We've reached Tweak Week, that Black Mirror point in the season when replacements of the tweaked are suffering their own tweaks, requiring us to recycle the formerly tweaked back into the Yank Tweak Continuum.
As I watched last night with the TV muted - (only way to watch Fox Sports) - I didn't notice the latest round of tweaks until the 8th inning, when Oswaldo Cabrera suddenly appeared to channel the ghost of Nick Swisher on a drive into the left field corner. Oswaldo, back from Scranton? I shouted the greeting of old New York: "Snake Plisken? I thought you wuz dead!"
Nope. Oswaldo is back and, to make matters more confusing, he homered, though his average remains a tick below the Line of Mendoza. Oswaldo couldn't have had time to set up his Playstation in Scranton before Greg Allen - obtained to fortify the perpetually tweaked OF - tweaked a hip. The Death Barge said Allen will miss 10 days, though nobody believes anything they say, and, at age 30, all bets are off on when we'll ever see Allen again.
More troubling is bullpen lug nut Ryan Weber, 32, who will have an MRI on his elbow. To any pitcher, the elbow is what the knee once was to Gayle Sayers. Keep fingers crossed. Weber has always existed on the fringe of the Yankee roster, but somehow, he prevailed. Unfortunately, he won't beat age - especially if it has come with a tweaked elbow.
To replace Weber, the Yankees brought up Nick Ramirez, back for his third stint this year. He has appeared in six games, thrown nine innings and given up two runs. What else to say? He's here until the next tweak.
I don't mean to make light of injuries, especially to journeymen who are always facing a possible career fatality. But over the years, we've grown numb from the daily body count, which hits the Yankees especially hard, due to the creaky, gray-hair roster.
The sad reality is that no Yank fan can ever assume that last night's lineup will be here next week. John Sterling - himself out with a tweak? - loves to say that tomorrow's game will be completely different, because of the pitchers.
In fact, tomorrow's Yankee lineup can always change because of the tweaks.
I wonder what we'll look like a week from now.
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21 comments:
I'm waiting for the Setback Sevy bomb to drop.
On a happier note:
https://www.sportskeeda.com/baseball/news-mlb-fans-roast-dave-roberts-mercilessly-dodgers-defeat-vs-yankees?key1=sportspydermlb&utm_source=sportspyder&utm_medium=mlb
El Duque: "Unfortunately, he won't beat age - especially if it has come with a tweaked elbow."
In the halls of Valhalla, Thor, the strongest of the Norse gods, wrestled an old man who had challenged the gods to a match. Thor struggled mightily but, in the end, the old man won by forcing Thor's knee down to the ground. Turns out the old man was no ordinary old man. He was Old Age, Father Time. So not even the gods can defeat Old Age.
Duque, if you turned down the sound on the FOX broadcasters, you probably missed out on a couple of interesting tidbits:
1. FOX team noted that Judge's homers almost all come during Yankee wins. He's only homered in one loss this year. Seems to confirm what we've seen: Judge homers, Yanks win. The cause relationship is not exact but very strong. I might add one more thing: Yanks play home run derby, Yanks win. Yanks don't homer, they'll most probably lose.
2. FOX team predicted that teams will stop pitching to Judge down the stretch. And they echoed the fears we have that, even if the Yanks make the playoffs, hitting home runs like yesterday will be hard to do. And they also noted the intentional walk that Judge got against the Seattle Mariners with two outs in the 9th of the 1-0 Yankee loss.
3. FOX team said Bauers reportedly signed with the Yanks because he liked the AAA hitting coach. Maybe they should promote that guy to be Bauers' personal hitting coach?
I shouted the greeting of old New York: "Snake Plisken? I thought you wuz dead!"
Duque, you stir the soul of this old curmudgeon.
I am honored to be the banner quote!
Unwavering positivity!!
Hammer, I thought Valhalla was a town in Upstate NY? [Try the linguine. I'm here every night].
Anyhow, I always root for guys like Weber and Allen.
Guys busting it just to play and maybe eek out enough time to get a pension.
IF guys like that say they are hurt, they are hurt.
Stanton? A character in a Tennessee Williams play
Dave Roberts with a dumbass move in the 9th. I would've just kept that righty pitcher out there for one more out. He brings in a lefty to pitch to Cabrera. And of course Cabrera hits it out. I don't know the splits on Cabrera, but I seem to remember him hitting a homer off a lefty earlier this year. Is he a better righty hitter than a lefty hitter? Could be. Certainly looked like it there.
And it was a significant home run. As Clay Holmes walked Betts with two outs and nobody on to bring up Freddy Freeman. If it was only a 5-3 game, Freeman would've been the tying run. You get the sense that Holmes hung on to get the save only because it was a three run game.
We are not cynics. We are the most loyal of fans, those with the most emotional attachment to Los Yanquis, those with the strongest of bonds. In other words, we are the ones who hurt the most, who have suffered the worst, and who still call them our team. We are the ones who have issues that transcend winning or losing. Our whole identity is grounded in pinstripes. That is why we are the most bitter and nihilistic at the moment. We are not cynics. We are romantics.
Re: Tweaks
I don't pay attention to the Rays and Orioles to the extent I do the NYYs (and my attention span was limited B4 I turned 69).
Question: Do the Rays and Orioles suffer from the same # of tweaks, IL stints, etc.?
Suspicion: The Orioles, at least, seem to have a rosterful of younger players. Does this mean fewer injuries?
Suspicion #2: The Rays have a bunch of players who seem to rise to the occasion. I don't know if they are younger or do something smart in player acquisition/development. Does that mean fewer injuries, or that the Rays have lugnuts that fill the bill when someone goes down...?
I'm not expecting anyone else here to know the answers. However, it does seem as if the Yankees experience one heck of a lot of lost time from tweaks and worse.
When Judge crashed through that fence, didn't you see the Yankee season hanging by a thread? Wow, chain link fences in the major leagues. He could've easily caught a finger or two or three in those links and dislocated or broke them.
Hell, I still have nightmares of seeing those chain link fences opening up for an endless succession of Yankee relief pitchers coming out of the bullpen in the 1981 World Series. That slugfest game that the Yankees lost, I think the final score was 8-6. It was a pivotal game of that series.
13bit,
You are so right.
I remember when I was in college and came back in September '76 and I noticed all the Yankee hats people were wearing .
I knew the true fans cuz our hats were "used". The bandwagon fans were clean.
That taught me the lesson with all fandom.
For instance, all the Red Sux hats in 04 and 05. Same thing.
Cowboy hats; well they just suck period. I don't care how old the hat is if you are wearing one in the NE.
However, I do take fiendish delight in watching the annual torture of Cowpuke fans.
Rufus, it's good to know that our manager, our very much loved (by the players) and respected (by the players...I guess) Boonie is known as far away as LA for being a completely shit game manager. And that the prime insult LA fans can hurl at Roberts (no doubt loved and respected by the players) is calling him the NL Boone.
It warms my heart. We continue to set the standard for MLB--in injuries and stupid managerial moves.
Boone is an idiot. Roberts might well be an idiot, too, but Boone sets the bar by which other idiots are measured. Our bragging rights are secured.
(arm) and Hammer of Gaad - I remember in the early 80's when those chain link fences at Dodger stadium were electrified.
That's right . . . Peter O'Malley and his team figured that a small current running though those slender links was a better deterrent than installing razor wire along the top.
Would would think that after Bobby Valentine's career was ruined there would be no more chainlink fences anywhere in pro ball.
Anybody out there have a guess as to why all of the Yankees" injuries?
Re: injuries-
1. Age
2. Improper/Inadequate training and conditioning.
3. Bad luck.
4. Poor medical response. (mentioned last bc the team overhauled personnel and standards in 2020 which changed nothing)
BTR, you forgot the curse of Cthulu.
You got it, 999.
Beautifully put, Bitty!
Archie, I remember those days. There were always kids who walked around with Orioles caps, just because they won. Hell with 'em.
Hammer, I remember that game. It burned a hole in my psyche. All 3 of those games in LA that year did. All terribly managed.
That 8-7 game, Rick Reuschel had a 4-0 lead, but couldn't make it out of the 4th. He didn't pitch again until 1983.
Still, going into the bottom of the 6th, we were up 6-3. Ron Davis, who had been a monster all year, came in to pitch. He was blasted. Dodgers tied the game, got 2 more off George Frazier and Tommy John in the 7th.
Top of the 8th, Reggie—who Mad George had deliberately kept out of the Series until this game, to show he didn't need him—hit a massive home run. Top of the 9th, we got two men on against Steve Howe. Willie Randolph drove a ball to the wall in CF. Not quite out.
We lost the next day, then back in New York. George decided to bring in "the Speed Team." Dear Lord.
Hoss, Yes, I think we'd talked about this before where you'd mentioned the King George madness. He had our manager bench Reggie over a stupid personal feud. It was hubris. Just thinking about that is enough to make the blood boil for Yankee fans.
Perhaps because the 1981 WS was my first as a Yankee fan, that one still brings back severely painful memories that almost make my head explode. And the fact that the Yankees were up 2 games to none, plus the fact that they blew the lead in so many games, make it even more painful. I still feel that we should've won that series, if not for the meddling of King George, which probably caused a lot of the stupid managing mistakes.
As decades have passed, I can now tip my cap to the Dodgers for playing a never-say-die kind of series, but I still want vengeance. Nothing will suffice except for the Yankees beating the crap out of the Dodgers in a World Series.
George/Reggie = Davis/Allen
Stupid owners being REALLY FUCKING STUPID because of undeserved arrogance and pride. Both, when they didn't need to be that way.
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