Today, everything seems so surreal. A hundred thousand deaths? How long can we last? Will I live to see another Yankee championship? I used to ask that question rhetorically, as a poke at Food Stamps Hal. Now, I ask it literally: A hundred thousand deaths?Who among us will lose in this looming lottery?
There were moments to the 2020 season I longed to see - now delayed indefinitely. Here's a short list. Please add your own...
1. Gerrit Cole's first game as a Yankee. The prodigal son. I saw him pitching into the eighth, then receiving a standing ovation. Goosebumps.
2. Clint Frazier scoring in his last opportunity, via the injury to Aaron Judge. He'd hit his way into the lineup and become a lifelong Yankee. What a story to tell.
3. Crowds booing the Astros wherever they go - even some in Houston - showing that fans understand - and will never forget - the magnitude of their cheating scandal.
4. Redsock fans cringing at the sight of Mookie Betts in a Dodgers uniform. How much does a guy need to do to win loyalty from a multi-billion dollar franchise? I'm glad his gone, but damn - Mookie deserved better.
5. Daily box scores from 17-year-old Jasson Dominiguez - aka "the Martian" - in the Dominican Summer League (and if does well, maybe the Florida rookie league.) For better or worse, I planned to watch this guy throughout his entire Yankee career. An epic saga.
6. Gleyber Torres. That's all. If he can play shortstop - MVP.
7. The rise or fall of Giancarlo Stanton, who cannot lose another Yankee season. The defining year of his career. Crunch time.
8. Finding that Gio Urshela's 2019 season was no fluke, and he is simply a late bloomer. Many top prospects fail at first, then one day figure it out. It's a mystery to me why the Yankees don't pursue more of them (though Cooperstown Cashman has been doing that in recent years.)
9. Higgy. Yes, I'm not kidding. Higgy - Kyle Higashioka - making the most of his shot as a backup catcher. The guy will never hit for average, but his defense is solid, and he shows surprising power. We mourn the exit of beloved Yankees - (go Austin, go Didi, go Dellin) - but I had a feeling about Higgy. A valuable lug nut.
10. The captain - de facto, that is - Brett Gardner. There is no doubt who leads this team. Damn. It can't end this, right? It can't.
The return of doubles-machine Miguel Andujar. When they let him in the lineup, they won't be able to take him out because he hits. I cringe at bad fielding like all of you, but for 30 homers and 45 double and an average approaching .300, I'll put up with a few clankers in left field.
ReplyDeleteI second Tom's emotion.
ReplyDeleteOther than that, I'm not getting enough sleep and the eerie stillness--for Manhattan--is giving me the creeps.
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DeleteStay safe everyone. Stay well. Be fucking careful out there.
ReplyDeleteWinnie! and not the fake Winnie who is posting - PLEASE TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF. The IIHIIF team cannot afford to lose you.
ReplyDeleteSending love and support from the 13bit compound - and not the fake 13bit, who needs to be executed and scattered to the fishes.
Also, although I applaud any talk of that peculiar pastime that we used to call "baseball," any talk about actual games is, at this point, highly speculative and abstract. I prefer the alternative games that are being reported on every day in these hallowed paged.
ReplyDeleteCan we get an alternative trade market going? Oh, I guess that already exists in real life...
221 DAYS SINCE THE LAST YANKEE INJURY....
ReplyDelete...THAT WE KNOW ABOUT!
ARE WE SURE HIGGY IS SOLID DEFENSIVELY, MR. DUQUE?
...I....DON'T...KNOWWWWW.....
@Winnie...found real paper towels today...so there is some hope...
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's a strange thing, JM. I noticed years ago that there is a permanent background hum to Manhattan—like background radiation in the universe.
ReplyDeleteIt only diminishes in the very early hours of the morning, and never altogether. Now it is really gone. Eerie is right.
It's like the days after 9/11, quiet except for sirens.
ReplyDeleteEven more strange is that we appear to have a "blog administrator?" How is that possible? I thought a "blog administrator" on this site was purest fairy tale, like Alice in Wonderland or the Loch Ness Monster. How did this come to pass? Did they/it run out of whiskey and now rise from their lair to devour random comments? I find the concept of a "blog administrator" on IIHIIFIIC more difficult to grasp than the lack of baseball and the pandemic.
Also, I'm somewhat flattered that I have another stalker. It's sad and pathetic, but at least they care dammit.
ReplyDeleteYeah Winnie..I've seen some screwed up comments here and self-removed comments by the author but have never seen any comment removed by a blog administrator. I'm curious as to what the comment was that it was so bad that it had to be removed.
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