Yo, there aren’t many good things to say about last night’s 9-4 Yankee loss to the Devil Rays, so I’m a keep this brief. At some point, resignation just has to set in for Yankee fans. What else can you do? Hang on to 1978 forever. Sure, they are still only five games out, but losing three of four to the D Rays twice? C’maaaan, man, ya killin me.
Bernie had a good night with the stick (though he fell asleep and let Julio Lugo turn a single into a double for no good reason too), with a homer, a double, and a hard, line drive out to short. Um, Jason Giambi hit the ball well too. He singled to left, and later bunted for a base hit in the ninth (he also lined out hard to left, and Carl Crawford did his best Sandy Amoros impression to rob the big man of a double). Yup, just what everyone has been begging for: Giambi bunted for a hit. Didn’t do the team much good in the long run, but at least he had his head in the right place.
The Mets visit the Bronx this weekend in a battle of which local team is more mediocre. Any thoughts about that one? Come on, inspire me with some conversation will ya, because I’m fresh out of ideas.
1. Our boy is going for the Mets tonight. C'mon guys, we've beaten him before, we can do it again. As for me, I'm going to the Mudhens game tonight. And fireworks after the game.
2. Here are some questions: how much of an effort to rebuild should the Yankees make? Which of the kids should they trade? What should they get for those kids?
I have mixed emotions on these questions. One thing that I definitely feel strongly about though is that they should not trade any kids for Clemens.
3. Don't want to bring the mood down any lower, but at this point my only hope is that we continue to lose so consistently that even George and his Tampa cronies will have no choice but to admit that we should be sellers, not buyers, at the trade deadline. Eat some money and try to replenish the farm system.
4. I don't think we should trade any kid. Cano is doing fine (better than that 2B/LF thing-that-shall-remain-nameless). Keep Wang & Henn, we need good, young starters. They'll take some lumps learning to pitch in the bigs, but so what. And it doesn't have to be Henn, but he's the one here now.
Let Bernie play out the season, he deserves a swan song. Jason's starting to rehabilitate, give him some more time (he actually backed up second in the eighth, when Jeter and Cano went AWOL). Do we resign Matsui?
5. Temperamentally, I just can't root for the Yankees to lose -- though I do see your point. It just doesn't seem to be in Steinbrenner's DNA to be a seller. In fact, I don't think that they've ever done that (with the exception of the Rickey Henderson deal).
6. Dullest Subway Series ever?
7. Strange, no rumors of any trades ... unless I haven't been listening properly. Anyone hear anything?
I won't completely give up hope for this year quite yet, though I confess this is largely based on 1978 and 1995. That they made the post-season in those two years still amazes me.
8. My brain has accepted that the Yankees aren't making the playoffs and that the dynasty is dead, but my heart ... All I want at this point is for Joe to stop hitting Womack 2nd and for the Yankees to play some fundamentally sound baseball. Trading Womack is a must and trading Wang for prospects should be considered when Wright comes back.
9. YAH! Womack is hitting 9th. Thank you Joe. That ass Steve Phillips is doing the game on ESPN. The mute button is my friend tonight.
10. 2nd inning and Mussina doesn't look good. This looks like another long painful night.
11. Wow, so this baseball hell. Gotta say it isn't as bad as I thought.
12. Mussina just can't seem to hit the strike zone tonight.
13. Ugh. Except in that case...(Cliff FLoyd HR)
14. Beltran home run. Another starting pitcher bites the dust.
15. You know, for all the ruminating about how we should have picked up Lieber's option, he hasn't been pitching that well since that 4-0 start (6 ER vs the Red Sox tonight). Looking back, Wang is basically a younger, cheaper Lieber.
On a related note, does anyone expect anything good from Wright when he comes back?
Oh yeah, and score some f-in' runs against your baby boy Pedro, please Yankees.
16. why is womack batting in the 9th?
17. why?!
18. With Henn going tomorrow, I think we are talking about a 7 game losing streak in all. The Yankees get swept by the Mets just in time for the Baltimore series where they win the last game so they avoid being swept by the Os as well.
19. Another manager would have pieced together a 7th inning with 2 from the group of Groom, Quantrill, and Stanton if necessary so that Sturze could fill Gordon's 8th inning slot due to Gordon being unavailable. That way Sturze could pitch the 9th if the Yankees didn't get any closer in the score, thereby allowing Rivera to sit this one out. But, as we know, another manager isn't Joe Torre, who seems to be getting more senile every day.
20. "The Mets, who dropped two of three to the Yankees at Shea Stadium last month, overcame Derek Jeter's leadoff homer when Ramon Castro, Jose Reyes and Mike Cameron set a National League record by hitting three sacrifice flies in the second inning, a rally fueled by a pair of errors."
How in Hell do you hit three (3) sac flies in an inning? How?
I didn't see the game. I did see Marcus Thames hit two doubles.
How do you hit three sac flies in an inning? ???
21. Bernie dropped one of the flies, and it still counted as a sac fly, but not an out. So therefore the 3 sac flies only added up to 2 outs.
22. Hyphothetically speaking, if this were a critical point of the season - I mean, if it really hung in the balance - Torre might've wanted to pinch hit for Woemack in the ninth. Thank God we haven't reached that stage yet, right everyone?
23. Thanks MIkeZ. It was partly rhetorical, partly in earnest. BTW, Thames is playing right field (couldn't get enough playing time in Detroit) and is absolutely killing the ball, hitting over .400 and doing his best Sheffield impersonation hitting down the left field line. I suppose he'd be able to play center if we wanted a hot hitter and the Tigers needed a 2B/LF/pinchrunner and a starter (Brown).