If you watched Torre’s return to New York on SNY last night, did you happen to catch his dig at certain announcers who reveal that their team is losing ‘just by the sound of their voice’? Hmm, we have to wonder if Joe was referring to his favorite broadcaster at YES….
• Is there a team in recent memory with more rain issues than the Yanks? “I thought it was raining too hard,” says Girardi. And how many times have we heard that one? But we’ve also heard that it wasn’t raining hard enough to stop the action or that the game was called too early. When it comes to the rain, it seems like we’ve heard it all from the Yanks. What gives?
• Did you get a look at Giambi at the end of last night’s game? The blank stare, the bloodshot eyes. Somebody give that man some greenies.
39 pitches… 40 pitches… YES has certainly become a pro at over-hyping pitchers. But over-hyping the pitches themselves? Well that’s exactly what happened during Joba’s extended stint yesterday against the Mariners. First there were the constant shots from the bullpen - Joba eagerly awaiting his turn, Joba on the exercise bike. Then came the excruciating pitch-by-pitch countdown. Ladies and gentleman, these are the most pitches Joba has ever thrown in a big-league ballgame. Great, give the guy his monument plaque now. Just please, please make this hype go away.
So Girardi kicks up some dirt and generally acts like a jackass and this supposedly inspires a Yankee victory? You’d never see Torre do it. You’d never see Willie do it. And maybe that’s why it looks like both will eventually be out of New York. See, it takes a certain personality to stage a tantrum. It’s the oldest trick in the managerial handbook - sacrifice your own dignity in order to fire up the team. It’s exactly why Girardi is respected as a manager of an underachieving team and Willie is not. These days, it isn’t enough to say you care. You have to show it, even at the expense of your personal dignity.
• Last week it was announced that Joba may not start at all in ‘08. Now he’s suddenly ‘making the transition’. What changed in less than a week? We’ll bet it was panic after the Mets series and the recent losing streak. It’s a little curious to hear Y.U. now saying that Joba’s talents are being wasted in the eighth. They have been the ones fueling Joba Mania, selling us from the very beginning on the importance of that set-up role.
• Has A-Rod been sunbathing on that rock at Central Park again? In recent post-game interviews he appears almost orange.
• The comparisons to 2007 are inevitable. But let’s say the Yanks do come back once again to make the playoffs. What does it say about this team that they fall so far back each year before making a run? Making this a more unlikely scenario for ‘08 is the fact that the perennial dregs of the AL East are no longer pushovers.
• Whether he’s throwing a gem or taking it on the chin, Mussina’s post-game interviews are always a pleasure to watch. Last night, he facetiously thanked Kim Jones for informing him that this had matched the shortest outing of his career.
• Yankee fans love it when their pitchers ‘defend’ their own. So maybe last night’s incident elevates Latroy Hawkins a bit after the whole #21 fiasco. Whatever it takes, right?
• It’s definitely time to stop comparing the Yankees’ young pitchers to the kids on the Red Sox. While the Yanks’ boys just hang on, Boston’s already have two no-hitters and a World Series victory.
• When Mr. Co-chairman says the Yankees’ hitting woes are a ‘mirage’, does he realize that this power outage is affecting the entire A.L.? Maybe the actual mirage was the inflated power numbers of years past.
• Speaking of power numbers, what are we to think if A-Rod’s don’t really pick up this year (he was already off to a slow start). Do we say it was an off year? Or do we start to wonder (as with all the other big sluggers) about him? In a year when pitching velocity is suddenly down, A-Rod should have no problem saving the Yanks and posting huge numbers. Unless of course all that ’savior’ pressure gets to him first.
How much bleach would you have to use to feel comfortable donning a tiger-striped pair of thong underwear previously worn by Giambi, Jeter, Williams, Damon, Ventura, and Cano?
If Giambi and the boys really like to share a golden thong to “get out of a big slump”, isn’t it about time the entire team started wearing one? So why not slap the ‘Yankees Universe’ logo on it and sell them to help kids with cancer? Or how about burying it beneath the visiting locker room of the new stadium? How about just burying it anywhere….
If we can attribute a victory over the much-admired Rays to Hank’s rant, do we get to blame him when the Yanks lose?
And about that team meeting…. if it really worked, shouldn’t they hold one before every game?
In today’s episode, Hank gets really angry about the Yankees slow start and gushes about the Rays.
Hank: We’ve got to forget about all the injuries and start playing our butts off.
BC: But Hank, your record wasn’t all that different when the team was healthy.
Hank: We’ve got to start playing the way the Rays are playing. That’s the kind of attitude and fire the players have to have.
BC: You have to be kidding. The mighty 26-time World Champions need to play like the Rays? The Yankees aren’t supposed to run around like a bunch of little leaguers every time they win a game. And even if they were, by the time they get to your team, they’re too old and jaded by all the money you’ve thrown at them.
Hank: They (the Rays) only had 13,000 there (Monday) night. That place should be packed. They’re an exciting young team.
BC: What’s your obsession with the ‘exciting’ Rays? They’ve been in first place for a day. What about the Yankees’ youth movement? Oh yeah, you never wanted a youth movement. I think you wanted to ship off the kids and sign Santana.
Hank: Joba’s a great kid and I’m behind him 100 percent and he’s not the only pitcher to do that (fist pump).
BC: Well, it’s a good thing you feel that way. Did you read his latest quote? “It is what it is. I am not going to change.” That’s a lot of attitude from your 8th-inning setup guy. So what’s next for the future of the team?
Hank: If it’s not turned around this year, then it will be turned around next year, by force if we have too.
BC: Force? What are you going to do? Break Igawa’s throwing arm? Kidnap A-Rod’s baby? Take away all the candy bars in the clubhouse? Tear down the Stadium? Where does it end, Hank?
