Wednesday, June 23, 2021

In one night, the Yankees once again strangle what hopes that seemed to briefly sprout


Aww, shoot, Yankees... you rascals, you got me. My bad... I fell for it... hook, line and stinker. 

Damn. The same ol' joke, from the same ol' Yankees, losing the same ol' way... I shoulda known better. Stupid, stupid, stupid... I'm too old for this. 

They win four of five, come from behind a few times, and there I go - thinking this team would - aww, shoot - what was I smoking?   

Last night, the New Millennium Yankees were on full display. Stranded base runners. A blown lead. Strikeouts. Errors of judgement. In every critical moment, something  went wrong.

But this was no anomaly. This is us. We keep waiting for someone, anyone, to lead us from the darkness. But we're walking in circles. I hate to say this but... 

Clint Frazier is not improving. All these years, we've waited for his inevitable stardom. It may have been a mirage. Last night, he went 0-5 with three Ks, including one in the ninth with the tying run on second. For one brief brain fart this week, I foresaw him raising his average above .200 - (that's a measly .200, mind you) - and securing a corner OF slot. Nope. This isn't working. Frazier needs to go to Scranton, reboot his swing and hit .350. Maybe he can return in September. At this point, Socratres Brito cannot do worse. And we're going nowhere.

Gleyber Torres - 1 for 20 in the last week - may also be reaching a point of no return. It's hard to imagine that in 2019, he hit 38 HRs. (This year, he has three.) For the last three months, the YES announcers have pounced upon every hopeful moment - a base on balls, a line drive, a bloop single - as a sign that Gleyber is back. But he's not back. It may just be that he is a mediocre SS who had a good year and then flatlined. (See Odor, Rougned.)

Last night, the Rays unveiled Wander Franco, reputed to be the best prospect in all of baseball. He whacked a three-run HR - (imagine that, a HR with runners on base!) - to lift Tampa. He's 20. They're already comparing him to Vlad Jr. and Tatis - an MVP-level acquisition. The mere notion of such an impact player boosting Tampa reminds us that their organization is an assembly line of young talent. (Meanwhile, we bring in Odor, Rougned.) The Yankees are only three games (in the loss column) behind Tampa, four behind Boston. But yeesh, these teams are growing younger. 

Today's fear must be for Jonathan Loaisiga, who last night took some tough breaks -  broken bat singles and a hiccup by the normally reliable Tyler Wade. Loaisiga's history is one of perennial injuries. Last night, he just didn't look right. Keep your fingers crossed.

Remember the name Shed Long? He's the 2B we received from Cinncinati for Sonny Gray. We dealt him to Seattle for a minor league OF, now with Pittsburgh. Long homered last night - his second game-winning hit in three nights - to beat Colorado. He's 25. A second baseman on the upswing. What a concept. (We have Odor, Rougned.) 

 

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Things that make you go HUMMM?

Why is Wade on this team ?

Why is Odor on this team?

Can Park play CF and replace either of these guys?

Why are Yankee tickets going for 1/2 price for the KC series?

Why is King still a SP?

The ANALytical Archangel
This is a .500 team and the bottom line value of the franchise is on a downward trend, which will only help in the long run.

Anonymous said...

re Wander Franco

https://yanksgoyard.com/2021/06/22/yankees-mlb-screwed-wander-franco-rays/

Doug K.

TheWinWarblist said...

This has been and will be a painful season. I'm getting flashbacks from the Stump Merrill era. I feel that desperate.

Ken of Brooklyn said...

@ The Mighty Winwarblist, I can't agree more, the existential dread that IS this team defies description,,,,

Annnnd, I just realized the identity of 'Anonymous', it's our very own El Duque, it's Hart's BRILLIANT performance art piece, he's our IIHIIFIIC Tony Clifton, the ultimate prankster persona, ;) > I don't know why it took so long for us to figure this out, LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dantes said...

Ygy is garbage clickbait.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Winnie,

Well Boone IS as dumb as a stump!

Ken,

If that is true, it is the greatest performance art ever.

Anonymous said...

Dantes,

Maybe. But I get bored reading the same stuff. At least an article like "Did you know MLB screwed NYY out of Wander Franco?" has potential even if it's not realized.

Then again I once clicked on an article called. "How to avoid clickbait"

Turns out it was clickbait.

Doug K.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

95% of sportspyder links are clickbait. My least favorite is Bleacher Report. Any site that features writers bios mentioning Hi Skool is guaranteed to be awful.

Ken of Brooklyn said...

Rufus,
Right!!!!!!!!! I know it's not, but I spit out my coffee picturing Hart furiously responding to you all wearing an oversized Rick Moranis Darth Vader helmet!

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Ken, don't forget the Luke and Leia actions figures.

"I did NOT see you playing with your dolls!"

Ken of Brooklyn said...

Rufus, YES, LOL!!!!!!!! Apparently most of that scene was ad libbed, hahahahahaha
Which begs the question, Oh Dark Helmet, why caaaan't we quit you,,,,,,

Anonymous said...

duque--you must harbor a personal weakness for "Gardy"; your summary of the team's problems somehow fails to mention that one of the worst players in baseball is the everyday starting centerfielder for this team.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Yeah, sad to say, I think you're right, Duque. This team is not for real, and too many guys are never going to make it.

Big rebound for Sanchez...all the way to within 57 points of his 2017 OPS. He's come back from being jaw-droppingly bad to...mediocre.

Gardy is done. Hicks, Voit, etc. are just perpetually injured.

The Twin Towers are having a relatively good season. Which means that Judge is a .283/.882, 15 HR player. Perfectly good, the steadiest player on the team this year, and able to stay on the field most of the time (so far). But hardly Wonder Boy. Stanton has missed "only" 20 games out of the first 72, and hit 13 home runs. Fine. But...

Weirdest and saddest of all has been the failure of Frazier to launch, and The Gleyber's complete and continuing demise, as has been mentioned. Torres with 3 HRs, 10 errors so far. Great.

There's just no there, there, as that great baseball fan, Gertrude Stein once said.

Kevin said...

Frazier will find himself a nice fifth outfielder spot, Gleyber, an All-Star, in the Mexican League. At least The Brain won't have any ambiguity left on his 2022 shopping list.

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