Monday, August 9, 2021

For the Yankees, will the positive Covid tests deliver the final knockout?

A while back, I quit hoping for the return of normalcy

WTF is it, anyway? Certainly, no thinking Yank fan should desire it. Not in this millennium. For us, normalcy is an endless circus of injuries, most of which hit our players just as they get hot, and which returns them a month later, swinging the bat like Betty White. 

This year, added to this so-called normalcy, we've faced a new ailment, the new tweaked gonad... the positive Covid test.

So here we are, back to normal. We lose a player every day. Last week, it was Gary. Then Cole. Then Monty. Then Aroldis. Then Rizzo. Now, et tu, Gleyber? Doesn't matter. Rest assured, tomorrow, it'll be somebody new. Every day... 

This we know: Injuries are not fairly dolled out by the juju gods. For reasons I cannot fathom - but which might predate the beginning of time - the Yankees cannot protect their soldiers from muscle pulls, twisted wrists or things that go bump in the anus. Why do so many Yankees test positive? Why do so many get hurt? Is this some ancient curse? And if so, why aren't we marketing it?  

What did we do to piss off the juju gods?

Part of this may be the age of our lineups. Generally, the Yankees obtain players three or four years after their peak foliage. Old guys are more susceptible to tweaks, and they take longer to heal. Also, there is the Gotham factor: New York City poses more distractions than any other town - even LA. In a pandemic, this is especially serious: Players take the subway, sit in cabs, ride in elevators. If a guy doesn't get vaccinated - well, if you sleep with dogs, you catch fleas. So here we are.

For the Yankees, the Covid surges have been killers. The first wave hit in the spring, as the team was forming. The second came as the Yankees faced a grueling schedule against Boston and Tampa. The third wave is here, just as the calendar is turning.  

In upstate New York, where the difference between summer and winter is akin to that of heaven and hell, I believe everyone has an internal switch that portends the changing of seasons. In June and July, you think summer will last forever, as the days seem to do. Then, one cruel night in early August, you see a leaf fall, or a feel a chilling wind, and you instantly know that summer is doomed, that you better make the most of every sunset, that time is running out.

Yesterday, watching the Yankees flounder against Seattle, the switch flicked.  The YES announcers were watching the scoreboard, telling us what Boston and Toronto were doing. I felt like Jim Carrey watching the Oscar nominations. 

Comrades, time is running out. 

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

How about self-inflicted wounds, and I am not talking about the unvoiced.

Why is Torres sliding head first?
Didn't he miss 1/2 a season and have surgery for doing that?

Why is Davis playing when we have a SW who did admirably when he was here, down in Dunder Country ?

This team is just so hard to root for.

The Exhausted Archangel

ranger_lp said...

@Arch...so Michael Kay was wrong initially for the reason Allen was sent down to SWB. This is from an article in the NY Post. It should clear up your query:

Greg Allen provided a spark for the Yankees when he was called up during their second COVID-19 outbreak of the season last month.

It’s also what made him expendable to be sent back to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday night.

Because Allen was promoted to the Yankees as a COVID-19 replacement player in July, he did not need to clear waivers to return to the minors. The Yankees took advantage of that loophole Wednesday to maintain outfield depth after claiming Jonathan Davis off waivers from the Blue Jays and adding him to the active roster.

[snip]

so that is why...Allen had options...you will see Allen again no doubt, either by injury or September call up.

ranger_lp said...

Today's first roster move...

New York Yankees optioned RHP Luis Gil to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.

TheWinWarblist said...

Of course. Why would we keep a pitcher who hasn't yet given up a run in The Bigs.

Carl J. Weitz said...

Gil is on the Covid replacement list meaning he won't actually go anywhere.
Like last time, he stayed in the clubhouse in spite of the paperwork "demotion". He will start again in 5 days.

Anonymous said...

Ranger,
I understand the option aspect and mean no disrespect, but Davis is no good.
We are supposedly trying to win and we sent down a switch-hitting OF, who had played pretty darn well. And now we will wait 3 weeks for September call-ups so that he can be called back up, in order to keep a guy who is the the poster child for scrap heap.

Somehow, I do not believe that teams were lining up to get him.

However, I often forget that Cashy Bear is brilliant and I am not.

The Archangel

Anonymous said...

Archangel--you have this exactly right. Allen is a better player than Davis. The whole thing makes no sense--unless you begin to conjure with the fact that Cashman is VERY STUPID. Not hyperbole "stupid," but really crushingly stupid.

Also, having the switch-hitting Allen in the team would make Cashman's favorite antique talisman, Gardner, superfluous.

Ken of Brooklyn said...

Absolutely, I really miss Allen, such a breath of fresh air, he brought much needed hustle to this team!

Ken of Brooklyn said...

God I hate Stanton!