As a fan of and participant on It Is High It is Far, I have been as critical of the Yankees and their collective and individual ineptitude as anyone.
Yes, Hal fails time after time to go the extra mile to help this team win. Absolutely, Brian Cashman is a poor judge of talent and continuously overestimates what he has, and of course, this trading deadline was one of the worst in history.
May I add that Aaron Boone is a horrible
field manager and his press conferences are absurd to the point of stupefaction.
But…
Oh wait,
Donaldson really sucks.
OK.
But…
Hold on. One
more. This team, as I’ve mentioned before,
is just a collection of non-affiliated at-bats.
Seriously 30 strike outs in two games? C’mon!
OK, I think that’s
it, because I have something else to say. Something important. So…
There are thirty teams in Major League Baseball. Twenty six of them are home. This includes
the Steve Cohen owned NY Mets, the 111 win LA Dodgers, last year’s champion
Atlanta Braves, all the teams in the American League East except the Yankees, the AL Central Champion Cleveland Indians, the Jordan Montgomery fueled Saint
Louis Cardinals, and the up and coming Seattle Mariners.
They are all home, and we get to watch our team at least two more times. Watch Aaron Judge as a Yankee at least two more times.
Will we win? I doubt it.
The Astros, now in their sixth straight ALCS,
are a much better team up and down the line-up, better starters, better pen,
better scouting better farm, better manager and owner… They are just better.
Can we win? Sure. It’s baseball.
The point that I’m trying to make is that we are STILL
watching the Yankees on October 21st. We won the division. We won the ALDS. The above mentioned teams… they're done.
Tomorrow
night we send out Cole. Then Nestor. After that who knows, but let’s all take a
moment, a heretical moment, on a bright clear sunny off day in Autumn to
realize just how great that really is.
OK I’m
done.
Fire Brian Cashman!
BEAUTIFULLY put, Doug.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
I am ever hopeful - and I'm relishing the bun, I mean fun - of all of this extra baseball.
Great thought, Doug. And if it hadn't been so clear for so long that the season would almost certainly end with a loss to the Astros in the ALCS, I would share your equanimity. But I can't get there. But I can't really get pissed off anymore either. This is Yankees baseball in the 21st century. Frustrating, usually boring, and not really worth the attention. And definitely not worth the money.
ReplyDeleteWell said
DeleteAmen.
ReplyDeleteWe will have all winter to befoul their names.
WE CAN STILL WIN THIS.
Great to have a little optimism, Doug, as it feels like everything in the world is going south.
ReplyDeleteBut I share Publius' feelings of exhaustion about this season.
ReplyDeleteHi Yankee friends
Ive been seriously ill and spent several months in the ICU apparetly it was touch and go for a while but I guess I must be tougher than I look but it has taken months for me to be fit enough to come home
Ive never smoked a cigarette very rarely drink alchol and never taken any kind of illegal drugs but for some reason all my internal organs decided to stop working
Ive really missed watching the baseball and missed even more reading the articles and comments on here but now I am back home despite the shambles of this playoff series I feel so much better in face I actually feel happy
Hope all on here are happy and well and I look forward to trying to be an active poster on here the best Yankee site on the internet
Aw the best
John (Scottish Yankee fan)
Hi John, your post really puts things in perspective.
ReplyDeleteGood luck & good health!
John,
ReplyDeleteWelcome back. We wondered where you went. Glad you are on the mend. May it continue.
Welcome back John. Glad you made it.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame you had to return to this stinking mess, which is soon to expire.
We'll all have a long winter to cavil over the misfortunes of this veneer of a team.
It's the hope that kills you.
And make no mistake: this is OVER.
John - glad you are here. At some point every 24 hours, I remind myself that every day above ground is a good day.
ReplyDeleteHi John...glad you're on the upside...Universe decided that you should be subjected to this debacle...
ReplyDeleteJohn, it's great to hear that you're OK and came through that brush with the creepy guy from the Monty Python Salmon Mousse sketch.
ReplyDeleteI think it's easy to forget what Bit said. As much as we bitch and moan about the Yankees--and possibly our various ailments--the fact is, all of it sure beats the alternative. Which is not being here to bitch or moan or have ailments.
It's particularly unfair that you were even in danger given your relatively clean lifestyle. Mine has been pretty much the opposite, so I consider myself on borrowed time. But you shouldn't be.
Glad you're here. And hope that next time, Scotland votes for independence and gets away from the political lunacy in London. ;-)
Thank you all my dear friends for writing such lovely words and taking the time to care about someoone you have never met. I am very humbled but also have tears in my eyes I really am honoured by you lovely people caring for me. I dont know why I deserve your kindness but I am truly grateful for it
ReplyDeleteHowever when I saw Boone in a press conference bemoaning the fact the roof was left open and blaming it for the loss I wished I was back on the ventalatior again
Houston much as they are a very hateful team I feel are better in every part of the game from players coaches and GM's
than us
Doesnt make it easier watching players on literally 10's of million dollars who keep trying to hit HR at any stage of the game
ReplyDeleteI am too old to hold on to Hope. I'm 69. Hope took the train out of town a while ago!
BUT: I do hang on to Memory. If you are a NYYs fan, that's what you've been around for -- the creation of memories. If you're new to this, you are probably saying What The F, when does THAT happen for me?
- - -
In the present miserable situation, with no hitting and a zillion Ks by us, I have been remembering the 1996 World Series.
For those of you too young to actually remember 26 years ago, see this page:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1996_WS.shtml
Note: I have nothing to do with that website, nor have they ever paid me.
- - - -
The line scores reinforce my memory. OF MISERY. First game, a shellacking. Second game, great pitching destroyed our hitting. 2 games in the Bronx, total runs = Braves 16, Yankees 1. A sweep in the making!!!
However: Something happened. You can see the box score of Game 3 here, including Bernie's 2-run HR in the 8th. Clutch!
I also recall game 4, in which Leyritz -- not an exemplary human being, it turns out -- with the NYYs down 5-3, hit a 3-run HR.
The Fab Four's first WS victory . . . ! AND: For the record, going into game 3, I actually DID have Hope. I worked in an office job, in a suit (I was publisher of a small trade magazine owned by an association).
For the one and only time in my life, the day of Game 3, I proudly wore my Yankee cap to the office, and kept it on all day. Even after my boss asked me what the heck this was about.
ReplyDeleteNote to above: You can see the box scores of each of the 6 games, starting with the 12-to-1 Braves first-game victory, here:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA199610200.shtml
...then progress thru to the 6th game by pressing the "next game" rectangle.
@JoeFOB, Good job! Thanks for that. I remember the '96 series pretty well. Probably because it was my first Championship as a Yankee fan. Bernie was clutch that whole postseason. Yanks would not have ever made it to the World Series without him that year. They got through big bad Texas Rangers and the Orioles in the ALCS. For Yankee fans, the first two games of the '96 World Series were utterly forgetable. But I remember Games 3 through 6! Yanks beat the Braves every which way, from slugfests to pitching duels. In every one of the four wins, Yankee hitters were clutch!
ReplyDelete@Scottish Yankee fan, Thanks be to God, you made it through! We hadn't seen you post here for a while. Now we know why. It's really great to have you back!
ReplyDeleteJoeFOB:
ReplyDeleteOnly one small problem with your trip down memory lane: this Yankees team couldn’t, as the saying goes, carry the 96 Yankees jock straps.
One hit is not going to cut it.
ReplyDeleteThere's been very real progress! 17 strikeouts first game. 13 strikeouts second game. Only 9 today! Just 9! So far.
ReplyDeleteFuck.
You think maybe the Yankees approach is flawed? Maybe?
ReplyDelete