Showing posts with label ESPN Radio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ESPN Radio. Show all posts

June 13, 2007

Underdogs Instead Of Underachievers

While listening to ESPN's Mike & Mike this morning, Mike Greenberg gave a brief re-cap of the Yankees victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks Tuesday night. Immediately, Mike Golic sarcastically asked "Did they pick up a game against Boston?" The answer of course, is no. He further went on to state that it would take a "colossal" failure on the part of Boston for the Yankees to overtake them and that the wild card was a more reasonable objective for this Yankees team. His tone didn’t suggest confidence for either of those scenarios happening.

Everything Mike Golic stated could very well be true, and the Bombers could wind up bombing even worse than they did for the first two months of this season, injuries or not. However, according to this writer's eye, this team has apparently hit its stride and looks as if they are ready to pounce. Pounce on what, I'm not sure. But, if the wildcard is what they need to shoot for in order to make it to the post season, then so be it. Nobody sneered at the Boston Red Sox when they won the World Series as a wild card team. For some reason, now that the Yankees find themselves in that position where they can only reasonably shoot for the lower tier berth for a chance at the post season, everyone is quick to mock them.

After all is said and done, no one can predict what is going to happen this season. The Yankees, if they continue to persevere, can win the division. With one hundred or so games left, and with solid pitching from their rotation, and maybe a key trade come the July 31st deadline, this team is perfectly capable of of over-taking Boston. There is no rule which states that teams can't continue to surge after they begin to surge. In other words, there’s no reason to suspect that they won’t stop playing this well after they’ve only recently started to play better baseball.

This combined pack of pinstriped mercenaries and homegrown winners constitute a ball club with not only big money contracts, but top shelf talent. They've already been beaten down by injuries, plagued with poor play and listlessness. But, Joe Torre, the man with his hand on the magic buttons which he pushed to orchestrate his teams from 1996 to 2000 to World Championships, has pushed these buttons again, more frantically than before, and many more times, and he seems to have programmed this group to play cohesively and to pitch like a true, professional, Major League starting rotation. It doesn’t hurt that they also have a lineup which can pound an opposing team’s pitcher for six or seven runs per game. The acquisition of Roger Clemens also has brought some momentum to this heretofore inert team. However short lived this momentum that The Rocket brought with him to the Bronx lasts, they now have a fighting chance with him here.

It has been said that there is a sign in the Yankees clubhouse at Legends Field in Tampa which states "Unless you're the lead dog, the view never changes." Well, the Yankees are no longer the lead dog in this race. This writer prefers to think of them now as underdogs. There's a lot to be said for underdogs; and, fans tend to root for the underdog. The question is, will the spoiled Yankees fan root for them?

May 22, 2007

NY Yankees: Plenty Of Baseball Left

The Yankees looked aggressive Monday night against Boston. While they did win 6-2, they left the equivalent of the population of a small city of base runners stranded on base. However, I liked the fact that they ran on Tim Wakefield. Granted, Wakefield’s delivery is slow, and he pitches like he's a union employee on overtime. But, it was a good way to follow up on Tyler Clippard's excellent start against the Mets the day before. If they can keep this type of play up, win or lose, then this writer can keep respecting them as a team.

As Johnny Damon said while being interviewed on the field after the game "We need the fans to rally behind us." Johnny is good in the clubhouse, and he's capable of helping to lead a team of "idiots" to the World Series for an historic win. Maybe his attitude last night can help lead desperate fans who are crying for Torre's head back to their TV sets and to the stadium as the Yankees try as the team tries to piece together a respectable season and a possible post-season run.

As for the fans and writers calling for Torre’s head, I have an answer for them. Let him manage this season until it is over and done with. Its way too early, and he deserves the right to finish the season on his past accomplishments alone and not to be let go because of an almost historic run of bad luck and because of sloppy and desultory performance from some players. Torre has always been praised for pressing the right "buttons" to make his team work. He may have been pressing them a bit frantically last night, like someone dialing nine-one-one, but he pushed the right ones, got the running game going, and got decent pitching from Chien-Ming Wang. That's enough for one ball game, but it also may also be enough to convince his players that the rest of the season is worth fighting for.

Terry Francona, when interviewed by Michael Kay before the game Monday night on ESPN was quick to say the right things. Eager to avoid being quoted in every newspaper, website, and blog across the nation as being boastful, pointed out earnestly that “There’s plenty of baseball left to play.” He was also quick to note that the Yankees “Will heat up soon” or words to that effect. Essentially, Francona was trying hard not to run around with his arms in the air shouting “Yee Ha! The Yankees are toast!” Francona also doesn’t want his team to lean back and take a break and allow the Yankees to somehow catch up to them. They have their own historic comeback, being down three games to none in the 2004 ALCS to refer to in terms of realizing historic upsets.

Francona may very well be right. The Yankees can make a comeback, and it’s too early for them to consider the Yankees out of the race. A week ago, this writer would have thought the entire season was doomed. After last night’s game, the Red Sox remained a comfortable 9 ½ games ahead of their bitter, division rivals. There’s a lot of breathing room still between them and the Bombers. However, a wildcard berth for the Yankees is very probable for the Yankees, and Francona knows that. Also, we all remember the 1978 Yankees who overcame a fourteen game deficit and eventually won their division.

If Boston has to face a Yankees team with a healthy starting lineup consisting of Roger Clemens, Chien-Ming Wang, Andy Pettitte, Mike Mussina, and possibly Phil Hughes in July through August, and, if the Yankees, who appear to awakening from their slumber, continue to play hard, things may not be so easy for the Red Sox down the road. The Yankees have had more than their fair share of injuries to their starting rotation, while the Red Sox currently have only one of their starters on the disabled list. That pitcher is Josh Beckett. As Terry Francona also stated in his interview Monday evening: “It’s good to play well early, but it’s also good to be playing well late in the season,” or words to that effect. Also, there's the possibility that the "injury bug" may catch up to the Red Sox as well. This writer hopes it doesn't as one does not hope for injuries either to the team you're rooting for, or their opponents. However, realistically speaking, such is the game of baseball. Injuries do happen, and at times with alarming regularity.

Last season, the Red Sox lost key players to injuries and finished the season in third place. No doubt that bit of history hasn't been forgotten either by the Red Sox management, or in their clubhouse. Maybe that is why Francona was reluctant to celebrate an early win for his team in the AL East. This writer doesn’t carry a tape recorder in his car and is unable to quote either Michael Kay or Terry Francona directly; but, the message Francona was making was clear. The Yankees can still be a formidable opponent, anyone on his team can succumb to injuries at any time, and there’s plenty of baseball left to play.