Painful - 14 and a half games back - May 30
Watching the Yankees lately is like watching my buddy Jay hit on a chick - painful and embarrassing with a bad ending. Torre takes Mussina out early and Proctor losses the game, Torre gets beat up. He leaves Pettitte in for the 8th and a guy steals HOME while the pitcher is looking at first base. Its crazy. Nothing is going right. And now this stupid NY Post story about Alex Rodriquez being seen with some hot blonde in Toronto. Who freakin cares? The Yankees are tanking..badly. They are 14 and a half games out at the third way mark through the season. And they lose games in every way. Seriously, its like the baseball gods have all of a sudden decided to treat the Yanks like David Duke at a Black Panther rally (thank you Dennis Miller). Why does the universe hate the Yankees now. Like it or not, the Yankees do a great deal of good for baseball. Without the Yankees coming to town, there are teams in this league that would never sell out a game. They turned this franchise, which was rich is winning, into a powerful business. So why do the gods of baseball treat them so badly.
So here is who is on my shit list right now.
Farnsworth. One, because people call him Farsny. Two, because his ERA is way to high for a reliever. Three, because he has two blown saves.
Mike Mussina. Mainly because for someone making as much money as Cashman gave him, he should be lights out more often. Almost a 6 ERA does not cut it with me.
Carl Pavano. Complete and total disaster. 40 million for what? 8 wins? Pavano, meet Kevin Brown. Kevin Brown, meet Carl Pavano. Now both go (expletive deleted) yourselves.
Scott Proctor. Oh, Scotty. Procty. Propro. Or whatever cute nickname they give you there in the Bronx. You were a bad bad boy last week with Mussina pitching. How COULD YOU!!
Robinson Cano. Ok buddy. You had a good rookie year. Start to get that average up. Just a little. Maybe like a hundred points or so. Your terrible defense is fine when you are hitting 350, but not when you are hitting 250. Its that simple.
Bobby Abreau. What the hell happened to you? You're BUNTING?? No. Bobby don't bunt. Bobby hits home runs and speeds around the bases. You and Cano each have 2 home runs so far. What the f**k is going on??
Jason Giambi. Oh, you little roid rouser. Please, give the Yankees their money back, hand in your Yankees security badge. and be on your way. Steinbrenner wanted you, and that was about it.
Some other comments.
Posada. You are having an MVP year. I think you are the best catcher over the past 10 years. At least top 3. And you improved your defense this year.
Jeter. You call Joe Torre "Mr. Torre" or "Coach Torre". You are all class my friend.
ARod. I swear on my name, if you let this thing with the chick in Toronto get in the way of you hitting home runs, which has been a little dry lately, I will put you back on my shit list. And YOU DO NOT WANT ME TO DO THAT!!
Johnny Damon. You are making the Sox look pretty freakin good for not signing you. How about NOT crashing into walls or other players, and staying healthy. That would be nice.
And all of this mamby pamby feel good crap up here in Boston is taking its toll on me. You have EEI homers like John Dennis and Mike Adams talking about the Yankees MORE THAN THE SOX. These are the same guys who blast Mustard and Johnson for taking Yankee callers and now they encourage local idiot fans to call in and rip the Yankees. Trust me, when the Yankees were the bell of the ball and the Sox were playing like some barn burner team, NO ONE in NY called the FAN and ripped them. For some reason the loser nation still has this inferiority complex with the Yankees. And I am not over exaggerating. Listen to the local radio station. It's like a political ad campaign where the strategy is to avoid your own shortcomings by highlighting your opponent'ss weaknesses.
Anyway, I still have faith in the Yankees. I know how hard that is to believe given the situation, but this IS a team that can win 10 or 15 in a row and put together a strong second half, similar to the Twins last year.
That reminds me. I think Torre is going to get fired this year if the Yanks don't turn it around. Not sure if it will be triggered by hitting 18 games back, maybe 20, or if it will come after a 10 game losing streak, or maybe another lifeless series. Not sure. But something has to give, and like the old saying, you can't fire 25 players. Nothing personal Coach, just business.