Damn Yankees

So the Yankees are finally within one game of .500, and it only took until the second week of June. The Yanks used a three interleague game sweep of the bottom feeder Pirates (26-37) to extend their winning streak to six games.

I was certain going into this interleague home stand that the Yanks would find a way to lose to the NL Central punching bag. They came close in game one, winning 5-4 after a walk-off single by Jeter in the 10th inning. A decent start by 44 year old Clemens (6 innings, 5 hits, 3 runs, 2 walks and 7 strikeouts) yesterday, still required the Bronx Bombers to put up 1, 2, 2, 1 runs in the fifth through eighth innings respectively to win 9-3. The Yanks were leading 5-2 going into the top of the fourth today. By the time the homeside was up to bat the score was 6-5 Pirates. The Yankees responded to win 13-6 and sweep the Bucs.

While it's good to see the Yanks swinging the bat better and the bullpen not losing close games for a change, the Yankees still gave up 13 runs in three games - at home - to the bloody Pirates! A-Rod had two homeruns today accounting for 4 RBIs, bringing his series total to 6 RBIs. If A-Rod wasn't playing out of his mind this year, the Yankees would be battling the Nationals for East Coast inferiority.

I don't even like A-Rod. In fact, most people who talk basebeall with me have heard me refer to him as "Nimrod." He's overpaid, has made too many errors in big games for a player of his caliber, and has a case of fall-impotency. I don't expect the Yanks to win the World Series every year. I do however expect players of A-Rod's caliber to produce when he's expected to produce... the postseason.

Many have called for the head of Joe Torre; I say we should instead call for the head of the Boss. Ol'George is the reason that the majority of this team qualifies annually for senior citizen discounts at the Country Kitchen Buffet. Our bullpen is getting too old (Mussina, Pettite, and Clemens in the starting rotation?) and so is our outfield. George seems to think that if you take an established player and pay him more than most countries' GNPs, that they will bring home World Series Championships. The problem is that most established players that bring home eight figure paychecks are in one or both of these categories:

1) Fat cats
Give a player $20million and his reason to impress wanes quickly. Why sacrifice your body for team when you're earning tens of millions of dollars. You don't have to impress GMs to get the big bucks anymore. Just sit back and reap the benefits of making the Boss think you're worth the obscene paycheck you're getting.

2) Performance Decline
To earn the millions upon millions these players earn, typically they must produce for the better part of a decade or more. By the time they land in the Big Apple, they are too old to produce the numbers that gave the Boss drool marks on his pillow. Even if they can still produce, it's rarely to their previous level over the course of the season. See Randy Johnson and Bobby Abreu. Moreover, the older you get the easier you get injured or have chronic injury problems. See Gary Sheffield, Kevin Brown, Carl Pavano, and Jason Giambi.

The numbers most players produce when the arrive in the Bronx either proves my points or proves that New York is its own little universe for baseball stats. While New York fans may expect more from their players, they don't make them swing at bad pitches, don't make them throw horrible pitches, and don't injure them. On that point, neither does Joe Torre. So place blame where it belongs: in the front office.

Here's to the Yanks making a run at the Red Sox and bringing to August and September baseball what they do best: drama and excitement.