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Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Next year, and then the year after... watch out

Friends, Romans, Yankeefans, lend me your ears;
I come to praise Cashman, not to bury him;
The trades that men make live after them,
The wild card is oft interred with their bones,
So let it be with Cashman… 


Okay, big announcement here: I, el Duque, solemnly swear that - regardless of what happens next Tuesday - there shall be no further complaints whatsoever about Cashman's deadline deals - not a whimper, not a whisper, not a whelp, not a whinny! Radio silence. I shan't lash out or belch bile. I'll be proper and respectful. I'll kneel and pledge fealty. 

Oh... okay, if we lose, perhaps I'll mention the trades now and then, in passing. Casual references. And if Blake Rutherford wins the MVP someday, maybe I'll feel compelled to note that he brought us a .205 hitter who peaked in the Toms River Little League. Okay, if we lose Tuesday, I might say something - you know, a gentle, good-faith ribbing between us sunlit fans.  

But today, nothing. Unlike the Gotham Gammonites and paid YES cheerleaders, who seem determined to jinx this team, I'm staying hushed. Still, if I read another story about how the Yankees could "surprise" everyone in the post-season - (people, it's not a "surprise" if you're predicting it) - I'll personally pie Rupert Murdoch the next time he emerges from his underground crypt. These writers keep suggesting there is reason and justice - something beyond happenstance - in the nine-inning season that is about to take place. The truth is, we could play the Lehigh Valley IronPigs in a one game wild card and piss it away in the eighth with our two "closers" on the mound. But no matter what happens, we must remember this: A kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is still a sigh, the fundamental things apply, as time goes by.

And here is a fundamental thing: It's been a good year. If any of us were offered a home field wild card and potential rookie-MVP, we'd have signed up without a hitch. And regardless of what happens next Tuesday, we are looking at a young team that is capable of winning multiple pennants, if not a handful of rings. 

We saw it yesterday in HRs by Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and Greg Bird, the threesome whose arrival this year was dented by injuries (Sanchez), nagging malignancies (Bird) and a tropical depression (Judge.) The Yankees possess three of the game's most promising sluggers - three, four and five in our batting order - through the next decade. (Note: If Bird's numbers over the last 30 days were projected over a season, he'd have 35 HRs and 105 RBIs.) Up the middle, we have Didi Gregorius and Starlin Castro (who could even be traded) - and Aaron Hicks. Then come the intangibles: Clint Frazier, Glyber Torres (top prospect in baseball, according to one ranking), Miguel Andujar, Billy McKinney, and the Tylers - Austin and Wade - a group from which at least one solid regular should ascend. Two years from now... Hicks, Didi and Castro are 29; Judge is 27, Sanchez and Bird are 26, and Luis Severino? well, he's turning 25. Tell me this team doesn't win something. (And in case you were wondering: Two years from now, Manny Machado, is 27, and Bryce Harper, 26.)

I don't know WTF will happen Tuesday. But 2017 was a good year. We were never supposed to get this far. We are playing with house money, and the only "surprise" is that 2018 arrived early. Don't let the homer courtiers convince you that the Yankees are some secret team, a "wild card," so to speak. Let's enjoy this ride, even if it only lasts nine-innings. But next year, and the year after that, we should not have to play a one-game season. This is our last wild card, dammit, for a long, long time.

21 comments:

Joe Formerlyof Brooklyn said...


Your optimism peaked at just the right time. Thank you!

Now: Let's hope the NYYs manage to peak and stay there right about now -

Ken Currently of Brooklyn said...

I second Joe's post, they may, juuuuuust may, be peaking at the right moment.
Either way, this year was phenomenal!
And I agree, the best is yet to come!

Anonymous said...

AMEN, EL DUQUE....

AMEN.

Anonymous said...

BTW, MY MET FAN FRIEND ASKED ME IF I THOUGHT THIS WAS A SUCCESSFUL YANKEE SEASON IF THEY LOSE THE WILD CARD GAME?

I SAID, "OF COURSE!"

HE SAYS, "HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?"

I SAY, "YOU'RE FORGETTING, WE ARE THE 2017 UNDERDOG YANKEES WHO WERE PREDICTED BY EVERYONE TO COME IN 3RD, 4TH, OR EVEN LAST PLACE IN OUR DIVISION.....PLUS WE ARE SETTING UP TO BE A POWER FOR YEARS TO COME......THIS SEASON IS A ROUSING SUCCESS NO MATTER WHAT!!!"

HE GOT QUIET.

AHHHH, THE SWEET SMELL OF JEALOUSY.

Alphonso said...

You are all nuts. Stop with the optimism. It breeds sunny dispositions, outlooks, and " possibilities."

We could easily lose on Tuesday 2-1.

All these bashers are hitting when it doesn't matter.

It only matters in the playoffs. In clutch moments. The rest is just a bunch of " stats" for the binders, the tabloids and the grand-children.

We need hard, tough grinders now. Not OBJ peeing like a dog while the team loses.

Get real. This is not fairyland.

This is baseball.

And ( absent me ) you cannot predict baseball.

Have a drink, do some dope, eat some cheese doodles and get ready.

The shooting is about to begin.

JM said...

The future looks good, but like Alphonso, I'm not so sure about the present.

Yes, we could get lucky. Our starters could suddenly pitch their best games of the year and we could waltz through the playoffs. Betances and Chapman could be the dominant relievers they can be. Robertson and Green could continue to impress. The clutch hitters, like Gardner and maybe now Judge, Sanchez and Bird, and Ellsbury (never thought I'd write that while he was in pinstripes), and Didi, and even that sub-Brosius at third now and then.

That's a lot of moving parts to get in complete synch. One or two don't work, we could still do alright. More than that, and it's time to watch curling.

Also, this Hicks stuff. The guy did squat offensively for a long time, and this year he breaks out. Then he breaks down. And when he has been playing, he's been in a near-Judgian funk--highly reminiscent of his past performance. I'm not convinced. Good defender, great arm, but was earlier this year a fluke or the real deal? Sadly, we'll probably find out in the playoffs, and I'm not feeling too good about that.

Best not to pin too high a hope on this team. They are as inconsistent as the Red Sox, and that's not good.

But in the next few years, we might have a lot of fun.

Leinstery said...

NOOOOOOOOO! Every time there is any genuine optimism around here the team immediately hits the skids. I fear what we have done here will sink the Yankees. Minnesota will lose out the rest of the year and historic Yankee killer Anaheim will sneak in and fell them in the 1 game crap shoot.

Stang said...

A crow just landed on my house. The Yankees ignore this omen at their peril.

Anonymous said...

Get you Yankee mojo back. Win or die.

Alphonso said...

Mustang,

That crow is your lunch. Roast it over an open fire, and put on some habanaro pickle relish.

Tasty pickens'.....hmmm.

Don't forget to remove the feathers and bowels before eating.

I love omens.

Anonymous said...

Well said Duque. I concur. But there are things that lowly fans can do to insure Wild Card Play In Game (WCPIG pronounced Wickpig) victory.

To appease Alphonso as we should) we must eat and drink to excess but we should do it in a way that calls on the ghosts of great Yankee Team's past.

So yes stuff yourselves and get drunk, we will anyway, but

"In an interview with Sports Illustrated in '94, Mantle said he began every morning for 10 years with what he called the "breakfast of champions"—a big glass with a shot or more of brandy mixed with Kahlua and cream."

Sounds good to me.

That breakfast leave you still hungry? According to some web site I just went to Babe Ruth's favorite snack was Pickled eels and chocolate ice cream.

Don't want to eat that? Too bad. Take one for the team!

Like the Babe you can wash it down with copious amounts of beer. Since I don't think they make Jacob Rupert's Knickerbocker Beer, or Ballantine anymore so I recommend a nice Genny Cream Ale or Utica Club or both together like a black and tan. Maybe call it Utica Cream or is that name already taken?

Here's a two for one. A battery of stomach acid as it were...

From an NPR Review of Driving Me. Yogi: "That's right: Guidry persuaded his legendary friend (Berra) to eat frogs' legs. "I put them on the table, and I said, 'Either you try one today, or we're not going out to eat anymore while you're here.' And he had about two weeks left," Guidry says. "So he tried one. And as soon as he tried one, ever since then, that's the first thing he asks for, every winter." Yogi also drank 4 oz of Vodka a day. No more. No less.

Here are some other great Yankees and their dining habits that we could emulate

Wade Boggs: Chicken (caveat- every day for the rest of your life - big commitment for a WCPIG game)

Lou Gehrig: "His favorite foods were fried eel and shrimp, and he loved other fatty foods. It seems that those involved with sports and entertainment are among the highest percentage of people to develop ALS." (Again that's big commitment for the WCPIG)

Joe D. "DiMaggio ate a training diet that plenty of present-day athletes would find fairly familiar. With plenty of meat and eggs for protein and pasta or other carbohydrates for fuel, Joe’s usual menu during his career wasn’t too far off from the training tables in today’s MBA or NFL facilities, albeit with more red meat and dairy foods. He also appreciated an all-American New York hot dog or three" and some Mr Coffee no doubt.

and finally What does Derek Jeter eat? (You can figure it out)

So that's it I've covered great hitters and pitching all that's left is some Rolaids relief. Chow down boys and let's win us some WCPIG.

Doug K.





Der Kaiser said...

Well, I'm convinced - eels are the foundation of Yankee victory!

HoraceClarke66 said...

Ruth drank plenty, but apparently no more than most ballplayers of his time.

Something he did do, which seems much more bizarre to me, was drink an entire pitcher of iced tea, in one gulp. That's tea, fruit slices, ice cubes and all, right down the hatch.

He was otherworldly.

Anonymous said...

I GOTTA GO WITH JOHN M....

TOO MUCH HICKS LOVE FROM GIRARDI AND CASHMAN...

REMEMBER, HICKS IS CASHMAN'S FRANKENSTEIN...

WE WILL STAY WITH HIM UNTIL THE LABORATORY BURNS DOWN....

THEREFORE HE WILL GET TOO MANY OPPORTUNITIES, AND SOON....

I HOPE JOHN M. AND I ARE WRONG, BUT.......

Parson Tom said...

But that was a heck of a play by Hicks. He's sort of a freak athletically. Not a Judge freak, but the guy is big, fast and agile. Wouldn't it be fun if he forced Ellsbury to a senior adviser role next spring. But can Hicks hit?

JM said...

Just wondering...does Castro drive a converitible?

JM said...

Hicks is hitting .093 with the bases loaded in his career. Fuck.

JM said...

Thank God, he didn't swing.

JM said...

Nice baserunning by Hicks. DP.

Anonymous said...

GREAT CATCH BY HICKS....INCREDIBLE.

THAT MAY CEMENT HIM INTO THE PLAYOFF GAME LINEUP.... I DUNNO...

HE IS DRAWING A LOT OF WALKS.....

......BUT SOMEBODY HAS TO GET A CLUTCH HIT IN THESE PLAYOFF GAME(S).....

PLEASE SOMEBODY......

ANYBODY.....

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