And, of course, in game four, when Juan Soto snagged a long fly at the wall in Cleveland, it didn't take long for the analysis to agree: Had that ball been hit in Yankee Stadium, it would have gone out, and the game would be tied.
So go the media narratives that undermine the Yankees, be it June or October:
The Yankees...
a: Play in a shrunken bandbox specially contoured for their advantage.
b. Spend more money than opponents, even when they don't.
c. Are always debating future contracts, even when they're not.
The last point - c - pertains to the constant bellowing over the future of Juan Soto. No matter what he does, every Sotonian ppearance conjures up the question of whether he will return to the Yankees next year. Here's a fun fact: Other teams have looming free agents, as well. Pete Alonzo. Corbin Byrnes. Gary Sanchez.
But let's be thankful that one regular narrative appears to be dead. The Cinderella Tigers are no longer in the chase. Make no mistake: If the Yankees played Detroit, we would have spent the next week being characterized as evil, big spending fat cats, while every move by the young and hungry Tigers would be celebrated as a gain for humanity.
In fact, the Miracle Mets will spend $30 million more on their team than the Yankees this year, and the Dodgers are using voodoo math to defer payments to their Japanese stars, thus appearing to be frugal when, in fact, they are the worst of all. As for Cleveland, they play in a division full of small market teams who have been more than willing to tank - aka the Royals, in drafting Bobby Witt Jr.
But when Gerrit Cole pitches, the media sees not only a pitcher, but a contract. And if he gives up a Yankee Stadium HR, don't expect anybody to note that it would have been an out in Cleveland.
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14 comments:
The Yankees don't get enough credit for limiting themselves via disinterested ownership and mediocre management. All the money in the world, a bespoke ballpark...they should never lose. But they do, all the time, thanks to poor organizational leadership. It's to their credit, really. The Yankees do their bit for industry-wide equity by placing the dim and untalented in important positions.
You can design a ballpark to suit a team’s proclivities, but then you must design your team to suit your ballpark. That’s just common sense.
Look, the Yankees will always attract criticism; some of it warranted. But the simple fact is: success breeds contempt.
Fuck the commentators. Win, and if possible, win bigly, and nobody will remember what they say.
I blame Smoltz for promulgating the "bandbox" idea. Like every other team is unable to knock the ball out to right--it's just the Yankees and their infernal ballpark.
Fuck him. Fuck them. Fuckadoodle dee doo.
Thank you JM. Truer words were never spoken. Fuck the haters.
"In a manly, healthy way"
Yes, of course.
Brilliant, Publius! And yeah, it's ridiculous. The right field line in YS I was, what, 296 feet? Though it moved out quickly.
But yes, the hypocrisy is ridiculous. Fenway Park is "quaint" and "beautiful," and the Green Monster is just a feature...
...The very worst in Game 4 of the KC series, though, was the commentators blaming the winds for that guy on the Royals not hitting it out. Are you kidding me? Hmm, winds on an October night on the Great Plains—how freakish!
In Game 7 of the 2001 World Series, a mischievous little thunderstorm moved in over the Diamondbacks' ballpark and knocked down what everybody on the field thought was a sure, three-run homer by Shane Spencer in the top of the 7th.
That would've meant the Yanks going in to the ninth up 5-1. It would've meant a ticker tape parade of defiant triumph, just two months after 9/11.
The storm was ridiculous. It would never have happened, if it had not been for 9/11, and the World Series had been played when it was scheduled; they just don't occur at that time in Arizona.
But...that's the breaks. Sometimes the wind blows in, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes you crank a ball to the exact wrong part of the ballpark (see Bernie Williams, 2003 World Series). The Yankees didn't bitch and moan, and no commentators acted like it was the Hindenburg Disaster. Oh, the humanity! Next!
Weather? Now it's weather? I'm sorry but that is a windmill too far for me to tilt at.
Ohhhhhh! Look! It's Rodan!!!!!!!
First off - the old weather thing is a load of dung, even though I do have the ability to control the weather. Also, when it rains on one, it rains on all. The bell tolls for all of us motherfuckers. Now, MIDGES - THAT's another thing altogether, but let's not revisit ancient history. Joba's recent resurfacing reminded me of the midges and Torre's ventriloquist dummy act, but am I still bitter after all these years? ME? Never. I just look at the score in the Mets game and fear that we are running headlong into a buzz saw, Wile E. Coyote style.
That's what I'm saying. Weather gets everybody. I don't want to hear about it getting the Royals.
And yes, the Dodgers looked terrifying.
Breathe deep the gathering gloom,
Watch lights fade from every room.
Bedsitter people look back and lament,
Another day’s useless energy spent.
Impassioned lovers wrestle as one,
Lonely man cries for love and has none.
New mother picks up and suckles her son,
Senior citizens wish they were young.
Cold hearted orb that rules the night,
Removes the colours from our sight.
Red is grey and yellow white.
But we decide which is right.
And which is an illusion?
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