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Tag: Mariano Rivera

Yankees

Jun 19, 2012

Boston Has Become the Newer New York

Boston and its fans have always hated New York, so isn’t it weird that the city has become everything it’s been against? Mike Miccoli misses the way things used to be.

Here’s something you probably didn’t know about me, even though we may have never met: I’m a Red Sox fan, but I used to root for the New York Yankees.

As a kid growing up in Rhode Island, the Tri-Guido-County areas dictated enemy lines for Yankees and Red Sox fans. Thanks to my lack of geographical direction, I’m not too sure which side I was on, but I knew that I liked rooting for winners, and in the late ‘90s/early 2000s, the Yankees were the biggest winner.

Of course, I was a casual baseball fan back then. By casual, I mean that I watched the team when they were winning, collected Derek Jeter baseball cards and may or may not have bought a red Yankees cap, similar to the one Fred Durst wore. I was, unfortunately, the poster boy for pink hat fan’s as a teenager. But with hockey and football as my sports, I thought it was somewhat acceptable to root for a baseball team who just won all the time. It wasn’t like the Bruins or Patriots were winning anything for me … yet.

So what happened to my pink-hat ways? Thankfully, I grew up and moved to Boston where the city’s culture forced me to become a baseball junkie (as did years of fantasy baseball). The move forced me to turn in my pink, I mean red Yankees hat for a Red Sox hat. I resisted at first – seriously, I did – before succumbing to the pressures of my friends and the city.

The Red Sox were the perennial underdogs; a group of guys who you could get behind, not because they were a team of All-Stars or the highest-paid players, but because they wanted to win, and erase lifetimes of losing in Boston. The team had been consistently deserving of a “Good job, good effort” meme up until 2004, and it was endearing. But in 2004, everything changed, and then, for good measure, everything changed again in 2007.

Along with the Patriots, the Red Sox became the toast of the town, while the Bruins and Celtics wallowed in mediocrity, turning around the city’s sports focus. The change lasted until 2008 when the Celtics won and earned back their respect and the Bruins regained their status after winning in 2011.

In the span of 10 years, Boston sports teams claimed a total of seven championships. Prior to 2002 (when the Patriots won their first Super Bowl) it might have taken the city of Boston 30 years to reach that number, and it would have only been because of the Celtics’ torrid run in the late 70s and 80s, and the Bruins sole Cup in ‘72.

After the seven titles, Boston wasn’t the home of the underdog anymore. The city and its teams became the favorites. Boston was the city with the parades, the highest payrolls and the seemingly sold-out games. Everyone was a fan, too – for better or worse. And by winning, Boston got what they’ve always wanted: to be exactly like New York.

Championships do strange things to teams and in turn, cities. Win a few and you’ll have a target on your back for years to come. The same fans who might have been rooting for the Patriots to upset the Rams, the Red Sox to stun the Yankees right before sweeping the Cardinals, the Celtics to silence the Lakers and the Bruins to shock the Canucks, probably despise those teams now. And can you blame them? Pair those wins with embarrassing moments like Spygate (ugh), White Housegate (ugh) and Bobby Valentine (UGH), and what do you expect to happen?

In becoming New York, the Boston sports scene turned into everything Boston sports fans hated about their rival city. And now, New York’s teams and players have become … umm … well, likeable. Right now I could say something positive about every New York team sans the Jets, because frankly, the Jets are still the worst. But this was never the case before. When the Bruins were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round, who did I root for? The Rangers: a New York team I grew up hating.

While Boston still has plenty of likeable, hard-working athletes there are a hell of a lot of guys who are considered to be flat-out jerks. New York doesn’t have that same stigma anymore. New York has the universally appreciated Henrik Lundqvist, Ryan Callahan, Victor Cruz and Curtis Granderson, and Jeter and Mariano Rivera are on an even higher level. Sure, New York still boasts some jerks, but the bad apples are clearly outnumbered.

It’s become the complete opposite in Boston. Yes, there’s Patrice Bergeron, Paul Pierce and Dustin Pedroia, but take a look around at fans from the sports world fans and look at how many non-Bostonians hate Boston athletes. How many outsiders are cheering for Tom Brady nowadays? Or what about Tim Thomas? Feel-good stories (like the ones Brady and Thomas shared) get tainted once the ultimate goal is reached and not reached repeatedly, and those two former postseason heroes are experiencing that now have postseason failures.

I guess this is all part of the unspoken trade-off for success: win championships and you will be hated. I get it. But if Boston is going to be New York, the only thing I want to know is if we can give some of our bandwagon fans to New York? We never asked for them.

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Blogs • Yankees

Jun 11, 2012

Subway Series Diary, Part I

It was a beautiful weekend full of winning as the Yankees swept the Mets at the Stadium in the first part of the Subway Series.

Meet the Mets, Meets the Mets, Step right up and greet the Mets! Bring your kiddies, bring your wife; Guaranteed to have the time of your life! Because the Mets are really sockin’ the ball; knocking those home runs over the … OK, I’ll stop.

What a weekend that was. A Subway Series sweep (the first for the Yankees since 2009 and the first in the Bronx since 2003), as the Yankees keep pace with the Rays while the Mets season is following the blueprint of Mets seasons since 2007.

I feel weird calling this a diary since I have never had a diary before. I remember in elementary school when we were forced to have a “journal” in one of those black-and-white Mead notebooks (FYI: Brian Monzo still uses one of those notebooks to keep contact information for guests for WFAN and NHL Live. Hey Monzo, it’s 2012. There are electronic devices to keep this information on.) The word diary makes me feel like a junior high school girl writing in a pink book with a pink pen that has a feather attached to the top of it, but luckily I can’t store this under my pillow or mattress. I couldn’t use “Retro Recap” like I do for other things since this isn’t a play-by-play blow of what happened at the Stadium. It’s more of, well, a diary.

FRIDAY
I was in the Stadium for this one and I actually thought Hiroki Kuroda was going to pitch a no-hitter. I might need to rethink my “Coin Flip Kuroda” nickname for Hiroki since he hasn’t been much of a coin flip lately. In his last three starts, he’s allowed 12 hits and two earned runs in 22 innings. He has caught fire along with Phil Hughes and Ivan Nova, and if CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte can just do what’s expected of them, the wins are going to start mounting even more than they have over the last 16 games.

I have seen my fair share of one-hitters, but I have never seen a no-hitter in person, and the Mets’ swings against Kuroda were that bad that it looked like we might be watching something special happen in the second start in a row for Johan Santana, except for the good guys.

I’m not sure how many games I have been at for back-to-back-to-back home runs, but I remember the Sheffield-Rodriguez-Matsui back-to-back-to-back home runs in that 13-run eighth inning in the epic comeback against Tampa Bay on June 21, 2005. I was in Fenway Park for Chase Wright to allow back-to-back-to-back-to-back bombs to Manny Ramirez, J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek on April 22, 2007. And even though it wasn’t back-to-back-to-back or back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs, the three grand slams against the A’s at the Stadium on Aug. 25 last year were even better. My only wish on Friday night was that Raul Ibanez would have followed Andruw Jones’ blast for four straight to put a dent in the awful memory of Chase Wright’s night.

SATURDAY
Phil Hughes has to figure out this home run problem because it’s a problem. Hughes has now allowed at least one home run in all 12 of his starts this year (15 total), which projects out to 40 home runs if he makes 32 starts this season. Now the home runs he allowed on Saturday night were both solo shots and the Yankees were able to overcome them, but this can’t continue.

Do you remember the season when Jason Bay hit 36 home runs and 119 RBIs for the Red Sox and led the AL MVP conversation for a large part of the year? I’m not making it up. It really happened. I swear! How many times does a day does Bay think about what could have been had he accepted the Red Sox’ $60 million rather than the Mets’ $66 million? I’m going to set the over/under at 5.5 times per day. And while that $6 million does represent 10 percent more money, I don’t think what he has endured with the Mets has been worth it, and I think he would tell you the same thing. (Unless he likes his name being linked to the term “designated for assignment” and he likes sucking and losing, then maybe he will tell you it was worth the $6 million.)

Bay was a force in Boston. He hit 45 home runs and drove in 156 runs in 200 games with the Red Sox, he hit in the clutch and he produced instantly after being asked to fill the void left by Manny Ramirez. Bay peppered the Green Monster and killed the Yankees. I was sitting behind home plate at Fenway on April 24, 2009 when Bay hit a game-tying, two-run home run to dead center off Mariano Rivera. I feel like Bay in a Red Sox uniform on Saturday night, as the tying run at the plate in the ninth inning would have hit that first-pitch fastball from Rafael Soriano out. But in a Mets uniform, Bay just isn’t the same player. I’m glad 2009 Jason Bay no longer exists.

It’s hard to find people who enjoy the way Joe Buck and Tim McCarver call a game. I’m actually still searching to find one person. I don’t really enjoy their broadcasts, but Joe Buck’s voice does give any game a big-game feel to it whether or not you agree with the things he says or his lack of enthusiasm for major moments. Whenever you hear Buck’s voice it gives the game a playoff atmosphere and some extra juice. Tim McCarver, on the other hand, has become the Jason Bay of color commentating. McCarver calls people by the wrong names, and gives incorrect stats and facts all the time, which never surprises me. But even I couldn’t believe it when in the late innings on Saturday he said that he “thinks David Wright is a bigger threat than Andres Torres.” Really, Tim? Really? Well, in that case, I think high-definition TV is better than standard-definition TV.

SUNDAY
It was a big deal to me when the Yankees traded A.J. Burnett to the Pirates because I hated Burnett on the Yankees more than anyone. But I didn’t realize how much bigger of a deal it was going to be to not have him on the team than I do now. There wasn’t going to be enough room in my life for both Burnett and Nick Swisher to be on the Yankees, and there wasn’t going to be enough space for my anger (or tweets and the Internet has infinite space) had they both been on the team this season.

Nick Swisher can’t be serious, can he? Two on and no one out in the second inning, and he BUNTS against Jonathon Niese. Not only does he bunt, but he bunts into a force out at third base. Here are some questions I have about Swisher’s decision.

1. Why are you bunting in the second inning of a game you’re already trailing by three runs in?

2. The theory behind Swisher is that he doesn’t hit good/elite pitching, so why would he be giving himself up against Jonathon Niese who isn’t a front-end starter?

3. Nick Swisher isn’t good at playing fundamental baseball and he might have the lowest Baseball IQ in Major League Baseball. This isn’t the first time this has happened with Swisher. He once bunted, on his own, a runner from second over to third with one out already in the inning. So how has no one on the team told him to never bunt under any circumstance?

4. Andy Pettitte just gave up three runs. The Yankees follow that with a four-pitch walk from A-Rod and a single from Cano. Two on and no one out and Niese feeling the pressure of the Yankees’ lineup combined with trying to be the stopper of a losing streak and trying to prevent the sweep in front of a sold-out Yankee Stadium. Why would you let him off the hook and help him settle down and give away that first out? After Swisher’s bunt, Niese struck out Jones and Martin to end the inning. Why would you give away an out in that spot? Why?!?!

I have had it with Nick Swisher. Only a big hit in the postseason could change my feelings and opinion on him at this point, and we all know that’s not happening. And even though I like to have a good time with Michael Kay’s broadcasting techniques, I thoroughly enjoyed him taking subtle shots at Swisher about the bunt on Sunday.

Clay Rapada needs to stop pitching in high-leverage situations. Seriously, make it stop, Joe. Rapada is not good. It’s June 11 and he has made it over two months longer on this team than anyone originally thought. He has more walks (12) than (10) strikeouts in 16 1/3 innings, and I trust him less than I ever trusted Jose Veras. At what point do we decide that Rapada shouldn’t be pitching in high-leverage situations let alone be on the team? Or are we just waiting for him to implode and cost the Yankees in a big spot before we realize that he isn’t trustworthy? (How is there no better option than Rapada in the minors?) I know Sweeny Murti would tell me he is the 25th man on the roster (or 24th if you think Cody Eppley is the 25th), but the 25th man shouldn’t be trying to preserve a one-run lead in the late innings.

How awkward is the Joe Girardi-Terry Collins Dunkin’ Donuts commercial? I would feel more comfortable letting Rapada save a game against the Red Sox than I do watching that commercial. It makes the Joe Torre-Willie Randolph Subway commercial from a few years back seem normal. I hope Girardi enjoys that Dunkin Iced Caramel he’s sipping on.

I have gained a lot of confidence in Boone Logan. A year or two ago I wouldn’t have written that sentence if you had a gun to my head. Part of my confidence in Logan is because I don’t have a choice but to be confident in him. With Rivera and Robertson out, Logan (or Wade) has become the best reliever outside of Rafael Soriano. When you think about the Yankees’ RISP and bases-loaded issues coupled with the names that are running out of the bullpen in to hold leads, I would have thought they would be in the Red Sox’ position in the standings. (Let’s all take a second to laugh at the current state of the Red Sox.) But what is that line about not being able to predict something that some broadcasting duo always says?

What an amazing play by the fan in right field on Russell Martin’s two-run home run. Too many times do fans of the home crowd not give it their all to help their team, but the guy that made the catch from keeping the ball from going back on the field deserves some free tickets or some memorabilia or batting practice with the team on the next homestand. After seeing the replay, if that guy doesn’t make that catch they might only score one run, or worse, it could have been second and third with two outs.

There isn’t a Yankees fan that didn’t hear a Mets fan complain about Yankee Stadium being a “bandbox” and allowing “cheap home runs” over the weekend. Yankee Stadium was built for strikeout pitchers and power hitters and what do you know, the Yankees have created a team comprised of strikeout pitchers and power hitters? What an idea! What a concept! How come no one ever complains about the Green Monster or the Pesky Pole, or about Camden Yards, or about the height of the fences in the corners in Anaheim or the short fence in left field at Tropicana Field? I guess no one complains about those fields because at Yankee Stadium the hated dimensions are only present when the Yankees are hitting…

With all the talk over the weekend about how to “fix” the Subway Series (I don’t think it needs to be fixed), you’re certainly not going to get any Mets fans that want the Series to keep the same format. When you have to play six games against the Yankees every year, it’s probably not good for your postseason chances (if the Mets really do have postseason chances).  But on the flip side I enjoy the Series because it’s six games against the Mets, and that means wins, and I like wins, and wins get you to the postseason, so to me, the current format is perfect. I also like the Subway Series because I love what it’s about and I love creating more of a rivalry between the city’s two teams.

A sweep always feels good, but it feels even better when it comes against the Mets, and because of it I want to thank the Good Lord for making me a Yankee fan.

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Blogs

Jun 7, 2012

Something’s Different About Rafael Soriano and Other Thoughts

Thoughts on Rafael Soriano, Tom Coughlin, John Tortorella and the Subway Series in the debut of Thursday Thoughts.

It’s the debut of Thursday Thoughts, which is my way of putting together things that didn’t end up in columns for the week and thoughts that were no more than a paragraph.

Thanks to the great invention of syndication I have the ability to watch Saved By The Bell reruns on MTV2 when I remember they’re on. Last week the episode was on where Kelly leaves Zack for Jeff, in what was the classic college-guy-dating-the-hot-high-school-girl move (I bet Jeff even told Kelly that he loves her), and Zack tries to get back at Kelly by going out with Screech’s smokeshow cousin. Slater asks Screech how he could possibly be related to her, and Screech answers, “She’s adopted,” and it all makes sense for the gang.

Well, I want to know how the Rafael Soriano that was the eighth-inning guy and then the seventh-inning guy and then the eighth-inning guy again could possibly be the same guy who is now pitching so well for the Yankees? The answer? He’s a closer again. It all makes sense.

Here are Soriano’s numbers since taking over as the closer.

8 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 1.13 ERA, .200 BAA, 0.875 WHIP.

Not only has Soriano pitched like a different pitcher since May 10, he looks like a different pitcher too. And on top of all this I feel confident when he comes into games. And on top of that, he’s oddly enough earning his $11 million this year. Here it comes … Is this real life?

Without Mariano Rivera and David Robertson, and with Cody Eppley, Clay Rapada and sometimes Boone Logan and Cory Wade, no one really knew what to make of the Yankees bullpen with the “A” relievers down, but Soriano has been as good as he was in Tampa Bay and Atlanta and as good as we hoped he would be as the setup man last season.

Do you think Brian Cashman has apologized to Soriano or Randy Levine yet now that Soriano might save the season from a bullpen standpoint, or is he still holding a grudge about losing that draft pick? Or maybe no apologies are needed for getting upset about giving a reliever $35 million and two opt-out clauses when no apology was given when $46 million was used for Kei Igawa on your watch?

– Tom Coughlin will be the Giants head coach for at least three more seasons and I couldn’t be happier. I have never had a more complicated love/hate relationship with anyone the way that I do with Tom Coughlin. I have changed my mind on how I feel about Coughlin more times than the Kings, Sabres, Panthers, Canucks and Coyotes have changed uniform colors combined. I know I used the words “second-half collapse” more than I wrote A.J. Burnett’s name in 2011, but I was never wrong about what I said regarding Coughin. I felt as though he would be fired if the Giants failed to make the playoffs again, and I felt that it would be the right move if he was unable to reach the postseason for a third straight season given everything that happened with the team since Plaxico went to the Latin Quarter nightclub in November 2008. But it’s good to know that Coughlin will be in charge of the Giants for at least three more years, so the Bill Cowher rumors can be put to rest and the team can focus on repeating as champions like Victor Cruz said on Wednesday night on the big screen at Yankee Stadium.

– I still haven’t done an end-of-the-year piece or anything for the Rangers yet (probably because the end of the season ended so abruptly after 102 games), but I plan on doing so next week, and hope to get WFAN extraordinaire Brian Monzo to join. But I did see a solid Bob Costas interview with John Tortorella on Monday night in which the two discussed Tortorella’s postseason postgame press conference tactics as well as his relationship with Marian Gaborik and his decision to bench him against the Devils in the conference finals. After seeing Tortorella answer challenging questions at length with the season over and wins and losses behind him, it’s remarkable how different of a person he can be outside the heat of the moment.

I said during the season that Tortorella had to get the team to the conference finals for me to finally jump on the John Tortorella bandwagon and for him to prove himself in New York and move away from banking on what he did in Tampa Bay. I have stayed true to my word. But I still wouldn’t have benched Gaborik.

– Through 57 games the 1998 Yankees were 44-13 and in the middle of a nine-game winning streak. Through 57 games the 2012 Rangers are 33-24 and are 2-5 in June after going 14-14 in May. The Yankees finished the season at 114-48 and won the World Series. The Rangers would have to go 80-24 to match that record and then win the World Series. So why do people insist on saying the 2012 Rangers are the best team since the 1998 Yankees? Am I missing something here? Because I feel like I’m taking crazy pills! I can only hope these comparisons end up the same way the 2011 Red Sox and 1927 Yankees comparisons did.

– The Heat-Celtics series is a win-win situation and a lose-lose situation for all New York fans. It’s a Catch 22 inside being stuck between a rock and a hard place. One of the two most hated NBA teams of New York fans will have their season end short of the Finals and the other will play the Thunder for the title. I haven’t been this torn on who to root for since trying to choose between Billy Costigan and Colin Sullivan in The Departed. It’s a terrible predicament, but there’s only one real way to look at it and that is to pull for the Heat to win the Eastern Conference as awful as that sounds.

If the Celtics win Game 6 or 7 they will be four wins away against a superior, but much less experienced Thunder team. And while no one wants to see LeBron James win a championship, there’s a good chance he will win at some point, so who cares if that some point is now? It’s way better than having Boston inch closer to a championship, which would relieve some of the pain of the Red Sox’ collapse and the Patriots’ Super Bowl loss, and no one wants that. The one downfall of the Heat winning is that it would take two more games, which is three more days (counting the off day) of my friend and Celtics fan Mike Hurley polluting my life with complaints about the officiating. And if the Heat are to win, there will likely be a lot of questionable and controversial fouls that were called or not called and that means days, maybe even weeks or months of Bostonians complaining about NBA refs. The idea of this is making me want the Celtics to win now, but I would never do such a thing.

– I’m happy the Subway Series is meaningful to both sides (at least for the first edition of it in 2012) as much as I don’t want the Mets to succeed. I love and enjoy the six meetings between the Yankees even if there are a lot of people that complain that it isn’t what it used to be in 1997 (these are the same people that complain about how much better things were back in the day or they are the people that will someday complain about how much better things were back in the day). Maybe the Subway Series has lost some of its luster since its inception 15 years ago, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t still fun or entertaining. Most things lose their shine and the new-car smell after a while, but that doesn’t mean you need to get rid of it.

I know the schedules around the league are going to change in the future and there won’t be six Subway Series games anymore, and that’s disappointing. Because the only thing better than the Subway Series is a Subway Series that is lucky enough to get a split-stadium doubleheader.

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Blogs • MLB

Jun 6, 2012

The All-Animosity Team

It’s time for the Third Annual All-Animosity Team, which consists of one player at each position, along with a starting pitcher, a closer and a manager from around the league.

Your team is up by one run in the eighth inning and the bases are loaded with two outs. Who is the last person you want to see coming to the plate?

Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton and Miguel Cabrera would be normal answers for non-Yankees fans, but ask a Yankees fan, and you might get Robert Andino, Carlos Pena or Howie Kendrick. Certain fans fear certain players differently, especially players on rival teams. I don’t feel confident when A-Rod is up against the Red Sox, but I have had Red Sox fans tell me they are scared when A-Rod is up. I could understand Derek Jeter or Robinson Cano (the most common answers), but A-Rod? If I ever get Mark Teixeira as an answer I might pass out.

Players that fan bases are scared of are usually also players that those fan bases hate. They are connected because usually hate players because of something they did to your team though there are times when you just hate a certain player because of who they are.

This brings us to the Third Annual All-Animosity Team, which consists of one player at each position, along with a starting pitcher, a closer and a manager from around the league. The standards to be considered for the team are simple and only one of the following three requirements needs to be met.

1. The person is a Yankee killer.

2. The person plays for the Red Sox.

3. I don’t like the person. (When I say, “I don’t like the person” or if I say, “I hate someone” I mean I don’t like the person who wears a uniform and plays or manages for a Major League Baseball team and not the actual person away from the game. I’m sure some of the people on this list are nice people. I’m glad we got that out of the way since I can already see Player X’s fan base in an uproar about me hating someone who does so much for the community.)

So, here is the 2012 All-Animosity Team with the winners from the previous years also listed.

C – Matt Wieters (2011 – Jarrod Saltalamacchia, 2010 – Jason Varitek)
Here are Wieters’ numbers against the Yankees this season.

14-for-30 (.467), 3 2B, 2 HR, 3 RBIs, .543 OBP, .767 SLG

The bad news is that the Orioles and Yankees still have to play 10 more games against each other this year. The worse news is that Wieters just turned 26 at the end of May. I have many, many, many more seasons of Wieters ruining summer nights for me.

1B – Adrian Gonzalez (2011 – Adrian Gonzalez, 2010 – Kevin Youkilis)
I really wanted to put Justin Morneau in this spot. Why? Well because Morneau is hitting .455/.571/1.273 against the Yankees this season with three home runs and four RBIs in just three games and 11 at-bats and he seems to hit three home runs in every series the Twins play at the Stadium. But Morneau never really stood a chance at making the team over Adrian Gonzalez.

Here are some quotes from Adrian Gonzalez following Game 162 of the 2011 season.

“We didn’t do a better job with the lead. I’m a firm believer that God has a plan and it wasn’t in his plan for us to move forward.”

“God didn’t have it in the cards for us.”

“We play too many night games on getaway days and get into places at 4 in the morning. This has been my toughest season physical because of that. We play a lot of night games on Sunday for television and those things take a lot out of you.”

“They can put the Padres on ESPN, too. The schedule really hurt us. Nobody is really reporting that.”

Forget that Gonzalez plays for the Red Sox. If you like the person who gave those excuses for the reason his team failed to make the playoffs then maybe you need to be on the All-Animosity Team of Life. If a Yankee had blamed the ALDS loss to the Tigers on anyone but themselves I would have turned into Nicolas Cage from any of these scenes.

2B – Dustin Pedroia (2011 – Dustin Pedroia, 2010 – Dustin Pedroia)
I hate to reuse what I wrote about Pedroia in this spot last year, but it still fits perfectly.

Pedroia is like Tom Brady for me. He has that winning instinct that you just don’t see all the time these days, he plays hard and he’s the type of guy you want on your team. But if I didn’t put him here again it would just be weird.

Even though I have a love/hate relationship with Pedroia and wish there was a way to get him on the Yankees while maintaining the same roster (Pedroia at second, Cano to third, A-Rod to DH, anyone?), if I didn’t put him on here people would think I like him, and that’s not the case.

3B – Robert Andino (2011 – Kevin Youkilis, 2010 – Chone Figgins)
(Note: Kevin Youkilis is the only player to make the All-Animosity Team at two different positions. This will likely be written on his All-Animosity Hall of Fame plaque.)

This is probably the only time Robert Andino will be viewed as a scarier hitter than Miguel Cabrera. Actually I know it will be the only time.

Andino is 10-for-27 against the Yankees in 2012, and it has a lot do with the fact that he crushes CC Sabathia (8-for-20, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBIs). Even though I don’t like Andino I will always have a special place for him in my heart for putting the dagger into the Red Sox’ 2011 season (or should I say the 1927 Yankees’ season?).

SS – Jose Reyes (2011 – Jose Reyes, 2010 – Jose Reyes)
I always look to the Red Sox roster before considering anyone else for any of the positions on this team, but when you have a shortstop platoon of Mike Aviles and Nick Punto, it’s hard to really hold any animosity toward them. In fact, I love the Red Sox’ idea of a shortstop platoon to create the superpower that is Mick Avunto. If I’m Ben Cherington, I give them both five-years deals. Why break up a good thing?

Mets fans were worried about Jose Reyes going to the Phillies and he ended up with another division rival in the Marlins. Do you remember hearing things like “The Mets have to re-sign Reyes!” and “I won’t watch a Mets game next year if Reyes leaves” from Mets fans last year? I do. But what happened when Reyes left the Mets for the Marlins and $106 million? The Mets became a likable team. They became a fun team to watch, even for someone like me who hates the Mets.

Jose Reyes was the face of what has gone wrong with the Mets since Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS and he needed to go despite Mets fans thinking he was part of the franchise’s solution rather than part of the problem. But I guess it’s hard to let go of a player Mets fans deemed “The Most Exciting Players in Baseball” even when that player requests to come out of the lineup to protect his batting title.

The season is a third of the way through and Reyes has no home runs and 12 RBIs in 247 plate appearances this season. But hey, Reyes was going to be the future of the Mets!

LF – Delmon Young (2011 – Delmon Young, 2010 – Manny Ramirez)
Delmon Young probably would have been taken off this list, but then he went and hit home runs in Games 1, 3 and 5 of the ALDS. I will never forget John Smoltz’s comment about watching out for a first-pitch fastball from Rafael Soriano to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning after the Yankees had just come back to tie the game with two runs off Verlander. That first-pitch fastball changed the series. I’m just glad David Robertson was sitting in the bullpen after not pitching in Games 1 or 2 and after being rested for the final two weeks of the regular season by Joe Girardi. Now that’s good managing.

CF – Josh Hamilton (2011 – B.J. Upton, 2010 – Vernon Wells)
I think I’m one of the only people that isn’t a Josh Hamilton fan. I get his whole “comeback” story, but if you’re a Yankees fan and you root for Hamilton maybe you forgot about these numbers from the 2010 ALCS.

7-for-20 (.350), 6 R, 1 2B, 4 HR, 7 RBIs, 3 SB, 8 BB, .536 OBP, 1.000 SLG

Do you still like him?

It’s insane that it’s June 6 and Hamilton has 21 HR and 58 RBIs after homering just 25 times in 121 games last year and 32 times in 133 games in his MVP year in 2010.

RF – Jose Bautista (2011 – Magglio Ordonez, 2010 – Magglio Ordonez)
The only way Magglio Ordonez wasn’t going to win this award was if he retired, and that’s what he did. On Sunday the Tigers had Magglio Ordonez Day and everyone was respectful and cheering and some of the Yankees took part in the pregame ceremony by sitting in the dugout and acknowledging the career. I watched the game from the couch and booed as if Ordonez was 50 feet from me in right field.

I have yet to find a Yankees fan that was sad to see A.J. Burnett get traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates, but I’m pretty sure Jose Bautista wasn’t happy about Burnett’s departure from the AL East.

I don’t like Bautista because of what he does against the Yankees and what he does to any wager I place for or against the Blue Jays. If the Blue Jays are somehow in the race for the division down the stretch, I will have no choice but to bet on them every game to ensure that Jose Bautista does absolutely nothing.

SP – Josh Beckett (2011 – Josh Beckett, 2010 – Josh Beckett)
There’s no one who will ever take this award from Josh Beckett. If Jered Weaver drilled Derek Jeter and forced him to miss a significant amount of time he still wouldn’t be in the conversation even when you combine such a terrible act with his relation to Jeff Weaver. Now if Jered Weaver injured Jeter for a lengthy period of time and then upon Jeter’s return he injured him again for another lengthy period of time, then maybe we can talk about replacing Josh Beckett here.

The thing that takes the fun out of Beckett being my No. 1 Most Hated Athlete To Look At (which is completely separate from being on the All-Animosity Team) is that the city he plays for hates him. The same city he won a World Series for in 2007. Red Sox fans obviously want him to pitch well so the team wins when he starts, but at the same time they aren’t upset when he loses. It’s a beautiful thing.

CL – Jose Valverde (2011 – Jonathan Papelbon, 2010 – Jonathan Papelbon)
Goodbye, Jonathan Papelbon. It was fun (not really). Now it’s time to say “Hello” to Jose Valverde.

I don’t know if I will ever get over the fact that the Yankees faced him three times in the ALDS and didn’t get him to blow any of the three games. This ultimately led to the Yankees’ demise, well this along with the heart of the order’s inability to hit with runners in scoring position and failure to get the big hit, and CC Sabathia coming up short twice and Joe Girardi using Luis Ayala more than David Robertson.

There can’t be any fan base that likes Valverde aside from Tigers fans. There just can’t be. No one wants to see Valverde succeed with the amount of time he takes between pitches and his version of the Electric Slide that he does after successfully converting a save. But maybe other fan bases don’t hate him as much as Yankees fans because we’re used to seeing Mariano Rivera walk toward home plate and shake the catcher’s hand after a save rather than moonwalk across the mound or dance like your wild uncle at a wedding who hung out at the bar for the first three hours and is hearing “Call Me Maybe” for the first time.

Valverde’s perfect season of going 49-for-49 in save opportunities was hard to watch, but I’m glad he has come back to his old self in 2012 with a 4.64 ERA and 1.594 WHIP.

Manager – Bobby Valentine (2011 – Mike Scioscia, 2010 – Joe Maddon)
Did any other manager have a chance? In a league that boasts hipster Joe Maddon, the genius Mike Scioscia and Fidel Castro supporter Ozzie Guillen, it’s Bobby Valentine who stands alone.

Whether it’s Bobby V taking shots at the Yankees during spring training or having stories written about him building a fence in the offseason (I helped my dad build a deck last summer and no one wrote a story about me), or doing weekly spots on 1050 ESPN Radio in New York, or calling out Kevin Youkilis for really no reason or supporting Josh Beckett playing golf after missing a start due to a back problem, there’s always a reason to dislike Bobby.

I just want to take this time to thank the Red Sox ownership group for not letting their new general manager do his job and for going over his head and making Bobby Valentine their manager. Thank you.

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Blogs • Yankees

Jan 18, 2012

Goodbye, Jorge Posada

The closest I have ever come to meeting Jorge Posada was on Oct. 17, 2004. How do I remember the date? Because it was the night the Yankees lost Game 4 of the ALCS. I

The closest I have ever come to meeting Jorge Posada was on Oct. 17, 2004. How do I remember the date? Because it was the night the Yankees lost Game 4 of the ALCS.

I was a freshman in college in Boston and my friend Scanlon and I were walking down the street from our Beacon Hill dorm recapping what had just unfolded in the ninth inning and then the 12th inning. The Yankees were staying at a hotel in Downtown Crossing right down the street from our dorm and we were standing on a corner recapping the events of the loss, knowing that it hurt, but that a 3-1 lead was insurmountable for the Red Sox.

The Red Sox tied Game 4 on a stolen base by Dave Roberts, but that night it was just another stolen base among the many other stolen bases in postseason history. It hadn’t become a play that haunts my life or a scene that’s enshrined as you walk down the hall to the Fenway Park press box. Dave Roberts was still just some 32-year-old veteran the Red Sox acquired at the deadline. Sure, he stole second and scored the tying run in an elimination game, but who cared? The Red Sox’ win in Game 4 was just prolonging the inevitable.

Scanlon and I stood on a street corner in Downtown Crossing while he smoked a cigarette realizing that the Red Sox had Pedro Martinez and Curt Schilling lined up for Games 5 and 6 and possibly Derek Lowe on short rest in Game 7 if the series had to go that far. But I reassured a nervous Scanlon that the Yankees just had to win one game before the Red Sox won three.

As we stood on the corner and talked, I remember Scanlon’s face growing with shock as he looked over my shoulder and then at me before giving me one nod to let me know someone was behind me on the sidewalk we were partially blocking. I turned around and standing in front of us was Jorge Posada, who had just gotten out of a cab and was trying to walk down the middle of the sidewalk we were occupying. We moved aside and Posada walked past us without saying a word. He didn’t look mad, but he didn’t look happy. He looked serious and determined, but also worried. Or maybe I only remember him as looking worried since I now know what happened over the next three nights. At the time no one could have known what would happen in Games 5, 6 and 7, but that night after Game 4 with Jorge standing dead quiet right in front of us and waiting for us to move, it was almost like he knew the Yankees were on the ropes, the same way Joe Torre described the feeling of nowhere to turn in The Yankee Years.

I knew I would eventually have to write this. And I know I will eventually have to write about the end of Derek Jeter’s career and the end of Mariano Rivera’s career. (I’m holding out hope that they both find a way to play until they’re at least 65. It’s not that unrealistic for Rivera at this point.)

There aren’t any other franchises or fan bases that have ever had the chance to experience what the trio of Jeter, Rivera and Posada meant to Yankees fans for the last 20 years. The three of them first played together in the minors in 1992, and now two decades and five championships later, the first of the three says goodbye to Yankees fans. So, this is my chance to say goodbye to Jorge Posada.

I was eight years old when Jorge Posada played his first game as a Yankee, 17 Septembers ago. I will be 25 for the start of the 2012 season, the first season without Jorge Posada on the roster since I was in fourth grade.

“The only thing that matters is when the team wins.”

Jorge Posada was the pulse of the Yankees during the 15 of 17 years he played a significant amount of games. He wore the team’s recent result on his sleeve and in his postgame remarks. You didn’t need to see the game to know if the Yankees were riding a seven-game winning streak or if they had just dropped a series at home by watching Posada during the postgame or reading his quotes the following day. He wouldn’t give the vanilla and automated answers that Derek Jeter gives or sugarcoat things like Joe Torre did or Joe Girardi does. Posada was in many ways the voice of the fan, and if things were going bad, he let everyone know almost as if he were the most prominent sports radio caller.

That’s what I loved about Posada. He would tell it like is. A win was satisfying, but that feeling would only last until the next game. A loss was devastating and that feeling would last until the next win. Posada always carried the personality of the fans, or at least the fans that give the Yankees 162 days and nights of their attention and then October, and those that live and die with each win and each loss throughout the season.

“Growing up, I kind of liked the way he (Thurman Munson) played. I didn’t see much of him, but I remember him being a leader. I remember him really standing up for his teammates, and that really caught my eye.”

“If I see a problem (in the clubhouse), I say something right away. I don’t wait two or three days.”

Even though he was part of the Core Four, it always seemed like he took a backseat to No. 2 and No. 42 and Andy Pettitte.

Jeter’s the “Captain” and the face of the franchise, the homegrown wonder and the universal symbol of a winner.

Rivera is the greatest closer of all time, as close of a lock and guarantee that there is in baseball and the king of cool with no emotions and no signs of fading even in his 40s.

Pettitte was the homegrown lefty that won more postseason games than anyone else in the history of baseball, along with Rivera produced the most wins-saves combination for any starter-closer duo in history and was always there for Game 2 of any postseason series.

Posada was the starting catcher for all this time, loved by the fans, showered with “Hip, Hip” chants and the visual leader on the field and in the clubhouse. But outside of the tri-state area it always seemed like he didn’t receive the credit and attention that the other three garnered.

You could make the case that Posada was the most important Yankee of the dynasty since reaching the majors. Think about this: The Yankees have made the postseason every season since 1995 except 2008 when Posada’s season was cut short in July for shoulder surgery.

“I’m a lot older. I’m wiser. I know what to do now, and hopefully, I don’t get in (anybody’s) way.”

“Some of the guys don’t like to come out of the lineup. I’m one of them.”

Eventually people won’t talk or care about Posada’s 2011. Yes, it happened and there were some low points, but it did nothing to impact his legacy with the Yankees or change what he accomplished in his career with the team. His 2011 started great, got bad, got worse, got better, got worse, got better and finished great.

We watched Posada start the year with six home runs in his first 16 games. We watched him go 9-for-72 (.125) in April and 14-for-64 (.219) in May. On June 7 he was hitting .195 before going 22-for-63 (.349) from June 9 to July 5 to raise his average to .241. In August he lost his full-time designated hitter job and became part of a platoon before being benched indefinitely. He returned to the lineup on Aug. 13 against Tampa Bay after a week off and went 3-for-5 with a grand slam and six RBIs in the Yankees’ 9-2 win at the Stadium. He finished the year by clinching a postseason berth for the Yankees on Sept. 21 in the eighth inning of one of the most emotional moments in the early three-year history of the new Stadium (where he also hit the first home run in the new place in 2009.) He finished his last season by 6-for-14 with four walks in the ALDS, battling every pitch and grinding out every at-bat the way he had so many times before.

No one wants to come to the realization that their abilities are no longer what they once were, especially someone as proud as Posada, who will watch Jeter and Rivera continue to matter for the Yankees along with a new generation. It would be one thing if the Core Four all left at the same time, but for Posada (three years older than Jeter and two years younger than Rivera) to watch his teammates dating back to 1992 in the minors continue to play without him is a lot harder than any of us can imagine coping with.

I’m happy that Jorge Posada took the $117,458,500 or so he made in his career and decided that the only hat he would put on is a Yankees hat. It would have been disappointing to see him with the Indians or the Mariners or the A’s (I’m just naming teams and I’m not sure if any of these teams were actual options), and it would have hurt to see him return to the Stadium to a “Welcome back” ovation before hitting a straight A.J. Burnett fastball into the Yankees’ bullpen.

“I don’t want to be gone. I don’t want to be somewhere else. I consider myself a Yankee.”

I will remember Jorge Posada for his bloop double against the Red Sox in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS that tied it all at 5 and gave me the type of sports high that you only get a handful of times in your life, if you’re lucky.

I will remember Jorge Posada for laying the tag on Jeremy Giambi on the “Flip Play” to save the 2001 season and give Yankees fans an unbelievable memory.

I will remember Jorge Posada for the 293 times in the regular season that he walked to the mound to shake Mariano Rivera’s hand after a save. And I will remember him for taking that same walk and doing that same handshake following all the postseason saves as well.

I will remember Jorge Posada for the two emotional games in 2011. The grand slam game in his return to the lineup on Aug. 13, and the game-winning hit in the postseason clinching game on Sept. 21.

I will remember Jorge Posada for standing in the Fenway dugout during Game 3 of the 2003 ALCS and letting Pedro Martinez he wasn’t going to stand for his antics. I will also remember him for the bench-clearing brawl he started at the Stadium against the Blue Jays on Sept. 15, 2009.

I will remember Jorge Posada for the go-ahead solo home run he hit against the Twins in Game 3 of the 2009 ALDS just four pitches after Alex Rodriguez tied the game with a solo shot of his own as the Yankees tried to end the World Series drought.

I will remember Jorge Posada for his .429 batting average and .571 on-base percentage in the five-game loss to the Tigers when it seemed like he was the only guy who didn’t want to go home while those who have guaranteed contracts in 2012 and beyond failed in big spots.

I will remember Jorge Posada for being part of five championships, for building the team into what it is today and for being a major reason why I enjoy baseball and like the Yankees as much as I do today.

I’m going to miss, “Number 20 … Jorge Posada … Number 20.”

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