Yeah. It's done. You can breathe again. Check for wounds. We're still standing. We're still here, (though I don't remember getting that BORN TO LOSE tattoo?)
Yeah, overnight, we inched closer to The Precipice. Another fiasco like last night, and we'll be candidates for cafeteria creamed-corn and rec-room canasta. But no matter what happens, it'll soon be November, with America's beckoning future of peace and prosperity.
Yeah, we lost. But if you came here to watch me pee myself, sorry. We lost quickly, efficiently, with enough mortification to last an entire October. This will be a brutal series. Between now and Halloween, both teams will face the Babadook.
Yeah, last night was a crusher. But here's the thing:
At this point, they all are.
Had it been a 12-2 laugher, we'd still be yowling. It turned out to be a walk-off grand slam with a million untaken paths to victory.
Two Dodger runs set up by fielding gaffes.
An intentional pass to bring up the lunging Aaron Judge with the bases full, so he can launch a pop-up. (I'm sorry, but "Captain October," he's not.)
A reverse Jeffrey Maier HR fan-grab.
A slightly botched grounder by Oswaldo.
A long list of squandered moments: The great start by Gerrit Cole. The HR by Giancarlo. The five-out save by Luke Weaver. The rise of Jazz Chisolm as an agent of chaos. The Jeterian catch by Alex Verdugo. All of which led to nothing.
Frankly, I'm glad Freddie Freeman homered, rather than a walk-off single. The grand slam hurts more, cuts deeper, and I wanted the Yankees to feel it. I watched the entire Dodgers celebration, picturing the Yankees in their gloom, doing the same.
Most teams never recover from a loss like last night. Worse, tonight, it's Yamamoto, who channeled Koufax the last time we saw him. It's not hard to imagine the Yankees returning to NYC down by two. But I'm telling you: We've seen worse.
And we just flushed the worst out of our system.
Why am I not depressed? Simple. As Yank fans, we're used to playing in the world series, right? We do it every October, right? This is nothing. This is a mosquito bite. We've been here before, right? Seriously. We're gonna win this thing. (But where did that tattoo come from?)
FOR THE PAST 20 YEARS, THE YANKEES HAVE LEFT MORE MEN ON BASE THAN WENT DOWN IN THE TITANIC. We get them ON base, but cannot get them IN. This is bad fundamentals, bad coaching, bad management. Aside from all of Brian’s terrible acquisitions and trades, let’s not forget that he built the whole staff from the bottom up - coaches, trainers, stat guys. They do not know how to play basic baseball. As with my last dog, who arrived well trained and quickly became an untrained - and glorious - crazy dog, guys arrive at the Yankees as decent players and quickly lose their skills. We cannot develop or maintain basic player fundamentals. We don’t have the equivalent of basic baseball commonsense. We become like Joginson Cano - great natural skills, badly used, swinging free with no mental discipline, no leadership, rudderless and brainless husks of men.
ReplyDelete11 MEN LEFT ON BASE.
ANOTHER LOB DEBACLE.
And I’m leaving out ALL of the many other brain farts, errors, mental snaps and bad pitching moves.
I'm going to try to borrow some of your faith, Duque. It's difficult to know what this streaky team is going to do next. Which Yankee team is going to show up for Game 2?
ReplyDeleteDuque, I can only admire your optimism, your Yankee fighting spirit. For me, alas, it appears to me that that was just the first death knell for the 2024 Yankees. Three more will be forthcoming in short order.
ReplyDeleteIf our Bronx Bums can recover from that gut punch to take this series, they will have my undying respect until the end of time. Sure, if you're going to lose a game, better it be Game 1 than any later game, but still. That was brutal.
ReplyDeleteAmongst their many other ludicrously reverse baseball talents, our Bronx Bums have developed an astonishing ability to wait until two outs of the other teams' (potential) last at bat, one out away from our Bums winning the game, before blasting it all to hell. I have not counted, but in 2024, our Bums must have blown at least thirty games in such situations. Astonishing, truly astonishing that it doesn't happen with nobody out or one out, but with two outs every fucking time.
I watched a better manager manage last night. Even during the on-field, post game mixer. Even after the on-field, post game mixer - individually hugging those three older (say 70ish+) heavily made-up, beaming white gals wearing Dodger gear and disappearing into the clubhouse - I watched a better manager last night.
ReplyDeleteOh and Nestor looked like a plump, chawing rodent scurrying off the mound after delivering that embarrassing meatball last night.
As long as Boooooone is managing this series, we are doomed. That guy is simply pathetic as a manager. The only good news to take away from last nights debacle is that Booooone cannot possibly make matters any worse.
ReplyDeleteIf there's a bad decision to be made, Boone will make it.
DeleteUnfortunately for our Bronx Bums, they're not only playing the Dodgers, they are playing against the incredible stupidity of our own manager. Who the hell brings in a guy who hasn't pitched in a month and a half into that situation? And I think it would've been smarter to pitch to Betts rather than to load the bases and go after Freeman. If you end up walking Betts, then you have to go after Freeman. But it's obvious that Freeman hits #3 for a reason: even with a bad foot, he's still their best batter. Lefty pitcher going after righty hitter Betts? Yes, in that situation. Because it's pick your poison, and I'd rather face Betts over Freeman. Besides, like I said, once you load the bases, you have no wriggle room.
ReplyDeleteKeefe has a fairly devastating takedown of Boone and I cannot disagree with a word he says. Negligence.
ReplyDeleteJust read that Mr Bit - don’t know if we can all shoulder the collective generational pain and agony of tonight’s game…..
DeleteKeefe sort of nail it wouldn't you think?
DeleteKeefe for GM. Do it now HAL.
DeleteAnd Aaron Judge was the LVP (Least Valuable Player) of that game. He was, far and away, the worst batter in the game. He had that one at bat where he banged a single, but only when they threw him two consecutive cookies in the same spot with the same speed.
ReplyDeleteEven Anthony Volpe was better than Judge. Volpe actually hit a long fly to center. Judge? Almost all of his at bats were truly horrendous, completely UNPROFESSIONAL at bats. Someone once asked me what the hell is a "professional at bat". Well, I can tell you, what Judge did last night was the exact opposite of a professional at bat. He was mostly wound up for the express all night. Waaaaaaayyyy out in front of all those sliders. When he finally got a fastball, he couldn't even pull the trigger because he was sitting on a local instead of the express, a baseball no-no.
It was his approach that sucked. You can guess fastball and swing for the fences maybe once during an at bat, but no more. If you guessed wrong and swung and missed, you have to make the adjustments and be able to recognize the off speed when it's coming next time. Judge looked like an overgrown 12 year old Little Leaguer trying to match up against major league pitching. I have zero faith that he'll get his head out of his ass the rest of this series. Just a damned shame, because that's what's called wasting your talent. Terrible approach.
I'd feel more optimistic if Coney were starting game 3.
ReplyDeleteA case of stealing defeat from the jaws of victory...
ReplyDeleteYes, Keefe was spot on. But it wasn't just Boone, who was at his all-time, inexplicable worst last night. (WTF was the point of breaking out Tim Hill during the AL playoffs, only to tuck him back deep in the pen?)
ReplyDeleteAwful errors on easy-to-handle balls, terrible at-hats by your best player, walking the worst hitter on the other team—this is what choking looks like.
Yamamoto will breeze through this lineup tonight. Judge 0-4, 2 k’s.
ReplyDeleteDodgers in 5
Hahaha! I think you're wrong. Judge 0-4 with 4 K's. And Dodgers in 4.
DeleteBoone, defending his unbelievably stoopid decision to bring in Cortes in that situation, said he felt "convicted" to bring in Cortes. What an odd choice of wording there, don't you think? He felt "convicted" to go to Cortes. Yeah, and that there move convicted Boone of being the WORST manager in the history of major league baseball.
ReplyDeleteI read the Keefe in the City piece. Certainly, well written and I mostly agree. The one thing that I disagree with is that Keefe said Dave Roberts is every bit as bad a manager as Boone. Not true, not true! Boone is the worst I've ever seen, by a zillion zillion light years. Dave Roberts is a genius compared to Boone. Anybody is a genius compared to Boone.
ReplyDeleteYes, Keefe was right on target, as usual. I’m still reeling over the Cortes decision. I would’ve left Cole in there longer. Hell, I would’ve let him pitch 9 innings. But unlike boone, I’m not a shaved ape who can’t think for himself and bases everything on analytics.
ReplyDeleteThe curse of Genius Cashman and his buffoon manager, Aaron "Dumbell" Boone.
ReplyDelete"There is nothing good and nothing positive to take away from Game 1. They lost. They let a winnable game slip away twice thanks to their sloppy play, the disappearing act from their MVP and unfathomable managerial decisions: the trio of issues that has always doomed this core."
ReplyDelete--Keefe
Yep. That sums it up. Judge may go down in history as the greatest regular season hitter of all time, but he will never reach legend status because he sucks in the postseason. Torres better be gone when this is all over. Boone should be, too, but inexplicably, he will stay.
On the hopeful signs side -- I was in ups this morning. Had to wait in line to pick up a package. The kid in front of me smelled like he shit his pants. I notice later that he's wearing a Dodgers hat. Seems right.
ReplyDeletePS, Bonehead sucks. Ca$hole sucks. HAL sucks.
Judge needs to turn it around before he turns into Dave Winfield. Which gives me a thought. Maybe Ca$hole and HAL will hire a mobster to dig up dirt on Judge? One can hope.
Just switch Soto and Judge in the lineup
ReplyDeleteAnd idk how you look at last night's game as an administrator and walk out like "Ya Boone is my guy" why fuckin get cute in a game youre winning ON THE ROAD...And what a message to send to a guy who's been digging deep and getting it done that I trust an injured pitcher who hasn't pitched in a month over you....Hate our fuckin manager
ReplyDelete