June 1, 2003: I don't make it a habit of watching or listening to games of my least-favorite team, the hated New York Yankees - I'm a Mets fan, for the record - but I couldn't help turning on the radio every so often today, after I learned that the "lowly" Detroit Tigers had quashed Roger Clemens's second bid for his 300th win. (He lost outright six days earlier to the then-first-place Red Sox in his first shot, at home.) Anyway, somewhere around the 13th inning, one of the announcers - John Sterling, I believe - made a comment that it was a beautiful day weatherwise in Detroit - unlike the weather which the Yankees had been experiencing so far in New York, and that bad weather was probably a contributing factor in their 13-15 home record this season. About an inning or so later, another comment was made - this time by Charlie Steiner? - to the effect that it sounds like an excuse, but that a lot of their problems this year winning at home are probably weather-related. B*llsh*t!!! I've got news for you two "homers": The weather doesn't suddenly change between fair and foul when teams switch between the field and the bases. The weather is the same for both teams. Saying that the weather is a contributing factor in the Yankees' poor performance at home this season is an excuse!
As I indicated, I don't go out of my way to listen to Yankees radio broadcasts, but since last year - 2002 - WCBS-AM has been carrying their games. (The station proudly announces that it is the flagship station of the New York Yankees.) Be that as it may, WCBS-AM is primarily a news radio station, giving traffic and weather reports six times an hour. Every so often, when trying to catch such a report I accidentally stumble upon a Yankee broadcast. In one such instance last year, one of the two - Sterling or Steiner, I'm not sure which - was giving out-of-town scores. When he got to one game, he remarked about some team - I believe it was the Atlanta Braves - "Don't they ever lose?!!!" Not that I'm a Braves fan, either, but I guess that only the great Yankees are supposed to win all the time. What jerks!
July 17, 2003: Star reliever and ace closer Armando Benitez was traded to the accursed Yankees yesterday. As a Mets fan, I feel compelled to weigh in on the situation.
Number One: I'm overjoyed for the Mets to be rid of him, and especially that he went to the damn Yankees. I'm only sorry it didn't happen sooner. I can only figure that his exit wasn't earlier because the former Mets GM, Steve Phillips, believed that either (a) the Mets would become a contending team because of all his deals, and that they would continue to require Benitez's first-class services or (b) Benitez's value would somehow increase, allowing him to garner even more talent for the Mets. Well, most of Phillips's deals phlopped, so the Mets have now been forced to undo his pricey mess. As far as Benitez's value rising, a GM would have to pull the trigger pretty quickly on a deal to get rid of Benitez before he'd crumble yet again in a pressure situation and he'd show his true value to a team once more. So Phillips's successor, Jim Duquette, managed to unload Benitez on the Yankees, who had apparently become so desperate for arms in their bullpen that they deluded themselves into believing that Benitez would fill the void.
Number Two: When Benitez does suffer a meltdown in an important game, I don't want to hear any bellyaching from Yankees management, be it the sainted Joe Torre, the weasel (Brian Cashman), or the Boss himself, George Steinbrenner, that the Mets pulled a fast one on them. Benitez's history is an open book. In fact, the Yankees have witnessed his collapses several times firsthand. So they'd better not complain that they didn't know what they were getting. It's only a matter of time before Benitez blows a save or loses a big game. I don't wish Benitez bad luck, just that he shows his true colors soon and frequently.
Number Three: In several articles prior to the trade, I read that deals between the Yankees and the Mets are rare because the Yankees are hesitant to part with any players who might blossom into key players in the Mets organization. How embarrassing would that be for them? Well, pardon me. If you want something of value you have to part with something of value, you creeps. Everyone else is supposed to just accept stiffs so the great Yankees can bolster their staff. The Yankees can't be satisfied just to be a contending team. No, they have to be pigs and have it all. It's a grand tradition that must be maintained, and all other teams must roll over and play dead for them.
Number Four: Some members of the Yankees are still sore about Benitez plunking Tino Martinez in the back in 1998. We'll see how they react if he hits a batter while he is wearing Yankee pinstripes. He'll probably get a similar vote of approval from his teammates as Roger Clemens has gotten for such behavior. Clemens was Public Enemy Number One to the Yankees until he donned a Yankee uniform. Since that time, however, it has been O.K. for him to pitch recklessly.
To sum up, I'm glad that the Mets finally unloaded Benitez, and I hope that his performance for the Yankees is no better than it was during his stay with the Mets.
August 19, 2003: Hoping beyond hope that somehow the Yankees might be losing their game with the Kansas City Royals tonight, I took a quick listen to the radio broadcast on WCBS-AM. At the bottom of the fifth inning, one of the two announcers - John Sterling, I believe - gave a quick recap of the score: The Yankees had four runs on two two-run homers by Soriano and Williams. Then he went blathering on about some more Yankee-related stuff, but he didn't mention how many runs the Royals had scored. In fact, he didn't even mention the Royals - as if they didn't even exist! Just more typical one-sided Yankee-biased announcing from this crew of two "homers."
August 24, 2003: In several newspaper accounts of yesterday's Yankee game - the Bombers lost 7-2 to the Orioles on Ron Guidry Day - I read of Boss Steinbrenner's reaction to his team's defeat. Here's what he said: "I didn't like it. I wasn't pleased. I don't think anyone should have liked that. We had 50,000 people here for a big day and they had every reason to be mad."
Well, excuuuuuse me, Big Guy. Sorry that not everything went according to your script. Just because it was a "special" day - yet another Yankee number has been retired - to which thousands of faithful fans flocked, doesn't mean that your team must also win. Similarly, just because you throw millions upon millions of dollars at players doesn't mean that they will win the Big Prize. (Bite my tongue!)
August 24, 2003: I recently became aware of another Yankee-related item. Supposedly, the great Roger Clemens - the despised Roger Clemens, as far as I'm concerned - is itching to play for the U.S. team in the 2004 Summer Olympics. Clemens is quoted in an August 18, 2003 article by Alan Schwarz in Baseball America as saying, "I want to play for my country and have a chance to win a gold medal." It continues with this from his agent, Alan Hendricks: "He's done everything. But one thing Roger doesn't have is a gold medal. It would be a great punctuation to a great career."
Oh, yeah. As if he doesn't have enough awards and accolades. He needs yet another feather in his illustrious cap. In today's Newsday's sports section, under the heading "Round-Trippers," is this brief, but insightful thought on this subject: "Isn't Roger Clemens' trophy case full enough without him taking a kid's spot on the Olympics team?"
Very well said. And I'll add this: From the text of his remark, am I to understand that he would not be satisfied if - God forbid - he was on the team and it was to win only a silver medal or - Dare I suggest it? - a bronze medal? (Certainly he believes that his mere presence on the team would allow it to win some kind of a medal, if only a bronze one.)
October 17, 2003: Well, the #*!&**@&^!*^! Yankees have won the ALCS for another appearance in the World Series - in dramatic Yankee fashion, of course, thanks to a game-ending home run in the bottom of the 11th inning off the bat of Aaron Boone. So Boone is the hero of the day. By my estimation, he had a pretty dismal performance in the ALCS, and probably wasn't even batting his weight. Sure enough. According to Yahoo! Sports, in the ALCS Boone was 3-for-17. That's a .176 average. And the fellow's weight? 200 pounds.
Regardless, I'm sorry to say that the Red Sox didn't squash the Yankees like bugs as they should have when they had the chance. For all it's worth, they were able to knock out the great Roger Clemens. I was hoping beyond hope that it would finally be his last appearance on any pitching mound in a professional uniform, but it wasn't meant to be. But the sorry expressions on the faces in the Yankee dugout in the early innings - Andy Pettitte's sullen puss is burned into my memory - after the Sox had built up a 4-0 lead, are priceless. If only that lead had held up as it should have, and those expressions could have been fixed in place until spring training 2004 ...
October 17, 2003: Now that the !(*^!^#^* Yankees are headed to yet another World Series appearance, the Bomber-boosters are coming out of the woodwork. Even former Bostonian, New York mayor Mike Bloomberg is emulating his predecessor, Rudy (America's Mayor - yeah, right) Giuliani and is pulling for the Pinstriped Ones. I wonder how true dyed-in-the-wool Yankee fans like these fair-weather rooters jumping on the bandwagon at this late stage of the game. And I wonder where the latecomers will secrete themselves once the World Series is over - hopefully quickly, and even more hopefully, with a Yankee defeat.
Anyway, a rally was held today on the grounds of City Hall - as if the "troops" needed any charging up. Certainly, they wallow in all this undue adulation. But who's to blame them? They're Yankees, which means that they're gods among us mere mortals, and they are indoctrinated by the team's leadership to accept the tributes of the lowly masses which they so richly deserve. I've said it before and I'll say it again: It's never enough for the Yankees, whether it is a World Series championship or the unending devotion of their fans. That's their culture.
One more thing: I neither saw nor read about the details of the rally, but I wouldn't be a bit surprised if it included appearances by Joe Torre's brother Frank and his sister who is a Catholic nun. (I don't recall her name, so I jokingly refer to her as Sister "Lori" Torre.) Even if they weren't at the rally, I'm certain that they, too, will come out of the woodwork before the Series is over.
October 18, 2003: I am making a point of not watching one second of the World Series. For one thing, my bearing witness to the games and rooting on the Marlins will not affect their outcomes. More importantly, I have grown extremely weary of the roller-coaster ride to which I've been subjected thus far in this post-season - not just with the Yankees-Twins and Yankees-Red Sox series, but with the Cubs-Marlins NLCS. (I was really hoping for a "World Series of the Cursed," between the Red Sox and the Cubs. Indeed, so, too, was a plurality of respondents to a Sprint Virtual Manager question posed during one of the league championship game broadcasts on Fox.) All I need to know is the final score of each game; I don't have to punish myself with watching the gory details which bring it about. I'm not a Marlins fan by any means, but they are "whoever is playing the Yankees." I can only hope that they play with all the fearless exuberance that allowed them to polish off both the Giants and the Cubs. One more reason for me to not watch the World Series: My brain is beginning to turn to mush from the constant inundation of all the promos for Fox's series. By now they're pretty much burned into my memory. I've got precious little brain capacity as it is, I don't need to sacrifice any more of it to ads for network shows.
October 18, 2003: One down and three to go. (Yay!) The Marlins hung on to defeat the Yankees in Game 1 of the World Series, 3-2. I'm not getting my hopes up just yet. After all, both the Twins and the Red Sox accomplished the same feat, beating the Yankees in the first game of their series - and each of the three in Yankee Stadium, for all it's worth. As I indicated, I didn't watch - or listen to - the game. So I don't know the twists and turns which occurred. Suffice it to say, I'm pleased with the outcome, and hope that it continues with the same results to bring about a Marlins Series victory.
October 25, 2003: Now's the time to celebrate! The overall lackluster Yankees were defeated 2-0, giving the Marlins the Series-clinching win. For the most part, I held true to my promise of not watching or listening to any Series game. I cheated a few times, following several of the games in their late innings through Yahoo Sports. For the clincher, Game 6, I caught just the bottom of the ninth. After the first two batters, Bernie Williams and Hideki Matsui, each flied out, I decided to turn on the TV to catch the (hopefully) last out. Apparently there was a significant lag between the actual game and its Yahoo play-by-play coverage - none of Jorge Posada's at-bat had been covered by Yahoo, but I missed his game-ending ground out to Josh Beckett. I'm particularly pleased that the Marlins put the last nail in the Yankees' coffin tonight, rather than letting the Series go to 3-3 and allowing them a chance to have a dramatic Game 7 win.
After Fox's post-game coverage, the local news had a reporter at Yankee Stadium to speak with some fans in the stands. The two Marlins fans with whom he chatted were understandably jubilant. But more interesting was the reaction of one Yankee loudmouth, apparently the spokesman for his group. First, he totally blew off the significance of the Marlins' victory. (How classy!) Then this obnoxious lout went on about how other teams display banners proclaiming division or league titles, but not the great Yankees. No, they have only ones which boast their world championships - the number standing only momentarily at twenty-six, and soon to be incremented to twenty-seven. Yep, just another jerk touting the Yankee party message - that is, harping on all their past successes, shoving their illustrious history in the public's collective face and ramming it down its throat. Stick a sock - preferably a stirrup sock - in it, you bozo! From what I can tell, there will be a great deal of house-cleaning in the off-season. The Boss can't be too pleased with his club's performance. That's three years in a row now without winning the big prize. So expect heads to be rolling, even if it means cutting off his nose to spite his face. The bottom line: The Yankee faithful shouldn't get too smug about another World Series championship - or even an appearance in the Fall Classic, hopefully - in the near future.
December 12, 2003: These seem to be tough times to be a Yankee fan. On the other hand, they're great days for Yankee haters. First of all, the Bombers lost the World Series to the Florida Marlins. (They shouldn't have even gotten that far, as far as I'm concerned.) Yesterday, they were dealt a severe blow when Andy Pettitte, a member of their pitching staff for nine years, announced that he would be joining the Houston Astros. Houston resident Pettitte, who even I must admit is a class act, a low-key guy, and extremely effective in his craft (albeit, unfortunately, for the wrong team for so many years) was the good soldier for so long that Steinbrenner apparently thought that the free agent would re-up with the Yanks without hesitation. So he placed what was supposed to be the team's highest offseason priority on the back burner - and got burned himself for doing so. Kudos to Pettitte. (He does have one big flaw - his close relationship with the accursed Roger Clemens, who he is supposedly trying to coax into joining him on the Astros, even after Clemens "retired" at the end of last season. But wouldn't such a move be yet another kick in the head for the Yanks and their fans? I wait with baited breath.)
To fill the huge gap left by Pettitte's departure, the Yanks reportedly are close to bringing in the Dodgers' Kevin Brown, who I understand has some baggage. He's 39 - as opposed to Pettitte's 31 - has been injury-prone for the last several seasons, and he hasn't pitched a complete game since the 2001 season.
February 20, 2004: Well, I've held my tongue long enough about the Yankees' latest marquee acquisition, Alex Rodriguez, so it's about time I weighed in on this earth-shaking (yeah, right) topic.
I don't wish any specific bad luck to befall on A-Rod - although I certainly won't shed any tears if he were to be injured or be entrenched in a prolonged batting slump - one can't realistically expect his tenure with the Bummers to be all peaches and cream. Of several possible scenarios, one which seems particularly sweet to me is one of discord, a clash of egos between the Great One and one of the Yankees' other many superstars - pick one or more - especially the current (for now) occupant of the shortstop position, his "best buddy" Captain Derek Jeter. (How long will the good will and cheeriness of his recent coronation ceremony last?) This I would relish.
Let's get one thing straight for those with half a brain (which excludes the hordes of Yankee sycophants): No matter what the Yankee P.R. machine might try to foist upon the gullible lapdog media, who have wasted a massive amount of newsprint and airtime on the coverage of this deal, the sun doesn't shine out of A-Rod's *ss. (Similarly, the universe as we know it doesn't revolve around the Yankees.) He is - as far as I am aware - a mere mortal, despite his seemingly Herculean stats. We'll see now how he fares in the ultimate pressure cooker, under the unrelenting glare of the New York media, and under the electron microscope of Boss Steinbrenner.
With the placement of this extremely high-priced piece of this season's puzzle - you know it won't be the last piece - the expectations are greater than ever before. Plus, if my memory serves me correctly, the Yankees haven't won a World Series championship since 2000. Since they haven't tasted victory for three years running, they - the team and their fans, that is - believe that they are way overdue, and that they are entitled to take the Big Prize. (So what else is new?) I predict that it won't take much more than a three-game losing streak for heads to start a-rolling. The Boss has raised the stakes sky-high, so he's apt to have a much shorter fuse than usual. (Is that possible?) As long as it's viewed from a safe distance, you have to love all the drama that they generate around themselves.
The bottom line is: Realistically, the Yankees are the only organization able to afford A-Rod's unrealistically lucrative contract. But no matter how much one spends on players, there's no guarantee that one's team will win it all - fortunately. (Try telling that to Steinbrenner.) I just hope that this deal - especially this one, as high-profile as it is - blows up in their greedy faces big-time and real soon. It would serve them right.
As an aside to this rant, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the Yankees' own version of Forrest Gump, Aaron Boone. First, he finds himself at the nexus of the Yankee universe in a positive way by hitting the home run that won the 2003 ALCS which took the team to the World Series. Then, over the off-season, he foolishly winds up injuring his knee by playing basketball, which is strictly verboten, thus setting in motion the wheels which brought A-Rod into the Yankee fold. It wouldn't surprise me if sometime down the road this guy were to be immortalized in Monument Park for making all this possible.
March 1, 2004: It's been a regular love-fest between George Steinbrenner and Joe Torre so far this spring training, with the Boss gushing effusively to the media on several occasions about his manager-since-forever. Here are a few quotes on this subject from the Big Stein:
Torre, Torre, Torre! Are you not as bright as people think you are? Is your memory getting shorter with advancing age? Do you not recall all the "support" you got from Steinbrenner throughout last season? Are you trying to make Steinbrenner sweat now for that treatment? Do you have some other ulterior motive for taking another ride on the Bronx Nasty-Go-Round? If so, I'd sure like to know what it is, because the liabilities of your being Yankee manager at this point seem to greatly outweigh the benefits, the great piles of money notwithstanding. First of all, Joe, don't play the martyr card to the media when the Boss undeservedly verbally abuses you or your coaches if you sign another contract with him. You should know by now that that is part of the deal. Secondly, don't be selfish. Let some other sucker take his turn at trying to manage the Yanks while battling the Boss's barbs. Whether you last through this season or not, do yourself a favor and admit that you had a good run and don't be greedy for more. Run away and don't look back.
On a different note, the Yanks appear to be interested in again availing themselves of the services of Orlando ("El Duque") Hernandez. Apparently, they don't have enough pitching prowess to confidently assure themselves of a World Series championship this season, so they're offering him the chance at a minor-league contract if he proves his worth. Also, reportedly, the Red Sox are eyeing "El Duque." So, Steinbrenner & Company might be keen on locking in the hurler out of spite. Wouldn't it be something if the Bosox were only using reverse psychology in order to get their division rivals to waste resources on Hernandez?
October 11, 2004: What's up with Ruben Sierra? Every time I see him - at bat, in the dugout, whatever - he's got this blank, expressionless look on his face. Just a bulgy-eyed, glassy-eyed stare. And he doesn't seem to blink, either. Does he even have eyelids? Sorry, but he looks like a spaced-out zombie. Knock it off already, willya, man. You're creepin' me out!
October 12, 2004: Why does there seem to be such an uncanny knack for personal tragedies among Yankee players and staff to occur during their post-season series? The death of Paul O'Neill's father several years ago immediately comes to mind. Also there was the death of Scott Brosius's father, I believe. And there were a few others in recent years which escape me. (I'm not even counting Joe Torre's and Mel Stottlemyre's bouts with prostate cancer, which didn't specifically occur during the post-season.) They are the undisputed Masters of Melodrama.
Anyway, as if on cue, here we go again. This time, we learn, on Saturday two relatives of Mariano Rivera's wife were electrocuted in his pool. How could such a freaky thing happen, you ask? No, they weren't watching ALDS Game 4 vs. the Twins poolside when the big-screen plasma TV fell into the water. ("It is high! It is far! It is ZAP!" Yeah, I know - the obnoxious John Sterling calls Yankee games on radio, not on TV.) Reportedly, the caretaker of Rivera's mansion in Panama (Yup, he owns a mansion. Und a yacht, like millionaire Elmer J. Fudd?) rigged up a device with a metal pole to "discourage" two pet Rottweilers from jumping into the pool. ("I tole joo to keep dem damn dogs outta de pool!") The caretaker set up the doggie deterrent device, then went away for a while without telling anyone of his brilliant invention. Twenty-twenty hindsight is all well and good in this instance, but it seems that it would have behooved Mr. Caretaker to have used some forward-looking common sense here and to have at least posted a warning sign - to have taken some care, as they say. Be that as it may, consider also that if the device fried two people what it would have done to the pooches. ("Yeah, that'll teach 'em to go near the pool! They'll never do that again!") Maybe he confused volts with amps. If I'm correct, it's high amperage not high voltage that is deadly. Oh, well. Sorry to make so much light about the unfortunate occurrence.
Final thought: Hopefully, this family tragedy won't cause the Bombers to rally around Rivera and to step up their collective game another coupla notches - or, if they hopefully lose their series to the Red Sox, to use this as some kind of a lame excuse for their failure. It goes without saying that no matter how "Mo" fares on the mound during the upcoming ALCS he will be deified even further by his teammates and by the Yankee gullible, er, faithful. (The New York media are already setting us up for this. Big surprise.) If he does well, then he will have overcome tremendous adversity; if he gets shelled, then his family's great loss will have caused him to lose his focus. Expect no less from these Weavers of Modern-Day Mythology.
October 15, 2004: Throughout the ALDS against the Twins, and now with the ALCS vs. the Red Sox, I've noticed in shots of the Yankee dugout that Joe Torre has gotten into the habit of holding a bat. I don't watch many Yankee games during the regular season, but I can't recall ever seeing him with such an object before in his position of Yankee skipper. He's always just sitting there with an inscrutable look on his mug. (Are the Bombers up by ten runs or down by twenty? It's anybody's guess if you try to read his expression.) Now he sits there with an inscrutable look and the bat.
So, I wonder, what is the significance of this totem to him? Was it autographed by Rudy Giuliani, Don Zimmer, or his brother Frank? Could it have been blessed by the Pope? Or maybe it was recovered from the destruction at Ground Zero? Whatever its alleged origin - and it's entirely possible that the bat is just a dummy - you can bet that he has convinced his team that it carries some great psychological weight, and is using it to charge them up mentally. He's a master of mumbo-jumbo like that. I have yet to hear or read anything about this bat in the media - it's a possibility that I missed any stories about it. But I suspect that somehow the bat hasn't yet caught the media's attention, otherwise McCarver and Buck would have latched onto the story. When they do, you can be sure that they'll drive the story into the ground ad nauseam. Blah blah blah!
October 20, 2004: How sweet it is! The Red Sox have done the seemingly impossible. They've climbed out of a 3-to-0 hole only to tie the ALCS at 3-3 - the first time in MLB history for any team to accomplish that miraculous feat. Just goes to show you what "Idiot Ball" can do for a team. But it would be so much sweeter for the Bosox to take tonight's game and really stick it to the Jankees. Oh, please!
Number Two: On top of that, the cover of today's Newsday has a picture that's suitable for framing - a shot of Jeter in the dugout with the sourest of sour pusses on his face. It's a keeper, alright. Oh, to have that image repeated one more time would be heaven. Jeter is so used to winning it all that it just kills him to be on the receiving side of a defeat.
Thirdly, as if there was any doubt before, A-Rod is officially a Jankee, as he demonstrated in the eighth inning of last night's game. As Red Sox pitcher Bronson Arroyo fielded a ball and darted to first base, A-Rod swatted at Arroyo's arm - the one in which he held the ball - and caused the ball to be dropped. At first, it was ruled that Rodriguez was safe - he wound up on second base, and Jeter, who was on first base, came all the way around to score, cutting Boston's lead to just 4-3. Fortunately, the six-man umpiring crew got together and reversed the call and getting it right. A-Rod was called out for interference, and Jeter was sent all the way back to first base. They never did get that third run. But, as I said, A-Rod proved that he's a Jankee through and through, living up to their motto, "The only thing that matters is victory, and we'll do anything to get it."
Lastly, it seems that Torre has scrapped his Magic Bat. In no shot of him in the dugout last night or the night before (or even in Game 4?) was he shown with a bat in his hands as he was in the ALDS and early in the ALCS. Did he realize that it might have lost its psychological power between Games 3 and 4? I'm praying that the Jankee off-season starts after tonight's game. Go Red Sox!
October 22, 2004: [Darn! Yesterday afternoon I posted a comment to The Yankee Despiser blog, but it wasn't received. According to Blogger Support it must have been lost due to a temporary service outage. I'm so bummed because I had a lot of good post-ALCS thoughts in the comment. If I had known that their system was so unreliable I would have copied the contents of it here just to be safe. Oh, well. I'll try to remember what I said and present it here, even though I know I'll forget something. If it's any consolation, I have some additional thoughts to present.]
THHHHHHHHHUUUUUUHHHHHH YANKEES LOSE!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow! What a way for the Red Sox to come through. But leave it to the great Jankees to do everything in a big way, even to lose. They had the Red Sox down three games to none in the ALCS and they couldn't seal the deal with four - count 'em, four - opportunities to do so. Talk about a colossal collapse! Not only was this the first time for a team to force a Game 7 after being down three games to none in a best-of-seven MLB series - Game 3 (Yanks 19 - Red Sox 8) seeming to be a death blow - but they also won the series, taking the last two games at "The Stadium." Forget about all those (61) come-from-behind victories the Jankees had in the regular season that they kept crowing about. The way the Sox turned the tables on the Janks easily tops that feat by a wide margin. And two blown saves by "Mo" Rivera, in Games 4 and 5. We've seen that there indeed are chinks in his armor, and the Sox managed to find them when it really mattered. Maybe the Janks overdid it in their 19-8 pile-on in Game 3. Maybe they got overconfident after that win. Who knows? I won't analyze it. I'll just thank the Baseball Gods that things worked out the way they did. So now who are the Papis and who are just a bunch of little Bambinos?
So that's four years now that we've gone without a Junkee victory parade. Thanks, guys, for saving the city a ton of money yet again.
With the long off-season already in full swing for the Janks, it's only a matter of time before the Boss gets his brain trust together to figure how to outspend themselves yet again in search of another championship. (They've been stuck on 26 since they beat my Mets in 2000. Maybe we put some kind of a curse on them.) I'd love to be a fly on the wall when George convenes meetings with his crack staff - Cashman (the weasel), Torre (oh, what a cool cucumber), et al. You can bet he'll go ape-sh*t on them big-time, not just for their historically embarrassing meltdown in the ALDS, but especially because it was at the hands of their bitter rivals. And can we expect Jeter to attend as well, whether he's invited or not? It seemed that every time in the ALCS that there was a discussion on the mound he would stick his nose in as well. I guess that's why he's the Captain. (Piece of crap!)
But if we've learned nothing else from the ALCS, it's that (fortunately) even with $180 million you can't script October. Not that it will stop George & Company from throwing around scads of cash in the belief that it will ensure total victory. No matter. I figure it has to be good for the economy, right?
The Yankee Despiser mentions that Mike Mushina joined the Jankees after their last championship - which was in 2000, as I said above - and I can recall his comments at his first Jankee press conference as clearly as if it was yesterday. He indicated that he was joining the team in order to get a World Series ring - presumably one for each season he'd be on their staff. Glad to see that that dream has been realized, Mike. So, come to think of it, maybe it's your presence that's causing the championship-drought curse. How fitting, you creep!
By the way, am I correct in assuming that the ring that Boss fave tenor Ronan Tynan sports - the one that looks like it can choke a horse - is a World Series ring? Probably. And I should note here that even though I'm as patriotic as the next guy, when Tynan makes his appearance during the seventh inning stretch I mute the TV. For starters, I can't stomach his two-minute rendition of "God Bless America." ("God Bless Ah-meh-ree-kah ...") But besides that, just knowing that he's a pet of Steinbrenner really irks me.
I'm not sure who would have been the better opponent for the Red Sox in the Series, but it's going to be the Cardinals. Regardless, I think that the Sox could handle either them or the Astros, especially with the psychological lift that they got from "going through" the Jankees to get to the World Series.
But you can bet that even if the Red Sox do win it all this year - I really hope that they do - arrogant Jankee fans will be saying "Yeah, but we've got 26 championships." Give it a rest, you bums, and give the Red Sox their props.
Did I hear what I thought I heard on last night's news? A-Dud was giving some post-ALCS comments to the media, and I'm almost certain that he said that because of the bitter taste of the Jankees' huge defeat "someone will pay." (Very good. You know what? NO RING FOR YOU!) Y'know if I were in your shoes I'd try to refrain from issuing bonehead threats and start chowing down on humble pie.
Lastly, I'd just like to repeat that I'm overjoyed about the Red Sox' victory over the hated Jankees. They more than exceeded my expectations, and I hope that they win the Series. As they say in those MLB ads, I live for this! And to the Stinkees I'd echo Michael Kay's home run call: See ya!
April 4, 2005: The tradition continues, apparently. A 30-ish married couple lives in an apartment adjoining to mine. He's a Met fan - welcome to my hell - and she's a Yankee fan. Anyway, for the last several years, on Yankee Opening Day, they play a Yankee rah-rah CD/tape. This offering consists of Yankee-oriented songs (for example, The Village People's "YMCA," Queen's "We Are The Champions," Terry Cashman's Yankee version of "Talking Baseball," "Buster Poindexter's "Hot Hot Hot," and an instrumental version of "New York, New York") alternating with radio calls by the immortal John Sterling, almost all of which included his obnoxious "THHHHHHHHHUUUUUUHHHHHH YANKEES WIN!" The bottom line: In my humble opinion, if hubby is supposedly a Met fan, then outward appearances to the contrary aside, this guy is definitely whipped.
June 27, 2005: The Yankees and their fans shouldn't get too giddy over last night's ninth-inning come-from-behind win over my cellar-dwelling Mets. Or maybe the Yanks should - and get overconfident as they head on the road to Baltimore, and take a sharp dip on the roller coaster that has been their season so far. If there's any justice in this world, the Yanks won't even get to post-season play this year, and Jason Giambi will soon end up on the scrap heap where he belongs. I'm hoping that the Yankees High Command will delude themselves into believing that the team has a shot at getting into the playoffs, and is forced into parting with their future (e.g., Chien-Ming Wang and Robinson Cano) in order to pick up some more aging former-stars - and that the strategy still is ineffective, that they'll be sitting home in October for the first time in umpteen years. It would be such an indignity for the Great Yankees to not even participate beyond regular-season play. Oh, could you imagine the desperate deals that they would be forced to make in the upcoming off-season? It would all be so sweet ...
August 8, 2005: Have I said it before how much I can't stomach loudmouthed Yankees radio announcer John Sterling? He is so blatantly biased towards the Yankees it's not even funny anymore. Just in case you don't believe me, here is yet another example to support my argument. Early in today's game, his sidekick, Suzyn Waldman, was reading the scores of the other games in progress. Getting to the Red Sox-Rangers game, she indicated that after two innings the score was tied up at four runs apiece. She then rhetorically questioned Sterling whether he thought that this game could wind up as a 14-13 affair, at which point he agreed that it very likely would - and hoped that Texas would have the 14 runs, accompanied by one of his annoyingly hearty, jovial chuckles! What a jerk! Does he get a special bonus from the megabucks Yankee organization for every such nasty remark like that one? If so, this guy must already be fabulously rich. I reiterate: WHAT A JERK!!! (By the way, although the Yanks won over the White Sox tonight, by a score of 3-2, the Red Sox defeated the Rangers, 11-6, to retain their three-and-a-half-game lead over the Bronx Bummers in the AL East. Unfortunately, neither the Angels nor the A's played today. So the Yankees got 1/2-game closer to each of them in the AL wild card race. Hey, I can show my anti-Yankee bias, and I don't even get paid for doing so!)