Topic: Yankees Baseball

I don’t think Girardi made any points with the media though. That answer: “That’s between me and my team” might play out in Miami or Cleveland but not in NY.

In case you haven’t noticed all those tabloid writers ARE from Cleveland, Parts of PA and West Virginia and that’s why they moved to NY because they thought they were more sophisticated than: “that’s between me and the team”.

May I suggest for future episodes the time proven: “I won’t go into that    . . . .   at this time.” Or “That’s all I’m ready to discuss at this time” or even: “I prefer that what is discussed in a team meeting remains private” be creative.   Don’t sound antagonistic.  These guys will eat you alive   . . . . .   the morning after.

I thought the Yankees had the sux exactly where they wanted them: tired and arriving at 3 am and embarrassed after being swept by TB.

I have to admit the sux surprised me they are the ones on the program they even toyed with the yanks with their version of short ball.

It’s nice to hear the newborn Yankee: Brother Damon who is now extremely proud to wear those pinstripes.  Happy to hear you’ve finally joined us.

But don’t expect clutch hitting from the material third baseman though; I don’t think his soulmate is going to help him concentrate at the plate in the clutch WHEN IT COUNTS. How long before he’s wearing more nose rings than Rodman? I give him a few weeks tops.  It’ll be strange to see that new hair style take hold of his future personality.  And Hank goes: “twenty eight frigging millions . . . . Hey you got your batboy and so did you     . . . . Madame.”

Meantime Jeter is thinking: “I said no to that broad 15 years ago”  That’s why he plays with a smile lately and I thought it was due to that extra cash from Gillette.

Since Hank will get later on in the act I will stop here and call attention to the good news: The Yanks are still in third place, not bad for a team that continues to embarrass the stripes.

Between you and me I don’t think Hank believes that the 2008 edition of the Yankees has it in them. Just a thought.

Enjoy your version of the fourth.  There’s still a lot of games to play and vindicate (or embarrass) yourselves.

That Damon play and injury seemed like the perfect corollary to this sad drama that engulfs the Yankees and exposes them as a bunch of pretenders (thanks Cash) as a group of players not willing to take the initiative to be part of a winning team   . . . . . .  the elements were there  . . . .   with Damon self proclaiming himself the stirrer a-la-Jackson (which the tabloids seem to agree with) it seems that this might be the end of the road for this group.  But to Damon’s statement regarding being the guy that pulls this team I have said before and I’ll say it again: WISHFUL THINKING.  This is not a one man team be that the material batboy or Jeter or Giambi or the expensive Posada even Mariano (Mariano will honestly tell you that he loves his teammates and he believes they are a TEAM).

I’m just going to let the team enjoy this weekend and give it to them in the next few days. I’m been dead on balls right before and I think I can still pull it out.

I’ll give you a few hints though.

All the teams that had beaten the Yankees lately had given us a lesson as to what needs to be done in order to dream about playing in October but nobody has been paying attention the last one was Foston with their version of putting the ball in play and playing their own version of short ball.

Do the following names tell you anything?  Lester,  Pedroia, Youkilis, Ellsbury, besides we never gave Sean Casey a second look.  Ortiz went down Drew stepped in, Okajima failed in came DelCarmen, Manny went on a horrible slump (and still managed to beat up on that old man for those lousy tickets “whatever happens in the clubhouse stays in the clubhouse”  yeah until someone beats the crap out of you) nobody noticed it.

And we still have time to finish decently and if these Prima-donnas like to give it a try might still play in October . . . .  After last year everything is possible.   But something has to give and I think that something is a new hitting coach (this one doesn't seem to find anything wrong with the way the team is failing at the plate)   BUT if the powers that be like the current one for whatever reason   … that’s also fine with me  but he won’t do the trick next year  . . .   just a gut feeling.

Now put those $25 thou.  Barbeque sets to work and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

On yesterday’s game: "He's still got good stuff and he knows how to pitch," Joe Girardi said. "I look at his 11 wins and it could be 13 or 14. He's been huge for us."

Amen to that.

Great game Moose with the help from the bullpen and that scare from Mariano, NINE more wins to go (one at a time of course) and that becomes almost paramount because nine more wins for the Moose are nine more wins for the team. Stay healthy Moose   . . . . .   you’ll get there.

I was going to limit myself to the above post but now I have to comment a bit on a couple of facts.

A times writer went to bat for Damon thinking that some of us fans don’t appreciate Damon’s efforts for the team.  What some of us fans don’t do is take players words at face value be that Damon, Alex, Kennedy or Giambi and that has also included the super Yankee player Bernie Williams.

Some of us don’t appreciate players getting hurt for the “good” of the team. When Damon came over to the Yankees for whatever reason (the main reason being that Foston thought he didn’t have it in him age and abilities wise) we said fine that’s a good move and reporters asked him if he was going to continue crashing the fences as he did in Foston and he said “of course.  Some of us immediately said we like your attitude but we need you healthy and being able to play as long as necessary.

Throughout his Yankee career Damon has not remained as prolific or constant as Boras sold him to the Yankees. Remember that white paper on Damon? And he even apologized for his lack of production and consistency and went as far as hinting that maybe an early retirement was in the horizon; some of us ungrateful fans said: “non-sense the teams need you and you still have a lot of baseball ahead of you.”

A couple of years ago the tabloids and the front runners said:  “he has a weak arm and he’s tentative and not as effective as he was with the sux”; although we agreed at times with that statement we also said but he still has in him and he’s always trying to contribute and play as part of the team and he might be just going through a slump but we need the Damon of old the one that led the sux to a WS title.

Then this year Damon whose spin is part of every post game interview started asserting his leadership but notably more in favor of some of his teammates like Giambi who’s been pitiful until his out year and we called attention to the fact that Damon chose to go against the Yankees Brass when it came to moving Joba to the rotation because it didn’t help his old teammates who needed to win now, this year because so much depended on it mainly Giambi whose spin remains the same despite the positive fact that he’s showing better stats but the team continues to go south (for whatever reason).

Damon finally had his epiphany and spoke last time the team had a meeting and said the right things: “it’s an honor to wear the pinstripes” and the Steinbrenner deserve a better return for their investment, etc all very nice, politically correct (and not cynical I like to assume), the same things Alex has been saying ever since he got here.

The only statement I still don’t agree with is: “as he goes so do the Yankees” nothing could be farther from the truth because if that was a case the team wouldn’t be where it is right now.  I’d rather hear “when Damon plays well the team plays better” that I’m very content with.

Damon has played better this year and he brings a lot to the table I would just love for him to keep his OBP where it is at this time, that matters a lot, but just like Alex he can’t do much all by himself; the rest of the offense needs to play better and more consistently.

It needs to be a concerted effort because Damon in LF is no threat with his arm, he’s so when he gets on board and lately Jeter has not been very effective moving him another station   . . .   or two and maybe Jeter is hurt (he won’t admit it of course) but that’s the reason why Jeter has been trying to play conventional short ball against the wishes of some tabloid writers including one from the Old lady but he’s trying to put the team ahead of his goals nevertheless. I said Damon was a newborn Yankee because it was the first time he spoke like that and that’s a positive not something we hold against him. And as great as Damon is someone will pick up the slack someone has to.