Gallows Readied for Torre

The recent failures of the Bronx Bombers have left Yankee Nation wearing its smugness and arrogance like the Emperor’s new clothes. The NY Post quoted a CT woman who was commenting on quotes by Anaheim shortstop Orlando Cabrera after a recent Bronx outing. Cabrera had the audacity to say Yankee fans, essentially, were mean spirited louts who would rather berate opposing players than see “good baseball.”

“When’s the last time the Angels drew four million?” asked Yankee fan Lisa Prisco in response to Cabrera. This kind of circular logic dominates the Yankee mentality, the notion that their history of success and being a bigtown favorite makes them more than human. YES announcer Michael Kay will tell you once an hour in a network commercial that the Yanks have won the most championships in the “history of sport.” (First of all whose version of “history”? Are we including the ancient lacrosse wars fought on this continent centuries ago?)

The ineptitude of the superhuman Yankees has reflected on Torre, evidenced by a portion of “The 4 Million” booing Torre on a mound visit with the derisive tone Cabrera decried. The weight of the Yankee expectation and payroll creates an illusion… it MUST be Torre’s inability to lead a team of high priced all-stars to blame for their failure. As Torre is the symbol of a program gone awry, and the inevitable gallows are prepared for a leadership change, this Mets fan believes Torre is being wrongly blamed.

In fact, its more circular logic… “it must be the over-the-hill Torre’s fault because the Yankees couldn’t possibly be this terrible on their own” is how the sentence finishes in the mind of the booing fan. In fact my Yankee friends, you are this terrible because you are this terrible, and the Cashman plan of the all star smorgasbord is not really working. The right mix of leadership, system-grown talent, and heart does not exist on their roster this year, plus the pitching simply is bad and/or banged up. Firing the veteran Torre wont change that.

Only the belief in the fundamentals which Mr. Cabrera eloquently described as “good baseball” can change that.

Abolish "The Cycle"

I can’t believe they implicated Mom in the idiotic media charade that is “The Cycle”.

This Sunday, Mother’s Day, Fred Lewis, rookie centerfielder of the San Francisco Giants, playing in only his 16th big league game as a daytime sub for Randy Winn, hit an imaginary and unimportant smorgasbord of hits known as “The Cycle.” Immediately, the journalists who have suffered through the Giants’ 15-2 dismantling of the Rockies are reporting: It’s a Mother’s Day Miracle. “I called to tell her I didn’t get her anything,” Lewis was quoted as saying, “until now.”

In defense of Fred Lewis’ Mom and the good of baseball, it should be pointed out that the unusual combination of single-double-triple-home run is nothing but an artificial statistical oddity, and the fact that Lewis attained it does not make his Mom love him any more, and should not be a substitute for buying her flowers or at least a nice card. Game winning hits and clutch performances should be celebrated above all. If you want to celebrate a statistical oddity, wouldn’t four homers be a hitter’s perfect game? Or two grand slams? If you were going for the individual statistical gusto in a blowout game, and you had a homer, triple and double, why on earth would you want a single instead of another home run?

Yet that was exactly the unexpected situation which the rookie Lewis found himself in. “There were fans behind the on deck circle who were yelling that I needed a single” Lewis reported. He obliged with a quick little singles swing and a ball lined into right against the beleaguered Colorado bullpen, as “history” was made. There should be much less significance to this “full house” of all the hits, the media really needs to let up. Or if they must persist with “The Cycle”, at least have the decency to leave Mom out of your circus.