Why Joe Torre and Joe Girardi Are Not Your "Average Joe" Managers

Steinbrenner’s pinstriped crew, led by steady manager Joe Girardi, is back on top of the major league standings and Torre is on the cusp of leading his team to the playoffs for the 14th season in a row.

Girardi should be a lock for AL Manager of the Year after lighting a fire in New York and helping revive the Yankee organization in 2009. The Yankees have the best record in the majors (97-56), not an easy feat playing alongside the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East, the toughest division in baseball.

While first baseman Mark Teixeira is the team’s top candidate for AL MVP honors, Girardi, by convincingly proving that he can win in the toughest of circumstances and under the most biting scrutiny in sports, may be the key to the team’s success.

Torre’s Dodgers (91-60) have been just as impressive in the second-most difficult division in baseball, the NL West. The Colorado Rockies and San Francisco Giants have been nipping at the Dodgers’ heels throughout the second half, but the boys in Dodger blue have held off the competition all year with timely hitting and solid teamwork.

After Manny Ramirez was credited with 2008’s second half surge that catapulted the team into the playoffs, Torre proved that the common denominator was his leadership and L.A. should make its first back-to-back playoff appearances since 1995-96.

Torre overcame the 50-game suspension of his best hitter, left fielder Manny Ramirez, who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

Faced with this huge hurdle, right fielder Andre Ethier and center fielder Matt Kemp continued to develop under the legendary skipper and after posting career-bests in Torre’s first year as the Dodgers manager in 2008, Ethier and Kemp have set career-highs in home runs and RBI again in 2009.

While Los Angeles rushed out of the gates and has dominated the NL West all season, Girardi has coped with injuries to three-time AL MVP third baseman Alex Rodriguez, and two-time All-Star Hideki Matsui, the team’s designated hitter.

Slow starts by starting pitcher CC Sabathia and Teixeira were other pitfalls that confronted Girardi in his second season as a major league manager. He made the then-controversial decision to move Joba Chamberlain into the starting rotation and place Phil Hughes in the bullpen.

Other AL managers having great seasons include the Detroit Tigers’ Jim Leyland, the Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Scioscia, and Ron Washington of the Texas Rangers.

Leyland and the Tigers are holding on to a slim division lead and have been in first place in the AL Central most of the year. Scioscia has the Angels on the brink of their third consecutive AL West title, which would give the team five playoff berths in the last six seasons.

The Rangers will complete the season above .500 for the first time in five years and with a strong run to the finish line, third-year manager Washington has a chance to end the year with the franchise’s best record this decade.

Girardi gets the edge in the AL because his team has the best record in MLB and has persevered in the rugged AL East. It would be his second Manager of the Year award in three seasons as a major league manager. Girardi was NL Manager of the Year with the Florida Marlins in 2006.

In the NL, Tony La Russa of the St. Louis Cardinals, Charlie Manuel of the Philadelphia Phillies, and Jim Tracy of the Colorado Rockies are in the running for managerial accolades.

The Cardinals are led by leading MVP candidate Albert Pujols; shrewd midseason acquisitions have kept the team in first place in the NL Central. Manuel is underrated but the Phillies are back in first place in the NL East looking to defend their back-to-back division titles in October.

Tracy has re-energized the Rockies and if not for Colorado’s 18-28 start before he took over as manager, his squad could be battling for home field advantage in the playoffs instead of fighting for the NL wild card.

Torre gets the edge because his team has played well all year in a very tough division featuring the resurgent Rockies and the pitching power of the Giants. Torre won AL Manager of the Year honors with the Yankees in 1996 and 1998.

These above-average Joes have shown that they're at the top of the heap, but high expectations in the country's two largest markets might derail their chances of garnering recognition.