Kevin Baker's book is here!

Kevin Baker's book is here!
"... an exemplary sports book..." Kirkus Reviews

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Well, who needed that long unbeaten streak, anyway?

Not me. Not you. Not nobody. We're Yankee fans, right? Twenty-seven rings. Boatload of retired numbers. Home of Center Stage with Michael Kay. Who needs an unbeaten streak that extended to 2012 and spanned an ocean?

Nope. Doesn't rattle me. Not one iota. Better to be over it. To nip it in the bud. Yep, nip it, nip it, nip it, nip-it-nip-it... Nip. It. In. The. Bud. A loss to Theo Epstein's Cubs? Palooofff. That's what I say. Pa-looo-fff. We've got Chase Whitley today. Chase Whit-ley. Maybe Chase can launch a streak.

Then comes Mr. Phelps, Toyota Kuroda and El Nuno.

I feel a streak forming.

Who needed Masahiro Tanaka's streak? Not me.

But you know... last night in the sixth, when we were down 2-0, and Brett Gardner led off with a dunk double to left, I would have bet the toaster we would win that game. I felt it. Jeet fought back from a 0-2 count to force an eight-pitch at bat, then grounded out. Ellsbury - (WTF happened to him?) - popped out, and Teixeira slashed a glorious single to right, scoring our run for the night. McCann drew a walk, and Soriano - the ever-shrinking, free-swinging, Soriano - whacked the first pitch he saw to the third-baseman. End of threat. (I can't pinpoint the moment I lost all hope for Soriano, but I'd have to say it was in that game against Boston last September, the one we absolutely had to win, and he - the tying run - got thrown out trying to steal third with two outs. Once a rookie, always a rookie.)

Oh, who needed that streak anyway? We should be thankful there's no more pressure, no more distractions. Chase Whitley today. I guess that about sums it up.

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