The days until the final game of the season (ironically) in Boston cannot come fast enough.
Right now, it is as if these games are nothing more than an extended funeral. Instead of this procession lasting two hours, it is forced to continue for another two weeks.
It is a very strange feeling. Seeing Yankees games in September years ago were meaningless because a playoff spot was already in tact. This time, the games are meaningless because the team’s performance this season has been bad enough that they have forced this situation.
Even for myself, I have chosen to turn off and not watch the games anymore. This is all surreal. Never would I imagine a situation where I would turn away from these games on purpose. But this year, it happened.
This specific team made that happen.
All season, the team played with a sense of lethargy. The Yankees never seemed to have any sense of purpose to this season. Early in the year, you could see it.
Surely injuries played a role, but when you are putting a lineup during that time that featured six current or former All Stars from a lineup that had nearly eight, it is difficult to make excuses about having a lack of talent.
The Minnesota Twins lack talent. The Toronto Blue Jays lack talent. Compare those lineups to that of the Yankees (even when injured) and they are still overmatched.
You expected some of the old grit and fighting spirit that past Yankees teams showed. Instead they showed a glass chin and when things got rough, they caved in, refusing to battle through the injuries and underperformance. Rather, using it as an crutch for losing.
“Wait until A-Rod and Posada get back.”
They came back, but the problems were still the same. It never changed.
Bobby Abreu’s on base and slugging percentage (despite his RBI total) took a vacation in the first three months of the season.
Robinson Cano was the same way. In his case, his drama has last the entire season. From hitting as low as .150 into the month of May, his mental lapses on the field and on the bases, and his lackadaisical play at second base that finally got him benched on Sunday.
It was long overdue, but only now did manager Joe Girardi see fit to do anything about it, despite having enough evidence from this season to convict.
There was the drama of Alex Rodriguez that manifested itself in August when he hit into eleven double plays as the Yankees season was going to down the toilet. How ironic that the near quarter billion-dollar team was going in flames while the over quarter billion-dollar third baseman was lighting the match.
A pitching staff that was to feature youth failed in their experiment and was forced again to rely on older veterans. Unlike previous years, those same pitchers were not able to carry the load of others and the season credit card bill was up for payment. Thinking that the Yankees could ever get by with Darrell Rasner and Sidney Ponson starting games was ultimately be doomed to failure.
The fact the Yankees were anticipating the return of Carl “American Idle” Pavano to save the rotation should have been a message that the season was already lost.
All of these players, these high priced players, were unable to blend as a team. They were 25 individuals looking out for themselves and no one else.
Watch the games and you will see the selfish at bats. You watch and see the lack of patience from a team that prided themselves on it. Not being able to “situation hit’ and somehow rarely brought home runs with men on base.
Right now, it is as if these games are nothing more than an extended funeral. Instead of this procession lasting two hours, it is forced to continue for another two weeks.
It is a very strange feeling. Seeing Yankees games in September years ago were meaningless because a playoff spot was already in tact. This time, the games are meaningless because the team’s performance this season has been bad enough that they have forced this situation.
Even for myself, I have chosen to turn off and not watch the games anymore. This is all surreal. Never would I imagine a situation where I would turn away from these games on purpose. But this year, it happened.
This specific team made that happen.
All season, the team played with a sense of lethargy. The Yankees never seemed to have any sense of purpose to this season. Early in the year, you could see it.
Surely injuries played a role, but when you are putting a lineup during that time that featured six current or former All Stars from a lineup that had nearly eight, it is difficult to make excuses about having a lack of talent.
The Minnesota Twins lack talent. The Toronto Blue Jays lack talent. Compare those lineups to that of the Yankees (even when injured) and they are still overmatched.
You expected some of the old grit and fighting spirit that past Yankees teams showed. Instead they showed a glass chin and when things got rough, they caved in, refusing to battle through the injuries and underperformance. Rather, using it as an crutch for losing.
“Wait until A-Rod and Posada get back.”
They came back, but the problems were still the same. It never changed.
Bobby Abreu’s on base and slugging percentage (despite his RBI total) took a vacation in the first three months of the season.
Robinson Cano was the same way. In his case, his drama has last the entire season. From hitting as low as .150 into the month of May, his mental lapses on the field and on the bases, and his lackadaisical play at second base that finally got him benched on Sunday.
It was long overdue, but only now did manager Joe Girardi see fit to do anything about it, despite having enough evidence from this season to convict.
There was the drama of Alex Rodriguez that manifested itself in August when he hit into eleven double plays as the Yankees season was going to down the toilet. How ironic that the near quarter billion-dollar team was going in flames while the over quarter billion-dollar third baseman was lighting the match.
A pitching staff that was to feature youth failed in their experiment and was forced again to rely on older veterans. Unlike previous years, those same pitchers were not able to carry the load of others and the season credit card bill was up for payment. Thinking that the Yankees could ever get by with Darrell Rasner and Sidney Ponson starting games was ultimately be doomed to failure.
The fact the Yankees were anticipating the return of Carl “American Idle” Pavano to save the rotation should have been a message that the season was already lost.
All of these players, these high priced players, were unable to blend as a team. They were 25 individuals looking out for themselves and no one else.
Watch the games and you will see the selfish at bats. You watch and see the lack of patience from a team that prided themselves on it. Not being able to “situation hit’ and somehow rarely brought home runs with men on base.
Now why would I continue to watch that? Seeing this group of old, cranky, grotesquely overpaid players on this roster continue to underacheive and not put out 100% effort is something I cannot stand for. It is a waste of my time.
I don’t want to hear about bad luck. It was not as they were all having great at bats that ended in an unfortunate placement of the ball.
Excuses like that are for losers.
Swinging for the fence, the inability to cut down on swings, and having too much hubris to sacrifice themselves for the team in certain situations and rather looking to boost their numbers rather than boost the teams win total.
Did they tune out new manager Joe Girardi? Likely.
Girardi was built up as a drill sergeant that was supposed to make the Yankees play each game as if it were their last.
He was supposed to eliminated the supposed laissez-faire attitude the permeated the team during its successful seasons.
It was obvious from the beginning he was nothing like that. When it came time to dole out discipline for lapses or bad effort, he sat idly and denied its existence.
His unwavering belief of “everything will be fine” became more a punch line than something to rally around the team as their season was slipping further and further away.
Girardi was in denial. Most of the players were in denial. Some of them just did not care so they could not be in denial.
The team lacked a leader. As much as Derek Jeter is loved and appreciated, he is not a leader of men in the sense of rallying the troops. There were no enforcers in the teams clubhouse to let guys know that they were not giving 100 percent.
When Jorge Posada was lost for the rest of the season, the team had no voice. Everyone else talked a good game but it never brought the team together. Like I said, they were never a team.
All of these factors played a role in shaping this 2008 season for the Yankees. Very soon it will come to end and they can all go away for the winter to find out what went wrong one only hopes that they learned a hard lesson from last year and make a pledge to right the wrong of 2008 starting in 2009 with the opening of the new Yankee Stadium.
Until then, as the song from Green Day goes…
“Wake me up when September ends.”
Random Yankee Thoughts
So some do not wanted to trade Robinson Cano and some do.
If you trade him, you are trading him at his lowest value. If you do not and he stinks up the joint next year and deteriorate even more, than you are stuck with him, his drama and his maintenance indefinitely.
The Rays last off-season traded high risk-high reward talent Delmon Young to the Twins for Matt Garza.
I think that trade worked out pretty well.
If the Yankees were ever to make that kind of trade for a similar high reward player, I would ship him immediately.
You can place his struggles at the plate to occasional bad luck. But what his laziness on defense and mental farts on the bases? Is that bad luck too?
And he continues to be in denial about all of this. On Sunday, after being benched for more lazy play, he said that he plays hard 99.9 percent of the time.
That is a red flag when you continue that he has two Hall of Fame players to the right of him that play every days and never take a play off. You think after four years he’s going to say, “Maybe I really should play hard!”
Cano’s time should be up in New York.
Xavier Nady has come back down to earth. He was not a .330 hitter and no one should have been fooled into thinking that he was.
Nady Update: .283 – 11 HR – 33 RBI - .854 OPS
He is nice player, but the Yankees may want to investigate his trade value at the end of the season as well. If he puts up another nice season, he could be in line for a 15 million a year payday for five years.
I would not pay him that.
Do not be fooled by what you see from Alfredo Aceves.
If last year is a guide, do not believe anything you see in September.
Had the Yankees taken that philosophy, perhaps Johan Santana would be on the team this year.
Great to see Derek Jeter now 2nd on the Yankees all time hit list.
While his production is slightly down and the season is over, Jeter has not quit. He is still playing every game as if it were his last.
Jason Giambi has had his time, but now he must go.
Andy Pettitte has also had his time, but unless he is willing to come back for 10 million a year and be the Yankees fourth starter, he has to go too.
The Yankees will be forced to resign Mike Mussina. However, he will not replicate this season in any way.
Ivan Rodriguez…please leave immediately.
When I heard that Carl Pavano got the win on Sunday against Tampa Bay, I was disgusted.
Here we a guy who has been stealing money for the last three and a half years. Magically, with only three months left on his contract, he returns to the rotation in an effort to get some stupid to give him more than a one year deal next season.
Only in baseball.
Only in baseball.
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