Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Too much Yankees

Just when we were all rubbing our hands together and cackling at the idea of the Yankees below .500 and in last place, at the idea of George Steinbrenner going berserk and firing anything that moved or breathed, here they come.
Following Tuesday's 6-0 win over Seattle, the Yankees have now won 10 straight, bumping their record from 11-19 to 21-19. They are still in fourth place, five games behind AL East-leading Baltimore, but once the Yankees have won 34 of 38 a month from now, that will probably have changed.
The Yankees have too much of everything. Too much owner. Too much money. Too much talent. Too much media. Too old. They are baseball hedonism personified.
If they were a person, the Yankees would be some grotesque version of John Belushi meets King Midas, snorting, drinking, and eating everything in sight, passing out blind drunk and stoned at 4 a.m., and still showing up at work the next day to make everything turn to gold.
You think they can't keep this up, that sooner or later, the mistakes will mount and this baseball Titanic will finally plunge into the deep. But it never happens.
Jason Giambi, implicated in steroid abuse investigations, is getting hits again. Derek Jeter might need an inner tube, but he can still walk on water when needed. Alex Rodriguez is still A-Rod.
And they keep winning.
I was hoping for one, glorious October without the Yankees. One year when they seem at least temporarily mortal. But the Yankees haven't missed the playoffs since 1993, and have never missed the World Series in consecutive years since.
I guess the smart money is to just assume the Yankees are going to the World Series this year. Yankee-haters had April to gloat. The rest of the season will probably be dedicated to shutting them up.

1 comment:

Zach said...

I am negative about a lot of things these days, but the Yankees 10 game winning streak is nothing to get too worked up about. I still think the Yankees are headed for implosion. I'd never count them out, but I am of the belief that they will not make the playoffs this season.
It's May. I expect the Yankees to do well now and in June and July.
But I think they will start to break down in September and October, the way they have the last few years. The difference is that this season, they won't have a big enough lead to choke only some of it away.
The Yankees are old. Even more promisingly, their farm system is nill. There are no Derek Jeter or Bernie Williams'-like prospects to come from within.
Remember, it was often Yankee-bred players that made the greatest impact.
And where are those players now?
Cincinnati (Wily Mo Pena), Washington (Nick Johnson) Cleveland (Jake Westbrook).
Erik, the worst thing that could happen is for the Yankees to have a disastorous season, because then they will be forced to rebuild, like they were in the early-mid 90s.
The run is coming to an end. I can feel it. Let George still believe he's in it, like he did in the 80s when he kept firing Billy Martin.