Honest. Faithful. Fiducial. Tough. Wise...
Last night, as we all know, Goldy slammed a game- opening HR, putting the haggard Yanks ahead of Baltimore and - perhaps - forestalling the looming June Boone Full-Moon swoon.
At 38, relegated to a backup, defensive role - resulting from the ascension of Ben Rice and the latest injury to Giancarlo Stanton - Goldschmidt delivered.
Let's hope Anthony Volpe and Jazz Chisholm were watching.
This week, the Yankees were roiled by matters of loyalty - to Volpe, after returning from an injury, and to Chisholm, after a disastrous trip to Milwaukee.
Volpe was demoted to Scranton, where he must re-engineer his swing and save his career. Chisholm was benched and watched a ball roll through the legs of his replacement, Amed Rosario. Both players can pine over their current doldrums. Both need look no further than Goldschmidt for how a true Major League star should act.
Goldy, who turns 39 in September, is a career .288 hitter with 376 home runs. This season, in 20 games, he's at .262 with 4 HRs.
This guy has...
Four Gold Gloves.Seven all-star game appearances.
One MVP (2022).
Three Players of the Month.
Five Silver Sluggers.
His statistical doppelgangers include Hall of Famers Orlando Cepeda, Edgar Martinez and Fred McGriff, along with such candidates as David Ortiz, Joey Votto and Freddy Freeman.
What could make Goldy a lock. (Pun there, get it?) A ring. An October surprise. One final big moment in the national spotlight, magnified by the passion of New York City.
In the meantime, at least for now, he is the Yankee first baseman. And every time he saves Volpe or Chisholm from an errant throw, they should salute not just Goldschmidt, but the person he is and the way he plays.
Goldie is a professional. Which is more than you can say for Chisholm and Volpe.
ReplyDeleteCan we get rid of Wells and Escarra yet? And Duvet and Bird and Blackman? And Schuemann? And Boone? Yeah, I know. Just kidding.
Escarra is ok as a backup to save uncle Ben from the wear and tear.
ReplyDeleteThe rest...
Boone won't use Rice as a catcher, which is fine. If you already happen to have a catcher.
DeleteRepeat in song after me:
ReplyDeleteIt’s all gunna be OK, Ok
It’s all gunna be OK
Day after day
We have a lot to say
But it’s all going be OK
I say
It’s all gunna be
OK
"America's First Baseman"...very good
ReplyDeleteThat's actually what he's been called.
DeleteWhat I find just amazing is the sudden appearance of Ellie Jowett, Volpe's inamorata. (Hiring a gay cook is pretty funny, Rufus. But it wouldn't do. She'd convert him in a minute. He shouldn't trust a female cook.)
ReplyDeleteOkay, okay, enough of the crudeness. But really, what's this about? Volpe is about the modern equivalent of a modern Gene Michael. Less. He's a marginal ballplayer.
But ten minutes after he's called back up—due solely to still more key injuries—here she is, with a major media blitz in the big town. There is just something so mercenary and distracting about this.
I know, I know: this is not the age of Cora Rizzuto. But still: is there any room for baseball here? Any sense that you should be something before you try to be something?
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DeleteOk, funny story. I have a gay cousin that lived next to Tom Brady. Their kitchens faced each other across the alley. He worked 3-11, so he got to tend his flower boxes in the morning when Bridget, then later Giselle would walk by in spandex as they went for their morning runs.
DeleteHe said (in front of his husband) that he'd convert for a day for either.
Bridget hasn't aged as well.
Amen, Duque!!!
ReplyDeleteHoss-- Charles Thyrwytt has invested a lot in Anthony Volpe, fashion icon. He's the " brand ambasssdor" (or was, haven't heard Suzyn reading those ads in a while). The company is probably not quite ready to declare him a sunk cost, even if Cash's nerds might be (not so incidentally, the Yankees-Volpe-Thyrwytt threesome is, I think, an under-theorized feature of his career trajectory). Thyrwytt, no less than the Yankees, would like to salvage some value out of him, sooner rather than later. The peppy, blonde, attention-seeking girlfriend is an important part of that.
ReplyDeleteGood point, Publius, and I agree. The Charles Tyrwhitt ads were on bus stands all over my neighborhood. (Frankly, Volpe looked a little thick in some of them. Just saying.)
DeleteThen—he got sent down, and Volpe vanished from them, replaced by some male model. I have no doubt that this is part of some media strategy, to increase the brand of both him and the stunning Ellie. I very much doubt if either one of them thought it up.
But this is just the sort of nonsense a struggling young ballplayer doesn't need. Have a couple, actually GOOD seasons in the majors, and then we can talk about you and your model girlfriend cashing in. For the time being, see if you can get a bloody hit, and make a strong throw to first.
Hopefully, Anthony will help. Mr. 50-50 Chisholm is overrated and an idiot. The Genius, Cashman, bought into the analytics. He did not bother to look at his lifetime .244 batting average and investigated whether he could be a N.Y. player. The Geeks have ruined the game.
ReplyDeleteHere's a thought: What if Volpe goes on a tear, while Jazz continues to crap the Sealy? Would Volpe take over 2B?
ReplyDelete