wanted some more big bat potential, only he waited too long and forgot to tell Gonzalez he was coming out.

With Gonzalez already at the batter's box, about to step in, Girardi had to call him back. (He later apologized to Gonzalez, in the dugout, for the embarrassment.) Up walked Cano, with his .170 average and fragile confidence. A minute later, Cano was back in the dugout, and the Yankees led 8-7 after his solo, pinch-hit home run.

The move did not make perfect baseball sense -- aside from Cano's current slump, Reyes had struck out Cano in the only two previous times he faced the Yankee second baseman -- but supposedly sound moves, made by managers every day, often go up in smoke (the best laid plans.... yada yada yada). So what Girardi did was just trust his gut, and this time, his gut was right.

Fans -- especially, but not only, those who are using Torre, unfairly, as a gold standard for the new manager -- have grumbled some about Girardi's moves so far this season. But Yankee woes thus far have had as much to do (I think) with an unforgiving schedule and piss-poor weather as they have with any moves Girardi has made or not made. Not so Monday, when a Yankee victory came directly off the bat of a player sent to the plate specifically for the situation in which he succeeded. Credit must go to Girardi for making the call (and, of course, to Cano, for making the play).

There wil be plenty of opportunity to criticize Girardi as the 2008 season wears on; there always is, for every manager. But Monday night's win, a seemingly insignificant April victory, might go a long way to helping team and manager get that much more acquainted with one another.

Nothing bonds men together more effectively than going through an intense competition together, and getting a good result in a game that was going south faster than Bill Clinton's pants can only help to make this a tighter team, especially during this god-awfully-long road trip.

Score one for Joe.... just like in the old days.