#Joe Girardi’s return to Yankee Stadium filled with awkwardness

It began with four years behind the plate, featuring three World Series titles and a forever Game 6 triple which helped bring the Yankees their first championship in 18 years. It ended after 10 years on the bench, featuring six playoff appearances and the team’s first title in nine years.

Joe Girardi’s return to The Bronx was set to invite emotion, appreciation, enthusiastic applause. Instead, the new Phillies manager returned to silence, as he faced his former team for the first time since his tenure as Yankees manager ended after the 2017 season, one win shy of the World Series.

Awkwardness was unavoidable, even if 50,000-plus seats at Yankee Stadium were occupied.

“Sometimes, as much as it’s really appreciated, it’s uncomfortable because you don’t really know how to act when you get a standing ovation in the opposing stadium,” Girardi said last week. “I think in a lot of ways, it’s really nice, and I got a lot of cheers when we played the Yankees in spring training [in Florida], but it’s a little uncomfortable because you don’t know how to act.”

Before another abnormal night of baseball, Girardi didn’t know where to go, taking a series of strange steps to the visiting clubhouse.

“That’s just somewhat awkward in and of itself because that’s not something I really did for 10 years,” Girardi said on a Zoom call before Monday’s exhibition game. “I always came in through the garage, down the stairs, into the home clubhouse, and this, we came through the loading dock from center field, all the way around. That was different.”

Briefly, Girardi, 55, was brought back in time. He saw longtime Yankees employees. He spoke with Aaron Judge and Brett Gardner during batting practice. He caught up with his replacement, Aaron Boone, while donning a red hat, shirt and face mask.

“It was nice to see so many familiar faces, clubhouse people, players, coaches, front office people,” said Girardi, who returns for the Yankees’ home opener on July 29.

“That seemed kind of normal, but you’re on the opposite side and it’s different.”

It was different, without his pinstripes, without the fans, without the sounds the stadium is supposed to make. But it was also the same place Girardi spent so much of his life calling home, a field capable of producing emotion like no other.

“I had 15, really, fond years being here, whether I was a player or a coach or a manager,” Girardi said before the game. “They were great days and a great part of my life. There’s really a lot of fond memories.”