Joe Girardi will continue to manage the New York Yankees in the AL Division Series despite the recent death of his father.

Girardi has managed the entire ALDS since his father, Jerry, died Saturday at the age of 81.

Joe Girardi acknowledged Thursday that he did not want his father's death to be a distraction. He added that he did not want news of his father's death to be public because talking about it would make it "even harder" to deal with.

"I had a tremendous relationship with my father," Girardi, growing emotional, said Thursday before the Yankees hosted the Baltimore Orioles in Game 4. "Wherever he went, I went. When he stopped, I ran into him. And I've always said, if I could be half the husband and father my dad (was), that would be special."