Hence, the new Easter tradition: Honor Jesus' resurrection with a sacrifice...
Still... if Gleyber's bunt looked out of synch, it's worth noting that he never sacrificed in spring training. Not once. No Yankees did. Not once. Practicing bunts - that's what the regular season is for, right?
Insert sigh here.
Nobody needs me to recount how pathetic the Yankees looked Sunday. We've reached our October form. In fact, watching the Yankees strand runner after runner reminds me that - despite decent averages and HR totals last year - no Yank drove in 100 runs, once a benchmark for heart-of-the-order sluggers.
The last Yank to knock in than 100 - DJ LeMahieu, in 2019, with 102 - hit leadoff. That year, he was followed in RBIs by Gary Sanchez (77), Brett Gardner (74) and Geo Urshella (74.) Our big boppers were hurt. And though our hopes rest with them - (let's face it; they're all we've got) - they've yet to take us anywhere in October and - hey, sorry to be a downer, but that's China Town, Jake.
If any Yanks plan to outwit the overshifts - adjusting swings or laying down bunts - it must happen during the season, using live ammunition. They didn't practice it in Tampa. And although 2022 is still a small sample size, we've already seen plenty of opportunities for batters to try something new, and, well... 10 strikeouts, yesterday. It's not working.
We've now blown our first series against Baltimore, the division patsy. Our ace, Gerrit Cole, has yet to throw a scoreless first inning. We're not starting big rallies or manufacturing single runs. Our offense is based on walks and HRs, and in both cases, the opposing manager just brings in a new pitcher, and we're back to square one. Our bullpen has been great, until it's not. Like yesterday.
One of these days, we'll score two touchdowns against some overworked staff, juice our stats and go back to pretending all is well.
But barely two weeks into 2022, we're seeing exactly the Yankee team that we feared. Slow, sluggish, swinging away, striking out.
Yesterday, at the end, instead of screaming at the umps, Aaron Boone was left to explain his decisions and tell us how great everybody is starting to look.
Barely two weeks in, I feel like I've been watching this team for 10 years.
Folks, if we live long enough, we're going to look back on these seasons in the way that, today, we remember the early 1980s. Joey Gallo as Steve Kemp? Don't think it can't happen...
The Yankees are the poster children for what's wrong with baseball. SO, HR, NO HITS RISP, 5 innings starter. To me the problem with baseball is not the length of the game, it's how boring the game is. The NY/BOS games of the early 2000s were 4-5hr games, but there was something going on all the time. I can't watch this team, it's not baseball. People compare Gallo to Kingman. To use a LLoyd Bentson line, I saw Dave Kingman play, Joey Gallo is no Dave Kingman. I really hope this team loses 90+ games, because that's the only way things change.
ReplyDeletePlease don't insult Steve Kemp in that fashion.
ReplyDeleteHe was a career .278 hitter averaging only about 85 SO per season with about 18 HRS per year.
Don't compare him to Gallo.
But in fairness to Gallo, he is for the Yankees exactly what he was to the Rangers.
Kemp might be our best contact hitter if we had him today.
Then again, he would be 67.
I've been checking into IIHIIFIIC daily, though I've had nothing really to add to the conversation because this team is such a complete soul suck, such a freaking black hole that I fear getting to close because these Yankees will stretch me molecule by molecule into a 20 mile long strand of frustrated human spaghetti. I don't watch the games, I listen to The Master and Suzyn, but even they cannot keep me entertained long enough to soldier through nine innings of this narcoleptic team. I've been reduced to rooting AGAINST them, just because it offers the slimmest of slim chance that Brian Cashman might finally be fired.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I've been reduced too, complete abject resignation only 10 games in,,,,
Pathetic Team!
Fire Cashman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FU HAL!
Let's go Mets.
ReplyDeleteI have one word for all the sad, disgruntled and bored Yankee fans here……hockey. Give it a shot. If you are a NY sports fan, watch the Rangers in action. They are young, skilled and having one of their best seasons ever. After watching a few games you will really appreciate the skill, athleticism, and heart all hockey players bring to the game. The speed and constant action makes watching baseball like waiting for paint to dry. With the Stanley Cup playoffs coming , there is no better time to get involved. It’ been stated
ReplyDeletehere (correctly), a million times over, that the new breed of baseball is boring and frustrating to watch, especially for those of us who were fortunate enough to see some of the great Yankee teams of the past. The new baseball is driving people away because it sucks.
Yankees bullpen ERA (2.08) is the best in the AL and second-best in MLB. The pen has also thrown more innings than every bullpen in baseball aside from Tampa's. As far as I am concerned, the bullpen holds absolutely no blame for the mediocrity we've seen this year. They've done the job. You can't ask for more from an overworked unit.
ReplyDeleteAnd who cares about the 8th inning yesterday? Our lineup wasn't scoring so better to get the loss over with then instead of going to extras.
Joey Gallo with Texas .211/.336/.497
Joey Gallo with New York .157/.300/.369
These are very different batting lines to me. Did you notice the .130 SLG drop?
I'm not seeing enough love for Nestor Cortes Jr. He's one of the only players on the active roster I enjoy watching.
5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 12 K (88 pitches)
Wish Boone woulda left him out there to pitch the 6th inning, but he has been a revelation as our no. 5 starter. Pretty good for someone drafted in the 36th round (1,094th overall) and who bounced around unwanted for four years.
I was so willing to give the off season moves the benefit of the doubt but have now realized that most of the comments I read here are completely valid. I know I’m in trouble when I’m checking on “team with most wins since 1980” which is the Yankees, but it only speaks to grasping at straws for positivity that just doesn’t exist for this team. What is the answer? Is it fixable? Will we fans accept a “rebuild “ to accomplish what is necessary to bring exciting successful baseball back to the Bronx? My optimism is fleeing like the proverbial rat from a clearly sinking ship. Jeez this used to be fun…
ReplyDeleteyes, Nestor is fun to watch. What a pro! He's getting to the point where he knows he's good, and he walks off the mound like he expects to succeed, not like it's an aberration.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThis team is like watching an alcoholic heading toward a bottom. Mediocrity won't get them to crash and burn. Only a complete meltdown will accomplish that.
The good news? Guys like Gallo and Donaldson heading into the sunset are like adding cocaine to the mix. Their demise will make the necessary putsch and rebuild happen just that much faster. We can only pray for more of yesterday's losses until the intervention happens.
A proposed chant for Tuesday's game against Detroit and then again for Cole's next start back in da Bronx.
ReplyDeleteOne and Two should alternate, inning by inning:
Repeat after me -
ONE: Hit Strikes Hard! - Whine Like Cole! - Hit Strikes Hard! - Whine Like Cole!
TWO: Fire Cash! - Hal Must Go! - Fire Cash! - Hal Must Go! - Fire Cash! - Hal Must Go!
They aren't a good baseball team. They cannot get on base or score runs. No amount of pitching can save them.
ReplyDeleteFuck.
Love that idea, AboveAverage! And both very funny and very true, Celerino. Those games went on and on...and you had your heart in your mouth most of the time.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, Unknown, that's a classic, "So what?" stat. I'm sure the Yankees also have the best record in the majors since 1920, over a hundred years now. But that and $2.75...
And nice try, Since 56...or should I say...SATAN?
ReplyDeleteI've been a Rangers fan since 1967. If there is one team more frustrating than this Yankees squad, it's been the Rangers. Forever.
Unlike the Knicks, who at least have the decency to molder away without any real chance of winning it all—for the last 25 years, at least—the Rangers are foul tempters, who make you think they could actually get that Cup.
They can't. Unless Mark Messier has been reanimated and put on the first line, I refuse to get excited.
Duque:
ReplyDeleteI have had no fear. I saw this coming. The Yankees are not going to change their approach. Obviously, they believe in their analytics "Wait For The Dinger Approach." The majority of the Yankees hitters will continue to swing up and swing hard with two strikes, for the long ball. Kumbaya Boone will continue to tell us that things will turn around. Genius Cashman will do an occasional interview, interjecting his cute lines. I guess The Yankees are not a Death Star this season, huh Genius. Yankees runners will run base to base, because that is what they are capable of. Joey K Gallo will bat no lower than sixth in the lineup when he should be on the bench until The Genius can get rid of him. The players will get thrown out on the basepaths because base running and "critical thinking" when on the bases is not stressed. The owner Cheapskate Hal, as yes, he will not go the extra yard, because he only cares about making profits and believe me the Yankees do. Fans will not hear from Hal. If we did, he would tell us that sure he's angry regarding how the team is doing. He will stress that the Yankees are a "Championship Caliber Team." In today's sports world, one can say anything. Patrick Ewing told us that The Knicks would win a championship every season. Same old fluff, say old propaganda, say old nonsense!
You’re loss there HC. They probably will not win the cup, but at least the games are fun to watch and the effort is always there… not like the billionaire no shows the Yankees have amassed over the years. They are pathetic ….I refuse to get exited. Maybe paying Judge $350M to whiff and bang his head will cure everything, but somehow I doubt it.
ReplyDeleteDon’t get the “Satan,” but whatever.
Duque:
ReplyDeleteLet's take a trip to Scranton. Oswald Peralta is hitting .219. Only 33 A Bs. Bird is hitting .100, although he probably won't see daylight with The Yankees. Scranton is stocked with former major leaguers and older "so-called" prospects. Anthony Volpe hit his first homer, a Grand Slam, yesterday. He is at double A. Volpe is hitting .156 with one homer and 6 RBIs. It is early and he might very well develop into a star. Under the "S0-called" leadership of Genius Cashman, the greatest exec that our eyes will ever see, it is THE SAME OLD STORY!!!!!!
56, it's a joking reference to Dana Carvey's old "Church Lady" routine on Saturday Night Live, in which the Church Lady would accuse someone making a perfectly reasonable suggestion of being..."SATAN!"
ReplyDeleteI wish only the best for the Rangers. I would gladly watch them instead of the Yankees, the way they played yesterday. Hell, bad as the ending of that Nets' game was last night, I would gladly watch the NBA over this Yankees team.
Then it hit me last night, like a diamond bullet right between the eyes. My god, I would rather watch most of those 1980's teams on offense than to watch this team. Of course it's way early, but this team has the aroma of last season still clinging to it.
ReplyDeleteVery true, Kev. And yes, it's early. But I wonder when the last time was that one-third of the Yanks' starting lineup went 10 games without a homer or RBI. Maybe the deadfall era?
ReplyDelete@ Since 56....couldn't agree more. Hockey is an easy game to like if you take the time to learn the simple rules of the game. I've been a Rangers fan from around 1962 when Red Sullivan coached the team (right before Emile "The Cat" Francis). Why did I become a fan? Well, the Rangers were broadcast on channel 9 during the early 60's and I watched Saturday morning cartoon and kiddie shows on WOR along with WPIX and WNEW. H O Oats were an advertiser on one of those shows and they gave away a free Rangers ticket if you sent in 2 box labels. A few of my friends and I did just that.
ReplyDelete@ Horace....sure, maybe the Rangers won't win the Stanley Cup. But they can get out of the Eastern Conference as well as anyone else. Cups are won with great goaltending and a very good defense. Both of which the Rangers possess. They might have the best goaltending and defense combination in the NHL. Add in a few lucky bounces and anything can happen. They have enough offensive firepower and balanced lines to get to the finals. As Since 56 mentioned, it's your loss not watching them in the playoffs.
HC…gotcha now. I read the blog frequently and really enjoy the write ups and posts. Some of the sarcasm is world class and I’ve learned a lot from the history lessons…thanks for that. I just do not enjoy the “new” baseball, I miss it, and I see no end to the frustration in sight. The total reliance on analytics is crazy, but if stats are the Holy Grail, how about “reverse”stats….
ReplyDeleteFrom ‘18 to ‘21, Stanton had made 108M…he has struck out 287 times ( Baseball ref. )…..how about $375K+ per strike out….nice work if you can get it !
Thanks, 56, and I completely agree. Can't stand this stuff. One could say that hockey is the only one of the Big 4 sports that have not dumbed themselves down in recent decades.
ReplyDeleteCan't tell you how bad it was growing up in Massachusetts as a Rangers fan. At least the Sox didn't win anything when I was there. The Bruins were another story.
I remember that final in 1971-72(?), when in the first game, the Rangers stormed back from a 5-1 deficit to tie the game, in Boston Garden. Then lost, 6-5. Horrible! My penance for being a Yankees fan!
The 71 Bruins pushed around and beat up the Rangers. Just like the Flyers did in 74.
ReplyDeleteThis team is boring me to death.
ReplyDeleteThe only way to save the Yankees is to fire everyone with the power to make a baseball-related decision.
And I do mean everyone.