Phillies manager Joe Girardi notched his first win in red pinstripes on Saturday, but looks forward to a bigger celebration this fall
Behind a stellar Philadelphia Phillies debut from Zack Wheeler and home runs from Phil Gosselin (2), Didi Gregorius, and J.T. Realmuto, manager Joe Girardi secured his first win in red pinstripes Saturday evening against the Miami Marlins at Citizens Bank Park.
The 7-1 victory also secured the 2009 World Series-winning skipper his first win at Citizens Bank Park since Game 4 of that year’s Fall Classic. Also, it was his first win as a National League manager since his first and only season at the helm of the then-Florida Marlins — Oct. 1, 2006. During that season’s final game, coincidentally against Phillies, Girardi’s Marlins won in walk-off fashion.
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After the game on Saturday, Girardi told reporters that he received some high-fives from players in recognition of his first win with the team. But, the four-time overall World Series winner (three as a player) has his eyes sight on a postseason run before he wants to even consider a celebration.
“It’s a little bit different, the celebrations, and we understand that,” Girardi said while discussing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “But,” he says, “I’d rather do it after you clinch a spot in a playoff.”
“That would be more important to me than my first win.”
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With the Phillies now 1-1 through two of the 60 games in the 2020 season, Girardi now has a 989-795 career managerial record; 910 of those victories were with the New York Yankees across a decade (2008-17). Girardi’s best year in New York came in 2009, winning 103 games, and, of course, the eventual championship over the Phillies that November.
Girardi needs just 11 more wins to reach the 1,000-victory plateau — a feat only 64 managers have ever accomplished in Major League Baseball history.
When Girardi does so, likely sometime early next month, he fittingly will come into an all-time managerial wins tie with 2008 World Series-winning Phillies manager, Charlie Manuel — whose career record as a skipper is an even 1,000-826.