Blogs – Page 119 – Keefe To The City

Apr 16, 2019

Yankees Fans Need to Keep Their Mouths Shut When It Comes to the Red Sox

Until the Yankees win the World Series, no fan, player or person associated with the team should comment on the Red Sox.

For the first 18 years of my life, I enjoyed the fact no Red Sox fan could say anything to me regarding the rivalry with the Yankees. Nothing. Not one word.

That all changed in October 2004 in a week, a series, a month, a season, a calendar year I wish I could permanently erase from my memory. The comical “Yankees suck” chants suddenly had meaning as the “1918” were gone forever. The world, not just the baseball world, felt weird, in a bad way.

I will never get over what happened nearly 15 years ago. Never. But I certainly didn’t want new a memory like that. I didn’t want the Yankees to play the Red Sox in the 2018 playoffs, for the fear of a new memory like the traumatizing old one to be created. I wrote about it prior to the start of the ALDS.

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I won’t feel well walking into Fenway Park on Friday night. Even though I have been to countless Yankees-Red Sox games since it happened, this is different. It being Monday, Oct. 18, 2004.

Over the last nearly 14 years when I enter Fenway Park, I glance over toward the Pesky Pole, where I sat on that miserable night, and the memories come rushing back. I can still see Bernie Williams’ solo home run clearing the wall in right field and Derek Jeter’s bases-loaded, bases-clearing double rattle around in the corner. I see David Ortiz’s solo home run flying over the Green Monster and Dave Roberts tagging up to score on Jason Varitek’s sacrifice fly to center. I can see the old left-center field scoreboard to the right of the Green Monster at Fenway Park that would display both team’s lineups and it would place an asterisk next to the batter that was up in the game and I can see the asterisk changing places a sI counted how many names the asterisk had to go before reaching “Manny Ramirez” and “David Ortiz” in extra innings. I can see Tony Clark’s should-have-been go-ahead double bouncing over the fence right in front of me and Ruben Sierra being forced to hold up at third. And of course, I can see David Ortiz’s walk-off line drive floating in the air towards center field wondering if Williams will get to it in time.

Sometimes I like to think about what the baseball world would be like if Joe Torre had brought in Mariano Rivera for a two-inning save rather than waiting to use him until after Tom Gordon had already ruined the game. Would I enter Fenway Park and glance over toward the Pesky Pole and have memories of watching the Yankees celebrate the American League pennant on the field rather than the memories I do have? Would the Red Sox still be without a championship? Would “1918” T-shirts still be relevant? Would this October be the 100th anniversary of the Red Sox’ last World Series title?

After Alex Rodriguez’s retirement in 2016 and Ortiz’s in 2017, no one from either team remains from that game and that series. No one on either team has any connection to the worst collapse or greatest comeback, depending on how you look at it, in postseason history. No one but the fans. This is a new era of Yankees-Red Sox on the field. In the two cities and in homes around the Tri-State area and New England though, it’s a continuation of the storied rivalry and just the next chapter in a history that took a 14-year hiatus.

After Wednesday’s easy AL Wild-Card Game win, I’m unusually confident about the ALDS. I know it’s not wise to be, but I am. Since before the season started and all season long, I have felt that when both teams are healthy, the Yankees are better than the Red Sox.

Unfortunately, during the most important series of the season, the Yankees weren’t healthy. They were without Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez for the four-game series in Boston in August and newly-acquired J.A. Happ, who the Yankees traded for mainly because of his AL East resume and his success against the Red Sox, was unavailable to pitch due to a rare illness. The Yankees were swept in four games, and the division race was over.

But now the Yankees are completely healthy with their full lineup, rotation and bullpen available. Judge is back, Sanchez is back (though really just physically present and not back as the best offensive catcher in baseball) and Happ is lined up to start Game 1 and a potential Game 5. The team is coming off their season-saving win on Wednesday, while the Red Sox haven’t played since Sunday and haven’t played a meaningful game in over a month. The Yankees couldn’t be better set up to not only steal a game in Boston this weekend, but to steal a series against a team that is trying to not be the latest regular-season success story to not get the job done.

The Yankees will see Chris Sale in Game 1 and David Price in Game 2, and those two pitchers will see a lineup that boasts eight right-handed hitters with Didi Gregorius being the lone lefty. The Red Sox traded for Sale to win games like Friday’s and they gave Price the biggest free-agent contract for a pitcher in history win games like Saturday’s. The two have combined for zero postseason wins despite their regular-season accomplishments. Last season, Sale lost as the team’s Game 1 starter and took the loss as a reliever in Game 4, responsible for his team’s elimination, while Price, wasn’t even a member of his team’s rotation, pitching out of the bullpen against the Astros. The amount of pressure on the two this weekend in Boston can’t be described. The team’s best pitcher and the team’s highest-paid player have to prevent the Yankees from winning one of the first two games in Boston.

I should be able to sit back, relax and enjoy this series knowing that the Yankees are the true underdog in the series, facing the best Red Sox team in regular-season history with their 107 wins. But because it’s Yankees-Red Sox, there is no sitting back or relaxing and the only enjoyment will be if the Yankees are still playing baseball next Saturday in either Houston or Cleveland.

When I enter Fenway Park on Friday and Saturday, I will glance over to the Pesky Pole and all the visions of 14 Octobers ago will come back. Next season, when I enter Fenway Park and look around I want to envision the moments from this October, from this series and I want the memories to be winning ones.

***

My worst fear came true. The Yankees were set up to win the series after stealing home-field advantage, and instead were run out of their own building, suffering the worst postseason loss in team history coupled with the worst two-game bullpen management performance baseball has ever seen.

The Yankees suck right now and so do the Red Sox. I keep hearing how the Yankees have an excuse with all their injuries, but the healthy Red Sox have no excuse. What?! The Red Sox have the biggest built-in excuse of all time. They won 108 games last year, won the division, embarrassed the Yankees in the ALDS, crushed the Astros in the ALCS and made everyone question if the National League should even get to play in the World Series after what they did to the Dodgers in five games. The Red Sox can suck all they want. They are the defending world champions.

The amount of laughter and sarcasm from Yankees fans at the Red Sox’ poor start to the season is sickening and the amount of mentions of the Red Sox’ record by YES is humiliating. The next time any Yankees fan, Yankees player or any person or entity associated with the team should comment on the state of the Red Sox is when the Yankees either beat them in the playoffs or win the World Series.

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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

Blogs • Off Day Dreaming • Yankees

Apr 15, 2019

Off Day Dreaming: When Are the Yankees Going to ‘Turn the Corner’ Aaron Boone Keeps Talking About?

Injuries are the main reason for the Yankees’ start, but poor managing, an inability to hit with runners in scoring position, bad starting pitching and an inconsistent bullpen have helped.

Another step forward, another two steps backs for the Yankees. It’s now a pattern and a pattern of a losing team.

Yes, the injuries are the main reason for the Yankees’ disappointing start against the worst teams in the American League, but injuries aren’t the only reason. Poor managing, an inability to hit with runners in scoring position, bad starting pitching, unacceptable defense and an inconsistent bullpen have helped.

There’s only been three games since the last Yankees off day, which I’m sure upset the front office and Aaron Boone as they were hoping to give the few remaining regulars a scheduled off day in between.

Here are seven thoughts on the Yankees on this off day.

1. How would you feel if you were the manager of the Yankees in the middle of their championship window, and regardless of injuries, your team was 6-9, 0-3 in home series against the Orioles, Tigers and White Sox and despite having the lead in 14 of your team’s 15 games, you were three games under .500? I can’t imagine anyone would feel remotely good about all of that, let alone trying to spin it into a positive at every available opportunity. But when it comes to Aaron Boone, everything is sunshine, rainbows and butterflies for the 2019 Yankees.

“I really do think we’re in a sound place as far as our focus, our energy, our expectation when we walk through those doors.”

That’s what Boone said following Sunday’s atrocious 5-2 loss to the White Sox, in which the Yankees blew yet another lead. Meanwhile, both the Rays (who most Yankees fans are foolishly not worried about) and the Red Sox (who most Yankees fans are laughing at even though they beat the Yankees in the ALDS, won the World Series and basically have the same record as the Yankees right now) both won.

It might be time for Boone to realize 6-9, three games under .500 and getting shut down by mediocre starting pitching isn’t a “sound place” and his team might want to change their “focus” and “energy” since I have no idea what their “expectation” is each game.

2. For as bad as Boone sounded after Sunday’s loss, he might have sounded worse after Friday’s disaster.

Friday’s game began in the rain and with the weather only expected to get worse, there was a good chance a lead after five innings would mean a win. The Yankees had a 4-1 lead through three and a 5-3 lead to begin the fifth.

Through four innings, Happ had allowed four three earned runs on five hits and two walks. Three of those hits had been doubles. And to finish the fourth inning, he went walk, strikeout, walk, double, flyout. The Yankees had just had the day prior off and with a downpour on the way to the Stadium, it made all the sense in the world to try to protect the two-run lead in the fifth.

Boone stayed with Happ. Jose Abreu singled and Yonder Alonso homered to begin the inning. 5-5. Tie game. But the back-to-back line drives weren’t enough to convince Boone to remove Happ, so he let him stay in the game to give up another single to Yoan Moncada. It was that single from Moncada, which finally forced Boone to take his laboring starter out of the game.

Rather than give Jonathan Holder, Boone’s first choice out of the bullpen, a two-run lead to work with or even a clean inning, Boone brings him into the rainy game to face top prospect Eloy Jimenez, who quickly greeted Holder with his first career home run. 7-5, game over.

After the game, Boone was asked if he thought about treating the fifth inning like the end of the game and going to his elite arms. Boone admitted he “thought about” it. However, he talked to Ted Barrett, who said he thought the rain was letting up, so he decided against it.

Who is Barrett, you might ask? A meteorologist? A weather expert? The head groundskeeper? Someone the Yankees employ to strictly advise them on the weather? Nope. Barrett is an umpire. Boone let the umpire’s feel for the weather determine how to manage a game anyone with a weather app or access to the Internet knew would be rain-shortened.

3. Happ better fix whatever is wrong and fast. He has yet to pitch five full innings in three starts with all three of those starts coming against what will be last-place teams. He’s hasn’t just been, he’s been unwatchable, allowed 19 hits, 12 earned runs and four home runs in 12 1/3 innings. Happ’s next start is against the Red Sox — the team he historically dominated leading to the Yankees signing of him. The last time Happ pitched against Boston, he was getting pulled early in Game 1 of the ALDS after giving up a three-run home run in the first inning to J.D. Martinez.

I wish Happ didn’t pitch well for the Yankees after the midseason trade last year. If he doesn’t pitch well, the Yankees either fall to the second wild card or miss the playoffs completely. If they become the second wild card, they have to go to Oakland and most likely lose to the A’s and don’t face the Red Sox in the ALDS. Or they miss the playoffs completely and don’t play the Red Sox in the playoffs. Falling to the second wild card or missing the playoffs would have caused more fans to turn on Boone, potentially putting him on the hot seat for 2019, and the ALDS embarrassment never happens. Then if the Happ experiment in New York had been a failure, they wouldn’t have signed him to a three-year deal this offseason.

It was never the best idea to give a 36-year-old who relies on his fastball a three-year contract, but the Yankees did, and now they are stuck with him. He better turn it around.

4. The Yankees skipped Domingo German’s most recent start because of the off days and CC Sabathia’s return to the rotation. Outside of Tanaka (prior to Sunday), German has been the team’s best starter. Maybe skip J.A. Happ’s start? The 36-year-old could use the extra rest and time to prepare, so he can get more than 13 outs against the Orioles and White Sox. Let German pitch. He’s earned it. Small sample size or not. Then again, I forgot money owed and seniority are more important to playing time than actual performance for the Yankees. It’s been that way forever.

5. Former frustrating Yankee Ivan Nova started for the White Sox on Saturday, and prior to the game, I tweeted the following:

Ivan Nova is starting today. Ivan Nova is an ex-Yankee. What does that mean?

6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K.

What was Nova’s final line? 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K.

How did I know Nova would pitch so well? Sadly, I know the Yankees too well, and unfortunately, ever ex-Yankee performs well against them. Just look at Hideki Matsui, Russell Martin, Robinson Cano, Eduardo Nunez, Steve Pearce, Nathan Eovaldi and the list goes on and on and on.

The Yankees did win Saturday’s game, keeping the White Sox off the board until Nova was removed and they could score against the bullpen. The win was exhausting, like all but one Yankees wins have been this season. I felt like I just worked out for nearly three hours and I was only watching the game.

6. Tyler Wade physically looks like Jacoby Ellsbury. He swings like Ellsbury. He grounds out to the right side like Ellsbury. He runs like Ellsbury. He sucks like Ellsbury.

It’s laughable to think back a few weeks ago when Wade complained about not being on the Opening Day roster and getting sent down to begin the season. Maybe get a hit once in a while or do anything productive at the plate more than once a month and fans will accept your complaint when you aren’t part of the team.

7. I’m a little worried Aaron Hicks isn’t going to be ready for his April 1 return date. That’s not a typo. The Yankees said during spring training, Hicks might be ready for Opening Day, but would most likely be held out until the first game of the second series of the season against the Tigers on April 1. That game was two weeks ago.

Prior to the season, in my individual Yankees over/under blog, I set the amount of games Hicks would play this season at 145, allowing him to miss 17 games. He has already missed 15. Unless he’s in the lineup on Wednesday night against the Red Sox, the under will already be clinched.

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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

Blogs • Off Day Dreaming • Yankees

Apr 11, 2019

Off Day Dreaming: The Yankees Are in Trouble

The Yankees’ season has been two weeks of taking one step forward and two steps back as shown by their disappointing 5-7 record. Here are thoughts on the Yankees on this off day.

The great feeling of Opening Day was erased by back-to-back losses to the Orioles. The series-opening win over the Tigers was erased by two straight losses featuring blown leads. The weekend sweep of the Orioles to get back over .500 was destroyed by a sweep to the Astros. The Yankees’ season has been two weeks of taking one step forward and two steps back as shown by their disappointing 5-7 record.

The bad news is the Rays never lose, and at 10-3, continue to separate themselves from the Yankees with each Yankees loss. The good news is the Yankees are off on Thursday, so they can’t lose.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees on this off day.

1. I’m going to reiterate the first thought I had in last Friday’s Off Day Dreaming blog.

The Yankees are in trouble.When you have Didi Gregorius, Aaron Hicks, Giancarlo Stanton and Miguel Andujar out of your lineup, it’s hard enough to overcome. (Even the loss of Troy Tulowitzki is problematic because it means Tyler Wade needs to play.) Couple those injuries with being 5-7, having gone just 5-4 against the Orioles and Tigers and you have a recipe for disaster. The Yankees’ remaining April schedule is still very favorable as they have two games against the Red Sox and the rest of the month they will play against very bad to mediocre-at-best teams. That’s good because the current Yankees lineup is mediocre at best, but it’s bad because these are games they are supposed to win and games they need to win for the final standings. The Yankees were supposed to build a lead and get fat off their April schedule, instead they are looking to play .500 baseball.

To be completely honest, I would sign up for the first wild card right now. That’s not an overreaction or me giving up on the season. I know we’re seven games into the season, but none of the injured everyday Yankees are expected back any time soon. Gregorius’ best-case scenario is the All-Star break. Hicks just started baseball activities, which means he’s a few weeks away. Stanton isn’t close and season-ending surgery is still in play for Andujar. The Yankees have already exhausted their depth and batting Tyler Wade and Mike Tauchman is basically the equivalent of playing shorthanded in a Central Park softball league and having to take automatic outs at the end of the batting order. Everyone keeps talking about the Yankees’ need to stay afloat until they can get healthy, but they aren’t going to be healthy for a long time. At least if they were guaranteed the first wild card, they would most likely be healthy by then.

2. Everyone keeps talking about the Red Sox’ 3-9 start as if it’s some consolation or an excuse for the Yankees’ poor start. The Red Sox’ atrocious play has nothing to do with the Yankees and the last thing the Yankees or Yankees fans should be concerned with. They steamrolled the Yankees in the playoffs and won the World Series. They can finish in last place this season for all it matters. The Yankees and Yankees fans should worry about themselves.

The Red Sox aren’t even the biggest threat in the AL East. At least not right now. The Rays are 10-3 and there’s a good chance they could be 13-3 after this weekend against the Blue Jays since they apparently know how to take care of business against crap teams. The Rays have the reigning AL Cy Young winner in Blake Snell to go with Tyler Glasnow and Charlie Morton, a dominant opener strategy and a lineup full of nobodies who only gets hits and hit home runs when there are men on base. The Rays are for real and they aren’t going anywhere. The Yankees are 4 1/2 games behind the Rays right now, so if you’re going to worry about or focus on another team’s play, it should be them, not the Red Sox.

3. Let’s stop with the idea the Yankees have the greatest bullpen ever. Outside of Dellin Betances, who isn’t even active, and Adam Ottavino, is there any other reliever on the team you really trust to go out and pitch a scoreless inning? I don’t. Here is my current Yankees Bullpen Level of Trust (on scale of 1-10):

Dellin Betances: 9.1
Adam Ottavino: 8.5
Aroldis Chapman: 6.9
Chad Green: 6.2
Zack Britton: 5.5
Jonathan Holder: 4.3
Luis Cessa: 3.4
Tommy Kahnle: 3.3
Stephen Tarpley: 2.8

The bullpen has blown leads, increased deficits and been a major problem through the first 12 games. Yes, it’s only 7.4 percent of the season, but what was supposed to be the team’s biggest strength is far from that. The Yankees have had a lead in 11 of their 12 games and are 5-7.

4. I trust Joe Harvey right now more than I trust Tommy Kahnle or Stephen Tarpley, and he has 1 1/3 major league innings to his name. Unfortunately, Harvey is going to be the odd-man out when CC Sabathia is activated this weekend. Kahnle and Luis Cessa are out of options, so they are both staying, and the Yankees seem to love Tarpley, even though they have two other left-handed options in the bullpen.

5. I wonder if the Yankees and their pitching staff will ever figure out how to pitch to Jose Altuve. The free-swinging former MVP destroys fastballs and his miniature stature has no impact on his ability to hit them a long way as he showed by hitting four home runs in the Astros’ three-game sweep of the Yankees. Altuve is looking for a first-pitch fastball, and if he gets it, he’s swinging and it doesn’t matter where it is. So if your strategy for some reason is to throw him a first-pitch fastball, it would be ideal to not put it middle-middle for him to send to the MinuteMaid Park train track.

6. Last year at the trade deadline, I called James Paxton “blah” and in the same category as Chris Archer and Michael Fulmer, pitchers who I didn’t think were worth trading for since they wouldn’t really make the Yankees that much better. It was hard to find anyone who shared my perspective. Paxton has been underwhelming at best in three starts as a Yankee with two of those coming against the Orioles. His season line: 15 IP, 20 H, 11 R, 10 ER, 6 BB, 19 K, 3 HR, 6.00 ERA, 1.733 WHIP.

My biggest problem with the Yankees acquiring Paxton wasn’t his performance since he has always pitched well, it was the fact he has never pitched more than 160 1/3 innings in a single season and is good for at least one injured list trip per season. So now not only do I have to worry about Paxton’s seemingly inevitable injured list stint, I also have to worry about his actual performance.

If Paxton had gone to the Astros, there’s no doubt in my mind he would be a Cy Young contender, the way the Astros revitalized Justin Verlander’s career, enhanced Gerrit Cole and figured out how to make Charlie Morton nearly unhittable after a career defined by inconsistency. The Yankees have a reputation of being able to add velocity to their pitchers, but outside of that, any pitcher they acquire through trade or sign as a free agent in the Brian Cashman era hasn’t been able to duplicate their success in pinstripes, other than CC Sabathia (and he was awful for three seasons) and Masahiro Tanaka. Paxton started against the Astros four times in 2018 and went 4-0, allowing six earned runs in 26 1/3 innings (2.05 ERA). He puts on the Yankees uniform and suddenly he allows 11 baserunners in four innings and needs 95 pitches to get 12 outs against the same exact team he dominated last season.

Paxton has another 28 or 29 starts this season, if he stays healthy all season, which he has never done in his baseball career, and there is a lot of time for him to turn it around. It’s going to be a sad day if Justus Sheffield turns into a true front-end starter in the majors and Paxton is anything other than a No. 2 for this team.

7. The icing on the cake in the Yankees-Astros series was Aaron Boone holding Gary Sanchez out of Wednesday’s lineup for leg tightness, only to use him as a pinch hitter late in the game. Apparently, Sanchez was able to have one at-bat, but not multiple at-bats. Here is Sanchez’s schedule since the team’s last exhibition game on March 25:

March 26: OFF
March 27: OFF
March 28: C
March 29: OFF
March 30: C
March 31: C
April 1: C
April 2: OFF
April 3: C
April 4: C
April 5: OFF
April 6: C
April 7: DH
April 8: C
April 9: DH
April 10: OFF (Used as a pinch hitter)
April 11: OFF

Over the last 17 days, Sanchez has had eight games at catcher and two games at designated hitter. He’s had a complete week’s worth of rest through days off in the 17-day period. If Sanchez isn’t in the lineup every game this weekend against the White Sox with another off day on Monday, it better be because he needs to be placed on the injured list.

8. The Yankees don’t just have a mediocre lineup, inconsistent rotation and untrustworthy bullpen right now, they are also the worst fundamental Yankees team I can ever remember. Wild pitches, passed balls, throwing errors, fielding errors, nonsensical bunt attempts with runners on first and third and no outs in the second inning of a game, not running out bunts, misreading line drives, diving for balls and turning outs into singles and singles into doubles, outs on the bases and being unsure of what base to cover as a result of infield shifts. I’m sure I’m missing even more elements to the team’s embarrassing display so far this season.

9. DJ LeMahieu is quickly climbing the list of Yankees I want up in a big spot, and I think right now he’s second only to Aaron Judge. LeMahieu is everything no other Yankee is at the plate as he doesn’t look to hit the ball 500 feet with every swing, he changes his approach as the count changes and he allows the situation of the inning to determine his at-bat. It’s beautiful to watch. And oh yeah, he plays a Gold Glove second base and has been a vacuum at third base.

LeMahieu went 3-for-3 with a double and two RBIs on Wednesday night and is now batting .410/.455/.538, having reached base safely in 11 of 12 games. There’s no reason LeMahieu shouldn’t be batting leadoff until Aaron Hicks returns and possibly even once he returns. Unfortunately, Brett Gardner’s leadoff home run on Wednesday likely made him the leadoff hitter indefinitely. (Let’s be honest, he was going to be the leadoff hitter indefinitely even without the leadoff home run.)

10. I thought the Yankees would be 8-4 right now. I thought 7-2 was a reasonable ask against the Orioles and Tigers and then winning one out of three against the Astros. Or 6-3 against the Orioles and Tigers and winning two out of three against the Astros. Either way, 8-4 was the goal. So they are three games back of the goal. (The goal was created prior to half the team going on the injured list.)

After looking at what the Rays did to the White Sox the last three days in Chicago, a sweep this weekend isn’t a lot to ask for, but I will take a series win. Looking ahead at the Yankees’ remaining April schedule, going 11-6 should be more than doable, which would give them a 16-13 record at the end of the month. By then Stanton and Hicks could either be back or be close to being back, Betances will be back and I’m not sure when Andujar could actually return. (Let’s forget about Troy Tulowitzki since he might never play for the Yankees again.)

The injuries are certainly a big reason why the Yankees have been as bad as they have been in the early going, but the Rays don’t care. They are going to keep winning games with incredible pitching and timely hitting. The Yankees are 4 1/2 games back right now. Last year, it took them winning 18 of 19 to overcome their early-season deficit to the Red Sox, and then once they were unable to keep up their historic pace, they went right back down in the standings. It might still be early with 150 games left in the season, but the deficit in the division, no matter who it’s to, can’t keep growing at the current pace. It could take months to erase a six- or seven-game hole.

The Yankees need to get back the roster they anticipated having for this season and everything should be fine. But first, they need to start winning series with the roster they have.

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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

Blogs • Yankees

Apr 10, 2019

Get Stretched Out for the Yankees’ Upcoming West Coast Trip

Like a reliever stretching his arm out to join the rotation, you need to stretch out your life to watch the Yankees play on the West Coast.

The Yankees still have one game in this three-game series left against the Astros and then a nine-game homestand before they go on a nine-game, 10-day West Coast trip. While there are still nine games until the Yankees’ lengthy road trip, it’s time to start planning for it.

What happens when the Yankees play on the West Coast? Their games start three hours they would normally start. On the upcoming trip that begins on April 22, the Yankees will play four games starting after 10 p.m. ET and two starting after 9 p.m. ET. Most people will try to stay up to watch them, but will likely end up falling asleep in the second inning and wake up to the highlights on YES or the encore presentation in the middle of the night. But if you plan on staying up for those games, the plan starts now.

You wouldn’t ask a middle reliever to start a game and expect him to throw 100 pitches or go six-plus innings and you wouldn’t ask the normal Yankees fan who has a job to get up for to suddenly sleep three less hours. That’s where the plan comes in. Like a reliever stretching his arm out to join the rotation, you need to stretch out your life to watch the Yankees play on the West Coast.

Let’s say the average Yankees game gets over at 10:30 and you go to sleep right at the end of the game at 10:30. If you start staying up 15 minutes later per night starting tonight, you will be awake to see the Yankees play the Angels, Giants and Diamondbacks, and you will be awake to see Mike Trout play baseball.

Wednesday, April 10: 10:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 11: 10:45 p.m.
Friday, April 12: 11:00 p.m.
Saturday, April 13: 11:15 p.m.
Sunday, April 14: 11:30 p.m.
Monday, April 15: 11:45 p.m.
Tuesday, April 16: 12:00 a.m.
Wednesday, April 17: 12:15 a.m.
Thursday, April 18: 12:30 a.m.
Friday, April 19: 12:45 a.m.
Saturday, April 20: 1:00 a.m.
Sunday, April 21: 1:15 a.m.
Monday, April 22: 1:30 a.m.

Follow this plan and get stretched out for the next 12 nights. Or if the Yankees are unable to take care of business against the White Sox this weekend and the Royals next weekend, there won’t be a need to stay up and watch them anyway.

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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

Blogs • NHL • Rangers

Apr 9, 2019

My 2019 Stanley Cup Dilemma

For the second straight year, I don’t have a team to root for in the playoffs, so here are the 16 teams and the order I will be rooting for them over the next two-plus months.

It’s been nearly two years since the Rangers last played in a postseason game. Two years. The worst part is no one knows when they will play their next postseason game.

Unfortunately, the Rangers let their most recent window of opportunity (2011-2016) slam shut without a championship and now they are in a rebuild with their only real high-end talent in the system not even in the system yet. The best prospect the Rangers have isn’t even a player, it’s the No. 2 pick in the 2019 draft, which they miraculously won on Tuesday night. Maybe Jack Hughes or Kappo Kaako will be a true star and the Rangers can win free agency and their slow rebuild can be greatly accelerated. But if it’s not, this likely won’t be the last time I have a “Stanley Cup Dilemma” prior to the Stanley Cup Playoffs starting because I won’t have the Rangers to root for for even a single round in the near future.

Here are the 16 playoff teams and the order I will be rooting for them over the next two-plus months.

1. Sharks
Joe Thornton. He’s who I’m rooting for in these playoffs. I want Jumbo Joe to retire with a Stanley Cup and it will be sad if he’s unable to. Outside of pulling for Henrik Lundqvist to win a Cup, which isn’t going to happen as long as he wants to remain with the Rangers, Thornton is the one other play I desperately want to win. Even after reaching the Final three years ago, this team is his best chance to win a championship. If the Sharks can’t win it this year, it’s not going to happen with Thornton on the team.

2. Stars
Mats Zuccarello. Like his best friend Lundqvist, Zuccarello’s time in New York was wasted by surrounding a strong core with the worst imaginable defense. Zuccarello loved New York and being a Ranger and trade rumors this season negatively affected both his life both on and off the ice. After the Rangers failed to come to terms with him on a contract extension and traded him, seeing him smile when he scored in his first game with the Stars made me smile. If the Stars win, Zuccarello wins and the Rangers win since they will get Dallas’ first-round pick if the Stars win at least two rounds in the playoffs.

3. Predators
The Predators were close two years ago, losing to the Penguins in six games. I have nothing at all against the team (outside of a few bets they lost me this season with some disappointing performances), and P.K. Subban winning it in Nashville wouldn’t go over so well in Montreal.

4. Flames
The Flames are fun to watch and Johnny Gaudreau is my favorite player to watch in the entire the league. Everything he does looks effortless and the numbers he has compiled and resume he has built since entering the league with his size is incredible. Unfortunately, the Flames have Mike Smith in goal, so for as much as I would enjoy seeing them win, it’s going to take a lot of offense, and in the postseason, that’s not something that should be relied on.

5. Golden Knights
I pulled for the Golden Knights last season in their first season and jumped on their postseason bandwagon as a compilation of players other teams didn’t care to protect. I wanted them to deprive the Capitals of a championship, and they weren’t able to, but I will gladly root for them again.

6. Blues
The Blues are the oldest team to never win the Cup. As much as I enjoy championship droughts for teams I despise, I root for them to end for teams I have no relationship with.

7. Avalanche
I have always believed the NHL needs to redo their postseason format. There should be more of a reward for winning your division or being the 1-seed in your conference than one extra home game in a seven-game series. The Lightning just completed what is tied for the best regular season of all time and they have to play a dangerous and deep Blue Jackets team in the first round despite dominating for 82 games and six months. The Avalanche winning would mean yet another 8-seed survived the postseason, like the Kings just as recently as seven years ago, and will only further enforce the idea the current format needs to be changed.

8. Jets
Winnipeg lost its team to Arizona. Yes, Jets fans got their team back, but they deserve to win for Gary Bettman’s “Let’s put hockey in all the southern states” plan.

9. Maple Leafs
The Maple Leafs’ championship drought might not be as long as the Cubs’ and Red Sox’, but to me, it’s actually worse. The Maple Leafs are hockey, and after having gone to Toronto for the season-opening Yankees-Blue Jays series last year, it really hit home how incredible it is the team hasn’t won since 1967. I can’t even imagine what Toronto would be like if the Maple Leafs were to win it all.

The downside is I’m not a Mike Babcock fan, and for the Maple Leafs to win, it means Babcock wins. But at the same time, John Tavares winning the Cup with Toronto would crush Islanders fans, and I’m all for Islanders fans being sad. Also, the Maple Leafs winning would mean they had to beat both the Bruins and Lightning (both teams are at the bottom of this list) to do so, and that works well for my personal fandom.

10. Hurricanes
It makes me sick when the Hurricanes wear the Whalers jerseys. Either change your name to the Carolina Whalers or stop bringing up the nostalgia of hockey in Connecticut. The Hurricanes are a constant reminder of the Whalers’ move and they make me sick.

11. Blue Jackets
At this point, I don’t care if John Tortorella wins again. Yes, he forced Marian Gaborik out of New York for scoring goals instead of blocking shots, and it was Gaborik who led the Kings in scoring in the playoffs in which they beat the Rangers, but if the Blue Jackets win, a lot of worse options from the East won’t.

12. Penguins
I like watching greatness and the Penguins have been just that in the Sidney Crosby era with three championships. So while most Rangers fans despise Crosby and the Penguins, I don’t. He’s a generational talent and on the short list of the best players in the history of the game. I have no problem with him winning a fourth Cup.

13. Capitals
In the never-ending Sidney Crosby-Alexander Ovechkin debate, I have always been Team Crosby. Aside from the career points per game and being an all-around complete player, Crosby’s three Cups to Ovechkin’s now one has always served as support for my argument. I can’t have him winning another one, let alone in back-to-back seasons.

14. Islanders
You’re probably wondering how the Islanders are only 14th out of 16. You’ll see why. Obviously, no Rangers fan could pull for the Islanders to win it all, and I’m certainly not. The only series in which I would root for the Islanders would be if they’re playing the 16th team in the Eastern Conference finals, and then I would root for the Western Conference champion to win the Cup.

15. Bruins
If the Bruins were to win the Cup, it would mean Boston has won the World Series, Super Bowl and Stanley Cup in consecutive. Outside of the Red Sox and Mets meeting in the World Series (since one team would have to win), three straight championships for Boston would be as bad as it gets.

16. Lightning
I’m still sick over having to watch three ex-Yankees, who were all painful to watch as Yankees, in Nathan Eovaldi, Eduardo Nunez and Steve Pearce win a World Series with the Red Sox this past October. All three had a significant hand in beating the Yankees during the regular season and again in the ALDS. I will never get over it.

The same thing nearly happened in the 2014-15 Stanley Cup Playoffs when the Lightning beat the Rangers in Game 7 at the Garden to advance to the Final. Thankfully, the Blackhawks beat the Lightning and Rangers fans were able to avoid having to watch Ryan Callahan, Brian Boyle and Anton Stralman hoist the Cup at the Rangers’ expense.

For the foreseeable future, I have to worry about a similar situation. The Lightning currently have the following ex-Rangers on their team: Callahan, Stralman, Ryan McDonagh, Dan Girardi and J.T. Miller. I can’t have the Lightning winning the Cup this season or any season in which those names are still on their roster. Sure, the Rangers get the Lightning’s first-round pick if they win the Cup, but I don’t care. After Girardi’s disastrous decline with the Rangers, which included him single-handedly giving away games to the Kings in the Final, the last thing I want is to see him holding the Cup over his head.