Wednesday, July 7, 2021

A numbers-padding, late night, tomato can laugher: The juju gods are toying with us.

So... here we go again. 

As soon as disillusioned Yank fans start rooting for a meltdown - a chance to tank, like other also-rans - the Death Barge luxuriates in a 12-1, late-night blowout over fellow wild card contender Seattle. 

Full disclosure: I watched only the top of the first. Why? 

1. I went to bed with a 3-0 lead. At that point, all the Yankees could do would be to piss me off. To stay up until 1 a.m., only to watch them blow a lead? Nope -notta gone do it.

2. I figured that, no matter how great our lead, the 9th would mean Aroldis Chapman on the mound and - nope, notta gone do it. Until El Chapo rejiggers his act, no lead is safe, not even 12-1. Turns out, he survived a bases-loaded jam, which I am proud to have slept peacefully through. I wouldn't bring him into a close game if we were playing the Marywood School for the Blind. To me, he The Babadook.

3. I'm still not prepared for The Tim Locastro Era. Nothing against Tim, but - nope, notta  gone do it. The stat I most like about this guy - a journeyman OF who turns 29 next week - is that in 2018, he finished 4th in being hit-by-pitches, with 22.  That's a shitload of welts. The guy will take one for his team. Still, I wonder if John Sterling will even bother to come up with a homer holler? In his 5-year career, Tim has four. (Note: He's from Syracuse, so we MUST root for him, though - really, now? - what was the point of trading a prospect for a RH outfielder, and then demoting Tyler Wade? The time for tinkering is over.)

4. Sadly, I have hit an emotional wall. Last week, I reached the conclusion that 2021 is not our year, that the holes in our roster represent massive trap doors, and that a hot month of July will only encourage the front office to trade for aging veteran/salary dumps, in a doomed attempt to salvage Brian Cashman's reputation the season. Listen: I have loved the Yankees since I was old enough to say "Yo-gi," but this merry-go-round is going nowhere, and we've been riding it for 11 years. The Yankees need systemic change, not another infusion of under-achieving retreads. 

The Yankees have a middling farm system, and it cannot withstand a Cashmanic raid in order to bring us the next Denny Nagle/Cory Lidle. They must leapfrog at least three younger teams to win the final wild card post, and if they go all-in on such a quest - well - that's how you end up in a mega-drought. The annual quest for wild card berths killed the Yankees throughout the 2010s, and unless we change our ways - stop trading the future for the past - the 2020s will be our next disaster decade. 

So... we beat up on Seattle last night, eh? Don't kid yourselves. The Mariners remain one of four younger teams who lead us in the wild card standings. (Not counting the division leaders.) The juju gods are just toying with us. Don't lunge for the ball of string. You'll just amuse them. 

28 comments:

13bit said...

They always do this. These are not the wins we want. These are wins that any team, in any era, on any given day can pull out with as little luck.

We want a string of 15 games straight where they win relatively tight ones - cause that means good pitching and serious hitting. A single 12-1 game means the opposing pitcher had the diarrhea the night before or, possibly, was the anti-juju gods (the JuJu Devils?) simply messing with our heads.

Don't let it go to your heads, even if they string together a few more. This means nothing We are the same assemblage of suck-it-tude that we have been all year and, indeed, for most of this millennium.

Ken of Brooklyn said...

These late night west coast games are giving me a much needed reprieve, much easier to resist the temptation to tune in. The JuJu gods are toying with us, now everything has been turned upside-down and I'm pissed off with every Yankee win, LOL> how low we've fallen,,,,,

**2021 IIHIIFIIC MEET UP**
Hey Gang, I pitched this on another thread, I was wondering who would be interested in a boycott meet up in August, instead of meeting at the Stadium like last time, maybe we could gather at a sports bar in Manhattan and yell at the television together. I was thinking mid-town to help those commuting in from out of town? Winnie mentioned he would have time in late August, which works for me, last time we gathered, it believe it was El Duque, Hoss, LBJ, Bitty, Winnie, Ranger, Rufus, and a few others, my memory is not what it was, apologies! There's also so many new folks here that would be fun to meet in person,,,,
A quick look at the late August games, there's Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd afternoon 1:05 games agains the Twins, and Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th evening 7:20 games against the Braves? Honestly, anything works for me in August, those were the one's I saw that might be better for those commuting into NYC.
Shall we discuss to see who's available/interested in joining?

TheWinWarblist said...

YOU GO KEN of BROOKLYN!!! YES!!! YES!! DRINKING!! IN PUBLIC!!! GET VACCINATED!!! WEAR YOUR MASKS!!! CONSUME BEVERAGES!!!

Ken of Brooklyn said...

Double vaxxed and ready to MINGLE Winnie, so looking forward to our 2021 IIHIIFIIC Tragical Mystery Tour Meet Up!

ranger_lp said...

I'm in Ken...

Ken of Brooklyn said...

Fantastic Ranger, looking forward to it!

el duque said...

I would to see you guys again. That trip to Yankee Stadium, and drinking in the morning bar -it was one of my absolute best, greatest, primo days of 2019. Loved every minute.

I will try in any way possible to meet up with you guys. In a bizarre way, I feel that I know you all. You are like old friends. Is that nutty, or what?

But I've got a tough schedule in August. All the pandemic cancelations from last summer - they're converging on us. I cannot promise anything. I say, pick a date and I'll do my best.

JM said...

Anytime, anywhere, Ken. I'm in.

As for last night...as I keep saying, this is the streakiest team I can recall. Seattle is ahead of us in the wild card standings, and we trounced them. And not just Sheffield. We trounced every pitcher they put out there.

Locastro's real value is in his OBP. That, combined with his speed and defense, make him valuable.

I wonder how long Gleyber will be gone, and how well we'll do during that stretch? Just asking.

Chapman is still an issue. It'll be great to get Britton back. But as for a closer, we might want to take a serious look at Lasagna and Nestor. Those guys are good. And King works a lot better out of the pen than he does as a starter, it seems. Of course, we still need Kluber back and somebody else to fill out the rotation. Sevvy, where art thou?

Winning a wild card slot and then losing in the playoffs isn't good enough, even if we can get that far. But it's better than being Baltimore. And, you can't predict baseball.

Ken of Brooklyn said...

Fantastic JM!
And El Duque, right back at you, meeting you all in person was an absolute BLAST! We'll pick a day (shall we say Saturday the 21st) and prey to the JuJu> Nu JuJu> Reverse uJuJ gods that our fearless leader can be in attendance.

Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside said...

I hate the Yankees

Anonymous said...

We only won that game because our ex, Justus Sheffield, handed it to us on a silver platter. Brain must be cackling with joy in his studio, thinking "we sure got the better of that deal, huh?".

We'll come back down to earth soon enough on this trip.

The most interesting thing to come out of this game was Judge's stolen base. We now have 18 as a team. Which is dead last in the majors. Many other teams also have pathetic totals, as the stolen base has become a taboo. But still, only 18 past the halfway mark of the season? There are situations, like when there's first and third, and the guy on first swipes second without even a throw from the catcher. Because if he throws, the guy on third might try to steal home. Those usually count as steals, and we still only have 18? Wow! It shows how Brain has molded this team into a one dimensional sub-specialty, home run or nothing. Usually bases empty home runs too, by the way, last night's three runs shots notwithstanding.

The Hammer of God

HoraceClarke66 said...

Yeah, Hammer has it right: Yet another of our "great" prospects is proving to be a bust with another team.

Which leads to two key questions:

—Why is Brain Cashman so afraid of trading certain players? The fear that they will be straightened out elsewhere? Most likely they're just busts.

—WTF is going on with our training/coaching?

ranger_lp said...

On the Michael Kay show yesterday...(Kayless), Don interviewed Buster Olney. His view of the Yankee situation is depressing...here's some talking points..

- From the length of Brian's tenure here, he's considered family. Hal really trusts Brian's input and his knowledge of baseball regardless of how we all think of him here.

- Because of the way the team is composed and the way the players are performing, it's almost impossible to make any impact moves this year. Unless the Yanks are so many games out of the playoffs, which most do not expect, be prepared for nothing big. The Yanks don't make Red Sox like roster moves at the deadline. Buster thought the best move they could make is to move Judge for some top line prospects.

- Looking at it from Hal's standpoint, he could look at the season as a one off since they haven't had a losing season since 1992 and 7 losing seasons since 1965 and hope Brian can fix over the off-season. Everyone is allowed a one off, right?

- There is one year left on Cashman's contract, which ends in 2022. He could just let that run out and replace him. Cashman would get a new gig 30 seconds after being let go so Brian will survive just fine. Who would Hal trust in Brian's place?

Nothing uplifting here...

Carl J. Weitz said...

The bar most of us met at in the Bronx was a lit of fun. Perhaps 13 Bit knows a similar type place in Manhattan. I assume a weekend afternoon works best for most.

Carl J. Weitz said...

As far as Sterling's home run call for Locastro, I guess " Locastro sends a missile to Cuba" wouldn't go over too well with Hispanic fans.

ranger_lp said...

@Carl...probably something safer like..."Timmy tags one!!!"

BernBabyBern said...

Like El Duque, the meetup in 2019 was a highlight for me, and I'd love to drive up with him and see everyone again. But late August is tough for me too (I have a son that is heading off to college right around that time), and I think the odds of me being able to make it are even worse than Chapman being able to throw a strike. We'll see.

JM said...

I'd go for Italian for the HR call:

"Locastro es una astro!"

13bit said...

That place from 2019 was amazing for a pre-game joint, but I wouldn't do it for a sit-down. I'm also lazy as hell and don't feel like going up there. I'd like to think that I - in the West Village - am equidistant, and thus most convenient, for everybody, but that's not true. I'm just lazy.

I don't know of many Yankee-centric sports bars - and I'm more into the idea of food - so I looked on Yelp and this place called Jeremy's Ale House, way down in South Street Seaport, jumped out as appealing. That being said, Midtown might be best for everybody. I'm open to suggestions. I might point out that I used to live a notorious Red Sox bar - The Riviera. When they won in 2004, douchebags literally came running there from all directions. You can imagine my grim pleasure when they went out of business a while back, long before the pandemic.

I had also mentioned a while ago that I'd love to host virtual game-watching orgies via Zoom and that still goes. If there's interest, let me know and I'll set something up.

Take a look on the web at Jeremy's. I LOVE the idea of fresh, greasy seafood and getting a whiff of the East River while I eat in the company of my fellow raggedy-ass blog fellows.

13bit said...

one more thing. we cal also do it in early september, if need be.

HoraceClarke66 said...

That sounds good to me. I would go pretty much anywhere in Manhattan.

And despite my "Defund the Yankees!" declaration, I would even go to the Stadium if everyone preferred. I figure that, being down from 20-25 games a year c. 1998-2000 to 1 in the past 7 years has already put a serious crimp in HAL's pocketbook.

But Jeremy's sounds like a blast!

13bit said...

Hoss, I was thinking the same thing. In the spirit of bogosity - the state of being extremely bogus - we could boycott the team...AT THE STADIUM.

As long as we brought serious signage, it would be okay. the ultimate would be to get ejected from the stadium for holding up anti-Hal messages.

Anyway, let's let the sages weigh in...

In the old days, we could have just chartered a train car to Syracuse and partied the whole way up, carried Duque around the block on one of those mounted chairs, then taken a sleeper car back while singing "Auld Lang Syne"....

Ken of Brooklyn said...

Hi Bitty, I also don't know any Yankee centric sports bars, just googling and looking at yelp, The District Tap House on the westside midtown looked good because they had 20 televisions so we could be sure of seeing the game, and, the food and varieties of ale looked a little more sophisticated that some of the other places listed,,, https://www.yelp.com/biz/district-tap-house-new-york.

That said I have no real preference, just thinking about convenience for any out of town commuters, anyplace that we all are gathered is going to be a party! Open to any and all suggestions,,,,,

And BernBB, yes, if late August is tough for some folks, early Sept is fine ( the first weekend 3rd and 4th are 1:10 day games against the o's), or, maybe mid August. Whatever works the best for all of you works for me,,,,,

Really looking forward to this!


Ken of Brooklyn said...

Bitty, Jeremy's Ale House looks good too,,,,, I think I'm still a little too pissed to go to the Stadium, though if I was in the minority, I would certainly 'take one for the team'.

TheWinWarblist said...

Ale? In a House? Presumably with a roof!? I'm there if you all will be!


You pretty much had me at "Ale."

TheWinWarblist said...

Now I feel really bad for Seattle. These sucky Yankees are still piling it on them. Sure assholes, go ahead. Crap all over poor Seattle like the losers you are!!


LOSERS, YOU FUCKERS, YOU HEAR ME!!

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