The heat wave will have ended. That night, it will be cool and clear - the low near 48, says AccuWeather. We will almost certainly play the Twinkies, a team we recently routed in a three-game sweep. See in that whatever you wish. It doesn't matter. If we win - and thus make the post-season - Brian Cashman's deadline team face-lift worked. If we lose, it didn't - though if any of Kaprielian, Rutherford, Fowler, Littell or Mateo develop into a great star - well - we'll have plenty of rage time to revisit that assessment.
So here's a moment: I stand here today with nothing to say - no seethe in my cabbage basket, no sputter in my bile. What difference does it make, even to one who believes in juju, as I do. Our whole season is about to come down to one fucking single four-hour event. Every pitch, every batted ball, every ump's call, will be magnified by 162. The year could hinge on a nubber towards third, or a pitch that grazes the plate but gets called outside. Apparently, Luis Severino will start for us. It looks as though the Twins will not have to stave off Los Angeles - the Angels conveniently collapsed on their own - and thus can bring out past Yankee-killer Ervin Santana. Which pitcher will gain from having recently seen the other team? I have no clue.
Of course, baseball often comes down to the one-night climax. It's called Game Seven of the World Series, an event that, by then, has been already defined by unforgettable heroes and goats. The Wild Card is different. The Wild Card is the battle of also-rans, a speed-dating session with destiny. Last time we played in one, Dallas Keuchel pitched 6 innings of 3-hit ball, and Chris Carter - you remember Chris? - walked three times for Houston. Masahiro Tanaka gave up a run early, and the game was over, just like that. (Writer snaps fingers, spits on floor, shakes head wearily.) One night. Gone.
Which Aaron Judge will show up? Which Chapman? Which bullpen? Which set of juju gods? The ones who guided Rafael Devers' bat to smash a two-strike El Chapo fastball into the left-field bullpen? Or the ones who fanned Hanley Ramirez with the winning runs on base? Which Yankee team will we see? The ones who swept the Twins, or the ones who were run out of their home park by Cleveland? They say hurricanes are unpredictable, but I'd say we've gotten quite good at projecting where the sledge hammer of nature will fall. But The Master is right: You cannot predict baseball, Suzyn. And with the nine-inning eight days away, there is nothing to be said, and I am helpless to say it.
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Has anyone noticed that lately it seems like the entire rotation is a crap shoot on any given day? I know great pitchers have lousy games, I know lousy pitchers have great games, but the takeaway lately--for me, small sample size--is that the entire starting rotation is simply a variable scale of how likely anyone will give up 5 or more runs before Girardi takes them out. Or, as yesterday, takes out the offending starter and replaces him with a terrible reliever.
Speaking of which, there are a cluster of bums and not-ready-for-prime-time players out there. What is their purpose? Mop up duty? Often they can't even do that, coughing up runs with alacrity when we have a fairly large or big lead. Someone else has to come in and stop the bleeding.
Like the offense, there's a heavy air of unreliability hanging over the pitching staff. Mirroring our uncanny knack for facing opposing pitchers who suddenly turn into Cy Mathewson Nolan Gibson, you just hope that a starter will come out and be the Good Witch instead of the Bad Witch. And aside from Green and Robertson, the bullpen is pretty much the same.
Al Leiter and Michael Kay think that this team could go all the way. That's a lot of lucky dice rolls.
I don't think you can judge Cashman's trade deadline moves by the result of the one game wildcard crapshoot. Time will tell if the trades were good moves or not. Time as in the next three years. What does Sonny Gray do over that period? How does Robertson and Kahnie pitch? What do the guys we gave up become?
Personally, I would have liked the Yankees to hold off trading at the trade deadline. I am looking at being our best in two , maybe three ,
years. That said, they didn't give up any of the prospects that fill key needs. Yes they gave up some talent ,but kept their most coveted prospects. How these trades are judged my come down to how Sonny Gray does.
Say what you want about Cashman , he has over the past several years, identified untradeable prospects and held to that position.
It's hard to imagine this team getting past Cleveland or Houston. LA or Washington, or the Cubs? Don't have a clue.
But I remember just being relieved that they managed to hang on to the division title in 1996. We went 29-28 in August and September, and barely held off Baltimore, almost blowing an enormous lead.
None of the trades seemed to have worked. Doc's arm had died again. Our second most-used starter was Kenny Rogers. Jimmy Key was still recovering from arm surgery, and Cone had almost died from that aneurysm.
The bullpen was fully stocked with tomato cans: Ramiro Mendoza, 4.68 ERA; Jeff Nelson (4.36), Brian Boehringer (5.44), Jim Mecir (5.13), Dave Weathers (9.35), the newly acquired Graeme Lloyd (17.47 with us—that's not a misprint!). Hell, we'd even given Wally Whitehurst a shot.
I thought we might have a chance against Texas. But no way we were getting past teams like Baltimore or Cleveland. And winning a World Series against the Braves? Fuhgeddaboutit!
Then, the magic started. All of a sudden, every reliever we threw out there was lights out. Graeme Lloyd became the loogie di tutti loogies. Cecil Fielder was bouncing around the bases like a runaway wrecking ball. All the starters were terrific (with the exception of Kenny Rogers, of course. But let's not talk crazy.).
Next thing I knew, 50,000 delirious fans are carrying a homemade coffin containing an effigy of an Atlanta Brave around Yankee Stadium.
Point is, this is the kind of turnaround a series of short series were made for. We're now entering the carney funhouse of the postseason, one that has so often frustrated much better Yankees teams in the past. It would only be right if this one turned in our favor.
As you quoted the Maestro, Duque: There's no predicting baseball!
I think Mateo, Fowler, and Kaprelian belonged on that list ( of untraceable prospects), but that is just my opinion.
As to Duques' calm and collected observations, it is hard to disagree with anything he says. I will point out, however, that I have an uncanny knack for predicting what is going to transpire, once I observe the first inning of play.
Does our guy ( Luis, we assume ) throw first pitch strikes? Is his breaking ball devastating, and does he have command of it? Are our hitters making contact? When we get an early opportunity to score, do we capitalize? Have we scored only by a solo homer?
And there is a huge " gut feel" to all of this, rather than a mathematical connection of certainty.
Unfortunately, I am only certain of only one circumstance; when it is obvious that the Yankees maximum run production for that game will be 2 runs, and that the game is, therefore, over, when the opponent scores two ( Because we do not win ties at home. Even if this is at the end of the second inning, I can tell.
But this game is a bit of a wild card.
So maybe I can be wrong.
On a lighter note, we have plenty of time to plan and organize exceptional snacks and drinks for consuming at game time. Yesterday, I bought Vodka, hand made in Iceland. And I have habanero cured, pickled quail eggs from east Texas.
Hard to beat.
And if that proves to be a winning food/drink combination, I am going to suffer.
Suzyn, who has obviously been reading this blog, just announced that Judge's recent hot streak has "put all that hooey to rest" that the Home Run Derby caused his two-month slump.
Who am I to argue? Her proof is irrefutable.
All it takes is one big fat egg and we're toast.
I haven't thought about Brian Boehringer in half a million years. Thanks, HClarke66!
ALL I KNOW IS BIRD BETTER BE PLAYING IN THAT WILD CARD GAME.
RIGHT HANDER PITCHING?
NO EXCUSES.
P.S.) TODAY I HEARD THE MASTER SAY GREG BIRD HAS 23 RBI'S IN 25 GAMES IN SEPTEMBER.
DESPITE THE GIRARDI HANDICAP.
Here's something interesting... Career Stats
Judge 177 Games 611 AB 54 HRs
Sanchez 173 Games 650 AB 53 HRs
First of all uh Wow! Secondly it's amazing how overlooked Sanchez can be sometimes. Judge is the Rookie HR king (and, oh yeah!) but Sanchez is just as good but won't be on the EA Sports Box. That said, adding the above from ALL CAPS on Bird and this could be quite a team for quite a while.
Doug K.
What kind of day was today?
It was an afternoon like one back in 1927, I suppose, when the Babe and Lou Gehrig went back-to-back, during their home-run chase down the stretch.
Or like an afternoon ten years later, when Lou and Joe DiMaggio went back-to-back, or when Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris were on a roll in 1961.
Sanchez hits one, Bird hits one, Judge hits two! And sets the rookie record!
Will any of them have a career anything like the ones that those great ballplayers did? Impossible to say, of course—and I hesitate even to suggest it, out of fear this will jinx them.
But these are the joys we get as Yankees fans, along with the burdens of being universally hated, and the need to always keep winning. This majestic history, that exists nowhere else in American sports, going back almost a hundred years.
In the other dugout, it was the captains and the kings depart.
Kansas City is yesterday's champion. They lost a thrilling World Series, then won one that was almost as thrilling.
That's it. Back in the box for another thirty years, most likely. That's what you get out of almost any modern sport in North America today: a serious run maybe twice in a lifetime. Three times, if the years fall just right. (Once, if you're a Jets fan.)
The rest of the time, you're supposed to be content to make the occasional run for the second wild-card spot, or the eighth playoff spot. While your owner tells you it's impossible to do better because of all those big-market bullies in New York—even as he quietly banks all the luxury-tax and revenue-sharing money we provide.
What do we care?
We're fans of the Yankees. With afternoons like this, and the promise of many more to come.
Well said Horace.
Doug K.
Right on. The Crown rests heavy at times but the Yankee heritage is worth it.
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