What does it mean to be a New York Yankees fan?
By Mark Kilmer Posted in Baseball — Comments (5) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Yeah, the Yankees have won 26 World Championships.
A while ago. Not now.
To paraphrase Pejman blow, being a Yankees fan right now means having your heart ripped out of your chest on a regular basis.
The AP just referred to them as "baseball's $195 million bust."
Check this out: Johnny Damon is 4-for-his—last-32. Bobby Abreu,2-for-30; Hideki Matsui, 3-for-17; and Robby Cano, 1-for-18. Sure, Alex Rodriguez has 14 homers, 34 RBI, and Jeter and Giambi are passable at the plate, but the world's greatest offense is just… well, only the Marlins are doing better, but they. are. the. Marlins.
But they're giving up over 5 runs a game. If you want a bright side, that's better than the Marlins, but again, who cares?
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The Yankees have started nine pitchers this year. Nine. And it is cause for celebration if one of them finishes the 5th inning. The bullpen is overworked, and Mariano Rivera gets pounded when he's not being used as Mariano Rivera. (The Yankees only save in April was Mo's on Saturday.) Boston's used five started, and they cruise into the eighth inning with regularity.
Yes, this is about Boston! This is the year when Red Sox fans thought they actually had a superior team to New York's. To a Yankees' fan, this means that they'll just have to be given a dose of reality, the dream is over, etc. But it did not happen. The Yankees went 9-14 in April, with five of those losses being recorded against the Boston Red Sox.
This is made all the more difficult because we don't even have the now-traditional scapegoat. We cannot blame A-Rod! You know, if it were not for Rodriguez, the Yanks would be off to a worse start than their 11-19 April two years ago. Yes, they won't the AL East that year, but they do that with their eyes closed. Sure, they have 12 remaining games with Boston. Of course, Kei Igawa was a bright spot, and there is no valid reason why that should not continue.
Wang can hopefully shake off the rust for his next start. Moose (Mike Mussina) will be back Thursday; with Andy and Igawa, we have our rotation back.
Pavano is always hurt. Always. Cashman should have traded him his okay spring training, and perhaps this is why Brian is taking the blame for the poor start. The 20-year-old future ace, Phil Hughes, gets the start on Tuesday, and if he's as good as his young press has been, perhaps he can borrow Allen Iverson's nickname. (Shawn Chacon was "The Answer" 2-years-ago, when the staff fell apart in late July, but he's no Phil Hughes. Chacon is pitching long relief in Pittsburgh these days.)
Of course, I say fire Torre. My wife tells me that the Captain agrees with her:
Derek Jeter and the New York Yankees are quick to say their slump isn't Joe Torre's fault. The best way for them to secure their manager's job, however, would be to start winning - now.
That's Tuesday. In Arlington. (Phil Hughes, meet Slammin' Sammy Sosa.)
Sure, there's hope; however, the notion of the Yankees winning seems incompatible with universe in its present configuration.
Well...
by Mark Kilmer
that was nothing against the Marlins, really. I will here admit that what you saw was a bitter Yankee fan who remembers 2003. My complaint that year was that Loria had purchased that championship with cash, meaning that he had assembled an all-star team, paying them huge sums.
Sound familiar?
Listen, I understand that hypocrisy of a Yankees fan complaining about such things. It's part of the fun, just like folks referring to the franchise as "evil." (Capitalism is not evil -- no way, no how.)
Marlin Snowbirds?
by furrier
I just figured you focused on the Marlins because of Florida's, how shall I say this, New Yorkness? :)
Two points
by hoyasaxa
1) The Yankees are evil. To compare them to the Marlins, as the above commenter notes, does a disservice to the team from South Florida. Both on the baseball field and in life in general.
2) The London Yankees just got beat on penalty kicks by Liverpool at Anfield 4-1. The Liverpool goal by Agger in regulation made it 1-1 on aggregate. Reina, the Liverpool keeper, made some huge saves on the penalty kicks after not having to do much in regulation or extra time. As much as Chelsea carried play in London on the first leg, Liverpool dominated today.
ESPN360 is pretty freaking cool. Got to watch the thing at work. I'm a life long soccer mocker, but I started watching the World Cup and have been watching these Champions League matches over the past few months. They're pretty entertaining. Additionally, the atmosphere at Anfield is as rabid I've ever seen any venue. It's as relentless as Cameron Indoor when UNC is in town and as loud as Qwest Field with it's funky architecture (except as far as I know, Anfield has only drunk Englishmen, not fancy designs, making its noise).
Yankees
by The Brian
The Yankees' problem is the same one that a lot of successful ventures tend to run into - they started believing the hype about themselves (I mean the organization, not the players). They started to believe that they were entitled to a championship because they were spending the most money, and that they could buy one anytime they felt like it. It's probably an easy trap to fall into, when even the commissioner of the league says so.
But people forget that the great Yankees teams of the late 90s were built around players they developed: Jeter, Rivera, Posada, Bernie Williams, Pettitte. Sure, there were always well chosen free agents to complement that core, but the thing was always driven by homegrown Yankee talent. Since that talent pipeline dried up, the Yankees have been scrambling to fill the gap with free agents, and that's just not the way to keep a dynasty going.
But it was never about the money as much as most people thought.
With all these comparisons to the Marlins, I notice absence of the fact that Florida is 12-13 vs. the Yuckees 9-14.