Underdogs Instead Of Underachievers

While listening to ESPN's Mike & Mike this morning, Mike Greenberg gave a brief re-cap of the Yankees victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks Tuesday night. Immediately, Mike Golic sarcastically asked "Did they pick up a game against Boston?" The answer of course, is no. He further went on to state that it would take a "colossal" failure on the part of Boston for the Yankees to overtake them and that the wild card was a more reasonable objective for this Yankees team. His tone didn’t suggest confidence for either of those scenarios happening.

Everything Mike Golic stated could very well be true, and the Bombers could wind up bombing even worse than they did for the first two months of this season, injuries or not. However, according to this writer's eye, this team has apparently hit its stride and looks as if they are ready to pounce. Pounce on what, I'm not sure. But, if the wildcard is what they need to shoot for in order to make it to the post season, then so be it. Nobody sneered at the Boston Red Sox when they won the World Series as a wild card team. For some reason, now that the Yankees find themselves in that position where they can only reasonably shoot for the lower tier berth for a chance at the post season, everyone is quick to mock them.

After all is said and done, no one can predict what is going to happen this season. The Yankees, if they continue to persevere, can win the division. With one hundred or so games left, and with solid pitching from their rotation, and maybe a key trade come the July 31st deadline, this team is perfectly capable of of over-taking Boston. There is no rule which states that teams can't continue to surge after they begin to surge. In other words, there’s no reason to suspect that they won’t stop playing this well after they’ve only recently started to play better baseball.

This combined pack of pinstriped mercenaries and homegrown winners constitute a ball club with not only big money contracts, but top shelf talent. They've already been beaten down by injuries, plagued with poor play and listlessness. But, Joe Torre, the man with his hand on the magic buttons which he pushed to orchestrate his teams from 1996 to 2000 to World Championships, has pushed these buttons again, more frantically than before, and many more times, and he seems to have programmed this group to play cohesively and to pitch like a true, professional, Major League starting rotation. It doesn’t hurt that they also have a lineup which can pound an opposing team’s pitcher for six or seven runs per game. The acquisition of Roger Clemens also has brought some momentum to this heretofore inert team. However short lived this momentum that The Rocket brought with him to the Bronx lasts, they now have a fighting chance with him here.

It has been said that there is a sign in the Yankees clubhouse at Legends Field in Tampa which states "Unless you're the lead dog, the view never changes." Well, the Yankees are no longer the lead dog in this race. This writer prefers to think of them now as underdogs. There's a lot to be said for underdogs; and, fans tend to root for the underdog. The question is, will the spoiled Yankees fan root for them?

A Plate Of Crow, With Ketchup, Please

One of the anonymous baseball fans quoted frequently in this blog came to this writer Tuesday morning with a grin on his face. It was a classic "I was wrong" grin which I knew immediately had to do with his position on Alex Rodriguez and the current state of the Yankees. This writer's position on A-Rod has been consistent in that it is my contention the he should not be traded, allowed to leave, or faulted as not being clutch in the post season. We all want the Yankees to be heroes in October, but, they need to get there. This season, more than any other in recent history has illustrated fact more distinctly. Alex Rodriguez is having a phenomenal season, and the A-Rod haters want him to fail in the post season, should the Yankees actually make it there, so they can watch him leave.

That has been the unswerving stance of the aforementioned Yankees fan that arrived at my desk this morning, ready to be contrite. "Is something happening here?" He asked, that wry smile indicating that he was having a change of heart. "Can the Yankees actually have a chance at overtaking Boston?" What my baseball friend was alluding to was that a nine and one half game deficit in early June in the A.L. East does not seem so insurmountable with a hundred or so games left in the regular season. "A-Rod has exceeded my expectations." My friend continued. There was so much he wanted to say, that he was popping off all of his comments sporadically. "I'm ready to eat crow," He said finally, shaking his head. "If he (A-Rod) keeps this up, in September, I'll as for a big plate of crow, covered in ketchup."

After assuring him that I'd be happy to break out the BB gun from my attic to track down and kill such a crow for his consumption, he hesitated, raised a finger and added one caveat "I'll wait until October. If he bats one-fifty, then the deal is off." We both laughed, and he went off to his office, trying to both feel confident about his favorite baseball team and their post-season chances and reconciling his feelings towards a player whom he previously had no confidence in. The joke is that he'll never eat an actual crow, but he's man enough to admit he may have been too harsh in his analysis of Rodriguez in the past.

Needless to say, hoping to keep his offer of culinary contrition alive, I told him as he held the door to the office open and turned back to see me, that it didn't matter what Alex Rodriguez batted in the post-season, as long as he helped get them there. This was a point I was happy to repeat to him for maybe the one hundredth time. He smiled, and walked away. He does not know it, but crow does taste better with ketchup. I've had to eat it plenty of times in my life. Go A-Rod.

Yankees Quick Check: Pitching + Run Support + Defense=Win

Tyler Clippard came through for his seasoned, big league teammates Tuesday night against the White Sox. In return, the defense and the offense chipped in to help him out. This Yankees' season could have been scripted by the late, great, Kurt Vonnegut himself, as this cosmically challenged team found itself fraught with a plague of injuries, poor plays, and silent bats in the lineup. If momentum ends with the next day's starter, the Yankees have stumbled every fifth day with a new, unproven arm sent out to the mound to earn his first major-league win and to keep the team from slipping further down the greased pole that is the AL East standings.

Tuesday night's game represented the prototype game which the Yankees need if they are to get back to .500 and then mount some sort of run at either a wild card berth, or, dare I say it, the division title. There's been a lot written about the talent that's on this team and how eventually these players will begin to play better baseball because "they have to, they're too good." It seems so simple after watching them play Tuesday night that all they have to do is pitch well, play solid defense, and hit in the clutch and their problems will fade away the same way as one forgets a dreadful nightmare somewhere after the time they wake up and before they eat breakfast.

The flip side of this is whether or not the fickle finger of fate decides to torment some other team in their division instead of them. One wouldn't want to see anyone get hurt; but, what if the Red Sox began to slide backwards due to injuries to key members of the pitching staff? What if Big Papi, David Ortiz, fell into a "two for forty nine" batting slump? Things can happen. If Kurt Vonnegut can have theoretically written a "Dead Eye Dick" style script for this Yankee team's unexpected and unprecedented run of bad luck, then some other unseen author could craft a tale of a former underdog team, the Red Sox, which found themselves at the top of the division early in the season, only to find themselves in a rapid skid downward by the All Star Break. It can happen, though this writer would rather see the Yankees get by on their merits, than by capitalizing on unfortunate events which ruin other teams.

My point in all of this is that just as no one could have predicted the karmic catastrophe which befell the Yankees this season, the recipe for extricating themselves from this division standings quagmire seems to consist of fundamental baseball, solid pitching, and timely hitting. Mix some bad luck for their division rivals for good measure.

Good Luck Yankees, I'm Out For the Weekend!

As if anything I do or think will have any effect on the Yankees level of play, I have to take the weekend off with my family. That means, no more crying about the Bombers in the confines of this space, and no more advice from my living room armchair for Brian Cashman and company. Of course, I'll watch the games, such as I can, while attending the many gala events I've been invited to over the course of the next three days. But, I will watch them in much the same way kids view horror movies. That is with my hands over my eyes while peeking through my fingers.

They should get through okay though, the Yankees that is. They seem to respond well to a good pitching performance by their starters of late. The lone exception would be that aging, fragile, touchy, intense, opinionated, clubhouse loner, Mike Mussina. That's another whole column right there. But, that will have to wait until Mr. Grudge returns after this glorious Memorial Day weekend.

It needs to be said, however trite this offering may be in this space, that I offer a special thank you to all of our service men and women in the United States Armed Forces fighting for our country overseas. Also, thank you to all of my readers both here and over at Gotham Baseball Magazine for making this site ever more popular.

Happy Memorial Day.

NY Yankees: Plenty Of Baseball Left

The Yankees looked aggressive Monday night against Boston. While they did win 6-2, they left the equivalent of the population of a small city of base runners stranded on base. However, I liked the fact that they ran on Tim Wakefield. Granted, Wakefield’s delivery is slow, and he pitches like he's a union employee on overtime. But, it was a good way to follow up on Tyler Clippard's excellent start against the Mets the day before. If they can keep this type of play up, win or lose, then this writer can keep respecting them as a team.

As Johnny Damon said while being interviewed on the field after the game "We need the fans to rally behind us." Johnny is good in the clubhouse, and he's capable of helping to lead a team of "idiots" to the World Series for an historic win. Maybe his attitude last night can help lead desperate fans who are crying for Torre's head back to their TV sets and to the stadium as the Yankees try as the team tries to piece together a respectable season and a possible post-season run.

As for the fans and writers calling for Torre’s head, I have an answer for them. Let him manage this season until it is over and done with. Its way too early, and he deserves the right to finish the season on his past accomplishments alone and not to be let go because of an almost historic run of bad luck and because of sloppy and desultory performance from some players. Torre has always been praised for pressing the right "buttons" to make his team work. He may have been pressing them a bit frantically last night, like someone dialing nine-one-one, but he pushed the right ones, got the running game going, and got decent pitching from Chien-Ming Wang. That's enough for one ball game, but it also may also be enough to convince his players that the rest of the season is worth fighting for.

Terry Francona, when interviewed by Michael Kay before the game Monday night on ESPN was quick to say the right things. Eager to avoid being quoted in every newspaper, website, and blog across the nation as being boastful, pointed out earnestly that “There’s plenty of baseball left to play.” He was also quick to note that the Yankees “Will heat up soon” or words to that effect. Essentially, Francona was trying hard not to run around with his arms in the air shouting “Yee Ha! The Yankees are toast!” Francona also doesn’t want his team to lean back and take a break and allow the Yankees to somehow catch up to them. They have their own historic comeback, being down three games to none in the 2004 ALCS to refer to in terms of realizing historic upsets.

Francona may very well be right. The Yankees can make a comeback, and it’s too early for them to consider the Yankees out of the race. A week ago, this writer would have thought the entire season was doomed. After last night’s game, the Red Sox remained a comfortable 9 ½ games ahead of their bitter, division rivals. There’s a lot of breathing room still between them and the Bombers. However, a wildcard berth for the Yankees is very probable for the Yankees, and Francona knows that. Also, we all remember the 1978 Yankees who overcame a fourteen game deficit and eventually won their division.

If Boston has to face a Yankees team with a healthy starting lineup consisting of Roger Clemens, Chien-Ming Wang, Andy Pettitte, Mike Mussina, and possibly Phil Hughes in July through August, and, if the Yankees, who appear to awakening from their slumber, continue to play hard, things may not be so easy for the Red Sox down the road. The Yankees have had more than their fair share of injuries to their starting rotation, while the Red Sox currently have only one of their starters on the disabled list. That pitcher is Josh Beckett. As Terry Francona also stated in his interview Monday evening: “It’s good to play well early, but it’s also good to be playing well late in the season,” or words to that effect. Also, there's the possibility that the "injury bug" may catch up to the Red Sox as well. This writer hopes it doesn't as one does not hope for injuries either to the team you're rooting for, or their opponents. However, realistically speaking, such is the game of baseball. Injuries do happen, and at times with alarming regularity.

Last season, the Red Sox lost key players to injuries and finished the season in third place. No doubt that bit of history hasn't been forgotten either by the Red Sox management, or in their clubhouse. Maybe that is why Francona was reluctant to celebrate an early win for his team in the AL East. This writer doesn’t carry a tape recorder in his car and is unable to quote either Michael Kay or Terry Francona directly; but, the message Francona was making was clear. The Yankees can still be a formidable opponent, anyone on his team can succumb to injuries at any time, and there’s plenty of baseball left to play.

NY Yankees: From Devoted Fans: Hope

As I am always eager to do, I speak with other Yankees fans to get feel for the state of mind Yankees fans have. The polling I am conduct is very un-scientific, and often un-verifiable. This is the only way I can gather any real material other than my own thoughts for this blog. Bear in mind, I don't have any press credentials, and the only way I'll have access to anyone on the Yankees roster is if I buy a ticket and attend a game. I don't think anyone on the team will answer any of my questions there either as they wouldn't be able to hear me screaming at them from the "nosebleed seats."

Imagine this scene playing out in the stands:
Me: “Hey A-Rod! How do you explain your recent hitting slump!”
Drunken fan: “Shut up and sit down, you #@&*%^$! loser!”

Here's an example of my reporting methods. After striking up a conversation with a man wearing Yankees gear at my son's Lacrosse practice, I asked them what he thought of the Yankees’ current nine game deficit in the AL East. He immediately chimed in with an optimistic comparison of this team to the 1978 Yankees. I couldn't be sure if this guy in the Yankees cap and jacket was offering his own analysis of the situation, or if he was merely repeating what he heard on a popular sports radio program verbatim. I’d heard the same opinion on the radio as I drove to the practice field in my environmentally unfriendly SUV only minutes before our conversation.

However, I could sense the mood of this man. I could tell this Yankees fan and dad who was watching his son run across the field, lacrosse stick in hand along side my son, actually believed that this 2007 Yankees team could overcome their current nine game deficit and go on to win the World Series. "After all", he offered, "You have to remember that the 1978 Yankees came back from a fourteen game deficit in July behind Boston to enter the post-season and win the World Championship". He spoke with such vigor and authority that he made this writer believe that this team composed largely of listless, paycheck players could match the stellar spirit or talents of Thurman Munson, or Goose Gossage, just to name a couple.

Another Yankees fan, a co-worker of mine had extreme optimism as well, offered a different take, rather than the 1978 Yankees comparison.
“By July the Red Sox will go about a ten or twelve game skid, right around the time the Yankees will become really hot, and then things will change.” He said. Then, for good measure he added “Don’t worry. The Red Sox will fall. They usually do.” I can’t say that I didn’t worry after that prediction. It was hardly based on anything but the gut feeling of a seasoned fan that sees the Red Sox as unwitting dupes standing in the path of his beloved Yankees. Inevitably, he believes, the Red Sox will fall by the wayside so the Yankees can charge past them and on to World Series victory.

If I was new to baseball and to the Yankees I might just believe him. But replay the final game of the 2004 ALCS in your head and you’ll get the same creepy feeling that I’m getting now as this team goes into the Subway Series against the Mets, and then after that (gulp) up against Boston. As of this writing, I’m scouring the internet doing research on how to build a time machine. 1978, here we come.

NY Yankees: Wildcard Or Bust!

As John Sterling, the venerable Yankees radio broadcaster is fond of saying: "You can't predict baseball." For the Yankees, this season proves that adage very poignantly. Who would have predicted that in the middle of May, the Yankees would be eight games behind the Boston Red Sox, and five games back in the Wildcard standings?

Are the Yankees capable of a comeback? In this writer's opinion, no. At least as far as the division is concerned. The Red Sox would have to go into a prolonged slump for the Yankees to overtake them. Plus, the level of play the Yankees have displayed recently has been flat, uneven, and lacking the typical "punch" from their lineup. Big hitters aren't hitting, and injuries struck early and often from the start of the season, mostly to their starting rotation. Many young arms have been plugged into the number five slot in the rotation in the hopes of finding a diamond in the rough; but, some did well, one got hurt, and another others lacked run support. Kei Igawa, their off-season acquisition from Japan, has been sent to Tampa for an overhaul. Such is not the makings of a comeback. It doesn't matter what Roger Clemens can do for the team, he only throws once every five days. The Yankees have to get fired up, and soon.

The Yankees can shave their heads, “Cowboy up”, act like "idiots" (see: Damon, Johnny), or come up with their own, witty, inside joke to inspire them. Whatever it is they need to get, they’d better catch it right away, and hopefully it’s very contagious. Right now, what’s spreading through Yankees Land is shock. The fans can’t believe how deep the trench their beloved team has dug for themselves is. Many are still in denial, asking other fans if it is indeed possible that the Bombers won’t make it to the post-season. The way things look now, it’s probable. Likely? Maybe not; but, definitely probable.

As for the wildcard? My guess is as good as yours. Being five games back in May isn't the worst position to be in. Yet, as I stated in the opening paragraph "You can't predict baseball." On that note, maybe the Red Sox actually can go on a twenty five game skid?

Doug Mientkiewicz: Yankee's Pick Me Up

One Yankee who is beginning to show more than a blip on the radar screen is Doug Mientkiewicz. Signed during the off-season in a platoon situation with (at the time) either Andy Philips or Josh Phelps, Mientkiewicz has been doing more lately than flashing impressive leather. He's been hitting and making remarkable plays. Tuesday night in the fifth inning, Doug dove for a ball hit by Gerald Laird of the Texas Rangers, and while on his knees, dove towards him for the tag. But when laird missed the first base bag, Mientkiewicz, while still on his knees scrambled and beat Laird to first base for the out. Watching the instant replay, one has to say "wow." That play is the definition of hustle.

The Yankees have been plagued with injuries, mostly to their starting rotation, this season, and now it seems that Jason Giambi may have to miss some games due to a bone spur in his foot. It's good timing that Mientkiewicz is swinging the bat much better these days because it will help pick up the team in Giambi's absence. It's not to suggest that Mientkiewicz is a hitter of Jason's caliber; but, having someone showing as much hustle as Doug Mientkiewicz has lately is exactly what the doctor ordered in this situation. In April, the pitching staff was unable to pick the team up after the spate of injuries which sidelined their starters. Let's hope the Mientkiewicz sets an example for others.

Wrong Move, Dave

Sports Illustrated online reports in its "Truth & Rumors" section that David Wright has graciously offered to move to the outfield in case Alex Rodriguez opts out of his contract with the Yankees and somehow winds up playing for the Mets. The move by Wright would free up third base for A-Rod, should he decide that the Yankees cross-town rivals are the team for him. This writer would say that Wright's offer to play the outfield is a "rookie maneuver"; but Wright is no longer a rookie. What he is, probably, is a bit naive.

Just about every Yankees fan knows that A-Rod is licking his lips over the prospect of ejecting himself from the Yankees as his tenure in the Bronx has been nothing but a soap opera and a post-season failure. What Wright should realize is that Alex doesn't want to play third (he's a short stop at heart) and he definitely can't make it in New York. If the Mets manage to kidnap Lou Piniella from the cubs and make him their manager, fire Willie Randolph, and promise Alex that he can play shortstop, then, and only then, would Wright's offer look promising. Anything less than that, Wright shouldn't bother. By the way Dave, that was a classy and charitable suggestion.

Don't Play Cards, Mariano

One of the most glaring cases of over-playing one's hand is that of Mariano Rivera marching into spring training warning the Yankees that they better treat him with "respect" or he'll go elsewhere. Well, Mariano, "respect" from the Yankees for you may only come on Old Timer's Day after 2007 as Sport's Illustrated is reporting the Yankees are interested in Francisco Rodriguez (K-Rod) for the 2008 season. Oops, Mo.

This news surely must have reached Mo's agent by now with the impact of a cigar exploding in his face at a state funeral. Did either he or Mariano NOT see this as a possibility? At thirty eight years old, Mariano may have a few years left in him, but whose arm do you want more for around twelve million dollars a year? K-Rod is the person you throw big money at over four or five years. Mariano is the guy you keep at the current pay scale and offer a contract laden with incentives for reaching goals like, say...oh...going beyond the ALDS in the post season?

Don't get me wrong, this writer would love to Mariano hang around for a while and win a few more rings. But, when you threaten to leave the Yankees unless you get more respect (ahem, money) you are actually hijacking paying fans. That's something that ball players don't realize looking down on us lowly fans from atop of their "leather & lumber" towers.

Others ball players should take a lesson from this latest episode with Mariano and the Yankees. You are not irreplaceable. There was a time I thought I would never cheer for Roger Clemens, Johnny Damon, Jason Giambi, and a few others from the 1990's and 1980's. So, if one of my favorite Yankees decides that this writer and the rest of the Yankee fans out there aren't paying him enough, well, I'm sure that K-Rod has a favorite song that they can play over the loud-speakers at Yankee Stadium that will get the crowd cheering when he trots out to the mound.

Good luck in Boston, Flushing, or even Tampa, Mariano. Go cry on a big pile of cash.