Well, That Was the Baseball Equivalent
of crapping yourself in public. I can't remember the last time the Yankees put on such a digraceful performance. unlike last year's disappointment against the Angels, where they were torpedoed in part by unrestrained hustle (the bubba-Sheff collision), this time they showed no fight whatsoever. They were unlucky with the bad call at third, to be sure, but did AROD get in that umpire's face? Did he make it clear that they were not going to have outs stolen from them without a beef? No, he smirked. Did Joe go out and argue? No, he looked catatonic. Then they blew the pickoff play, which was just inexcusable. It was a return to the little league fielding of earlier in the year and it cost them another run.
Speaking of returns, I guess yesterday wasn't enough of a return to the bad old days of swinging for the fences,leaving men on base and striking out too much. They gave up 8 K's to a junkballer tonight, went 0-18 with men on base, 0-18!, and only advanced one runner all night, one runner, getting him from 2nd to third. I think you have to go back to that time they got no-hit by 6 guys for a performance this dismal, and that wasn't as strong a line-up. If nothing else, slow Joe should make them realize that Comerica is too damn big to sit around hoping for homers. Juan Gone tried it and it ruined his career.
Of all the people who showed no fight, the worst was Torre. It was clear by the 4th inning that with the exception of Matsui, who owns lefties for some reason, the left-handed hitters in the line-up--Damon, Abreu, Giambi, Cano--couldn't really touch Rogers. But look at the righties--Jeter had a hit, got robbed on another shot and walked, Posada had 2 hits and launched a long fly out to left center, Williams didn't get any hits, but he did miss a homer by millimeters. My point is that while Rogers dominated lefties it only looked like he dominated the whole team because they're were so many lefties in it. Taking away AROD--who as Z points out can't hit righty pitching, can't hit lefty pitching, can't fucking hit underhand pitching--the righties were putting swings on Rogers, but they were spaced out through the line-up, interrupted by futile lefty hacks and even more futile hacks from the blooperstar. Joe had to make a command decision early to pinch-hit Sheff for Giambi, Cabrera for Abreu, and make Rogers face a predominantly right-handed line-up. That was the only chance. But to expect slow Joe to act quickly is like expecting AROD to take the team on his back: you know based on reputation, each of these things should happen, and you know based on experience, they are never going to occur.
For heaven's sake, having dropped Gag Boy to 6th in the mildest possible vote of low confidence imaginable, Mr. Wizard punishes AROD's 3 strikeout no-hit afternoon by returning him to clean-up, where he can do to the Yankees offense what bad spinach does to your nervous system.
All of the talk out of Torre after the game was about how great Rogers was and how tough the Tigers are, a continuation of the mutual respect theme that has reigned from the beginning. I'm sorry, you should respect the Tigers, but you should know in your heart that Kenny Rogers isn't good enough to shut this line-up down and that you've just embarrassed yourself on national TV. After Game 2 Leyland said he just hoped every body now realized that Detroit is a playoff caliber team. Fair enough. After this game, Torre should have said that he hopes everybody now has serious doubts as to whether the Yankees are a playoff caliber team. A playoff caliber team, he might have said, has heart and resilience, and we exhibited neither tonight. A playoff caliber team can rely upon its superstar, and we can only rely on ours to fail. A play off team can execute simple plays like the pick-off without losing the runner somewhere between first and second; we cannot. A playoff caliber team has starting pitchers who show their guts in the middle innings, not pitchers who go belly up.
When was this team good? When they had no reason to believe they were. When they didn't have Matsui and Sheffield. When they actually wondered if they were going to score enough runs. Now that they're back at full strength, they are that team the team of April and May, the team that wasn't going to make the playoffs, that wasn't any good at all. By returning to full strength from the depleted glory days of July and August, thae Yankees have lost their strength to their (and other people's)conviction of their greatness. It's not complacency exactly, it's just the assumpition that they are too good to lose in the end, which dulls the concentration just enough to leave something less than a playoff caliber team. Torre has to let them know that right now they suck. Cause as long as they continue to believe their murderer's row press clippings, sucking is all they'll do.
As for Torre himself, a loss to Detroit, a team with only one decent starting pitcher and one 300 hitter, should bring an end to his once storied and now increasingly pathetic career as Yankees skipper. Jeez, Casey Stengal got fired just because Bill Mazeroski got lucky. How much concentrated ineptitude and inertia does Joduh have to display before the ax falls. I know the players love him, but that doesn't mean, anymore, that they win for him or in spite of him. If it were my 200 mill out there stinking up Comerica Park, and I still had my faculties, I'd be thinking, you've got one last chance to motivate and manage this team to victory, here and at the stadium. You have one last chance to make the bold moves necessary to do so, one last chance to get this team back to playing baseball, instead of home run derby. One last chance to play Cabrera, one last chance to bat Matsui 4th instead of 7th, one last chance to run the bases and make Pudge throw you out, which by the way he was unable to do this year. One last chance to play to win, instead of playing in the expectation that you will.
Speaking of returns, I guess yesterday wasn't enough of a return to the bad old days of swinging for the fences,leaving men on base and striking out too much. They gave up 8 K's to a junkballer tonight, went 0-18 with men on base, 0-18!, and only advanced one runner all night, one runner, getting him from 2nd to third. I think you have to go back to that time they got no-hit by 6 guys for a performance this dismal, and that wasn't as strong a line-up. If nothing else, slow Joe should make them realize that Comerica is too damn big to sit around hoping for homers. Juan Gone tried it and it ruined his career.
Of all the people who showed no fight, the worst was Torre. It was clear by the 4th inning that with the exception of Matsui, who owns lefties for some reason, the left-handed hitters in the line-up--Damon, Abreu, Giambi, Cano--couldn't really touch Rogers. But look at the righties--Jeter had a hit, got robbed on another shot and walked, Posada had 2 hits and launched a long fly out to left center, Williams didn't get any hits, but he did miss a homer by millimeters. My point is that while Rogers dominated lefties it only looked like he dominated the whole team because they're were so many lefties in it. Taking away AROD--who as Z points out can't hit righty pitching, can't hit lefty pitching, can't fucking hit underhand pitching--the righties were putting swings on Rogers, but they were spaced out through the line-up, interrupted by futile lefty hacks and even more futile hacks from the blooperstar. Joe had to make a command decision early to pinch-hit Sheff for Giambi, Cabrera for Abreu, and make Rogers face a predominantly right-handed line-up. That was the only chance. But to expect slow Joe to act quickly is like expecting AROD to take the team on his back: you know based on reputation, each of these things should happen, and you know based on experience, they are never going to occur.
For heaven's sake, having dropped Gag Boy to 6th in the mildest possible vote of low confidence imaginable, Mr. Wizard punishes AROD's 3 strikeout no-hit afternoon by returning him to clean-up, where he can do to the Yankees offense what bad spinach does to your nervous system.
All of the talk out of Torre after the game was about how great Rogers was and how tough the Tigers are, a continuation of the mutual respect theme that has reigned from the beginning. I'm sorry, you should respect the Tigers, but you should know in your heart that Kenny Rogers isn't good enough to shut this line-up down and that you've just embarrassed yourself on national TV. After Game 2 Leyland said he just hoped every body now realized that Detroit is a playoff caliber team. Fair enough. After this game, Torre should have said that he hopes everybody now has serious doubts as to whether the Yankees are a playoff caliber team. A playoff caliber team, he might have said, has heart and resilience, and we exhibited neither tonight. A playoff caliber team can rely upon its superstar, and we can only rely on ours to fail. A play off team can execute simple plays like the pick-off without losing the runner somewhere between first and second; we cannot. A playoff caliber team has starting pitchers who show their guts in the middle innings, not pitchers who go belly up.
When was this team good? When they had no reason to believe they were. When they didn't have Matsui and Sheffield. When they actually wondered if they were going to score enough runs. Now that they're back at full strength, they are that team the team of April and May, the team that wasn't going to make the playoffs, that wasn't any good at all. By returning to full strength from the depleted glory days of July and August, thae Yankees have lost their strength to their (and other people's)conviction of their greatness. It's not complacency exactly, it's just the assumpition that they are too good to lose in the end, which dulls the concentration just enough to leave something less than a playoff caliber team. Torre has to let them know that right now they suck. Cause as long as they continue to believe their murderer's row press clippings, sucking is all they'll do.
As for Torre himself, a loss to Detroit, a team with only one decent starting pitcher and one 300 hitter, should bring an end to his once storied and now increasingly pathetic career as Yankees skipper. Jeez, Casey Stengal got fired just because Bill Mazeroski got lucky. How much concentrated ineptitude and inertia does Joduh have to display before the ax falls. I know the players love him, but that doesn't mean, anymore, that they win for him or in spite of him. If it were my 200 mill out there stinking up Comerica Park, and I still had my faculties, I'd be thinking, you've got one last chance to motivate and manage this team to victory, here and at the stadium. You have one last chance to make the bold moves necessary to do so, one last chance to get this team back to playing baseball, instead of home run derby. One last chance to play Cabrera, one last chance to bat Matsui 4th instead of 7th, one last chance to run the bases and make Pudge throw you out, which by the way he was unable to do this year. One last chance to play to win, instead of playing in the expectation that you will.
posted by joe valente | 11:11 PM
2 Comments:
If they don't stage a comeback and win this series, I can't imagine how even the senile and hence newly mellowed Steinbrenner can resist firing Torre. And A-Rod obviously must be traded. As I was saying to Joe V last night, during one of our phone tirades, enough GMs in the league are stupid enough to still want A-Rod that you can get a couple good young pitchers for him. And A-Rod is 100% done in NY. I don't care if he wins the game on walk-off home runs today and tomorrow, he's done.
If I were Torre... well, if I were Torre I'd be a moron, so I'd do just what he's doing. But if I were managing the Yanks today, I would sit A-Rod on the bench. Let the team know that it's productivity not reputation that counts. And try to put a lineup on the field that can manage more than one freakin' hit in an inning. My lineup, given performance thus far and facing a RHP in Bonderman:
Damon CF
Jeter SS
Matsui DH
Giambi 1B
Cano 2B
Abreu RF
Posada C
Cairo/Philips 3B
Cabrera LF
Then if they bring in lefty relievers (do they have more than one such pitcher?), you can pinch-hit Sheffield for Giambi at 1B and get Torre's overly beloved lefty-righty thing going. Notice that Leyland didn't play by the book lefty-righty crap last night; instead he stacked all his righties at the top of the order. Torre could learn a thing or two.
With a lineup like this, I think they'd have a shot. But Torre will bat A-Rod in some rally-killing location in the lineup and keep Cano in the 9 hole where he hasn't been able to lock in.
I think ctyankeefan's analogy of this team in particular to USA Olympic basketball is apt. They too just don't understand how they can lose, even as they are doing so. And I do think each (or most of them) of the Yankee regulars operates under the assumption that if I don't get it done, someone else will.
The weird thing is that for less talented teams that kind of reciprocal faith is a good thing; it makes the team stronger as a team. The fact that Ordonnez really believes that Granderson will get it done, despite the evidence that he does so only about 1/4 of the time, really helps Granderson get it done when it counts. When you have a team of superstars that wholesome dynamic gets perverted into mutual complacency, which is why All-Star teams are not what you want to win championships.
Look, if you will, at the Yankees of the early 60's, a team that won 5 pennants running , won 2 World Championships, and were mighty unlucky not to win 1 if not 2 more. How many superstars did this great Yankee team have. Mantle, yes, Maris, sort of, an old Berra/Elston Howard not quite, and then Richardson, Kubek, Clete Boyer, Tom Tresh, Dale Long/ Moose Skowron, no, no, no, no, no. You could go through the same thing with the Bronx zoo teams, where you had a Randolph, Nettles, a Dent, a Piniella, a Chambliss. None of these guys were superstars. The team was dominated by just 2 Munson and Jackson, with Mickey Rivers a borderline case.
I would point out thought that each of these teams had 2 legitimate superstar starting pitchers (Ford, Terry, Guidry, Hunter), which this team does not have.
So in addition to being a team of all-stars, this team is desparately out of balance, overdeveloped in some areas and underdeveloped in others, not just position players vs. pitchers but sluggers vs. contact hitters. Watching the Yankees win it all is like watching a weightlifter do a marathon swim; he looks great preparing to dive in, but he's too musclebound to finish.
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