Friday, October 2, 2015

Yankees Fans, Stop Embarrassing Yourselves


The New York Yankees fans, in my extremely biased but extremely humble opinion, are the greatest fans in the world… as long as the team is winning. When the team is not winning, even if they have won the 19 games in a row prior to the losing, the team is revolting. Especially lately. Fire Girardi. Fire Cashman. Trade this person, never let that person into the lineup. Magic Number is ONE and the team is going to miss the playoffs. The Wild Card is all of a sudden not even a playoff game anymore but when the Yankees were on the outside looking in for the 2013 and 2014 postseason chases it was a playoff series that some would have given their first born to see. Make up your mind Yankees fans because you’re embarrassing yourselves and you’re embarrassing the rest of the fan base.

The fans inside Yankee Stadium have been virtually non-existent. I realize the prices are astronomical, the threat of rain tends to keep people away and the fact that the team is struggling doesn’t inspire as many to go out to the ball park, fight the traffic in and out of the place and to spend 100 bucks, easy, on food, drinks and parking. I get it, what I don’t get is the fact that the crowd is so quiet. I don’t want to hear that the YES cameras aren’t picking up the cheers or the new stadium vs. the old stadium argument because those same cameras and those same fans in the new stadium were quite vocal and audible when they were booing a 40-year old DH who is leading the team in home runs earlier in the week.

The team knows they stink right now, booing doesn’t help. Sitting on your hands and not cheering doesn’t help. Not showing up doesn’t help. Support your team, we’re put on this Earth to build people up when they need it most not tear them down. WE are better than this Yankees family and we need to start acting like it, and I mean now.

Blue Jays fans are laughing at us right now. Mets fans are laughing at us. Orioles fans hate us. 


Chase Headley & Scott Brosius, Is There Any Comparison?


When the New York Yankees acquired Chase Headley in the summer of 2014 much of the New York Yankees fan base had flashbacks to the late 1990’s and early 2000’s when the Yankees had a third baseman named Scott Brosius. Brosius, much like Headley was advertised as at the time of the trade, was a hard-nosed defensive minded third baseman that would save about as many runs as he would save during the course of a 162-game schedule, a lot. Now that the 2015 regular season is all but over and Headley is preparing his first playoff run with the club, the same stage that Brosius truly became a Yankee with clutch hit after clutch hit, is there still a fair comparison between the two?

BROSIUS:
Year G PA R H 2B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+
1998 ★ 152 603 86 159 34 19 98 11 52 97 .300 .371 .472 .843 121
1999 133 529 64 117 26 17 71 9 39 74 .247 .307 .414 .722 84
2000 135 519 57 108 20 16 64 0 45 73 .230 .299 .374 .673 70
2001 120 478 57 123 25 13 49 3 34 83 .287 .343 .446 .789 106
NYY (4 yrs) 540 2129 264 507 105 65 282 23 170 327 .267 .331 .428 .759 96
HEADLEY:
Year G PA R H 2B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+
2014 58 224 28 50 8 6 17 3 29 49 .262 .371 .398 .768 118
2015 153 632 74 150 29 11 62 0 49 133 .262 .326 .374 .700 94
NYY (2 yrs) 211 856 102 200 37 17 79 3 78 182 .262 .338 .380 .718 100
As you can see by the simple number comparisons these guys actually had comparable numbers overall with New York. Brosius had a little more power than Headley both in the home run and extra base hit department but across the board they are at least comparable. Headley K's more and Brosius is probably the better defender at this point but you get the point, someone may have had this comparison right a season and a half ago. 

Numbers aren’t everything, as much as that pains me to admit out loud, but the good thing for my sake is that I have seen both play. I hate when players compare All-Stars of the present to All-Stars of the past based on numbers. It was a different game then and a different era and I personally stay away from comparing players to players if I haven’t personally seen them play. Using the eye test alone I can see why the comparisons immediately were made. Headley is a great defender down at third base much like Brosius was and both seem unfazed by the limelight and the big situation. What sets the two apart, besides Headley’s seemingly inability to throw to first base consistently this season ala Chuck Knoblauch, is


Game Preview: New York Yankees @ Baltimore Orioles 10/2


Welcome to October baseball Yankees family and welcome to a series that is not against either the Chicago White Sox or the Boston Red Sox. A show of hands if you’re reading this and you’re happy that the Yankees and the Red Sox are done playing head-to-head in 2015? Me too. The Yankees enter their final three games of the regular season with the Wild Card all but locked up and a postseason game in the Bronx looming, now their biggest battle will be with Mother Nature. Tonight the Yankees are scheduled to send a TBA (at the time of this writing) to the mound to face off against Wei-Yin Chen for the Orioles, weather permitting. The game will be played at 7:05 pm ET and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.

  • TBA


  • Chen will be making his final start of the season tonight and possibly his last start in a Baltimore Orioles uniform as he looks to hit free agency on a high note. Chen has had his best Major League season at the best possible time in 2015 posting a 3.35 ERA and 150 strikeouts. Chen is likely to become too expensive for the Orioles budget this winter.



Three more games separate the teams that are planning golfing ventures and trip to Disney with their families from the teams who get the prestige and the honor to play in the postseason. It may be just a Wild Card berth and it may only be for one game but it’s an experience and it’s an accomplishment for these teams no matter the circumstances. Us as fans are spoiled, and we’re entitled to be so, but you have to keep in mind that the human beings behind the uniforms have their same rights and entitlements. Let them celebrate and let them be happy, they earned it. Just not this week. Go Yankees!

The 2000 Yankees Struggled Down the Stretch Too


So I have to apologize to anyone who follows me on Twitter as I have been a bit testy of late. I can’t help it though, most fans are being downright ridiculous and absolutely unreasonable here lately and for no good reason. The Yankees have less than a week to go until the playoffs and I saw comments that ranged from “there goes the playoffs” despite having a 3.5 game lead with five left over the second Wild Card team to “Fire Cashman.” You would act like the Yankees were on the outside looking into the playoffs and not in the driver’s seat to host a playoff game in the Bronx and you would think that this team was picked to win the World Series and settling for a Wild Card spot instead of being a team picked to finish in third or fourth place and home playing golf by now. You’d act like this is the first Yankees team to struggle heading into the postseason.

The last time there was a real and legitimate chance for both the New York Yankees and the New York Mets to meet in the postseason was the 2000 season, a season that ended in a five-game Subway Series that the New York Yankees won decisively. I have a sneaking suspicion if the world had Twitter, Facebook and social media back in 2000 the Yankees Kingdom would have been freaking out in September of 2000 much like they are currently in September of 2015.

In September, 2000 the New York Yankees limped into the postseason with a 87-74 record including a record of 13-17 in September. In the final 18 games the Yankees posted a mediocre 3-15 record including seven straight losses to end the season and showed much of the same fire and intensity, or lack thereof, that they are showing since Mark Teixeira and Nathan Eovaldi went down with season ending injuries.


This is a different game in 2015, no one understands that more than I do because I’ve been fighting for it and spreading the knowledge as much as I can, but a few key characteristics still remain the same. The playoffs is a new season and a second season and it’s not always the best team, but the hottest team, that usually wins out in October. Anything that happens before October 6, 2015 is meaningless in the grand scheme of things just like it was before the postseason in the year 2000. Take a page out of the 2000 Mets book and have a little faith and believe!

Quick Hit: David Ortiz Likes the Yankees Chances in October


Stop the presses ladies and gentleman, The David Ortiz is speaking. No really though in an interview with Newsday, SEEN HERE, Ortiz commented on the Yankees, the Toronto Blue Jays and the MLB postseason and had some nice things to say. Ortiz called the Blue Jays “the team to beat” in the American League while being quoted as saying the Yankees “have a lot of good things… enough to go far.” Ortiz said it so it must be true!

On a serious note Ortiz brought up a few points that are very much true, and he would know as he has had his fair share of time spent and at bats in the postseason. Ortiz was quoted as saying the Yankees have a great bullpen and a lineup capable of doing damage, and they do, and was quick to point out that anything can happen in the playoffs. Ortiz reminded the league that the Yankees have players that have been to the postseason and won World Series titles and players that can flip that internal switch come October, and he’s right again.

It’s sad that Ortiz can see the obvious but some of the Yankees fans have been screaming that the playoffs are over and that the team is going home for the winter before the Wild Card. Take a step back, breathe and let’s do this thing Yankees family. I know the team can, David Ortiz can see it and so should you. Confidence wins playoff games and championships, not boo’s.


This post was intended to be semi-sarcastic and not to be a knock on Ortiz whatsoever. Just an FYI. 

Scoreboard Watching: October 2, 2015


Ladies and gentleman welcome to the final series of the 2015 Major League Baseball regular season. MLB's new commissioner Rob Manfred wanted parity in the game and wanted every game to be meaningful, which was obvious when the league announced that all 15 games on Sunday (Game 162) would start at the same time to optimize scoreboard watching, and he and the league did just that. This is a great time to be a fan of Major League Baseball and a great time to be a fan of the Yankees in my very humble, albeit very biased, opinion.

Friday, October 2


New York Yankees @ Baltimore Orioles


Toronto Blue Jays @ Tampa Bay


Houston Astros @ Arizona Diamondbacks


Texas Rangers vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim


Minnesota Twins vs. Kansas City Royals


Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim @ Texas Rangers


Cleveland Indians vs. Boston Red Sox

This Day In New York Yankees History 10/2: Don Mattingly The Hit Man


Don Mattingly was the one bright spot for the New York Yankees in the 1980's and early 1990's and on this day in 1986 set a new team record for hits in a season with 232. Mattingly passed Earl Combs team record which was set in 1927 and would finish the season with a league leading 238 hits.


The reigning and defending World Series champion New York Yankees played the Boston Red Sox in a one game playoff on this day in 1978 in Fenway Park. We all know what happened, Bucky F'in Dent happened.


The Yankees are known for winning World Series championships but many fans forget that New York had plenty of years where things didn’t exactly go as planned. On this day in 1966 the Yankees would beat the Chicago White Sox 2-0 but would still finish a half game behind the Boston Red Sox for last place in the American League. New York finished with a 70-89 record and fell 26.5 games behind the Baltimore Orioles. This was the first Yankees club to finish in last place in the American League since 1912.


Speaking of winning World Series on this day in 1936 the Yankees would beat the Giants in Game 2 of the World Series by the score of 18-4. That was then and still is now the largest lopsided victory in the history of the Fall Classic.


Finally on this day in 1932 and on this day in Yankees World Series history the team won their 12th consecutive World Series game as they swept the Chicago Cubs. This would mark the third consecutive World Series sweep the Bombers would achieve.