Where Have You gone, Bubba Crosby, Yanks Nation Turns Its Lonely Eyes to You, ooh, ooh, ooh

A few posts ago I conjured up the nightmare scenario should Johnny Damon go down inor near the playoffs, now that Bubba has been sent packing. Well for those of us who got the opportunity to watch the Yankees "scary win" (Z's phrase) tonight, we got a vivid foreshadowing (as my students like to say) After Fahrnsworth contrived to squander 4 runs of a five run lead, and to do so with 2 outs and noone on base, Mo came in to finish off the Sox and preserve the win. After plunking Anderson (on an 0-2 count no less) and putting two men down, Mo pitched to Taguchi with a man on first. Now Damon had been removed in the 4th inning and Bernie was manning (or girling) center field. Taguchi hits one of those bloop flies that Rivera is prone to allow and Bernie tiptoes ever so gingerly toward the descending sphere. He has plenty of time to get there, even moving as slowly as Torre thinks, but he doesn't really take a direct route. He sort of surrounds the fly, uncertain whether his aging legs will carry him to a place where he can field it. At the last minute, it becomes apparent to him that his mincing approach means that he will have to stretch to catch the ball in the air. Stretch mind you, not dive. Still he decides it's not worth the risk, or the effort, and he pulls up short and plays it on the bounce. His throw to Cano is weak enough that the runner had a mind to try and score from first to knot the score, and subsequent replays showed he probably would have made it. He returned to third however and Mo retired the last batter on a nifty play by Cano.

What was obvious to any knowledgeable baseball observer this side of Joe Torre was that Bernie Williams is one of a very few players permitted to roam a major league outfield, and probably the only player given the keys to centerfield who doesn't catch that ball. Bubba not only makes the play, he makes it in such a routine fashion that none of us watching it would have imagined it could be the source of much trouble. This is how designating Bubba could come back to haunt us. I for one am already haunted by the possibility.