The New York Yankees lost the 2010 ACLS to the Texas Rangers. It's been over since last week, but I just want to say it again. It feels good. Let's see: how about expressing it a few different ways?
-- The Yankees failed to win a championship for one more year of the Jeter/Rivera/Pettite/ Posada era that links them to the other painful times they won since 1996.
-- The Yankees lost in 2010 despite being loaded up with so much talent that one could argue they should have won another title. So, in a way, the lineup with Jeter, A-Rod, Teixiera, Cano, Posada, Swisher and Granderson should have won. If you factor in Sabathia, Pettite, Rivera and the rest, yeah, they blew it. I still feel the positive after-effects!
--The Yankees lost and their veteran players will all be a year older in 2011 - That's a good thing.
--The Yankees have won only one championship (2009) in the past ten years. Translation: They've been the most loaded team in baseball for virtually this entire decade, but, have found ways to lose in 9 of the last 10 years. (8 times in the playoffs) Yippee!
It remains a mystery, even to me, why I hate the Yankees so much, but, it's true.
I want to highlight a few other things I noticed about their performance that led to their exit:
In my view, some of their players didn't appear to be that fired up about the series vs. the Rangers. They didn't seem to care quite as much about whether they won or lost. Maybe it's understandable, in a way. Guys like Jeter and Posada have won so many damned times that they might have a little "playoff burnout."
Staying on Jeter for a second, he had a particularly mediocre series - by Jeter's post-season standards. Could it be that the Yankee captain is finally showing his age? He's getting married soon, right? Maybe he's a bit distracted by off-field activity, for a change.
Posada seemed to show his age a bit too. He got a few hits, but, in other at-bats, he seemed a bit
slower in his reaction time than some of his moments vs. the Red Sox in past playoffs. Plus, he's become a lousy catcher in terms of his ability to throw out runners attempting steals. Posada's arm is simply not as quick or accurate. Plus, Posada's defense behind the plate seems to have slipped a bit. Every year, in the playoffs, he seems to have more trouble preventing passed balls.
Mariano Rivera looked dominant and fine. No surprise there. Rivera never seeems to change. Pettite pitched well in his one game. No surprise there.
C.C. Sabathia had one good game and one not-so-good game - That was a change. A.J. Burnett, who pitched well for part of one game, still blew it by giving up a big 3-run homer. That seems a trend with Burnett, who the Yankees payed a bundle to get. And, besides Kerry Wood, who pitched OK, the rest of the Yankee bullpen performed badly. That was good to see.
So, is it possible that we're seeing a few "chinks" in the Yankee armor? Are there signs of "decline" in the Evil Empire? I hope so, but, my guess is they'll acquire more star players to try to bolster their sickening, monopolistic hold on baseball.
And, I know one thing for sure: Come Opening Day of the 2011 season, I'll still hate the Yankees as much as ever.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
I So HATE the NY Yankees
It's playoff time again, and that means it's GroundHog Day if you're a Red Sox fan who roots hard for the Yankees to lose. (when the Sox have failed to make the playoffs)
Tonight, the Rangers jumped out to a 5-0 lead over the Yanks, and, even better, they knocked Yanks' super ace C.C. Sabathia out of the game. I had been listening on my car radio, but, when I got home, I couldn't resist the potential joy of witnessing a Yankee loss of a first game of a playoff series.
I still wasn't "sold" on the game being over. We Yankee-haters have learned for more than a decade that a five-run lead against the Evil Bombers is not big enough. C.J. Wilson, the Rangers' starter was looking awfully impressive, however. He looked confident as he fooled many Yankee hitters with his off-speed stuff. Slowly, gradually, I got sucked into the game and I was fantasizing about the end of the game --- the "buzz" that would be created by the Rangers beating Sabathia. With Cliff Lee due to pitch in Game 3 and Game 7, if necessary, suddenly, I
could imagine, if only for a split second, the possibility of the Rangers winning the series.
And then, the Yankees did their usual GroundHog Day thing. They rallied for five runs in the 9th inning. The Rangers' bullpen collapsed --- and, yet, it didn't seem surprising.
No.................................At this point, any kind of rally by the Yankees, and, especially their come-from-behind rallies late in the game, do NOT - I repeat - do NOT surpise me or many other fans. It's the opposite, effect, in fact. As soon as the Yanks begin their so-predictable rally or "march" to take the game, I can easily imagine the rest of the rally and the end of the game.
Tonight, once the Yanks got the game from them trailing by four (5-1) to trailing by 1 (5-4), the
game felt "over" to me -- in the Yank's favor. I turned the channel. I didn't want to watch all the details. I sensed they'd score more runs to go ahead, and, sure enough, when I checked back about 15 minutes later, the Yanks were up 6-5. I watched Mariano Rivera shut the Rangers
down. Do any of you - at this point - ever believe Rivera will NOT get the save? If so, you
must not have suffered through watching him celebrate the nauseatingly high number of wins
that I've witnessed him celebrate.
I am SO SICK of the Yankees. Aren't you? They always do this. The script is the same. A few players change year to year....but the storyline is the same and it goes like this: The Yankees are so fucking stacked with talent that no matter how many innings it takes them, eventually, their surplus - their tremendous edge in talent - emerges and shows itself and they win the game. They might as well be robots at this point.
It's SO boring and sickening to watch them win in the same way, in the same patterns - year after year.
I beg the Philadelphia Phillies to eliminate the Yankees this year. Please take me out of Yankee GroundHog Day. It's a drab place to be. And Bill Murray isn't around in this version.
Tonight, the Rangers jumped out to a 5-0 lead over the Yanks, and, even better, they knocked Yanks' super ace C.C. Sabathia out of the game. I had been listening on my car radio, but, when I got home, I couldn't resist the potential joy of witnessing a Yankee loss of a first game of a playoff series.
I still wasn't "sold" on the game being over. We Yankee-haters have learned for more than a decade that a five-run lead against the Evil Bombers is not big enough. C.J. Wilson, the Rangers' starter was looking awfully impressive, however. He looked confident as he fooled many Yankee hitters with his off-speed stuff. Slowly, gradually, I got sucked into the game and I was fantasizing about the end of the game --- the "buzz" that would be created by the Rangers beating Sabathia. With Cliff Lee due to pitch in Game 3 and Game 7, if necessary, suddenly, I
could imagine, if only for a split second, the possibility of the Rangers winning the series.
And then, the Yankees did their usual GroundHog Day thing. They rallied for five runs in the 9th inning. The Rangers' bullpen collapsed --- and, yet, it didn't seem surprising.
No.................................At this point, any kind of rally by the Yankees, and, especially their come-from-behind rallies late in the game, do NOT - I repeat - do NOT surpise me or many other fans. It's the opposite, effect, in fact. As soon as the Yanks begin their so-predictable rally or "march" to take the game, I can easily imagine the rest of the rally and the end of the game.
Tonight, once the Yanks got the game from them trailing by four (5-1) to trailing by 1 (5-4), the
game felt "over" to me -- in the Yank's favor. I turned the channel. I didn't want to watch all the details. I sensed they'd score more runs to go ahead, and, sure enough, when I checked back about 15 minutes later, the Yanks were up 6-5. I watched Mariano Rivera shut the Rangers
down. Do any of you - at this point - ever believe Rivera will NOT get the save? If so, you
must not have suffered through watching him celebrate the nauseatingly high number of wins
that I've witnessed him celebrate.
I am SO SICK of the Yankees. Aren't you? They always do this. The script is the same. A few players change year to year....but the storyline is the same and it goes like this: The Yankees are so fucking stacked with talent that no matter how many innings it takes them, eventually, their surplus - their tremendous edge in talent - emerges and shows itself and they win the game. They might as well be robots at this point.
It's SO boring and sickening to watch them win in the same way, in the same patterns - year after year.
I beg the Philadelphia Phillies to eliminate the Yankees this year. Please take me out of Yankee GroundHog Day. It's a drab place to be. And Bill Murray isn't around in this version.
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