Dateline: Syracuse - Baseball oracle Gary Frenay has won the IT IS HIGH 2024 Yankee Sayer of Sooth Regular Season Victories Award.
In a daring preseason prediction, rendered before March 31, Frenay - (a Syracuse music legend whose band The Flashcubes is in the Power Pop Hall of Fame) -nailed it: 94 wins, dead perfect.
As a result, he is now also inducted into the prestigious IT IT HIGH Readers Hall of Fame, with his name inscribed into IT IS HIGH Monument Park.
(For the record, yours truly in March anticipated a measly 86 victories, Stang ridiculously projected 103 wins, and the renowned author HossClarke66 proved to be the biggest Negative Nelly in our entire brood, predicting a mere 69 wins.)
As for tie-breakers, Parson Tom won the GAMES WON BY CARLOS RODON door prize category, predicting 16. (By the way, Rodon finished with a record of 16-9. If you didn't watch him all season, you'd think he had a great year.) And Carl J. Weitz and Above Average's Cat tied with projections of 41 HRs by Juan Soto (who, if you happened to watch him all season, you knew he had a great year.)
Here are your projections, delivered before March 31. Read them and weep celebrate.
IT IS HIGH Yank Wins by HRs by
Commenter team wins Carlos Rodon Juan Soto
"I'll Have What They're Drinking" Group
Stang 103 28 73
RtotheE 97 10 36
PgPick 95 12 42
GARY FRENAY 94 10 33
JM 93 7 47
Platoni 93 11 39
Mattingly's
Mustache 93 9 37
Doug K 92 9 48
Parson Tom 92 16 38
The "Make it a Double" Group
Kevin 91 14 43
Above Average 90 12 45
Jaraxle 90 11 42
Vampifella 90 6 40
Hinkey Haines 89 11 31
Ken of Brooklyn 88 8 37
Joe of AZ 88 8 44
Carl J. Weitz 88 9 41
Daveyhead 88 10 51
Ranger _lp 87 8 37
Above Average's
Cat 87 10 41
Lieber 86 9 15
El Duque 86 10 35
Mildred Lopez 86 10 29
Doctor T 86 8 42
Pocono Steve 85 7 40
Publius 85 9 33
BTR999 85 9 35
The "I'm Feeling a Bit Queasy" Group
Acrilly 84 6 44
Scottish
Yankee Fan 83 6 27
Celerino Sanchez 83 8 34
Alphonso 82 4 27
Rufus T Firefly 82 3 35
The "Somebody Get a Mop" Group
Bern Baby Bern 81 14 38
Dick Allen 80 9 54
Hammer of God 80 8 36
Copelius 79 7 52
13 Bit 72 7 37
BASEBALL REFERENCE 71 wins
HoraceClarke66 69 5 33
Missed it by that much. One lousy win.
ReplyDeleteI predicted 7 wins for Rodent and I defend that prediction, since it felt like he won 7 games even though he won 16.
94 - 72 = 22, which equals Caitlin Clark. Let me tell you, those 22 wins are FAKE WINS, not real, people, move right along here. I'm the official winner and I want you all to stop this QANON-level conspiracy to deny me my place in the IT IS HIGH MONUMENT PARK IIHMP. I'm almost ready to lay down my "guaranteed accurate" 2025 predictions, but I'll wait until Christmas. The hot stove season will have no effect on my accuracy. Okay, it's time to go huff some glue in the broom closet, then get back to my home room.
ReplyDeleteAllow me please to clarify that THE Cat who correctly predicted the number of Soto HRs (along with Connecticut Carl) is Above Average’s Cat, aka MY Cat, Oliver Tiberius Cat. As a reward he will be featured in tomorrow’s Haiku.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it that I have a feeling (of dread) that "Yanks Finish With 94 Wins" is the headline that will be written AGAIN in about a week or so....?
ReplyDeleteDuly noted, AA. And I hope your cat does not get eaten.
ReplyDeleteThank you, E.D.!
DeleteOliver Tiberius asked me to share the following with you: “I am keenly aware of the perils of contemporary life, especially how the easily manipulated and controlled humans respond to the sensational narratives cobbled together by idiots hellbent on seizing power during such an important election cycle. I will endeavor to continue to live a long and healthy life, Sir. In these uncertain times I wish the best to you and your family. May the kibble rain down and provide you and your family a healthy and prosperous holiday season. Go Yankees! Thank You”
As opposed to Marie Provost, who was partially eaten by her dog after she died alone and forgotten. Took some time before anyone realized anything. Immortalized in song by Nick Lowe on his Jesus of Cool LP (released in America as Pure Pop for Now People, because Jesus and Americans a lot like Muslims and images of the Prophet).
DeleteWise prognosticators await my predictions so they can go the other way. I was off by a collective total of 22, which equals Caitlin Clark, Juan Soto, and the 22 wins Bitty referenced above. Coincidence? I think not. There is obviously a conspiracy afoot here.
ReplyDeleteI was going to write about Cabrera at 1B, but somehow I wrote Cepeda instead.
I wish we could write him in the lineup Saturday.
AA - I love cats, but would never believe one. They are provocateurs and agents of chaos. I only believe dogs.
ReplyDeletehttps://affinitynumerology.com/number-meanings/number-94-meaning.php
ReplyDeleteI don't think the 2024 Yankees bettered the human condition. Just imo.
DeleteI missed the Master's call for Grisham's home run. Anyone know what it was?
ReplyDeleteHey, hey, hey! We don't need upstate rock stars stepping in here and stealing our shots at immortality!
ReplyDeleteOh, all right, congratulations, guitar boy. And 999, I hear ya. It's like my wife, who INVARIABLY turns the wrong way when emerging from any subway station. It's a wrong sense of direction so unerring that it really qualifies as a good sense of direction.
You wife doesn't have relatives in Schenectady, does she? My sense of direction is so bad I can't find my way out of a doctor's office from the examination room sometimes.
DeleteSo...predictions for the postseason?
ReplyDeleteIn the AL, I go with Baltimore over KC in 3; Houston over Detroit in 3; Houston over Cleveland in 4; Baltimore over your New York Yankees in 5; and Houston over Baltimore in 7.
I'll give you the NL once the Mets decide if they want to be in it.
And yes, T.J. Rumfield could and should have been on the Yankees since at least Sept. 1. Hell, he could and should have been on the team since Rizzo went down and Ben Rice went stale.
ReplyDeleteRizzo is yet another Yankee who is/was constantly injured. But once again, Hal & Pal did nothing much to prepare for that. They give me a pain.
Side note: the Braves are the current home of Gio Urshela, who will be playing in the double header today. The Mets are trotting out Sevvy to start Game 1, I think.
ReplyDeleteThey could both make the playoffs with a split. A little collusion would seal the deal. Whoever wins the first game is in, so why should they field their A team in the second? Which, of course, makes it easier for the other team to win that game and also get in.
Yanks brought in Andy Pettitte to be The Pitching Shrink for Carlos Rodon, which I didn't see coming. That explains why he doubled our win prediction. As to why they didn't just make Pettitte (or someone similar) the new pitching coach, well, this is Yankee Wonderland. Everything is back-ass-wards here. Smoking catepillars, Cheshire Cat dissolving into thin air, White Rabbit with a clock around its neck, White Knight talking backwards, and the Red Queen "Off with the head!" We've got it all here.
ReplyDeleteWhoever the Yankees play next, whether Baltimore or K.C., it's gonna be a real big pain in the ass. Yankees will have ZERO chance of beating the Orioles. That's been proven this entire year. They have a small chance against the Royals, but Yankee killers like Salvador Perez beg to differ. Either way, I think the Yankees get swept broom clean. Be surprised if they win one solitary fucking game.
ReplyDeleteBTW, did everyone catch how Rodon claimed his participation trophy after his final start? "I went out there and I competed every day this year ... I'm very proud of that...." (I paraphrase, of course, but that's the gist of it.)
ReplyDeleteWow, great Yankee winners like Joe DiMaggio must be rollin' over in their graves. If Rodon said that to Joe D's face, I think Joe would knife him in the locker room, or at least punch him in the face.
He competed. Little League Participation Trophy.
DeleteAnd after the press conference and his magnificent speech, word has it that Rodon took out a mannikin's hand from his pocket and proceeded to pat himself on the back and butt with it. Finally, he took out a tiny brown Teddy Bear from his other pocket and announced that his smiling friend "Little Buddy" should get much of the credit for his success this year.
ReplyDeleteI am truly humbled. To have made a lucky guess, and snagged this dubious crown from all those on here who clearly know WAY more than me. Wow! But hey, I'll take it. Go Bombers!
ReplyDeleteAnd...Pete Rose is dead, age 83. RIP—but I always thought he was a jerk.
ReplyDelete