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Saturday, July 21, 2018

Know What You Want and Work For It

This, it seems to me, is the key to life—and, more importantly, baseball.

In the last 15 years or so, it has rarely been the Yankees' approach to anything.

Unlike some here, I didn't necessarily mind the Yankees throwing what was in many ways a spring training lineup out there last night.  Sure, the continuing presence of Neil Walker is absurd, but I'm not against giving Sevvy and CC more rest.

But then, don't do what Coops Cashman is about to do next, which is trade perfectly good young players and prospects for some tomato can.

To paraphrase Lincoln, all thoughts are anxiously directed to this impending trade.  All dread it, all seek to avert it (except a bunch of bored sportswriters).  And the trade will come.

The trade will come because Cashman will fall, once again, for the press box argument that it is necessary to give the Yankees a real shot at the World Series.

But if that is the case—if we really believe that this is our year, maybe our only year, so much so that we have to sacrifice a significant part of the future to seize hold of it—then why in the name of Jehoshaphat are we lining up our rotation and putting out lineups like we are against the Mets?

If this is REALLY a balls-to-the-wall, pedal-to-the-metal, breakneck dash down the steps to the subway platform (only to be told the next train will arrive in 22 minutes), then why are we playing the first games of the last half like it's March in Tampa?

It's this sort of confusion of purpose that will always kill you, in any endeavor, baseball or otherwise.

Frankly, this team to me seems now to lack a great deal in the way of desire, and like most of us here I think it's ludicrous to continue with a hitting approach that demonstrates night after night how inadequate it is.

The Yanks right now are only 5.5 games ahead of Seattle and 7.5 games ahead of Oakland, and I could easily see both young, hungry teams blow past us like we were standing still.  How a team like ours, where the average regular is only 27, the average pitcher less than 29, is NOT young and hungry escapes me, but there it is.

Having a Seattle-Oakland play-in game is just the sort of event that the soulless corporate entity known as MLB deserves.  It's also what this Yankees team and management deserves.

It would not bother me.  I would much rather see September devoted to sorting out what the future holds, and re-emphasizing such traditional baseball activities as drawing up rational lineups, hitting to the opposite field, and showing up everyday.

But instead, here will come Happ or Hapless, another good-looking kid, or three, tossed to the winds, and our on-again, off-again, Neil Walker-led, tiptoe to the Play-In.  O!  Joy!









14 comments:

Anonymous said...


I was going to put on my Pollyanna hat this AM (I mean it is one game right?)but sadly it was burned down to the last fiber at some point during last night's debacle.

I vaguely remember taking it off when German gave up all those runs early and I kind of recall tossing it in disgust when the Yankees failed to get in their 82nd base runner of the game with less than two outs.

What I didn't realize is that I had tossed it too close to the prepopescent Jiffy Pop heavy gauge aluminum foil pan sitting on my newly purchased garage sale hot plate.

The not-so safety pin that I use to keep the wig on the hat punctured the foil letting all the oil and hot air out much like Chasen Shrieve continues to do to pretty much every game he is in.

The hot oil struck the burner and alas my Pollyanna hat, as well as our shot at the division is no more. Worse yet,the popcorn failed to pop even as Neil Walker actually showed some, ensuring starts for the next 30 days.

Deja Drew.

Hoss is right. It DOES seem like they don't want it enough or are confused themselves. Like when you can't decide to bank a shot or try for the swish and it clanks off the back of the rim.

I supposed it is early enough in the day to go out and hit some garage sales. Maybe I can find a different device (literary or otherwise) to restore my hope.

Or as the radio script goes...

Colonna: Hello Hope. This is Colonna. Tell me, can a baseball team kind of suck despite playing .646 ball?

Hope: Of course not Colonna.

He'd better be right.

Doug K.

13bit said...

Fish stinks from the head.

Put Cash in the cage with some bread crusts.

I'm going back to my treehouse to suck my thumb

And ponder the imponderables or,

as the Emperor told the Japanese people in his speech,

while exhorting them to surrender,

"to endure the unendurable."

Joe Formerlyof Brooklyn said...


It seems to me that no one can make Boston play worse (or better). NYYs might be able to beat them in the majority of games between the two -- but maybe not.

So what's important? Lining up the team for the playdowns, including the one-gamer.

Questions in my mind, in order of importance --

1. Pitching -- Severino, Sabathia, Tanaka, and . . . Sheffield? Figure out what, if anything, is wrong with various bullpen components (Chad G, Dave R). See if Sonny Gray can help out the equipment guys.

2. Catching -- fix Gary Sanchez. Or don't, and let Romine do the job. Stop DHing Sanchez, as that option (a) seems better with GStanton in the job (and NOT in the outfield), and (b) isn't available in some World Series games, if we get there.

3. Neil Walker -- find something for him to do in the Fall, other than play for the NYYs. Get him a hobby. Model trains? Knitting?

4. If the outfield is gonna be Gardy, Hicks, and Judge, find ways to give these 3 guys (esp. Gardy) some rest in Aug and Sept. Bring up another outfield? If it's not Red Thunder, then find someone else.

I know, I know -- I've simplified it, and nothing is EVER simple with this team. However, it's all based on the assumption that the Magic SuperDuooper Pitching Solution Obtained Directly From God Herself......is not coming.

I'm Bill White said...

I don’t mean to self-promote but if you guys turn on YES right now I’m throwing pitches at the New York State Fair Midway. I wanna win a stuffed animal.

Ken of Brooklyn said...

This could be the WORST PINEAPPLE YET!

Ken of Brooklyn said...

WHEW! Yet another nauseating win,,,,,

JM said...

What the fork was up with Chapman? Is the head case back? Or did he just have "too much rest" since his last game?

That was unbelievable. And more proof that you can't predict baseball. Or at least predict Chapman.

Here's irony for you: Chapman sucks beyond what any of us would have been able to do. Then Shreve comes in and nails it down.

Yes, you can't predict baseball. And that includes Chapman letting in a couple runs, loading the bases again with no one out, and only THEN did Larry R and Boonehead reach for the bullpen phone.

Jesus forking Montero.

Ken of Brooklyn said...

Hats off to Shreve, somehow he stepped up big time today!

HoraceClarke66 said...

I think you guys reached new heights of eloquence during that thread.

As to the game, on the other hand...wow. What a long strange trip THAT was.

Is Machine Gun hurt? And if so, why was it impossible for him to convey that he was hurt to management?

Also, something I never thought I'd say: hats off to Shreve, for a very gutsy performance.

It does help that the Mets cannot really hit or catch the ball...

HoraceClarke66 said...

We have no hats! They have all gone to Shreve.

Nice of Mesoraco and Flores to swing at so many pitches outside the strikeout.

13bit said...

My balls have been reattached with gorilla glue.

We suck gorilla balls.

Watching El Chapo is like fornicating a with gorilla.

Circus is in town, but the monkey is still on my back.

Hand me another gorilla biscuit, Clyde.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Hoss,

Long strange trip is an understatement. Those a flashbacks I don't want.

TheWinWarblist said...

What happened!? I'm confused! That pellet-head Bird has a 0.783 OPS!? Shreve is saviour??

Huh? Wha?

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