10 Rash Thoughts About The 2012 New York Yankees

The Detroit Tigers finally put the Yankees out of their misery and swept them out of the playoffs.  A rational person would sleep on it and wait until the morning to write all his or her thoughts down.  I’m a Yankees and therefore cannot be considered a rational person.

  1. After Jeter got hurt, this team was never the same.  It was as-if Jeter’s injury was a built-in excuse to lose.
  2. I’m glad C.C. Sabathia got rocked in Game Four.  The Yankees’ starting pitching had been pretty stellar this postseason (not as good as the Tigers but I digress).  Even if C.C. only gave up two runs and pitched a gem, he would have lost just like Kuroda in Game Two. After the third inning where Mark Texiera had a ridiculous error and Nunez tried to top him by misplaying a chopper through the middle, C.C. said “Screw this” and wanted out too.
  3. If it comes out that the Yankees bet on these games like the 1919 Chicago Black Sox, I would actually be relived.  That would make more sense then 80% of the team suddenly being unable to hit.
  4. For all the talk about Alex Rodriguez, the player who disappointed me the most of was Robinson Cano.  I can’t believe he went 0-29 in the postseason until finally breaking through with a single at the end of Game Three. A-Rod, Swisher, Granderson, those guys I expected to slump in the postseason but every time Cano came to bat, I thought, “This is the one.  He’s going to flick his wrist and clobber the ball.”  It just never happened.
  5. If Joe Girardi gets fired as a result of this series, I’ll feel bad for him but I won’t argue with the decision.  His panic lineups made no sense.  Yes, Swisher, Granderson and A-Rod were struggling but they still had more of an upside offensively than Gardner, Nunez and Chavez.
  6. After it was clear the Yankees were going to lose this series after Game Two, these were my hopes in order of importance: No perfect game, No no-hitter, No one hitter, No sweep.  I’ll live with the last one
  7. I bet Josh Hamilton’s agent has been texting GM Brian Cashman after every Granderson at-bat.
  8. I feel bad for Kevin Long.  Even though he can’t go out there and make them execute, when your team can’t muster more than 11 hits in 27 innings, you’re probably getting fired.
  9. Every diehard Yankees fan will type “baseball free agents 2012-13″ into Google in the next 48 hours (Spoilers: It’s not that good list past Josh Hamilton and B.J. Upton).
  10. Some years I’m okay with the Yankees not winning a World Series and this is one of those years.  I didn’t think we were that great coming into the season and was mostly surprised by our success despite a lot of injuries particularly in the rotation (we are continuously forced start Freddie Garcia!).  That said, I didn’t want to go out like this. No one does.

Hurt

Someone not named Derek Jeter is going to be playing shortstop for however long the Yankees last in the postseason.

Someone not named Mariano Rivera is already the closer.

Someone pretending to be Alex Rodriguez is struggling to hit fastballs*.

This is brief glimpse into the future of the New York Yankees and I don’t like it one bit.

* I don’t want to hear shit about “Oh, Alex Rodriguez is older now and doesn’t have the same bat speed.  Last time I checked, Raul Ibanez was 40 years old and he seems to be doing just fine.

Good Job. Good Effort.

It’s over.

No more articles about LeBron not being clutch.

No more ESPN FirstTake segments about LeBron not being able to close.

No more clips from “The Decision” or the post-signing celebration in Miami.

The narrative is dead.

Long live the King.

(Until they start talking about how disappointing it is that he only has one title but that won’t be for a few years,)

We Looked Like Giants

Four years ago, the Giants were facing the Packers in the NFC Championship. I was in the Poconos on a ski trip with a bunch of friends. A few of us were in a Reebok outlet and saw that they had some Giants jerseys on sale. Tony and I decided we should get some to wear during the game. The only ones they had were Jeremy Shockey (a much-maligned tight end who was injured and wasn’t going to be playing) and Mathias Kiwanuka (linebacker out of Boston College). Neither of us wanted the Shockey jersey so, despite my hate for all things Boston, I bought the Kiwanukae jersey.

That night, the Giants shocked the Packers in overtime to head to Super Bowl XLII. Now, I’m not crazy. I don’t believe that the Giants won because we wore our jerseys but when it comes to sports, I get very superstitious. I wore my jersey during the Super Bowl two weeks and we all know how that turned out.

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Knicks, Cuts and Bruises

First of all, I was surprised how much I missed basketball. When the season started, I couldn’t be puled away from keeping track of the Knicks via League Pass. Whenever I got the opportunity, I would take advantage of the NBA League Pass two week free trial to watch the new Knicks. Before the season started, I had all but decided to purchase League Pass but something happened during that free trial.

The Knicks sucked.

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Dear Bill Walker

Dear Bill Walker,

It’s bad enough that beyond Tyson Chandler, Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Antony, the Knicks’ roster look like a bunch of community center castoffs – always calling “next.” It’s bad enough that Mike D’Antoni’s offensive strategy appears to be shoot as many three pointers as possible (the earlier in the shot clock, the better) and when that doesn’t work, pass the ball to Will…I mean Carmelo and hope he can bail the team out (‘Melo will be dead by the All-Star break). No, Bill.  You apparently traveled back in time to the 90′s, got twists put in your hair and made it back in time for the season.

What were you thinking?

You look like one of the Kris Kross‘ kids grown up.

You look like an extra in a Geto Boys video.

You look like Prop Joe‘s illegitmate son.

Every time you step on the court, I groan.

I blame your friends and family.  If someone loved you, they’d cut your hair while you slept.

I imagine you can’t go into a barbershop because they might actually die of laughter, so you need to shave it all off and start over.

Please.

Sincerely,
A loyal but troubled Knicks fan

No Basketball Association

I guess I won’t get to see what the Knicks with Amare and Carmelo would like like when they had a whole offseason and preseason to work out the kinks.  As you’ve probably heard by now, the NBA players Union rejected the owner’s latest proposal and have opted to disband.  While it saddens me that there might not be a basketball season, I’m not mad at the players.  They made plenty of concessions to the owners to address the financial woes the NBA are claiming but it was never enough.  It’s like when you have someone beat but you want them to kneel and admit defeat for your own ego.

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Victim #2

After reading the grand jury report regarding the indictment of former Penn State University assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, one thing stood out to me: what happened to victim #2?

According to the report, no one from the University attempted to find out who this boy who was molested in their showers was. It was disturbing enough that Mike McQueary, the graduate assistant who witnessed the assault in the shower and the current WR coach, didn’t call the police or do anything to get this child away from Sandusky immediately. But to know that no one gave a second thought about this child is heartbreaking. Who’s to say the incident in the shower was the first time or the last time?

Victim #2 hasn’t come forward yet but I can’t imagine how he feels knowing all these people knew what happened to him and did nothing about it. Well, that’s not entirely true. They just made sure it couldn’t happen again on their property.

Caring Is Creepy

Wednesday night, the Knicks got blown out by the Dallas Mavericks.  They were only down by six at halftime but then Dallas destroyed them in the third quarter.  I was really disappointed because I thought they could pull it off.  They had beaten the Spurs and, most recently, the Heat.  It’s weird caring about the Knicks again.

When the Knicks were great in the 90′s, they, along with the Yankees, were my life.  I spent almost every Sunday watching the NBA on NBC looking for the next matchup versus the hated Chicago Bulls or Miami Heat.  The only time I ever cried over a sporting event was when the Houston Rockets beat the Knicks in game seven of the 1994 NBA Finals (Why wouldn’t Riley put in Hubert Davis when John Starks was 2-18? WHY!?!?).  As the years went on, the Knicks got worse but were still competitive.  The Allan Houston years weren’t as horrible as everyone makes them out to be.  He did get us to back to the Finals (taking full advantage of the strike-shortened season).  But then the scourge known as Isiah Thomas and his harbinger of doom, Stephon Marbury, came to town and destroyed everything I loved about the Knicks for about a decade.  At least I had the Yankees.

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