"I think probably everyone would have probably rather played [Thursday]," Girardi said. "We understand it. We've been on both sides. It's probably good for our bullpen to have a day off. We rely on them heavily."
Girardi said Thursday's off-day would help reliever Tommy Kahnle in particular. Kahnle was called upon for two innings behind Masahiro Tanaka's magnificent outing in Game 5 of the ALCS presented by Camping World, throwing 20 pitches with a strikeout around a hit.
"It allows us to probably use Tommy [in Game 6] if we need him," Girardi said.