Why Certain Yankees Make My Hit List
There was a comment made by a WasWatching.com reader yesterday that I felt required some follow-up by me. The comment, about me, was:
Steve seems to hate every Yankee player that the Yankee organization has spent money on, whether it be through huge free agent contract like Moose or Giambi or acquisition through trade like Arod or Randy Johnson.
If this were true, then it’s odd that I campaigned so hard for A-Rod to win the MVP in 2005 and that I’ve been singing the praises of Johnny Damon since he joined the team. And, I’m pretty sure that I’ve said nice things about Bobby Abreu since he joined the Yankees. And, I’ve always loved Matsui.
Were not these aforementioned players ones that came from outside the organization where the Yankees spent “huge” money to acquire them? Is it not a fact (see the links) that I have written glowing things about them? Like I said, that claim against me is very odd. In any event, I do have a beef with certain players who have joined the Yankees over the last six seasons – and that’s the reason for this post. While I did touch upon this matter back in May of 2005, it seems like I need to set the record straight now with respect to why I tend to criticize a certain type of Yankees player.
After the Yankees won four rings in five years (from 1996 to 2000), free agent players (or players with the ability to demand a trade) who had great resumes started lining up to come play in New York – because they wanted the money and they wanted a ring. However, many of these players came here (as I wrote back in May 2005) with the expectation that it was “some sort of birthright that you would win the World Series once you were on the Yankees. And, ‘just showing up’ was all they had to do.”
Basically, these players jumped on the bus looking for a free ride to a ring instead of being someone who was going to drive the bus for the team. On the whole, these are the types of players who have joined the Yankees, made almost unfathomable amounts of money in the process, and who had chances to carry the team to a ring (at one time or another) and failed miserably. These are the types of players with which I take umbrage – the guys who are content with putting up stats (or not) during the season but who are not willing to rise to the really big occasion when it is presented.
Of course, it makes sense to ask, when reading this, “How many rings have Damon, Matsui, and Abreu won for the Yankees?” And, we know the answer there is “zero.” However, you can tell by the way they go about their business – especially with Damon and Matsui – that these players want to be the one in the spotlight when the game is on the line and they will give you an honest effort with some level of success.
In the summary, that’s what I want to see from high-priced players that the Yankees acquire – when the stakes are high, do they give you an honest effort and do they give you something to hang your hat on? We haven’t seen that from the Kevin Browns, Randy Johnsons, and Carl Pavanos – for sure. And, it’s open for debate as to whether or not we’ve seen that from the Mike Mussina, Jason Giambi, and Alex Rodriguez crowd. The good news is that Moose, Jason and Alex will have a chance in 2007 to drive the bus again. It’s up to them to grab the keys and go for it.
Steve, thanks for referring me to your previous post.
And as for this article, because of time restrictions, I’m going to make this brief.
What do you, Steve, or any other WW reader, want our guys to do when they get cheated every single game? It is a legitimate question. When we sign a player from another team, they go from one end of the spectrum, fairness, to the complete opposite end of the spectrum, unfairness. I cannot remember a player that we signed from another team that performed the way he did with his previous team(s). I know Damon may have had more power with us, but I think he was lesser of a player than he when he was with the Red Sox. I think I’m in the process of leaning towards Abreu.
Abreu, Damon, and Matsui hardly count as *large* contracts, but I saw them pack it in this past postseason just like I saw every other Yankee (of course, with good reason. Once Pudge and Leyland argued that call in Game 2, it was over for us). And as for Moose and Giambi, Game 7, 2003 ALCS, dead in the water. I need not say anymore.
Your premise is flawed. Baseball is a team sport, even if a player “drives the bus” the team loses if the rest of the crew doesn’t “step up.”
We know Brown’s back wasn’t right (was he being “gutty” & “gritty” for taking the ball in gm 7 of the ALCS?). While RJ may be viewed as a disappointment, the Yanks were in a position to win 2 of the 3 games he pitched in. Pavano, meh… Should’ve never been signed.
The guys you listed in the other thread had injury issues (Giambi, White, Karsay, Vazquez, Brown) or off years (Contreras) or just weren’t that good to begin with (Mondesi, Boone). Torre’s use of Lofton wasn’t right. Hammond did his job when he was here, Weaver & Quantrill didn’t work out (hey it happens).
~~~What do you, Steve, or any other WW reader, want our guys to do when they get cheated every single game? ~~~
The eye in the sky does not lie. There are games films that show truth. If the Yankees were cheated every game, trust me, Stein would be sending tapes to MLB first, and the media, second, to put a stop to this practice. Since we don’t see tapes flying around everyday, it’s safe to assume that this claim holds no water.
I think it’s weird to lump those players together. Brown (outside of one playoff game against the Twins, when he was apparently given a brief window of health by God) was a total failure in the playoffs and also put the final nail in the ’04 coffin. Randy Johnson was flat-out awful in the playoffs.
Giambi and Moose have been both good and bad. You can’t expect players to be superhuman — from Joe D. to Derek Jeter, people will have off/bad post-seasons. When Giambi has been healthy, he’s hit in the post-season. Moose has more good starts than bad starts in the post-season.
A-Rod has simply been a disaster (like Brown, he was able to do well against the Twins).
Which category is Wells in? He’s had big games, but he also was a big reason we lost the ’03 World Series because his back went out.
What about Clemens? He’s had big games, but he was also horrible in game seven of the ’03 ALCS (and Moose had to save his butt).
Sometimes this talk about “who steps up” is unreasonable. No player is going to be perfect all the time. Even big-game players — Pettitte, Clemens, Mo Rivera, who we think of as superhuman — will fail or not come through.
~~~Your premise is flawed. Baseball is a team sport, even if a player “drives the bus” the team loses if the rest of the crew doesn’t “step up.”~~~
Dude, see Orel Hershiser in the 1988 post-season. See Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling in the 2001 World Series. See Keith Foulke and Favid Ortiz in the 2004 ALCS. Plenty of times in the post-season it can be one or two players who tell the team to climb on to their back and take the ride. Kirby Puckett and Jack Morris did it for the Twins when they beat the Braves in the WS.
If the rest of the team just shows-up, meaning does normal or close to it, then one or two players can make the difference by taking the bull by the horns.
The problem with the post-2000 post-season Yankees is that most of the players brought in to “carry” the team are too busy looking at guys like Jeter, Posada, etc., and not rising to carry the team themselves, and then acting shocked when the team gets knocked out of the playoffs.
baileywalk – note that I’ve said that “it’s open for debate as to whether or not we’ve seen that from the Mike Mussina, Jason Giambi, and Alex Rodriguez crowd.” The level of their failures just might, and I stress might, outweigh the good times for them in their Yankees post-season career.
Steve, let me tell you and then ask you…
Stein, at the end of every year, puts together video montages of every game where he feels we were cheated, and sends them to MLB? I will find the links later.
What would be the point of Stein sending tapes to MLB? Stein (I love him!!) is the biggest laughing stock in the U.S. If you asked all of America, who is a worse person, Stein or Saddam Hussein, the better percentage would be for Stein…BTW, Bud Selig doesn’t care, and if anything, is in favor of it.
What would be the point of Stein sending tapes to the media? The media wants us to fail. The media wants every NY team to fail, because it makes for a better story. The New York Times is connected with Boston; NY Daily News has got Bostonian Mike Lupica; NY Post just follows the crowd.
When I mentioned cheated, I was also referring to bad luck as well as the umpires. Besides the umpires, why do you think A-Rod fails? Because when he does succeed by hitting a line drive (like say, with the bases loaded against the Mets), it’s inevitably right at someone. Eventually, the bad luck wears on you as well.
Stein, at the end of every year, puts together video montages of every game where he feels we were cheated, and sends them to MLB. I will find the links later.
I’ve been thinking of a response to someone’s statement on WW a while back about “why did A-Rod get the MVP in ’05 if the media, etc., hates the Yankees.
Covering the last 10 or so years:
Andy Pettitte-Cy Young-1996
Jorge Posada-MVP-2003
Hideki Matsui- ROY-2003
Robinson Cano-ROY-2005
Mariano Rivera-Cy Young-2005
Derek Jeter-MVP-2006
As you can see with the list above, excluding the 1996 ROY going to Derek Jeter when there was no other viable candidate, the homegrown NYY players are annually screwed out of awards that they are deserving of. In regards to ARod in ’05 and Clemens in ’01, they received the awards of MVP and CY Young in order to show America that the Yankees had just “purchased another player.” In ’01, Mike Mussina might be considered to have been more deserving of the Cy Young, but it was given to Clemens to further emphasize what I stated above, and furthermore, because he was a former Red Sox.
Wow Steve
I am glad that you addressed my comments on the front page but you still havent really answered why you hate guys like Moose, Arod, and Giambi.
You asked whether guys like Moose, Arod or Giambi “give an honest effort, or something to hang your hat on.”
Well Steve, I would certainly hang my hat on Moose getting out of a 1st and 3rd nobody out jam in the third inning in relief of Yankee Roger Clemens on two days rest in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS down 4-0 and essentially facing elimination striking out Varitek and getting Red Sox Johnny Damon to ground into a DP.
And Giambi’s 2 HR game against Red Sox Pedro in Game 7 appears to me to be as honest an effort as you can get.
And lets not forget Alex Rodriguez whose double with two on and one out in the bottom of the 12 inning in Game 2 of the 2004 ALDS tied the game and set up the winning run saved us from a first round exit against the Twins. That would seem to me not only an honest effort but also to be worthy of hanging my hat on.
Now each of these singular performances from Moose, Giambi, and Arod just about singlehandedly saved us from elimination and were not only excellent performances but also could not even have been expected to occur. What I mean by that is there is no way you could expect Moose to get out of a first and third jam with nobody out without allowing a run to score, there is even less way that you could expect Giambi to hit two home runs in the same game against Red Sox Pedro and finally, to expect anybody to hit a double in the bottom of the 12 down one run with runners on first and second is asking too much. They were what I like to call “against all odds” type of performaces. Now since the Yankees get so few of these, I think the guys that actually occasionally do accomplish them should be given full credit, which apparently you cannot find in your heart to bestow upon them in your ultimate wisdom.
Obviously, the rest of you are going to try to pick apart my statement above. Even though we purchased neither A-Rod nor Clemens, that does not matter to Yankee-haters or the media abroad.
Has it really devolved to this point, where every single loss is construed to be due to bad luck and a vast anti-Yankee conspiracy?
Donnie/Chewie, you seem to be beating the same drum no matter what the subject is. It’s borderline paranoia and it’s really getting ridiculous.
However, I want to pose a general question to the other readers here: Steve, Bailey, JohnnyC, Raf, jonm, Garcia, etc… do you all agree with this? Am I the only one that doesn’t buy into this cheating angle?
I don’t buy into the being cheated angle at all.
MJ
You do not need to ask them if they buy into it. I will tell you flat out that they do not. Why? Because most people do not for the reason that they want to believe that sports are generally fair.
Steve says that game films show that we do not get cheated. Steve is wrong. There may be game films where we get beneficial calls, but there are significantly fewer of those games and significantly more game films that show the Yankees getting cheated. BTW, getting cheated means any type of cheat. The most common cheat that I notice is that umpires will often put the other team in 1-0, 2-1, 3-1 count rather than fairly giving us the 0-1, 1-2, 2-2 counts. The opposite applies to the Red Sox.
Dude, see Orel Hershiser in the 1988 post-season. See Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling in the 2001 World Series. See Keith Foulke and Favid Ortiz in the 2004 ALCS. Plenty of times in the post-season it can be one or two players who tell the team to climb on to their back and take the ride. Kirby Puckett and Jack Morris did it for the Twins when they beat the Braves in the WS.
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1988: The NLCS still went to 7 games despite Hersheiser’s work. Matter fact, the Dodgers lost two of the games he started. He got a save in one, and won the series clincher (6-0). The WS, the A’s didn’t hit. Not only were they shut down by Hersheiser, they were shut down by the rest of the Dodger staff. The one game they won, they won 2-1 in the bottom of the 9th.
2001: Despite the work of Schilling & Johnson, the Yanks were 2 outs away from a series title.
2004: Yanks were in a position to win gms 4-6. Ortiz & Foulke did their part, sure, but where would they be without Dave Roberts?
As for 1991, not to take away from the work of Morris & Puckett, the series went seven games, and maybe had Smith not been deked, the series could’ve turned out different.
Players can make a difference, but there’s a luck element there too. Tony Clark’s ground rule double, umpires conferring to get the call right (after watching a couple of calls get reversed in ’04 – Glad they got it right, I’m sure Whitey Ford & Davey Johnson had some choice things to say), among other things. And even in those cases I alluded to, there was a gm 7 in 1985 and the O’s were tied 1-1 going back to Baltimore in 1996.
The postseason is a crapshoot. How else can you explain a lifetime .264 hitter batting .750 (Billy Hatcher, 1990) or even this past postseason (Kenny Rogers & Jeff Weaver spinning gems)
I don’t buy into the being cheated angle at all.
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At the risk of losing my posting privileges (hehe), neither do I.
Because most people do not for the reason that they want to believe that sports are generally fair.
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Sports are inherently unfair. Especially when it comes to baseball, a sport rich in the tradition of cheating and assorted gamesmanship.
Chewbacca – in 2001, 2002, 2005, and 2006 there were big post-season games where Mussina failed, in a big way. A-Rod? See the last two ALDS series. Giambi? Didn’t his partying with Ricky Williams during the 2003 WS cost him to miss a start? Like I said, it’s open for debate on these guys.
Raf – if Johnson & Schilling don’t pitch their asses off in the 2001 WS, do you think the D’backs still win that one? If Orel in 1988 and Morris in the 1991 don’t pitch lights out, do their teams still win? If Foulke is not lights-out for the entire 2004 ALCS, do the Sox still win it? What do you think? If you think “yes,” then I can’t help you.
DonnieDosTresBaseball – here’s an idea. You should get a blooger account open and start a blog for the 2007 season – where you can document each count, etc., where you think the Yankees get cheated. That might be a good way to see the final total. If it’s as bad as you say, maybe it will get noticed.
Schilling and Johnson pitched “lights out” as you said, and they were STILL 2 outs away from losing the series.
Steve Carlton once struck out 19 Mets, and still lost 4-3.
In this crazy, wonderful game almost anything can happen.
Wow Raf, you obviously have no idea of the rules of baseball if you think that they got that Tony Clark call correct.
The rule states it is the umpire’s discretion to decide where a runner would have advanced or whether a run should score when an fan interferes with a ball in play. Tony Clark’s ball was a double down the right field line that was bouncing around in the corner near Pesky’s pole that would have scored Ruben Sierra from first because it was 3-2 count and Ruben Sierra was running on the pitch. However, a fan interfered with ball while it was still in play therefore it was not a “ground rule” double but actually what is termed an “automatic” double since it was left up to the umpire’s discretion to decide where the runners would have advanced had the ball not been interefered with. And somehow the umpires Clearly, because Ruben was running with the pitch, there is no way he would not have scored had the ball not been interfered with.
So Raf, how was the umpire correct in forcing Ruben Sierra back to third? Is this your Red Sox fan fantasy that they actually earned the World Series rather than were handed it by the umpires by stealing away from the Yankees an at least 1 run lead going into the bottom of the ninth of Game 5.
Steve, may I have your permission to post on here the cheats and beneficial calls for every game?
Sports are inherently unfair
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Yes, and I’m sure a lot of people will see that. But what you and those people will not see, is that sports are unfair specifically to NY teams, mainly because they are in the largest market in the country, and that is why they have the most money.
Let me explain it like this:
Everything about playing in NY is a disadvantage. The weather, the taxes, the cost of living, the media, the pressure, the air is terrible, there is always a crowd. The only advantage NY teams have are the money, and 3 sports have a salary cap and MLB has a luxury tax to offset that only advantage. The West Coast has the advantage nowadays in terms of better living. Everyone wants to live on the West Coast, and if the money is equal, where would you want to play? New York or the West Coast?
BTW, West Coast, the South, Texas, etc. I used the West Coast as a drawing point.
~~~Steve, may I have your permission to post on here the cheats and beneficial calls for every game?~~~
No. I have to pay for my server space. You have to do that on your own dime.
~~~Schilling and Johnson pitched “lights out” as you said, and they were STILL 2 outs away from losing the series.~~~
Only because BK-Kim is a choker.
Steve, I am not computer literate. Let me understand. By me posting this very post, that is costing you money?
All I asked was, can my posts during the 2007 season consist of the cheats and beneficial calls?
Wow Raf, you obviously have no idea of the rules of baseball if you think that they got that Tony Clark call correct.
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I could’ve worded it better, but I was referring to the “slap tag” and Bellhorn’s homer, among other calls.
Having said that, you’re confusing the 2004 Sierra with the 1989 Sierra. But if it’s an automatic double, like you said, then the correct call is that Sierra’s awarded 3rd. It’s not the first time that call has been made, nor will it be the last. Had the runner been a smaller, quicker guy, maybe they get that call.
Anyway, that may have cost the Yanks game 5, but they still had the series lead 3-2, going back to the Bx.
Only because BK-Kim is a choker.
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Which speaks to my point “Baseball is a team sport, even if a player ‘drives the bus’ the team loses if the rest of the crew doesn’t ‘step up.’”
But, BK-Kim did not step up and the D’backs still won – because of Schilling and Johnson.
They didn’t win Game 7 because of Schilling. If anything, they won because of Johnson’s relief performance. But that is not even the case.
Raf is right, “there team stepped up in the 9th” against the greatest closer in baseball history. I put that in quotes because the did not step up, as it was obviously mistakes, errors in judgment, and most of all, bad luck that did us in.
~~~By me posting this very post, that is costing you money? ~~~
Every character typed in these comments is saved in a table. That table is stored on a server. I pay for the space on the server to store that table. So, yes.
~~~All I asked was, can my posts during the 2007 season consist of the cheats and beneficial calls?~~~
No. Then it becomes your blog within my blog. If you want a blog to share your daily observations, then you should start your own blog.
It’s hard for me to say umps “cheat” the Yankees. I don’t think most umps are out to get the Yankees or want to see them lose. I think the bigger problem is that ball and strike calling right now is horrendous.
Certain thing drive me insane: like how a strike on a 1-0 count is different than one on an 0-2 or how the strike zone changes with the bases loaded. I hate when the strike zone changes to the situation, which happens all the time.
I hate to engage in my own paranoia, but no one gets screwed more by umps than Mike Mussina. It’s amazing — to paraphrase Jim Kaat — how a guy who is always around the plate gets so few calls.
For what it’s worth, Steve — and I don’t want to beat this into the ground — but I think your feelings toward Giambi and Moose are personal. You seem to dislike Moose because you think he’s a jerk, and you’re kind of prudish about Giambi’s partying. He didn’t miss a World Series start because he partied with Ricky Williams (it was actually after the Series was over) but because his knee was falling apart (he had surgery after the season) and he couldn’t play first base in an NL park.
Giambi certainly has conduct issues, but his injuries aren’t about his partying. The guy is a workout/cage freak. He comes into camp in shape, but his body is unable to hold together. (Not because of partying, but because he’s big, old and fragile.)
But, BK-Kim did not step up and the D’backs still won – because of Schilling and Johnson.
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Yanks were up 2-1 going into the 9th.
Steve, how about a special conspiracy theory page that Donnie Doh! TB can post to his hearts content? And the sane can easily avoid……
Baileywalk, have you ever noticed how everyone else gets the 3-0 strike called no matter where the pitch is, but our 3-0 had better be right down the middle or it’s called Ball 4.
I didn’t think Giambi missed a World Series start because he partied with Ricky Williams, but I had no proof. Thanks Bailey.
If we do not screwed, why does George make a video at the end of every season of the cheats and send it to MLB, to specifically refute Steve’s notion that George does not send tapes? Even though Stein’s efforts go unrewarded, I’m thankful to the high heavens that none of you (baileywalk, chewbacca excluded) are the owner of the NYY. You guys would rather fault your own team than placing the blame where it truly belongs, the commissioner/umpires/MLB owners.
haha Don. But, I’ve never seen any information of value that you’ve contributed to this site. I can provide insightful information on top of the understanding that I have of the umpires.
So, basically what you’re saying, Steve, is that I am the only one that is going to have posts censored, and not be able to share my views, in spite of the fact that I’m not attacking anyone, while Raf/Chewbacca can go back and forth about basically the same points that I’m arguing.
Raf
The reason that I was trying to tell you it was an “automatic” double and not a “ground rule” double is because there is a distinct difference between the two terms. A ground rule double is when a batter is awarded second base because the ball was affected by something that was specifically mentioned in the ground rules of the ballpark being played in. However an “automatic” double is awarded to a batter when the ball is touched dead by a fan anywhere and by rule the batter is given second base and all base runners are award two bases from where they started…. unless the rule states that the ball was touched in the field of play in which case the ball is immediately dead and it is the umpire’s discretion to determine where the batter and all affected base runners would have advanced to. It is the umpire’s discretion instance of the “automatic” double that came into play in Game 5 of the 2004 ALCS top of the ninth because the ball was touched while still in the field of play. The ball was touched by the fan in the field of play and the umpires, at their discretion decided not to award Ruben home plate. It is still called an automatic double because even if the umps had awarded Ruben home plate they likely would not have awarded Tony Clark third base because in their discretion he would not have advanced that far anyway.
Also, what about the Ruben Sierra of 2003 who scored from first on a ball hit down the right field line against the Marlins in the World Series to tie a game. Not mention Ruben easily scored from first earlier in 2004 against the Red Sox on Miguel Cairo’s double to the gap with two outs in the 12th inning. To excuse an umpire for not making the correct call because the runner was not fast enough for them to make what should have been an easy decision is absurd. The fact is Ruben was running with the pitch and was around third base right when the fan touched the ball. There is no way that he was stopping at third base and there no way the Red Sox were throwing him out at home.
Finally, the fact that we had Games 6 and 7 at home to close them out is irrelevant because had the umpires gotten the call correctly in Game 5 there wouldnt have been a need for Games 6 or 7. And what bothered me the most of that particular call was that the umpire made absolutely sure to get every call right the rest of the series from Bellhorn’s home run to A-Rod’s slap of Arroyo. But they couldnt bother to get the one call right that would have effectively ended the series.
1) No conspiracy (see, e.g. Jeffery Maier). I’ve seen blown calls go the Yankees’ way.
2) Steve, I think your whole premise is flawed. Unless you are these guys’ psychologist I don’t belive it is fair for you to crawl inside their heads and say who “jumped on the bus” to get his WS ring as a Yankee birthright. Indeed, from this post and so many others like it, it seems to me that you are the one who considers the Yankees winning the World Series a birthright, and every time they don’t, it is somebody’s fault. How about the part that luck plays in the game, where say A-Rod hits the ball well, but just a millimeter off and so it’s an out, not a double or homerun? How about the fact that other post season teams are comprised of good players too, who maybe that year were just a bit better than the Yankees?
No, it always seems to be A-Rod sucks or Giambi parties too much, never any credit to the other team. It is BS.
Andy Pettitte-Cy Young-1996
Jorge Posada-MVP-2003
Hideki Matsui- ROY-2003
Robinson Cano-ROY-2005
Mariano Rivera-Cy Young-2005
Derek Jeter-MVP-2006
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You may want to remove Pettitte (Hentgen), Posada (ARod), and Rivera (Santana) from the list. You could add Jeter’s 1999 (too close to call between him & Manny, but Pedro shoulda won it anyway).
The media gave this year’s MVP to the 3rd best Twin.
In 2001, they gave the Cy to the 2nd best Yankee pitcher.
Seems they love getting votes wrong (:
Ya know, Steve, I wish you were in prison, so you could feel the same way the Yankees do every game…I’m not going to specify what I mean by that because this is a family site…but I think you get my drift.
You’re right, Raf, about the Hentgen & Twins’ and 2001 CY comments (I mentioned Roger over Mike in my post). But…
Posada(A-Rod was on a losing team), Rivera(it was Colon, not Santana), and they love getting votes wrong when they put our guys 6th on the ballot or leave them off the ballot completely… hehe Matsui. Matsui, for some familiar reason (hehe), is different from Ichiro, Sazaki, Nomo. Maybe Daisuke will get the ROY to further my evidence.
I put who should’ve won that particular award in parenthesis. Shoulda been more clear about that.
Point is that it seems the criteria for whatever award seems to shift every so often. Cecil Fielder didn’t win in 1990 because he was on a losing team, yet Ripken won it a few years later despite being on a losing team. Bonds was screwed out of a MVP in 1991, ARod in 1996. You could make the argument Henderson was better than Mattingly in 1985.
So on and so forth.
I see what you’re saying Raf. But my feelings towards the national media will never change. And it’s also a shame that our NY papers have ties to Boston. They should be called the Boston Times, Boston Daily News…
DonnieDosTresBaseball – I’m only going to comment on this once, so, please, let this be the last of it. I’ve spent too much time already on this back-and-forth today.
Yes, people are welcome to post comments to the opinions, etc., that I “blog” here – assuming they are polite, etc. But, it should be somewhat related to the topic that I have shared/started.
For example, if I write one day that “Alex is the true of MVP of the Yankees” and the next day I write “Mussina is the greatest pitcher in modern Yankees history” where I then explain why, etc., and then each day someone writes in the comments section for these entries “Let me tell you why I think the Red Sox get all the close calls by umpires, etc,” then they are not adding to the content of the topic – instead they are using someone else’s forum (mine) to advance their own personal agenda. It’s “using” and it’s not something that I will tolerate on an everyday basis. (If someone may slip something in on a given day, just because they need to get something off their chest, or if they have an idea, I’m willing to let that slide – if it’s just a once in a blue moon thing – but, if someone wants to ride on my dime, *everyday*, to subject my audience to their daily personal agenda, that’s too much).
Thanks for understanding this and the fact that I cannot spend any more time going back and forth with you on this topic.
~~~How about the fact that other post season teams are comprised of good players too, who maybe that year were just a bit better than the Yankees?~~~
I agree with this rbj – I really do. There’s no question, IMHO, that the Yankees of 2004-2006 have lacked the pitching, and sometimes the fielding, to be a championship team. Still, despite my belief, they’ve managed to get themselves into some spots where they should have advanced in the post-season – like 2004, 2005, and 2006. Maybe they would not have won the WS in 2004. And, maybe they would not have won the ALCS in 2005 and 2006 – but they should have made it to that next level each time. Yet, they failed – partly, IMHO, because guys like Mussina, A-Rod, and to an extent Giambi (because he broke down in 2004 and 2006), did not step up when they had a chance to make a difference.
BoooHoooHoooo, Mommy someone is using “my” forum to make their own points. They are advancing their own view on “my” dime. MAKE THEM STOP….They are “using” my site to subject “my” audience to their own personal agenda and daring to have the audacity to do it on “my” dime. *Sniff* It isnt fair. BooHooo.
~~~For what it’s worth, Steve — and I don’t want to beat this into the ground — but I think your feelings toward Giambi and Moose are personal. You seem to dislike Moose because you think he’s a jerk, and you’re kind of prudish about Giambi’s partying.~~~
If Giambi played 150 games a season, with an OPS of 1.100, and Mussina was able win more than 3+ games in a given October, then they could rob banks in the off-season and dress up like Tinkerbell on Friday nights (when there was no game) and I could care less about their personalities and habits.
John Flaherty seems like a clean-cut guy and a nice man. But, that doesn’t mean I want him on the team.
They’re baseball players – not choir boys. If they always play hard in the field, and come through when the team needs them, what they do on their own time and how they treat others is sorta moot.
Chewbacca/HanSolo – gee, you guys post from the same IP address. Take care.
And, it seems that Chewbacca’s other IP address is the same as DonnieDosTresBaseball. What a cowinky-dink.
Hey you loser. Why did you ban my donnie name. We are brothers. If you check the IP’s you worthless attempt at a “Yankee Zealot,” you would know that one is in Georgia and the other is in Florida, and we sometimes post for each other. If you were a Yankee Zealout, you’d defend our players to the fullest, like a lawyer defends his client.
BTW, you would also know that this is NYSUPREMACY. Peter Gammons will never die, and my only goal in life is outlast that Cocksucking Faggot so I can Shit on his grave.
You’re so Fucking narrow-minded that you immediately think we are the same people…Just like you immediately dismiss that we might be screwed, you Douchebag.
All – FYI, “nysupremacy” was banned from commenting on this blog back in 9/06 – for making comments like the ones in this thread:
http://www.waswatching.com/archives/2006/09/everyones_hero.html
I am sorry that it’s taken me this long to make the connection and allowing this person to take time away from your day.
Ya, you’re sorry all right. I looked at all your pictures. You look like a child molester. I wouldn’t let you anywhere near those kids if I were your wife.
I am sorry that it’s taken me this long to make the connection and allowing this person to take time away from your day.
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Actually, their posting styles & format are the same.
Baseball guys. Let’s talk about baseball.
Steve, keep up the good work (I appreciate it) and flush these yahoos.
On the topic of baseball…I think if you ask Randy Johnson, he’d say the strike zone for a pitcher in pinstripes is a little narrower. Might explain the less than stellar performance for a series of hired pitchers. Perhaps Javy V. and even my boy Weaver suffered some from this. When you don’t get the corners, you have to hit the fat part of the plate, and the ball lands in the seats. A nibbler will not do well with the Yankees. To my eye they even squeezed Mo a bit more this year. Mo’s, Wang’s and to some extent Moose’s effectiveness are not the called strike (i.e., it’s not in the umps hands as often), but rather it is their ability to get hitters to swing at pitches that are moving out of the strike zone.
I still play baseball and catch maybe 45 games a year. Clearly, certain umps and certain pitchers get crossed with each other, and neither ever forgets. A good catcher is always working the umps (before during and after the games) to smooth those out.
The interesting angle on this discussion is that hard data exists from the strike zone cams that they use to grade the umps. However, Selig would never approve the use of those facts to investigate something that would only bring a stink to the game. So, we just need to outplay our opponents and take it out of the umps hands.
Wow Steve. Now, I’ll disagree with you on certain players, but for someone to this far off the deep end, well, all I can say is thanks for putting up with such garbage while you put out the blog.
And to Mr. Twit, get a life, surely you have more going for you than being a jerk in the comments section of a blog, right?
I think someone mentioned that Yankee Stadium is a Questec stadium. If that’s the case, then how could umps only squeeze Yankee pitchers? Wouldn’t they squeeze both the Yanks and the opponent, presumably because they’d have to conform to the more conservative MLB definition of of the strike zone based on the report that the Questec machine generates?
PS – Donnie/Chewie, honestly, don’t use racial epithets. You might not like the opinions of some of the other posters on this site but racial epithets are really uncalled for. I don’t think anyone insulted you personally and you should try to extend the same courtesy, no matter how heated an argument gets.
Not trying to be Miss Morals but it’s just not cool to rip on someone’s background like that.