Inside Pitch

Joe Torre handled the New York media about as well as any manager could have. A class guy all-around, Torre was unfailingly respectful and genuinely enjoyed talking baseball and sharing stories from his four-plus decades in the game. The mood was usually light.

Joe Girardi's been a different story. I remember a pre-game meeting he held with the local writers when he was manager in Florida two years ago. To lighten the mood, one of the reporters asked Girardi if he ever got bored during games and just called the bullpen to chat. Girardi was not amused.

Of course, none of this is all that important to fans. But a managers relationship with the media can be read as an indication of how he is handling the pressure of a given situation. And in New York this season, the atmosphere has at times been similarly contentious. Check out this amusing exchange between Girardi and New York Post baseball columnist Joel Sherman following the Yankees' 7-0 loss to the BoSox last night. Girardi held a fiery post-game team meeting and the clubhouse was not opened for 31 minutes.

REPORTER: You don't want to say at all what you talked to your team about?

GIRARDI: No, that's between my team and me.

REPORTER: I'm sure the 4.5 million fans who come to your games would like to ...

GIRARDI: That's between my team and me. (Awkward five-second pause) Team meetings are not for everyone to hear.

REPORTER: Sometimes they are.

GIRARDI: No, they're not.

REPORTER: Well, that's your ...

GIRARDI: That's your opinion, too.

REPORTER: No, that's your decision. I didn't say it was ...

GIRARDI: That's your opinion.

REPORTER: Right ... It's not really an example of you wanting to see everyone do well at their jobs, right, to not give us any idea of what happened at your team meeting?

GIRARDI: We can dance around this all night, Joel. It's between ME and MY team.

Here's the full audio from Girardi's chat last night.

-- David Briggs