Unfortunately, each looks quite capable of knocking out the Yankees in the postseason's second round.
Yesterday's win, while tamping down the odds of a Grand Collapse, didn't exactly settle our jangled nerves. The Death Barge had to score 12 runs - five HRs - and even then, everything boiled down to Clay Holmes pitching with the bases loaded. No way that game should have gone down to the wire. No way...
And yet, it did - a microcosm of 2022: the Yanks roaring out to a big lead and then limping drunkenly to the finish line. It should have been a laugher. Turned out a nail-biter. And no matter how certain our lead appears to be, every Yank fan in captivity knows that this team can go tits-up on a moment's notice, and that October looks like a cruel month - or maybe half-a-month. Somehow, we'll have to beat Houston, and chanting "Cheater Cheater" only seems to make them angrier.
But but BUT... Tuesday, we shall finally experience Brian Cashman's grand and glorious vision: A defense led by a fleet-footed, Gold Glove CF who - in theory, anyway - will serve as the final chess piece to Anna Taylor-Joy's gambit. (Finish the old Laugh-In joke: If Anna Taylor-Joy married Isiah Kiner-Falefal...) That will move Aaron Judge to RF, sparing his legs, and leave LF up for grabs, though Yank fans have made their choice - Ice Water Oswaldo! - the rookie with the veteran's smile.
By week's end, DJ LeMahieu could return - (hopefully at full DJ) Thus, the renewed lineup...?
LeMahieu 3B
Judge RF
Rizzo 1B
Stanton DH
Torres 2B
Cabrera LF
Bader CF
Trevino C
Kiner-Falefa SS
With respect to John Lennon: Imagine there's no Donaldson; it's easy if you try. The rotation would be Gerrit "Little Game" Cole, Nasty Nestor, Setback Sevy and whoever looks good coming off the bus. I gotta believe we're done with Montas.
This is Cashman's team - always was. Boone is Jeeves, the butler. And 2022 has already served us Cash's greatest achievement - the first half Yankees - followed by his worst trade deadline ever. We will soon get an outcome. In the meantime, maybe Toronto and Tampa can play some chin music? Have at it, boys!
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Giants, Jets, Mets, Yankees all win on same day for first time since 2009
Cashman is a moron. Just thought I'd throw that in.
Montgomery had another quality start this weekend
Look out! SWB is one game behind Durham in the AILC...
New York AND Scranton? Pinch me!
This also will be the week of Judge - and all the unpacking of the moment.
Some quick thoughts...
1) "Grand Collapse" Gerrit Cole. Coincidence? I think not.
2) (Finish the old Laugh-In joke: If Anna Taylor-Joy married Isiah Kiner-Falefal...)
I could not and it pisses me off. The closest I could come was Eine kleine Nachtmusik which, while esoteric seems a bit too sophisticated for 8PM Monday's on NBC (in 1967).
3) The joy of watching the Giants win again plus the Yankees winning (Actually just the Judge and Rizzo part. The pitching situation is now officially frightening.) plus the Mets AND the Jets winning as well made my watching sports on TV for SEVEN hours!!!!! Actually seem like a good use of time for once.
I do not believe that Brian Cashman's grand vision excludes the $50M man Josh Donaldson.
I also do not believe LeMahieu is healthy. Boone has already said he's going to have to deal with the toe injury this offseason, and DJ has admitted his ability to hit is thrown off with this injury. LeMahieu returning to the roster is a classic end-of-season desperation move that will go poorly. LeMahieu hit .128/.179/.128 in the 20 games before going on the IL. Why would we expect improvement if the foot issue remains? I don't get it.
This has been Cashman's team for the past 20 years or so, during which we won exactly one World Series and had horrible, humiliating, ball-crushing, soul-crushing fades and collapses every other time. A time when we lost more good players than we could ever develop, when we took on more useless, overpriced wrecks than a scrap yard, and when we became a class-less, soul-less juggernaut of mediocrity. When we destroyed the old, sacred House that Ruth Built, anointed an owner who hates baseball and uses the Yankees to fund his soccer dreams, when we let Randy Levine cavort naked in the lupine fields and when we broke the heart of every true Yankee fan. This is the Cashman era and, if he has his way, it will continue until he dies, upon which his hand-chosen intern will replace him. The coaching by tiny men who never played the game will continue, the bad trainers will continue to massage tweaked tendons and the sabermetricians in the basement will continue to send up the instructions for the morons to follow. One day, we can all walk up the bronze statue of Ma Boone that they will surely build, rub the bright spot on the metal where his jockstrap goes, and think back fondly to this historic season. I hope Judge breaks the record, then decamps to a team where he can actually have some protection. Fuck Hal, Fuck Brian, Fuck Donder and Blitzen...
If we were a younger team, the Yanks wouldn't have shortages of Band-Aids, Super Glue, and Duct Tape...
Hear, hear, Bitty! Fantastic! It think this deserves to be its own post!
One small caveat: really, the Original House That Ruth Built was gutted and gone in the 1973-76 rehab. But there was no reason to sacrifice even that shabby, smelly, ill-maintained, adorable old home stand for the soulless mediocrity planted in the midst of what had been a beloved public park.
I read these hallowed pages every day. I read nearly all the comments every day. I moderate when we have a plague of Puckereds. On a day like today when I get here in the 11 o'clock hour, you, The Commentariat, have already said all the needed saying. I could add some inchoate keening, but why? You have all said it already and already said it so well.
Bitty, still completes me. Hoss, is every Hoss-like. And adoration and fealty to all the rest, those how have departed.
Fuck. But of course there is a called for fuck.
Wow, I am a babbling mess this morning.
Okay then! Back to practicing medicine!
Some info from fangraphs.com:
9/21 RP Scott Effross will likely be activated from 15-Day IL
9/21 SP Luis Severino will likely be activated from 60-Day IL
9/20 OF Harrison Bader will likely be activated from 60-Day IL
9/19 RP Ryan Weber cleared waivers; elected free agency
I can't see comparing Boone to Jeeves, the butler. Firstly, though pop culture has dubbed him the quintessential butler, Jeeves is in fact a valet. And secondly, the hallmarks of Jeeves's character are his discretion, good sense, and competence, which allow him to smoothly solve all the bizarre conundrums into which Wooster gets himself. Boone is, of course, quite discrete, and night after night he uses many words to say nothing at all. But sensible and competent? Elegantly solving Cashman's bizarre predicaments?
I venture that the apt parallels for Jeeves and Wooster would be Gene Michael and George Steinbrenner. We should be so lucky!
Why Oh Why does Stanton have to be allowed four strikeouts and one (HIDP) per game?
The guy is automatic. Not a threat. Nothing.
Just expensive.
'Phonso, The Glass Giant has an injury, maybe core injury that the Yankees are hiding. His swing is long and slow. His feet are uncomfortable and all over the place. His problems with strike outs are legend, of course, but prior to this year he made good contact when he was in the lineup. He either has a core or maybe hip injury, or, more concerningly, he's done as a major leaguer at 32 y/o. We will know next year for certain, but we'll get nothing from him in October.
Fuck. Seriously, fuck.
Stanton's a couple days away from DL. Bader comes back, overlaps with Stanton for a bit, then Stanton disappears. Cash's nerds think they can get through ALDS without him. He'll get a few ABs in ALCS for appearamces' sake. And that'll be that for 2022.
@Publius: All the Yanks have been talking about are "Plus Defensive Players". we have them everywhere except CF. Master Bader is the last piece of the puzzle to have all PDPs in the lineup. Analytics thinks this will win games...they've made this game of baseball all too complicated...
The "brain trust" will be resting Stanton so he can be ready to go in the spring.
Either that or he spends the rest of his career in the Ellsbury Home for Aged Ballplayers.
And Derek Jeter can spend his remaining years laughing at the sting he pulled on The Intern.
I'm not sure I want to enlist on either side in "World War IFK" but the Deep Yankee is convinced he's an elite shortstop. His rag arm and several metrics besides a couple cherished by Cash's nerds say otherwise. Point is, even when we're told that a player is "plus" defensively, can we believe it? Do we trust the Deep Yankee?
I was wondering over my turkey and horseradish cheddar on rye with spicy mustard lunch just what kind of medicine the Winzer practices . . . . ?
Winnie, "inchoate keening" is ALWAYS appropriate when it comes to the Yankees.
Publius, IKF can deliver the occasional clutch hit, which I like, and he's gives his all despite being stuck in what is not his best position (Torres would have another breakdown). But he's not good—and it's not like they didn't have 27 or so SS options to choose from this off-season!
This is more typical, Cashman egoism. IKF will "hold a spot" until his great find, Anthony Volpe, is ready.
Hey, I like Volpe well enough, and wish him well. But this is a season in which he just made it to Scranton, after hitting .251 in Double-A. It could easily take him another 2-3 years to become a successful, big-league SS, even if all goes well.
That is, it it could easily take him more time than the Yankees' rapidly closing window allows—and never mind that the last, can't miss shortstop of Cashie's was Gleyber Torres.
The smart play was to sign Carlos Correa or Corey Seagar, then move Volpe when he came up and was ready, or trade him. But then, that wouldn't prove what a genius Coops is.
Ranger, PDPs is a time honored tradition. Earl Weaver won with Pitching, Defense and 3-run Homeruns. No one called Brooks Robinson (or Craig Nettles) boring players. I'd be delighted to see better pitching and defense. The Yankees still won't win because CashBrain will somehow fuck up even that simple recipe.
Better defense will at least be easier and more exciting to watch.
CashBrain fuckery.
Yeah, Earl could afford to win with PDP - he had one of the greatest pitching staffs ever assembled. Not like the collection of mediocrities we have. Which, when you think about it, accurately reflects The Intern's persona and effectiveness.
DickAllen, I did say Pitching. I really truly did, you cantankerous HOFer! I know Weaver O's had a great staff! That's how CashBrain will fuck this up! By trading Montgomery and "replacing" him WITH FUCKING NUMB-NUTS PUS-FOR-BRAINS MONTAS!! WOULD A GM INTERESTED IN WINNING DO THAT?? WOULD HE?? NO HE WOULD NOT!! HAL TOLD HIM TO TANK THE YANKEES IN THE SECOND HALF!! AND HE FUCKING DID IT BECAUSE HE IS A SOULLESS HONORLESS GUTLESS PUNK!!
So, yes, you are correct that Weaver could do that, but I will posit that in that low run scoring environment, backing that staff up with anything less than great defense would have undermined the team's chance to win. Would that staff been as great with a terrible fielding team behind them?
Fuck o' fuck.
Ranger? Master Bader? I see what you did there. Juvenile! Sophomoric!
Now how to convince The Master to work it into the HR call. "Master Bader strokes a hard long one!"
Hard to beat that, Winnie.
Master Bader beats off that slump by stroking one into the crowd! OH, THE HUMANITY!!!
Yes, Bitty, yes. Oh, the humanity.
Fuck Cashman. He's nothing but HAL's puppet, an intern whose only talent is making sure that HAL's finances are in order.
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