Kay has mastered double play, Newsday, May 26, 2006
YES play by play man, Michael Kay comes out to Newsday this week with a startling revelation:
It “infuriates” him when he is said to be a homer. “I’ve never, ever on the air rooted for the Yankees or rooted against them,” he said.
How did we ever come to misjudge him?
The company line was summed up nicely yesterday by Michael Kay on his daily radio soapbox: Rejoin the Astros and you can still be a Yankee in Cooperstown. Join the Red Sox and be banished from Yankee Land forever. Kay went on to hint (wish) that Clemens may add a secret contract clause allowing him to rejoin the Yanks via a trade if the Astros were to fall out of contention. The Yankees, Kay gloated, did not need a video highlight reel (Red Sox) to bait The Rocket. Such a ploy would appear desperate. Predictably, Kay was perfectly copasetic with all those Yankee player phone calls to Johnny Damon last winter.
NY Yankees 4, Detroit 0, AP, May 30, 2006
“One good game doesn’t make a whole year,” Johnson bristled. “But five or six bad games for me doesn’t make a year, either. It doesn’t mean I’m done.”
His attitude is back apparently but refreshingly grounded amidst all of Yankee Land’s psychological analysis. Judged in total, Johnson’s season has been awful. But the real concern has to be where he goes from here. Is this the best the Yanks can hope for at this stage - one good outing every six or seven starts?
PAVANO PAINED HE CAN’T PITCH IN, NY Post, May 29, 2006
Carl Pavano’s latest problems get one thinking about the gaggle of high priced free agents and trades that have been busts in the Yankee post-championship era. Like Pavano, many have been plagued by injuries or mysterious setbacks which, following Yankee Land logic, could only be the work of some kind of curse (coinciding perhaps with the signing of Jason Giambi?).
Some of the biggest Yankee busts of the post championship era:
Carl Pavano (Mysterious injuries and post-Alyssa Milano malaise)
Jaret Wright (Injuries, hit by baseballs numerous times)
Randy Johnson (Age, prolonged ineffectiveness, and irascibility)
Alex Rodriguez (Suddenly he’s psychologically impaired)
Jason Giambi (Sure he’s hitting now but we mustn’t forget the ‘roids and Japanese parasites)
Jose Contreras (Separated from family in Cuba and mentally spooked by NY)
Kevin Brown (Suffered from Japanese parasites and a complete physical breakdown, punctuated by punching a wall and breaking his hand)
Javier Vasquez (Succeeded everywhere else, suddenly lost mechanics in NY)
Jeff Weaver (Limited success everywhere else but still…)
Tom Gordon (Vomiting in the bullpen during ’04 playoffs)
Is he May-Rod?, Daily News, May 27, 2006
The other night YES and Michael Kay came up with a startling statistic concerning The Compiler, Alex Rodriguez. The claim is that A-Rod has delivered the most game winning hits this season, which I suppose is possible if you trace things all the way back to the first or second innings, when the game isn’t in the balance. Leave it to YES to come up with this sort of meaningless stat and deliver it zealously to rescue one of their boys. Anyway, Madden’s article utilizes the Elias numbers to paint a very different picture– namely that The Compiler fails in the clutch.
YES may very well retort with a new statistic purporting that A-Rod suffers the most psychological pressure-per-at-bats in the majors.
JETER REACHES 2,000-HIT MARK NY Post, May 27,2006
It’s fitting that it came during a loss to the lowly Royals, as this gave Derek Jeter the perfect opportunity for one of those anticipated ’selfless’ remarks:
“A hit is a hit, but we should have won the game.”
I’m not sure what kind of a milestone 2000 hits really represents these days. In fact it seems that all anyone could speak of was whether he can get to 3000. But as Daily News writer Lisa Olson puts it in her gooey piece today, it’s all about the intangibles.
Savvy observers of baseball understand the Yankee captain’s touch goes so much deeper than his chart-topping numbers. He doesn’t dog it around the bases, or embarrass opponents by admiring his own handiwork. That counts for everything, even if doesn’t get mentioned in Elias Sports Bureau stats or fantasy league drafts.
The problem with this quote and others like it is that you could insert at least a hundred other MLB names in there, past and present. But for some reason, not ‘dogging it’ makes Jeter a legend. These are the so called intangibles that supposedly elevate him. But if you can’t see or quantify intangibles (like ‘not dogging it’) then is it any surprise that the rest of the baseball world just doesn’t get it?
Big Hit, Daily News, May 26, 2006
As Jeter approaches 2000 hits, we are obligated to revisit this ‘overrated’ issue once again. There is no doubt he is a nice player, even a great player. But though the legend and legacy probably have more to do with the NY media than actual performance, his shtick that ‘only a World Series title matters and anything less is a failure’ begins to sound like pablum.
“I really haven’t thought much about it,” he said with his trademark grin. “It’s great, sure, and it’s something to be proud of but I’d rather see us win another championship.”
Reporters like Peter Gammons will run with this quote, reaffirming Jeter’s status as a ’selfless player’. ‘All he does is win’ they will say, as though he is the only all-star on the team. But when he is not busy winning championships, he is winning a carefully orchestrated game of persona building off the field. For those that know better, this is where the ‘overrated’ backlash begins.
A-Rod makes A-Difference, Daily News, May 24,2006
What he thought was a pop up turned out to be a 3 run homer. That is so A-Rod. And although they turned out to be the winning runs, they certainly didn’t appear to be at the time. So is this finally the big hit Yankee fans have all been waiting for? Maybe A-ROD thought so. He even donned an attitude after the game:
“I’ve done a lot of special things in this game,” he said. “For none of that to be considered clutch is an injustice.”
Well, no one said none of it was clutch. But naysayers will point out that if the Yankees had been down by 2 runs that hit, awkward though it was, would have been in a different class. And if that bothers you then just turn on YES and the Michael Kay show and let the A-ROD agitprop smooth things over.
Most overrated MLB stars, Sports Illustrated.com, May 19, 2006
A nice discussion on one of the most controversial Yankee topics out there. Bechtel’s answer to the heated questions seems pretty accurate- Yes, but not the most overrated player by any stretch.
Boston Red Sox 9, NY Yankees 5 AP, May 23.2006
YES says the ninth inning A-Rod blast is great news for the Yankees. There will be a carry over effect in game 2. But the relevance of a meaningless homerun in a blowout loss is debatable at best. Much less debatable, is the impact of his bases loaded eighth inning double play on Sunday, officially killing the Yankees comeback attempt. Mike and the Mad Dog seem to believe that all it will take is one or two big hits in big spots to lift the tension and relieve the weight from A-Rod. I tend to disagree. In fact, some success may actually exacerbate the matter.
Let me explain. Sooner or later, he will have a couple of these big hits. In fact over the years, he already has. But more than on-field results, it is his mentality that is hurting him. So long as A-Rod believes that he is the team savior and that he must carry the team, the psychological drama will resurface anew in each big game, consistently leading to below average results.
And so we have the A-Rod paradox: What brought him to the team (his extreme desire to excel on baseball’s biggest stage) is what keeps him from succeeding.
2 Comments