As the Yankees became a team that struck out 17 times ( two games in a row ), and played "clownball "on defense, they were becoming unwatchable. As an old dude, I literally used the Yankee games to induce power naps.
Lombard looks like the goods. A player who can do it all and is exciting to watch. Even if he doesn't hit a homer every day, his defense is artful and such a relief from what we have stumbled through for the past several seasons. And, as a shortstop, we see him in action all the time. Not like some power hitting, gold glove outfielder who may get no put outs or assists all game.
The tragedy for yankee fans is that he is only one guy. And with one or two exceptions, largely surrounded by a bunch of : gumullnicks " who don't even belong at this level.
Worse, Brian Cashman has, over the years, traded away all semblance of talent from our farm system. Six more bodies departed at the 2026 trade deadline. George Lombard was the one guy he would not trade.
But there is no future star in A, AA or AAA for the Yankees. Not a single player is on the kind of watch list that George has been on. Can anyone even name a Yankee prospect now?
So what does that leave?
We pick up players no one else feels is worth the carrying cost. ( we just did that in spades on August 3rd ). Or we overpay some guy who had one good year, and now retires in a Yankee uniform ( why does everyone think of a player like Trent Grisham when I make this point?). Josh Donaldson, anyone?
Having a reason to watch the Yankee games is worth something. But we aren't winning any more championships in our lifetimes. The cupboard is bare.
Welcome George.
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The cupboard is hard to bear.
A few comments on the preceding...
I remember that 2000 team well, Hammer. They played some incredible stretch of games without a break, finished off Boston, and were 84-59 on Sept, 12th, 9 games up.
Then...one of the scariest collapses I have ever seen. 3-15 the rest of the way, and getting clobbered by bottom-dwelling teams. They limped home, at 87-74.
I had to go to Europe to sell books (tough gig, I know), but I figured, just as well, they're not doing anything in the playoffs this year...
Then, they somehow pulled out that miraculous (first) series against the A's. And beat Seattle. The Mets, one of the weaker NL playoff teams, did us the favor making the World Series.
Following it from Paris, I knew the Yanks were up, 2 games to 1. Couldn't get information on Game 4, as we went to the airport, flew home.
Found out from the cabbie from JFK they had won Game 4. Got home just in time for Game 5. For me, it was like the Yanks winning two World Series games in one day...
I wasn't reeeeallly worried by the time Game 5 started. I figured that even if Leiter won, we had Clemens and Duque going back at the Stadium, on full rest, and the Mets were not going to win 3 in a row.
And yes, Bernie got us started with a home run—his first hit of the Series, incidentally. But we gave away two runs on some sloppy fielding.
To me, the key was Jeets, coming up in the 7th inning, I think, and cool as the proverbial cucumber, hitting a ball out. He ran around the bases as if he'd just hit it out off some Double-A pitcher in a spring training game. No hand signals, no gestures. A consummate pro, who looked like he had been there before...
All of them were like that, on that team. Real pros. Great clutch players. How I miss them.
And yeah, Carl Weitz, the Dodgers got lucky going bankrupt. Plus, they signed on with a cable company that gave them a great deal AND got bought up by a major streamer. See that sports biz excerpt I posted.
Still more reasons to hate them with the white-hot passion of a thousand suns.
But if there's one thing that 2004 ALCS debacle taught us, every game becomes the most important game of the year. I think, if the Mets win Game 5, the Yankees could very well have lost that 2000 series. Luis Sojo got the game winning hit, an 18 hopper up the middle against Al Leiter, who was still in there battling. Then Rivera shut it down in the 9th.
The last great Yankee team.
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