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Kevin Baker's book is here!
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Tuesday, July 12, 2016

The most defining 10 games of the Yankee decade are upon us

Viva Hyperbole!

But, seriously, sheeple... we are finally here. The canyon of zeros. The River Avenue Rapture. The Cashman Cataclysm. Hal-Mageddon. The Yankapocalypse...

Once we're done with tonight's sickening, four-hour shart of corporate self-congratulation - MLB's version of the Golden Globes - (World Series home field advantage? Meh...) - we play the O's, Redsocks and SF Giants - baseball's best-run franchise, managed by all the guys we didn't keep (Brian Sabean, Felipe Alou, Shane Turner, Dave Righetti, Bam Bam Meulens, Dirt Tidrow, Roberto Kelly, et al). What happens over the next 10 games could define the Yankee 2016 season in Hal Steinbrenner's inherited, size-16 head.

If we get splattered - (Fun fact: we are 4-8 this season against the O's and Redsocks) - the team might launch what thinking fans want: A clog-clearing blow-out, disbanding the senior citizens outreach program that currently co-exists with the Yankee lineup. We probably won't get anybody in a trade, because other teams only see the bloated contracts. To me, it doesn't matter. It's time to see Ben Gamel, Gary Sanchez, Luis Severino and Rob Refsnyder in a regular role. Aaron Judge's bum knee means he probably won't make it this year, other than for a cup of coffee. But we're close to a verdict on Aaron Hicks, Nathan Eovaldi, Brian McCann, Starlin Castro and others - maybe even Brett Gardner: None will likely ever wear a Yankee ring. Clearly, anything we could get for A-Rod, Tex or CC would be cream, but they'll stay, even if the Yankee doomsday barge tries to pivot toward youth. No matter what happens, it won't be pretty. But a sell-off might spare us the indignity of what modern America has never known... a decade without the Yankees in the World Series. (We've already seen the eighties, when we went a world championship.)

But over these next few games, if we go - say - 7-3 or 6-4 - the brain trust might remember how leaky Toronto looked last August and choose to trade for more bloat. I don't know what version of Xavier Nady or Sidney Ponson is currently out there, waiting to escape some small market tomato can, but Brian Cashman would find him. We dodged a bullet with Nick Swisher, who ran the bases in Scranton like Catlyn Jenner in Dollar Store pumps. But when a GM is called upon to tear down the house that he, himself, built, believe it: There is a powerful incentive to add a new backyard deck and pretend the walls will hold.

During last week's drunk blog, which coincides with a gathering of dispirited fogies and Redsock fans, I constantly heard that Yankee fans are spoiled, and how followers of the Padres or Brewers would happily contend for a wild card every five seasons, because their teams always stink. I get that. These people are fools. But the Yankees are not a small market trinket, and their fans yearn for dynastic greatness, not a flash, Tom Coughlinesque run every fifth September. In a world where heroes are in short supply, it is not a crime to wish for something more than the mirage of a wild card. I'm too old for fake greatness. The culture is crammed with it. I want the real deal. And the next 10 games might tell whether we can build an honest team in this decade.

Or... maybe not.

Hey, viva hyperbole!  

5 comments:

Alphonso said...

Guess what, Duque?

We'll put up a .500 record against these goliaths, and learn nothing.

JM said...

3-7. coming up. That will put us at 47-51, very near the 45-52-1 of 1966.

All is not lost.

Anonymous said...

I SMELL 4-6 OR 5-5.....SO PREDICTABLE...... BY THE WAY, EVERY TIME AUSTIN ROMINE HITS, IT TURNS INTO A YOAN MONCADA, "SLOOOOOWLY I TURN, STEP BY STEP" MOMENT FOR ME......OF COURSE, I WANT TO ROOT FOR HIM TO GET A HIT, BUT REALIZING EVERY HIT HE GETS PUSHES GARY SANCHEZ FURTHER BACK, MAKES ME NUTS..... ONCE AGAIN, ROMINE IS NOT THE FUTURE!....SANCHEZ COULD BE IF GIVEN THE CHANCE!!!!...... AND CAN'T CASHMAN SPIN ROMINE, OR ROMINE AND BELTRAN INTO A MEANINGFUL DEAL FOR US???.... YOU TELL ME SOMEONE CAN'T USE A SOLID BACKUP CATCHER WHO IS STILL FAIRLY YOUNG?......CASHMAN IS A DUNCE.

Anonymous said...

Any serious Yankee fan had better be praying that they go 10-0 to finally jolt Crashman into trading for some young talent. They're not going anywhere anyway. Time for management and fans to DEAL WITH REALITY.

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