Wednesday, September 8, 2021

In a season of Yankee disappointments, the greatest insults may be yet to come

All season, we feared the moment when Gerrit Cole finally became a true Yankee... that is, when he got hurt. 

He'd face a tweak, a strain, a tear, a sprain - something would pop - and he would march solemnly to the dugout, not to return.

Last night, amid the Stepford horror of yet another listless defeat, it happened: Cole called out the coaching entourage and abruptly disappeared, along with - perhaps - any real Yankee hopes for this wretched, hellhole of a season. (Aside from 2004, have we ever suffered more at the nepotistic hands of this lost franchise?) 

Cole had become our One Great Hope: He'd win the Wild Card and propel us into the Divisional Round, a five-game series where, well, anything could happen. Now, we face a new reality, a new set of insults to the fans:

1. The Yankees routinely lie to us about injuries. They dismiss the problem, claiming the player will barely miss a game. Then, a week later, he hits the IL. Today, they say Cole might not miss a start. Does anybody believe this slop? Whatever they say, it's just rancid spin, which is what Yankee management does best.

2. If Cole misses two starts, he will then experience the traditional Yankee re-entry slump, which it seems every player endures. Currently, we are suffering through the returns of Gio Urshela, Gleyber Torres and Corey Kluber. (It's getting hard to differentiate between slumps and "normalcy" for Luke Voit. )

3. As the race tightens, the Yankees may lose the flexibility of Cole pitching the Wild Card game. He might have to win the season finale, just to get us there. Thus, the Wild Card could a bullpen game - which feels like a looming disaster. (And, of course, we wonder not just who starts the game, but who finishes it?)  

4. With Cole gone, our top starter might be - gulp - Nestor Cortez. It's been a joy to watch Nasty Nestor rise in the ranks, but when will the music stop? And tonight, they're doing exactly what they vowed not to do: They're injecting Luis Gil into a pressurized pennant race. Didn't they send him to Scranton to avoid such stresses?

5. If the Yankees blow this series - (and who here expects them to win the next two?) - booing at home will become a factor. Certainly, some players deserve it. But it's Yankee management that designed this team, and which then traded an arsenal of talent in an attempt to salvage it. 

The Yankee propaganda mills claim we kept our best prospects, so nothing was lost in the trade deadline makeover. They expect us to believe that the other teams are stupid, that they have no scouts, that they were outsmarted by the wily Yankee front office. In a season of insult, that may just be the biggest of them all. 

16 comments:

Ironbow said...

A truly sad situation. If it wasn't for the Orioles, the Yankees would finish last in their division. Disgraceful is too weak a word to describe the entire organization.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

As to #5, Yankee fans can revive the "Steinbrenner SUCKS!" chants, and throw in some "Cashman sucks" for good measure. It would be far better than the star wars garbage.

Celerino Sanchez said...

It's time to play around with the rotation so Cashman's great trade acquisition Heaney can pitch the play-in game.

BTR999 said...

Disheartened, Disappointed, Disgusred…

Platoni said...

"Cole might not miss the next start" is right up there with "frankly, we did win this election."

Rufus T. Firefly said...

"I'll still respect you in the morning"

...if I can remember your name.

Ironbow said...

It's going to be a long, seriously interesting winter.

ranger_lp said...

I'm starting to wonder about Heaney Hidey Hidey Ho. Is Brian Brain so obsessed with fixing him to prove that he didn't make a horrible deal that he keeps throwing him out there? And does this become a referendum on Matt Blake to convince all of us he's the second coming of Leo Mazzone?

ZacharyA said...

Nestor Cortes is our second best starter?

Didn't Boone say yesterday that they're putting him in the bullpen to piggyback with Luis Gil?

Anonymous said...

Starve the Beast.
no mercy, no tickets, avoid all sponsors.
Money is their driving force and we are the suckers that supply it.

Boycott , Divest.

Read Ball Four again for entertainment.

The Avenging Archangel

TheWinWarblist said...

"He might have to win the season finale, just to get us there." WHAT THE FUCK. I AM SERIOUS. WHAT FUCKERY BACKWARDS ASS ujuj IS THIS? THESE YANKEES WILL WIN NOTHING. NOTHING. NONE OF ANY THINGS. THEY HAVE NO CHANCE. THE HAVE PASSED BEYOND. NO WILD CARD. NO PLAYOFFS. NO MEANINGFUL BASEBALL IN OCTOBER. COLD DARK NIGHTS WILL DESCEND UPON US. SOLACELESS.



Fuckers.

JM said...

Winnie, I bow to your unrelenting pessimism in the face of my misguided optimism. This team is a mess, and the win streak was just a mirage in an offense-less desert.

I was watching full games this summer, something I rarely did for years. Now, I at best record the game and check the score on my phone to see if anything happened that's worth watching.

Meanwhile, my wife and I have one more episode in Season 3 of Line of Duty--a grim, humorless British show about a team investigating internal police corruption. It makes for an uplifting respite from the Yankees.

Piiax said...

(The following is a JOKE.) Maybe Cashman will retire, realizing the error of his ways. Repent, repent, dear Brian.

Anonymous said...

The real question is...

Who here seriously believes that the Yankees will finish the season ahead of the Red Sox and the Blue Jays?

The Jays are ascendant and could/should be 1/2 game out of the TOP WC slot by Thursday night. Duque did the head to heads match ups the other day. They are better.

They would have three weeks to finish one game better than the Yankees.

This is a done deal.

Boston sucks. (I write that a lot because... Boston sucks!) but do they suck worse than we do? One game worse? Because we suck too.

I'm not sure about the number two wild card because Boston truly does suck. (In addition to Sucking! Because they are Boston).

I'm hoping for Seattle. A long suffering team that I know nothing about. Maybe they will play inspired baseball and make a move.

Doug K.

HoraceClarke67 said...

As I wrote, Archie: DEFUND THE YANKEES!!!

HoraceClarke67 said...

Doug K., I'm not sure the Carmine Hose will make it as their pitching seems, at long last, to be coming undone, too. But yeah, love to see Oakland or Seattle—now that Jogginson is gone—make it into the playoffs, and even knock the obnoxious BJs on their pointy little heads.