Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Not long ago, we crushed Boston at Fenway. What happened? "The fault, dear Boonie, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings..."

Well, dear Caesar, how's this for 1,000 cuts... 

Boston is marching inexorably toward another ring - its fifth in this century - cementing the Redsocks' status as baseball's premier franchise. 

Let that sink in, folks:

Boston... baseball's premier franchise.
 

This month, if they take their fifth world championship, they will likely open a gap that cannot be bridged in our lifetimes. All this crap about 27 world championships? That will die with our generation. Our grandchildren will only know a world where the Redsocks own the Yankees.   

Make no mistake: We have fallen under a dark curse - one born of nepotism, led by a billionaire who covets nickels because they're bigger than dimes. 

For us, the result is a crushing sense of hopelessness and despair. 

Four weeks ago, we swept Boston in their own park and seemed poised to win the critical home field advantage in the wild card. Then everything fell apart. 

I believe it was fated all year. Why do I say this?

1. Weakness up the middle. Look at the difference? Boston shows quality from catcher to CF. The great Yankee teams of the 90's had Jorge, Jeter, Cano, Bernie. Look at what the Yankees sent out. Yikes. 

2. Without a LH slugger - not one - the Yankees were always a misfit in their own stadium. In spring training, they brought in Jay Bruce. At the trade deadline, it was Joey Gallo. Desperation seldom works.  

3. All season, the Yankees viewed Gerrit Cole as their insurance in a wild card game. Thus, they made the wild card a preposterous target. Cole faltered after the league cracked down on stick-um, and fell apart after a hamstring pull. Meanwhile, Nathan Eovaldi - the one that got away - became Boston's ace. 

4. We spent the year waiting on Corey Kluber and Luis Severino. Aside from a scattered moment, they never arrived. Meanwhile, Chris Sale returned to become a decent starter. 

5. Their manager, Alex Cora, seems a magician. Ours functioned as a front office lackey. The Yankees can never hold an Aaron Boone Bobblehead Night: It would be too painfully realistic. 

6. Somehow, the magnetic juju poles flipped in 2004, and we never recovered. The Yankees never took revenge upon Curt Schilling, Big Papi, Pedro, Jason Varitek, et al. Their comical attempts to co-opt Jacoby Ellsbury, Johnny Damon, Kevin Youkilis, et al, backfired. Now it's Devers, Xander and JD Martinez. What are we gonna do? Sign them at age 40?

7. Boston helped usher in a new era of advanced analytics, and the copycat Yankees - though pouring mountains of money into it - have always come up short.

8. The Yankees wrongfully seemed to think 2020 mattered. They actually thought Luke Voit was a home run champion, and that DJ LeMahieu would really hit .364. The Redsocks rightfully saw 2020 as an outlier.   

Looking back, wasn't 2021 always doomed for us? From the beginning, Tampa, Boston and Toronto crushed us. In the end, it required a ridiculous infusion of players - at the expense of our farm system - just to secure the final wild card slot. (And the Yankees now claim they really didn't give up anything - wink wink - because they're smarter than the teams that gave us Gallo and Andrew Heaney. Sure they are...) 

So here we are, drowning in our own hubris. No, dear Brutus, the fault is not in our stars, not at all. It is so much worse.

17 comments:

Ironbow said...

Sell the f$%#ing team, Hal!

Celerino Sanchez said...

The New York Post Celebrated "100 Years of the Yankees Kicking Boston's Ass". This was on the back page of the Post in 2012. The new headline should be "20 years of ass kicking", except it's the Red Sox who are blowing doors. Cashman should be fired for aiding the Red Sox to win 5 WS under his watch.

ranger_lp said...

Years ago when I listened to The Master on WMCA, where I got my Master's Degree in Sports, John would always talk about how we in NY overrate our teams. el duque has laid out those arguments better than F. Lee Bailey could. Interesting how analytics can do that too...

Ironbow said...

Boone is coming back! Misery extended ...

Celerino Sanchez said...

Boone back for 3yrs. The Definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again and expecting a different result!

The Archangel said...

Boone back. Iam GONE. EXCEPT for this august site

13bit said...

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/10/yankees-extend-aaron-boone-manager-three-years.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

"please use the KY this time, Daddy..."

we're doomed. Cashman's meat puppet rides again. Cash's position is solid. Hal is blowing bubbles down in his southern domain.

The Archangel said...

I am so pissed I have to post twice

The Archangel said...

I will be contacting DirectTv to cancel my MLB package for 2022. Not a penny forMLB or Yankees from this old man

The Archangel said...

Watching this franchise reminds me of watching my business owner WWII combat veteran father take 6 years to fade and die from dementia. I will not allow myself to voluntarily go through that again.
Fuck the entire administration of this dying franchise

Joe Formerlyof Brooklyn said...


Arch

I already did the same thing (out with the MLB package). Also cancel sub to online MLB thing. Saved a bunch of money.

I hope things turn around in 2022 and I regret this.

Duya think I'm gonna?

Ken of Brooklyn said...

SHIT SHIT SHIT!!!!!!!!!
Boone is back!
R Sux on the verge of winning WS
And Cashman's perpetual suckitude Blackhole-A-Polloza!

I've abandoned all hope for these Yankees, and like the mighty Archangel above, I'm gone, save for checking in with you my beloved IIHIIFIIC brethren!

JM said...

Sad.

The Archangel said...

Obviously, Cash man is back for the next decade too

ZacharyA said...

If you're naïve enough to think winning titles is still the goal of this organization, you need to take a step back and re-evaluate.

Hal Steinbrenner is a businessman first, foremost, and only. If the Yankees make a profit, the season was successful. That's it.

I'm sure Steinbrenner has a top notch accounting team that has calculated the exact number of regular season wins, free-agent signings, and team payroll needed to maximize profits. Since Brian Cashman (and now Aaron Boone) are still here, we can infer that they've been hitting the profit sweet spot with results.

Looking at the last decade, that sweet spot is ~92 wins and a Wild Card appearance. Just enough to keep a majority of fans invested and to keep the brand afloat, selling tickets, merchandise, and streaming rights.

That's the New York Yankees.

Ironbow said...

The Yankees are a decaying franchise.

bennyboy said...

It's the Crisis of the Second Century. A century earlier than Rome's plight. We're cooked