The Yankees lead MLB in humiliation, collapse and ignominy by averaging 7.34 runners left on base per game. (The 0.34 stands for leaving Ronald Torreyes.) And as much as I hate to say this, an elephant in the room would like us to know that Aaron Judge is tied for second in all of baseball with 165 runners left on base. (Will Myers is first, with 166.) If Judge's horrible second half continues - he's below .200 since the break - he'll soon be leading all of creation in failures.
Trust me: He will be the last Yankee ever to take part in the All-Star Home Run Derby.
But "All Remain Stranded" isn't a one-man team collapse. The heart of the Yankee lineup has LOB fever. Before taking time off to contemplate the rustling of the leaves, Matt Holliday personally stranded 155. Even Didi, beloved Didi, has 143 LOBs (which puts him slightly below Boston's Andrew Benintstremsky.)
Listen: The '17 Yankees are rapidly defining themselves as the most disappointing team of this horror show decade. This could be a collapse of Philliesian proportions - Gene Mauch-style! Over the last 81 games - not a small sample size - we are 39-42. That's right - a sub-.500 team, below also-ran status, and yet - get this - we've traded four of our top 10 prospects for - well - oh, hell, don't get me started.
I'm no longer worrying about the great sacrifice of tradition next weekend when the Yankees dress up in spring training regalia, like the Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars. What's the point in honoring pinstripes when your team is a slow-motion carnival attraction?
And make no mistake: The inability to drive in runners stems from a lack of situational hitting. It's what kids are supposed to learn in Little League: With a man on third and less than two outs, you choke up and put the bat on the ball. You must put the ball into play. You absolutely cannot afford to strike out. And yet, somewhere between the Gulf Coast League and the Bronx, those lessons were never learned by this team of home run swingers. And I hold management - yeah, Joe, that's you - accountable.
From all I can gather, the Yankee veterans love Joe Girardi. He shows loyalty and always has their backs. Yet they consistently let him down by swinging for the fences when a ground ball is all we need. If this continues, Joe must go. It's that simple. I'm tired of watching and waiting for a change that isn't coming. A week ago, we foresaw this weekend Boston series as a pitched battle for the AL East. Not anymore. It's a last ditch effort for the Yankees to remain relevant. The Wild Card just doesn't cut it. And by this time next week, I've got a feeling relevant will be the last term we use to define this team.
Relevance will be standing on third with no outs, and we know how that ends, don't we?
last year, we celebrated when the Yankees lost three in a row to the Rays because it convinced the brass to dump the vets and collect talented prospects. If not for that series sweep to the lowly Rays, would we have cashed out with Torres and Frazier and Sheffield?
ReplyDeleteThis year, the team sucks since early June, the one important exception being a six-game winning streak just prior to the trade deadline. That's when mismanagement decided to dump prospects for some relief pitchers (who have been mostly good), Todd Frazier (who seems like a nice guy if not a very good hitter) and a couple of starting pitchers (neither of whom looks like an improvement over what we could have got by calling up the next guy from Scranton or even Trenton.)
If not for the six-game fools gold, do we make those trades?
Karma's a bitch.
I WISH GIRARDI WOULD STAY MANAGER FOREVER, IF THE RESULTS WERE THERE.
ReplyDelete.....BUT HOW LONG DOES IT HAVE TO GO ON BEFORE YOU SAY, "THIS ISN'T WORKING."
THE CODDLING, THE RESTING, THE LONG OVERBLOWN REHAB ASSIGNMENTS IN SCRANTON.
NONE OF IT IS AN EXACT SCIENCE.
THE LAST 5 YEARS, IT IS JUST NOT WORKING.
EVEN IN 2012 WHEN WE MADE THE PLAYOFFS, OUR HITTERS COMPLETELY DIE AT THE END OF THE SEASON AND BEYOND.....
WE PRETTY MUCH KNOW HAL DOESN'T HAVE THE SPINE TO CHANGE THE MANAGER AND/OR THE GM.
......BUT HOW LONG CAN WE KEEP WATCHING THE SAME DOG AND PONY SHOW?
THE MANAGER WON'T TAKE THE INITIATIVE TO ORDER THE HITTERS TO JUST MAKE CONTACT WHEN WE NEED IT....HE WANTS THEM TO "BE AGGRESSIVE".... HOW IS THAT WORKING FOR US?
AND THE GM KEEPS PROVIDING US PLAYERS WHO HIT IN THE LOW .200'S AND STRIKE OUT LIKE CRAZY...... BUT THEY CAN HIT HOME RUNS!...... HOW IS THAT WORKING FOR US?
IT'S A VICIOUS CYCLE NOW.
AND, IT IS NOT WORKING.
WE KEEP FALLING APART THE LAST MONTH OF THE SEASON.... WE BLAMED IT ON AN OLD, VETERAN TEAM .... BUT NOW, WE ARE YOUNG AND SPRY, SO, WHAT'S THE PROBLEM???
This whole season is soul-suckingly sad. HR Derby is the Midges of 2017.
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed at this. It's a good idea, which is why I'm amazed:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/20307250/new-york-yankees-manager-joe-girardi-says-good-possibility-jordan-montgomery-starts-sunday-cc-sabathia
And while we can't help being Yankee-centric, the things that are driving us crazy about this team are epidemic in MLB:
https://www.si.com/mlb/2017/06/20/standstill-pace-play-cody-bellinger-clayton-kershaw
The times, they are a-changin'...and I don't like it, either.
wait... what? I thought Monty was on some kind of innings limit? I look forward to the outrage of compliant Yes-men on this blog. C'mon guys! The Yanks are destroying Monty!! His arm is gonna fall off!
ReplyDeletemy butt is barbequed.. so much smoke blown up it of late.
John M, fucking sabermetrics are destroying the game we grew up with and loved. now we sit around waiting for a ball in play which, more likely than not, is hit right into a defensive shift.
ReplyDeleteI battle this trend by reading/web surfing, only to lift my head when some excited talk is detected.
In the 5th inning last night when they had 1st and 2nd with no one out, John and Suzyn all but said they weren't scoring those runs. Every out made was met with a dry comment about how another out has been made and the runners are no closer to home than before the at bat. That's how bad this shit pile we call the Yankees are, that John and Suzyn have no hope.
ReplyDelete
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