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| I'm sticking with Cusack until the first juju intervention. It's possible, that will come during spring training. |
Instead, the news reads likes a rant Alphonso would dictate at 3 a.m. in an Ambien haze.
Pitchers and catchers are reporting, and the Yankees - once the pride of New York City - are being greeted like that TV show where the guy gets eaten by the anaconda. Last August, they groped, traded prospects and absorbed payroll dumps - and still couldn't make the final, away-game Wild Card slot. Now... they're bringing back the same sorry cast for an encore presentation -with weekly induction pageants into the Yankee Hall of Fame. The way the Yankees have sucked hope from this pre-season - it's like Hal Steinbrenner's ultimate sick piece of performance art.
Some quotes from today's write-ups.
From the NY Times:
The championship era is over. Even when the Yankees were not winning the World Series with Jeter, they were usually good for about 95 wins, 900 runs and a clubhouse full of must-see stars. Not so much anymore...
[I]n February — in a new clubhouse, in a new season, in a new baseball era — they can dream big. They can dream of becoming the Royals.
The Daily News
Oddsmakers don’t like the Yankees’ chances this year, with some projecting the Bombers to finish fourth in the AL East.
The NY Post
This will be the third straight spring — and possibly season — in which a dubious Yankees on-field product is overshadowed. The past two years it was by the glorious exits of Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter. Now, it is the hissing re-entry of A-Rod.
ESPN
During his state of the Yankees address Friday, Joe Girardi was asked if his team was an
underdog this year. Girardi didn't really answer the question, instead using some
mumbo-jumbo about how he likes his players and is excited to get to work.
But when talking about his club for more than half an hour, Girardi sounded like a
manager who knows he must squeeze every bit of ability out of an aging roster packed
with question marks and "ifs."
In the center of all this, of course, is A-Rod, with whom we share a set of aging internal organs. Many of the Yankee beat writers have, already, permanently savaged him in print. At this point, it's absurd to imagine them in mid-May asking him about a key strike-out or a booted ground ball - without invoking open hostility. It'll be like paparazzi shouting questions at Bruce Jenner. Eventually, he will snap. The Yankee front office will be shocked - shocked! They will suspend him. They will receive accolades in the press for ridding the game of steroids... as they prepare to retire Andy Pettitte's jersey.
At best, if we make it through camp and look like the Kansas City Royals, we're still going to get eaten by that anaconda. It's going to be a long year.
Ah, this all brings back memories. The late-60s Yankees stopping at the same motel every year outside Albany, giving local hack sportscasters some great footage about how much promise the team held. Ralph Houk pointing out how much improved they were from the collapse, how Horace Clarke was the second coming of Tony Lazzeri, how excited he was about Dooley Womack or Stan Bahnsen...
ReplyDeleteGood times...Cheap seats. Small crowds. Eddie Layton on the organ instead of blaring pop crap, shorter commercial breaks between innings, the Steinbrenners only a dim and distant shadow on the road ahead...ahhhh.
ReplyDeleteIt's going to be a long year.
Fortunately, you just can't predict baseball.
Girardi's big rant today is how it can just as important to prevent runs from scoring, as to score them.
ReplyDeleteIn other words, this Yankee team ( just like last year) is unlikely to often score more than two runs per game. So, it will be up to our pitching to hold opponents to two runs or less.
Get ready for a huge disappointment.
83 wins, -160 run differential. Tex leads the teams with 6 homeruns. This year is going to suck. Steinbrenner's retard son should just buy the Mets and combine the roster into some super average talent team. At least we won't be too terrible.
ReplyDelete