Friday, June 12, 2009

So this is what it feels like to be the underdog

I became a Yankee fan in 1992. Go ahead and call me a front-runner if you want, but I was six years old at the time. Since then, the boys in pinstripes have controlled 7 pm to 10 pm on most summer nights. The Yankees went through an incredible run in the late 1990’s and have fallen off a bit since, but until now, I was never afraid of any team. Even when the Red Sox came back and beat the Yankees after being down 3-0 in the American League Championship Series in 2004, I told myself it was a fluke. Since then, the Red Sox have taken the reigns from the Yankees as the team to beat in the AL and even more so, have pounded my beloved Yankees. I hate to say it, but I now fear our bitter rivals to the north. Unfortunately, it’s clear that the Yankees and Joe Girardi do too.

Before this week’s series started, the Yankees had lost all five games they played against the Red Sox. “That’s okay,” I told myself, “The Yankees were awful in the beginning of the season.” Coming into this series, the Yankees were playing their best baseball. Starting pitching and clutch hitting (the two most important ingredients to victory) were clicking together and it was producing victories for the Yanks. For some reason, though, something psychologically happens when the Yankees see navy and red in the opposing dugout.

Game one of the series is a throw away game. Wang is awful right now and the whole world knew the Red Sox were going to turn his pitches (the few that got over the plate at least) into Green Monster pellets. “No problem,” Yankee Universe told themselves, “we got AJ pitching next. He KILLS the Red Sox.” Wrong. He couldn’t find the plate either. He got beat up and the Yankees comeback attempt fell short. We HAD to salvage one game. With ace CC Sabathia on the mound, we were definitely going to win a game and tie the division race. CC pitched a gem into the seventh, gave up a few hits, and then the Yankees glaring hole, the bullpen, blew it. Zero out of eight. We have lost eight games this year to the Red Sox, nine in a row going back to last year. This is beyond concerning. Beyond frustrating. Yankee fans, it’s time to panic.
Think of this series as a microcosm of what’s going to happen in the playoffs to the Yankees if changes are not made. Yes, it’s true that our starting pitching will be set up better for the playoffs, but logic dictates that CC and AJ will be the one and three starters in a playoff series. The Red Sox just beat them both with a unwavering, smug confidence as if they just took the Yankees younger sister to “Make-out Point,” had their way with her and there was nothing the Yankees could do about it. So, how do we fix the Yankees? On paper tangibly, it’s easy:

1. Give Wang one more chance. If he screws it up, put him in the bullpen and have Hughes take his spot.

2. Xavier Nady is coming back soon (hopefully) and the more I watch Nick Swisher play, the more I realize that he’s not as good as the first quarter of the season has indicated. He makes dumb decisions running the bases and he’s an average fielder at best. There are contenders out there though who could use his powerful bat in the line up. Trade him for a good reliever. “But Scott,” you’ll say, “he’s such a good guy to have in the clubhouse! He’s so happy-go-lucky and funny!” The whole notion of having a good “clubhouse” is one of the most overrated concepts in sports. Pies in the face and kangaroo courts are great, but they DO NOT translate to victories. Ask Reggie Jackson and the 1978 Yankees about their clubhouse. They all hated each other, but still won. While we’re talking trades, let’s trade Jose Molina while we’re at it. Francisco Cerveli has proven himself to be a more than adequate back up catcher and Kevin Cash is third in line. Molina has done a great job for us, but at this point he means more to the Yankees as a valuable trading chip.

3. Tell AJ Burnett to remove his head from his sphincter and trust his “stuff.” Rumor has it, he has some of the best stuff in the league. Seems to me he left his stuff in Toronto.

4. Put more organizational pressure on Joe Girardi to win the big games. If George Steinbrenner were still running the show, he would come out and say Girardi’s job is in jeopardy after losing eight games to the Red Sox.

5. Fire Brian Cashman and make me the General Manager of the Yankees.

The Yankees do not play the Red Sox again until August, so we will have these eight losses sticking in our craw for the next couple months. Minus the eight games we’ve lost to the Red Sox, the Yankees have been the better team this year. The Yankees have to come out and beat the teams they are supposed to beat, specifically the Blue Jays and the Rays, and worry about the Red Sox when the time comes. If the Yankees get crushed by them for the rest of the season, there is no reason to think they can win a playoff series against them.

Side Note to Red Sox fans – Yes, you’ve beaten the Yankees every game, so I have nothing on you. But, PLEASE stop embarrassing yourselves by giving standing ovations to David Ortiz every time he hits the ball out of the infield. This is Major League Baseball. David Ortiz is not the “special” kid on a recreational little league team who is a little smaller and less developed than the other boys. He has a multi-million dollar contract to hit home runs and get RBI’s. Curtain calls for homers that barely wrap around Pesky’s Pole in right field at Fenway and wouldn’t make it out of any other Major League stadium are unwarranted. Let Big Papi go gracefully into the Boston sunset and appreciate him for the illustrious World Series hero he was to you in the past. Don’t patronize him while he ambles clumsily toward the end of an otherwise extremely successful career.

2 comments:

  1. Side note is right on... scumbags.

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  2. my promise to you is that i would become an unwavering yankee fan during your potential reign as GM.

    ReplyDelete