Will Joe Go?

Atlanta, GA (WFAN)  -- There are plenty of you out there who want to see the Yankees fire Joe Girardi. If the Yankees don't get on a big roll soon, that seat will get warm, especially if they lose the second round of the Subway Series this weekend.

This is not the Yankee way recently. The last time the Yankees made a mid-season managerial change was 1990. Bucky Dent out, Stump Merrill in. This team isn't nearly in that bad shape. But the expectations here are infinitely higher. If Joe Girardi doesn't make the playoffs this year he will be fired. So how long do the Yankees go before pulling the plug this time?

Hal Steinbrenner is not as volatile as his father or else we may have seen the volcano blow already. But a big vote of confidence came from Brian Cashman on Wednesday.

"I think Joe's done an exceptional job," Cashman said. "We're scuffling right now for three weeks, but he's not humped over, slumped over, he's not down and out and woe is me or depressed or on edge or tight. He's keeping his guys up, he's keeping them positive."

"He's doing everything he needs to do," Cashman concluded. This is the first manager Cashman chose in his time as GM and it was his first choice. He's not going to run him out of town because the Yankees forgot how to hit for a couple weeks.

Girardi has spent enough time in pinstripes to know job status is a talk-radio staple when the team is not playing well. So publicly at least, he is keeping a brave face.

"I know the drill here," Girardi said Wednesday. "You win or you go home. I understand that. I know what we have to do as a club. For me to spend time worrying about (my job) doesn't make a lot of sense. I worry about what we're doing on the field. The only thing that I can do is run the club the best way that I know how. Besides that, I don't make those decisions."

"I'm going to do everything in my power to win every game and that's all I can ever do," Girardi said.

If this season goes spiraling out of control between now and the All-Star break I would think some of those positions change. But for now, this is the way it is.

And while you continue to stick pins in your Girardi voodoo doll, try to come up with the guy you want to manage in his place. Fans of Donnie Baseball, you'll have to wait until the season is over. Same for fans of Bobby V.

So is there anyone in-house that can take over the managerial reigns? Here is your list to choose from:

Tony Pena, Yankees bench coach
Rob Thomson, Yankees 3rd base coach
Dave Miley, AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre manager
Luis Sojo, A Tampa manager
Tino Martinez, Special Assistant to the GM
Stump Merrill, Special Assistant to the GM

Now let's think about this. Pena, Miley, and Stumper are the only ones on this list that have major league managing experience. No offense to any of them, but if you're going to be so drastic as to fire Joe Girardi are and of these guys making you feel like the season has been saved?

Thomson managed in the Yankee minor league system but is far removed from it. He has done an excellent job on the field with both Joe Torre and Joe Girardi, but there are those who feel his best work is in the front office.

Sojo hasn't managed above A-ball.

And before everyone starts getting these romantic delusions of seeing Tino Martinez take over as Yankees manager and lead them to the World Series, think again. Tino is a sharp guy and appears to enjoy his role as a voice in Cashman's ear, but he has zero managerial experience.

So what this comes down to is that unless the Yankees fail to pull out of this tailspin and are under .500 around the All-Star break, I don't think there will be anyone else in the manager's chair other than Girardi.

If you have visions of someone else riding to the rescue and leading this team all the way through the Canyon of Heroes victory parade, know this: only one Yankee team has ever changed managers in mid-season and won the World Series. And that took a furious comeback from 14 games out in 1978.

My guess is that Joe Girardi is your man in 2009. What happens in October will let us all know if he'll be back in 2010.

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