Great Moments In Self-Congratulation

Tim Britton, who was filling in for Byran Hoch this weekend over at MLB.com, dug up this gem from Joe Girardi after yesterday's game:

When asked after Sunday's 4-3 win if he thought his ejection helped his team come from behind in the eighth inning, Joe Girardi just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Sometimes I think I should get thrown out in the first."

Let's hear it for Joe Girardi and his super-clutch ejection, ladies and gentlemen. Play. Of. The Game.

If he had just came out to argue the call without getting thrown out, who knows what might have happened...

• Would Cito Gaston decided against intentionally walking Mark Teixeira, instead leading to an improbable, line-out-step-on-the-bag double play?
  
  
• Would Jason Frasor still have tossed the wild pitch with A-Rod up that allowed Gardner to score and tie the game?
  
  
• Could A-Rod still have managed to strike out on a pitch right down the middle of the plate if Girardi hadn't lit a fire under his ass like that?
  
  
• Would Robinson Cano, who only had a meager 81 hits (two earlier in the game) and 43 RBIs coming into that at-bat have finally woken the fuck up and done something for this team!!1?1!/??
  
  
• Could Joba Chamberlain still have given up that run in the bottom half of the inning without the inspiration from Girardi's magical ejection?
  
  
• Where would Mariano Rivera have found the motivation to throw a perfect ninth inning had Joe not been tossed?

In all seriousness, this is an example of a manager thinking he matters way fucking more than he actually does. The Yankee rally was in full swing when Girardi got tossed. The Blue Jays already hit Cervelli and Gardner with pitches to start the inning and then Derek Jeter ripped a double, driving in a run and putting men on second and third, still with no one out. At that point, the Yankees' Win Expectancy was at 59% - a single gives them the lead, an out ties the game and they got multiple opportunities for both. Even after Swisher "struck out", they had a greater than 50/50 chance of winning the game and an even better chance of at least tying it right there.

The players were probably pretty ticked off at the terrible call by the umpire. Could that lead to a rally in some cases? Maybe. Did what Joe Girardi did help the team in any meaningful way, shape or form? I highly fucking doubt it. Players win games, not managers by getting ejected from them.

But keep telling yourself that getting thrown out of the game "fired the team up" or what have you, Joe. You came up huge yesterday. Great work. Just don't throw out your elbow patting yourself on the back.

1,001

I hope you folks don't mind a little self-congratulatory navel-gazing, but I wanted to take a quick moment to acknowledge the fact that the post on Johnny Damon that went up earlier today was the 1,000th to appear on this site.

The very first post came back in the beginning of last October when for some reason, I decided to reserve this domain name and write down a half baked argument for rooting for Red Sox over the Rays in the upcoming ALCS. I didn't bother telling anyone about the site, or writing anything else until over two and a half months later. On Christmas Day, on the heels of the acquisition of Mark Teixeira, I had some more thoughts ruminating and kicked up a 1,000 word post on the implications of the signing.

I followed that with an email entitled "The Fack Youk Manifesto" to a couple of my friends that said, in part:

I realize that there is like an 85% chance that this never really goes anywhere, then dies a slow death from neglect, but there's that 15% that we can carve out this little space for our thoughts, all contribute and make it interesting/entertaining enough for some other people to check it out. I talk enough sports with you guys and hear interesting stuff worthy of a blog post and it makes me think that we could put that stuff to use and concentrate it here.

It's taken a ridiculous amount of time and commitment to keep a steady stream of content flowing into the site, but I'm quite proud that we've established a readership and have a little niche that people seem to enjoy stopping by. We're getting close to 80,000 unique visitors since we started using Google Analytics and even if there is some double counting going on, that still seems like a lot.

Thanks specifically to people like Jason at IIATM,S, Joe at River Ave. Blues, Ross at New Stadium Insider, Craig at Shysterball, Peter Abraham, Tim at The Sports Hernia in addition to Deadspin, With Leather, Big League Stew, Awful Announcing, The Big Lead, BBTF, Jorge Says No!, and countless others who have linked to the site over the past 8 months. Without links from other blogs, it's basically impossible to develop a readership, so the recommendations are much appreciated.

Anyway, if you are new to the site, here are some of Fack Youk's greatest hits from days and months gone by in case you missed them:

• The Many (Awkward) Faces Of Alex Rodriguez
  
  
• An Avalanche Falls On Notre Dame
  
  
• The Chronicles Of Doris: Parts I, II, & III
  
  
• Mets To Play 2009 Season At Javits Center
  
  
• Look At It, Dave!
  
  
• Because You Can't Put Blogs On Your Bookshelf
  
  
• Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad
  
  
• The Extreme Beer Festival Diaries
  
  
• No More Max Kellerman? Um, WHAT?
  
  
• The Great Divider(s)
  
  
• He Also Picked Mickey Rourke
  
  
• Papeljerk

Hopefully these 1,001 posts are only the tip of the iceberg. Stay tuned.

Game 52: You Enjoy Myself

Taking the mound tonight, at least as far as I'm concerned, will be Trey Anastasio, Mike Gordon, Paige McConnell and Jon Fishman at the Jones Beach Ampitheater. They are pictured above after jumping the bump at Fenway Park to sing an a Capella version of the Star Spangled Banner before the show they played there on Sunday.

I don't care if Phish wore Red Sox jerseys when they sang the National Anthem, just as I don't care if A-Rod listens to Madonna, Hideki Matsui likes Menudo, Nick Swisher blasts Kenny Chesney, or A.J. Burnett rocks out to Godsmack. For all the melding of music and sports were do here at Fack Youk, they are still very separate pleasures.

Today also happens to be the anniversary of my emergence from the womb (in case you were wondering why I wrote this post), so the title of the song below is as self-indulgent as it is apropos. It represents everything people dislike about Phish songs: The extended composed sections and jams make it so long that almost every version on YouTube had to be split up into two, if not three parts. There are hardly any lyrics and the ones there don't make any sense. Odds are you won't like it, and chances are I don't really give a shit. Not today, anyway.

Matt is still away in the land of the Canucks so there won't be a game recap, either. Fear not, Fackers, we will be back in full force tomorrow.