Clearly, winter has come. The world has changed. King Felix is no more, replaced by a veteran junk-baller who is struggling to survive. Last night, it showed.
And although we - as wretchedly obsessed, of-the-cloth Yankee fans - cling to our beloved pessimism, last night's cruise ship victory leaves us with the 7th best record in baseball. That's incredible, and we better enjoy it. One of these days, our returning star-base will be hard-pressed to outperform its low-level replacements: Will Andujar outdo Urshella?, Stanton out-hit Frazier? Betances out-pitch Ottavino? A massive influx of veteran talent is coming, enough to keep Cooperstown Cashman from doing something incredibly stupid.
No matter what you think of Aaron Hicks' chances of fully returning with a bad back - (remember Mattingly!) - or Luis Severino's mystery lateral strain - (shades of Pavano!) - this we do know: The heart and soul of the 2018 Yankees, Didi Gregorius, will return in another six or eight weeks. No team in baseball can expect to be so well fortified for the stretch.
Today, we continue with the Seattle Mariners, who are still suffering from the Curse of Cano. They have now dropped six of their last seven, which - if you're scoring at home - is an official "plummet." Two weeks ago, they were MLB's Cinderella team. Now, they're a game above .500, and if the above chart ran 15 teams deep, they'd be on it. (Boston, by the way, is ranked 18th, two games below .500.)
Listen: We can scream and moan over every Yankee loss. In fact, that's our job. But now and then, we must sit back and be aware of how well we have it. We are the 7th best team in baseball, and our full lineup - (that is, with Didi) - has yet to play a game. Amazing.
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What force on earth could prevent Cashman from doing something stupid? If success is dropped in his lap he will merely become more stupid than we could possibly imagine!
OK .... obligatory moment of appreciation for our current happy circumstances.
Now that's over. Let's get back to our regularly scheduled bitching and moaning..
Absolutely stupefying and disappointing that The Master did NOT have a home run call for Thairo Estrada. Time to starting thinking about retirement.
Urshella should be our third baseman until he shows he can't hit. I have no idea what to do with Miggy, or how that would effect his psyche. But Gio's defense is incredible. It's a joy to watch. DJ LeMay is very good, too, and he hits like a real hitter, instead of a home run hitter.
I like Miggy, I like Gleyber. A lot. And Didi's return will be welcome. But we really do have mini-Pipp situations here. What will Cashman's Texas Instruments desk calculator do with all these guys?
Maybe it sorts itself out. It does burn that Stanton, the one dimensional DH, clogs up that slot in the batting order. Without him, we'd have a lot more flexibility to play guys who win games.
And, oh yeah, I'm really happy we're doing so well.
At this moment, things are great. Of course, in mid August of 1969, things were great for the Cubs. Let's not let hubris take hold. We are not the mighty Yankees of yore and even THEY took nothing for granted. Of course, we don't need to cower in the closet with a blanket over our heads, not should we wallow in the unremitting misery that our friends across town live in, whether they know it or not. Nothing wrong with enjoying "the moment," but life can be fickle when Colonel Cashman and Boy Prince Hal are at the console of the Death Star.
I continue to insist on a meritocracy - base it on stats if you must - but let's really do it. All stats, no names, and bring back ALL the numbers. Let the jerseys in Monument Tomb - formerly Monument Park - still hang, but let the guy with the best lead off numbers lead off and put a "1" on his back, the way they used to. Fill in the blanks down the line. Let the pitchers choose any number they like between 30 and 33. When a guy starts to slide - and this is the only token to humanity - let WE, THE PEOPLE choose his replacement for a week by electronic vote. If he does well, he takes the number.
When John and his Lady call the games, NO NAMES. It'll make the home run calls easy. Use the same ones forever, like a wooden robot. "A killing spree for Number Three!" Doesn't matter if they suck. And speaking of which, there is no excuse for the Estrada one, not when you have the words "Nada" and "Enchilada" to choose from, just for starters.
If all else fails, we pull a Kim Jong Un in the outfield one night and "replace" the coaching staff.
And yes, I still maintain that Boone must remove one item of clothing for every run scored against us and he gets to put an item back on for every run we score. You would see a different kind of managing OVERNIGHT. Overnight, motherfuckers. No more of this clueless, head-in-the-fog shit. No more episodes of "Boone the Sleepwalker."
Also, I just have to say, as a full fledged Yankee Imperialist from the old days, WHEN THE FUCK WAS "SEVENTH BEST RECORD IN BASEBALL" cause for celebration?
Has the bar gotten that low?
We either eat everyone else alive, then shit them out or we are garbage. Yes, it IS "all or nothing at all." When is second best good enough? When is seventh best even close?
As with many things in modern life, we have come to have very low expectations. And don't give me any new-age feel-good mumbo-jumbo here. And don't mention my penchant to hyphenate words.
We need to up our game. Luckily we have GREAT pitching to fall back on.
Fuck off and die, Brian. You suck.
THERE IS ANOTHER INTANGIBLE REASON FOR US WINNING NOW.....
THEY ARE HAVING FUN OUT THERE!
URSHELA ,AND VOIT ARE SMILING UP A STORM, AND IT'S INFECTIOUS. (COMPARE TO GLOOM AND DOOM BIRD AND STANTON -STRIKING OUT-HEAD DOWN -SLOW DEPRESSING MARCH BACK TO THE DUGOUT).
RIGHT NOW, ALL I CAN THINK OF IS HOW I DREAD STANTON'S RETURN.
I'M EVEN DREADING HICKS' RETURN TOO. (WE DON'T NEED HICKS WITH CLINT AROUND) -CLINT WILL BE A BIGGER IMPACT PLAYER BY FAR, EVEN THOUGH WE GIVE UP SOME DEFENSE.
THIS TRULY IS AN AMAZING AND INTERESTING TIME FOR US.
MR. DUQUE IS CORRECT.
THIS IS PRETTY INCREDIBLE THAT WE ARE THRIVING RIGHT NOW.
(METS, AND RED SOX FALLING MAKES IT EVEN SWEETER)!
I must point out, that Mr. Optimism ( Duque ) has fumbled a critical ball.
We are winning because we have baseball players in the line-up. Not a bunch of Broadway idols who like to walk the runway and re-read their contract numbers..
We will never win with people like Stanton striking out at critical moments.
Le Mahieu is a starter. Urshella is a difference maker and makes positive contact, all the time. He makes me look forward to balls hit to the left side of the infield, as opposed to the " dread" that comes when Andujar is there.
Estrada works harder than anyone. And Voit is a joy, whom no one yet believes is for real...even though they say it every day. And if Frazier starts hitting again?
I even like Mike Tauchman.
We are better off fighting and scrapping, than strutting.
When the full line-up is back, the team will be a winner on paper but a loser on the field.
Watch with fear.
A few things...
1) JM Re Urshala I agree. He's really great to watch in the field. For now we're OK because Stanton just started hitting off a tee so Miguel can DH a lot. After that? I don't know. AnDUjar can't play 1st because Voit is for real. LF belongs eventually to Clint. It's a real tough one. But Urshala is too good to sit.
2) ALL CAPS: Good point about doom and gloom Stanton and Bird. They are depressing. Also, Hicks is a CF. Clint is a corner OFer. One doesn't replace the other. If everyone were healthy it would be Clint, Hicks, Judge (with Gardner as the CF and Stanton as DH/part time LF.
3) Ranger: I agree about Sterling. Lately I've been watching Yes and listening to Sterling and he's just awful at describing the action. I like the guy and don't mind what he says but I have the game in front of me.
If I had to rely on him (and Susan)alone (which is his actual job) the broadcast is pretty close to worthless if you actually want to know what's going on.
Doug K.
I have a provisional theory: Fewer strike-outs create happier fans (and, occasionally, WINS).
I just went back over the box scores of the past 10 games, during which the NYYs are 6-and-4.
Assuming I didn't F up the math, I added 75 strike-outs. That includes games in SF and AZ, where the pitchers did some of the hitting (and K-ing). Sampling: On 4/29, Domingo K'd 3 times. CCS struck out twice in his AZ game.
Now, think back to a typical game from 2018 -- Gardy might K twice (esp in the 2nd half), Judge (when healthy) twice or mnore, and Stanton twice or more. Heck, Aaron Hicks struck out 111 times last year. Bird appeared in only 82 games, K'd 78 times. Sanchez struck out 94 times in 89 games last year (it's 22 in 21g this year).
In 2018, the NYYs ranked 9th in strike-outs in MLB. So far this year: 21st.
Putting the ball in play matters, maybe.
Let John call the games until he falls over. He gives us enough of the game and he has a character all his own. With one or two exceptions...Steiner in LA, John Miller in SF...mlb radio is a desert of bland corporate baritones. After Sterling, Yankee, Inc will undoubtedly replace him with the blandest of the bland. He's 80+. The end is in sight. Let's not rush it.
Amen, Publius! He has brought us all together here, and we will not abandon Our Master!
Love the spirit—lookin' at you, 13bit!—and I agree with most of the above.
But I think a lot of the dread is misplaced.
—I don't think we have to worry about 1B. This Bird has flown.
—I was freeting Sanchez's return. But I have never seen the guy look more at home at the plate. He just seems like he's sitting in a saddle up there. And the passed balls haven't been TOO bad; his play in the slop on Sunday was forgivable. It made the Kentucky Derby look like a race on Astroturf.
—Don't worry about Hicks' return. We all know Gardy could never play this regularly in his salad days, and he generally looks awful now. And Tauchman, despite that clutch HR on Sunday, cannot last. We will soon need Mr. Hot Licks back, and he will be an improvement over those two.
—Hate to see The General sit down. But maybe he should, some, considering the knee. If it's still bothering him in a few weeks, it will be a good thing to have Didi come back, and The Gleyber spell LeMahieu at 2B.
—Gio and Miggy is where we run into a real dilemma—and that's mainly because of Stanton, whose return is the only one that I thing we should really dread. But even here, things could work themselves out. We don't if Gio will keep hitting, and we don't know if El Matador is really okay to play.
All in all, it COULD—COULD—be that the injuries work to our advantage, having blasted an opening for some guys—Gio, LeMahieu, Frazier—to play, and cleared away dead wood such as Bird. It COULD be that we will be able to slide in reinforcements just as the league begins to figure out our newbies, or reality catches up with them.
I know, I know: what we all dread MOST is a return of that turgid, strikeout-or-homer ball. But if the regulars are all cycled back into the lineup one-by-one, that might not materialize. We just need Ma to learn the lesson of what he's witnessed.
And pitching. We need pitching.
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