Have a moment, everyone.
Sleep the sleep of destiny. Or innocence. Or unbridled hope. Whatever. Doesn't matter. We have reached our destination: First place in the AL East.
Remember the AL Beast? Remember the super team, Baltimore, and how they celebrated after Verdugo's faceplant? Remember how the Mets swept us? How Boston ran wild on the bases? How we couldn't even beat Cincy? How we stumbled through August?
Now, the last plank to fall is Cleveland, with our final magic number - two, BTW, to clinch home field advantage in the ALCS.
Ah, but who cares? Four weeks from now, if we're still in this - that is, if the universe has any sense of karma, or drama, or whatever passes these days for a decent existential narrative, we'll surely face Houston.
In the last 10 years, the Yankees have twice reached the ALCS. Both times, they were humbled by Houston - once, honestly, once by cheating.
It's worth noting that these were not allegations of cheating. They flat-out cheated. They were outed by ex-Astros, who knew something stank, and who blew the whistle on it. The entire game was embarrassed, arguably the worst stain on baseball since the Black Sox scandal of 1919, 100 years earlier.
The Yankees have never avenged it.
Oh, yeah, right... we swept Houston on the first week of this season. That hardly qualifies as payback for a stolen October. We have unfinished business with the Astros, and either it happens this month, or it will probably accompany us to our graves. Soon, the generations will fade. By next year, it won't matter.
If the playoffs happened today, here's the lineup. Houston is seven wins away.
In the waning moments of an impending loss, Michael Kay often asks whether the Yankees have a rally in their bones?
Tonight, we don't need to care. But we must ask if they have destiny in their bones? Nobody knows. So sleep the sleep of meaninglessness. It will be 10 days before the next critical pitch. Sleep the sleep of innocence, of bliss, and - maybe - ignorance.
The Yankees have won their division! A toast to our victory! There's nothing more to be done, at least for now. The reckoning comes later.
The Kabuki dance continues. Brian is triumphant. The season could end today and he has already surpassed his and Hal's expectations. The sad dance of having the lowest bar possible. Kind of like a reverse limbo. We're in! Anything can happen. It's all there in front of us! Fuck the world!
ReplyDeleteDetroit can knock off Houston.
ReplyDeleteWell, ah, Bit, I, uh, you know, it could be, I mean, anything could happen, and we, ah, uh, sorta.
ReplyDeleteExactly, JM...ah...you know what?...I mean...eh....uhhhh...
ReplyDeleteIf everyone steps up, we don't have concerns...big if...
ReplyDeleteRanger - when you talk about "stepping up," you must remember that there is a figurative - sometimes literal - banana peel on every step, in every corner of the clubhouse, and all over that field...
ReplyDeleteThe giant banana peel known as Boone...
DeleteWell, Cole does eat quite a bunch of bananas between innings to, uh, avoid the uh, you know - uhm, ah cramps. So a great many a peel have uhm, could like, ah, well . . . could be right in front of us or more likely….them
DeleteLATEST NEWS
ReplyDeleteSept. 26: Placed RHP Mark Leiter Jr. on the paternity list; recalled RHP Scott Effross from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre
Is there any way to keep Leiter Fluid on the paternity list for a year or two?
more births?
DeleteWe need more Leiters.
DeleteHope it’s a girl
DeleteI posted this at an awful hour that was my morning. We just touched down at JFK.
ReplyDeleteI think my first comment on It Is High was during a layover in Rome.
TheWinWarblistSeptember 26, 2024 at 1:59 AM
I'm on Tokyo time, 13 hours ahead of New York.
I will note that Keefe is well and truly one on us.
Keefe on Thursday:
"10. John Sterling will be a part of the postseason. The 86-year-old legend returned to the broadcast booth on Tuesday and it was like he never left. It’s almost as if the last five-plus months didn’t happen. As a Sterling fan, it was hard to not be able to listen to him anymore when he retired in April. While I’m elated he’s back for the remainder of the regular season and the postseason, overall, it’s just a tease, knowing we will have to say goodbye all again. Hopefully, the last out of the season and of his career he calls isn’t the same as the last out of the last 14 seasons he has had to call: with the Yankees’ season ending without a championship. The next Yankees win (or Orioles loss) will increase the Yankees’ odds at preventing a 15th straight disappointing final out call from Sterling. It would be enjoyable if that win came on Wednesday night to get it out of the way."
Fuck Boone.
How long was your lay over in Rome?
DeleteTrue fact: apparently the banana with the peel that was so slippery was killed off by a fungus some decades ago. It's true! Just try slipping on one of those mothers now. But I digress...
ReplyDeleteYou realize, of course, this is all just to see us humiliated in the Series by the Mets or the Dodgers.
ReplyDeleteThe great celestial setup from the JuJu gods....
ReplyDelete