Jay is sick, literally. I'm tired. And I think all of us (the Yankee fans at least) are sick and tired of the way things have played out between the Yankees and Red Sox in 2009. Tonight marks eight losses in eight games this year. That's crazy. Three of the losses have been by one run. In five of the losses the Yankees held the lead at some point. And the Yankees were in every game with the exception of Tuesday's series opening clunker.
There's an inordinate amount of attention placed on these games, so the losses end up seeming worse than they are, as if they count extra in the standings. We could break it down. We could complain about Melky trying to bunt again. In the second inning. Again. We could debate the merits of leaving CC in for the eighth. Or bemoan the performance of the bullpen. Or wonder what role the weather played. Or contemplate just what the hell Swisher was thinking getting doubled off again. Or make fun of Johnny Damon for dropping a fly a ball. Or wonder if Brett Gardner was doing his Johnny Damon impersonation on his eighth inning throw. Or discuss the merits of A-Rod getting plunked and the subsequent warning. Or wonder how much Brad Penny's trade value increased tonight. Or ponder if David Ortiz will be given a curtain call for every home run he hits this year.
But I'm just not in the mood for it tonight. The Yanks took a beating the past three nights. On the field and in the psyche. Or at least the psyche of the fan base. But last I checked, you couldn't win the World Series or the division in June. These things will happen over the course of a season. The Yanks are still only two games back, and hold a six game edge in non head-to-head records. Maybe that's me just looking for a silver lining, but I'll remain hopeful that things will be different come August when they meet again. Let's not dwell on this. We'll just move on.
2009's first Subway Series starts tomorrow night. I hate interleague play. It's such a contrived gimmick. Games against the Mets mean nothing extra to me, and they really shouldn't mean anything at all. But perhaps this once, the tabloid hoopla surrounding this series will be a welcome distraction for both teams. The Yanks just got swept by the Sox and the Mets lost two of three to the Phightins to fall four games back. Come Sunday, one of these teams will leave the Stadium with a series win and feeling better about themselves than they do right now. Let's hope that team is the Yanks.
Posts
Ouch. However, I have to say after watching CC spin another beauty, the Yanks absolutely did the right thing in not trading for Santana and simply waiting for CC to get to FA. Nasty.
ReplyDeleteOne other thing: I've been defending Swisher against the verbal taunts of my fellow fans as I can see he's a good MLB player and has good value...and then he spits the bit in the field on Wednesday and makes a dumb baserunning move last night. What up? He's not known for being a horse's ass, is he?
Three of the losses have been by one run. In five of the losses the Yankees held the lead at some point. And the Yankees were in every game with the exception of Tuesday's series opening clunker.
ReplyDeleteThree different ways of saying "The Yankees bullpen stinks."
@tad
ReplyDeleteIMO, not trading for Johan was the right move regardless of whether or not they landed CC. Hughes has shown flashes of brilliance this year and I'm still very bullish on his future. Melky is a usable part. The jury is out on Wang and IPK right now.
As for Swisher - I dunno. Outside of his reputation as a versatile guy with good power and excellent OBP skills, I didn't know much about him other than his being a second generation MLBer from WV.
He's certainly an interesting character, definitely wired a bit differently. He's shown flashes of jack-assery this year. He nearly injured himself trying to leap up and high five the RF fans at the Stadium earlier this year. His dive into the stand Wednesday night at Fenway was both needless and ill-advised. He said he got deeked by Bay last night and I'll take him at his word. Overall he's been a big positive this year.
@Smarty
Yes the Yankee pen does stink. But these 8 losses aren't all on them. Burnett blew a 6 run lead on his own in April. Hughes wasn't too sharp in his early May start and the next night Joba had a bad first inning he couldn't overcome. No need to even discuss what Burnett and Wang turned in this series.
For all the good press the Sox pen is getting, they nearly coughed it up each of the last two nights. As good as Ramirez has been, he may also be lucky. He has an absurdly low BABIP of .177, as does Okajima at .217. These guys may be in for a rude regression to the league average at some point.
Yeah keep throwing pennies into your pathetic wishing well of false hopes Matty. The Yankees have already had a RUDE REGRESSION into second fucking place bitches! You can talk down about the mighty mighty Boston Red Sox all you want but the fact remains blantantly obvious that they are better than the Yankees in every way. Get used to it. It's not the 90's anymore, sucka! lol!
ReplyDeleteIsn't a blog anonymous enough, I mean, can't you come up with some sort of identifying moniker? (Sorta reminds me of "C" taking on ARod on the first base line...with his catching mask still on.)
ReplyDeleteSeriously, it's early friend, early. You might want to consider saving some of the smack talk for when things look a little more definite. The Sox look great against the Yankees, but they haven't exactly been stellar against, say, Seattle and Texas.
But hey, there's always the wild card. Which is goog, because without it, there would be no 2004, would there?
In all honesty I hate the wild card and the creation of the central division but you can't argue with the greatest comeback in the history of sports. But nah, anonymous is fun and I will choose a name at a time I see fit. I will not be taking your suggestion into consideration. The Red Sox have earned their fans the right to talk the smack. That's why its so great being a Red Sox fan. BOHICA Yankees fans! BOHICA!
ReplyDeleteAnd one more thing..... LET'SSSSSSSSS GO METS!!!!