Perhaps you've noticed that I have not been around much lately. Or maybe you did notice and have been perfectly okay with that. Either way, I thought I'd let you know what's been going on.
For starters, work has been crazy. One of the managers at our location went on a 17-day cruise to Alaska (yeah, I'm jealous), making another manager and I work 60+ hour weeks for a few weeks. I pretty much worked, ate, tried to keep up with the Yankees, and slept during that entire time.
Secondly, my wife and I celebrated our first anniversary by taking a vacation to the place I proposed to her. That vacation came a week after that other manager came back, so as soon as he returned any extra time I had went into making sure we were all set to go.
So right now is the first time in over a month that I've been able to sit down and think about writing anything.
Like I said, I've had to depend on Twitter to keep up with a lot of the things going on in the Yankees universe. I would say that's a good thing because you can get a lot of great up-to-the-minute information on Twitter. At the same time I'd say that's a bad thing because of the following...
I actually tweeted something like this a few days ago, but I wanted to say it here. Not only can I write a few more characters through the blog (at least without having to tweet a dozen or so times), but I didn't get much response to my tweet and I was curious what more people thought.
Here it is... I'm having less fun watching the Yankees this season than I have in a very long time. So long, in fact, that I actually don't remember having less fun. I just didn't want to say "ever", because that reeks of hyperbole, and I try to avoid that. Oh, and unlike what most people probably think, it's not because of how the team is performing.
Sure, it would be nice if the Yankees had a winning percentage of better than .545 since the All Star break. Do you realize six teams in the American League have a better winning percentage for the year than that? Hell, if the Yankees had a winning percentage of .545 this season they would likely miss the postseason.
But that's not it. I'm having so little fun watching the 2018 Yankees because of Twitter. Well, not because of the program itself, but because of so many Yankees fans on Twitter. Or as I like to say... "fans", because oftentimes they act more like haters than actual fans.
Now that I think of it, my Twitter problem is probably just like the Facebook one Daniel wrote about a little while ago. But alas...
I understand getting frustrated watching the Yanks when they have runners in scoring position, with one or zero outs, and fail to score. I understand getting ticked off when they commit two errors in the 9th inning, both of them coming on possible double-play balls that could end the game... against the Red Sox for God's sake!
Some of the decisions made by Aaron Boone, whether on the advice of his coaching staff or not, are baffling. Such as bringing in their lesser relievers when they are only down a run or so, instead of putting their better relievers out there to keep the game within striking distance (aka "punting"). Or batting Gleyber Torres, their second best hitter according to OPS+, at the bottom of the lineup where he's likely to get the least amount of plate appearances (note, their best hitter in terms of OPS+... Aaron Judge... was on the disabled list for nearly two months!).
So I get it... there are things to be upset about when it comes to this year's squad, and Twitter is a great place to vent those frustrations. But it goes beyond "venting", extending into an area of negativity that oftentimes stems from complete nonsense.
The 2018 Yankees do not suck. Sure, like I said earlier, being just five games over .500 since July 20th isn't great. However, having a .545 winning percentage is not horrible. Especially when they played .653 ball before the break, giving them the ability to be merely "okay" for nearly two months and still be in a good position to host the Wild Card game.
Here's more proof that the 2018 Yankees do not stink...
Batting
1st in home runs (37 homers ahead of 2nd place Oakland)
2nd most runs scored
2nd best wRC+
3rd best batting WAR
2nd best wOBA
4th best OPS+
Pitching
4th best ERA
3rd best ERA+
2nd best FIP
2nd best pitching WAR
2nd best K/9
By the way, some of you may scoff at the idea of even playing in the Wild Card game, let alone hosting it. But let me remind you that the main reason they are in that position is because the Boston Red Sox are in the midst of a historically great season. One that is seen very rarely in Major League Baseball. If it weren't for the Sox having such a season, there's a good chance the Yankees would be 2.5 games behind the Houston Astros to clinch the best record in the league.
Oh, and I guarantee you, if any other team but the Red Sox were having this type of season, the Yankees woes wouldn't be magnified nearly as much. Any problem the Yankees are having is multiplied ten-fold when they are looking up at Boston, whether it be for the division crown or in any one of the 19 games they play during the season.
I kind of get that, but many "fans" lose perspective when evaluating things.
Look at it this way...
There's a difference between criticizing someone you don't know and criticizing... say... your spouse. Real fans criticize the Yankees like you would a loved one, whereas "fans" criticize the Yankees like you would a complete stranger.
Don't fall into that latter group.
Follow me on Twitter at @BryanVanDusen