What’s Not To Hate About The Yankees
Position players:
SS – Derek Jeter – he is the poster boy for New York. All through the World Series we had to watch that annoying commercial for razors of him diving into the stands and getting bloody, while Cole Hamels was standing on the mound when some random guy came out of the stands who thought he was a manager. Hate him.
LF – Johnny Damon – won with the Red Sox and beat the Yankees, then became a Yankee to beat the Phillies. Not a good outfielder and most of his hits come off ground balls barely getting through holes or texas leaguers off the end of the bat. Hate him.
1B – Mark Teixiera – looks solid at first (easiest position to play by far) but I think only had 3 hits in the World Series. Pretty weak for their biggest position player signing this year. Hate him.
3B – Alexander Rodriguez – great fielder but botched a bunch of ground balls in the World Series. Also struck out a lot and only got one meaningful hit, yet somehow outperformed the Phillies cleanup hitter. Also, did steroids. Hate him.
DH – Hideki Matsui – Can’t play the field, yet still won MVP for his timely hitting against basically just one pitcher, Pedro Martinez. If it wasn’t for that matchup you could easily argue the Phils have a much better chance at winning this series. Can’t speak English. Don’t like him but kind of respect him.
C – Jorge Posada – respect the glove although was not that impressed by his game management. Complains about every single strike and strikeout called. Show some class. Hate him.
RF – Nick Swisher – barely deserves to even be mentioned in the same breath as any other professional athlete. Don’t know where he came from but don’t really care enough to look up any stats to abuse him more. He is a complete waste of matter. Is it that obvious? Hate him enough to know who he is and not leave him off the list like some other irrelevant players who failed to show up against the Phillies.
Pitching Staff:
CC Sabathia – biggest (literally and $$$) FA signing in the off season and carried his team through much of the season. If you told me he would only win 1 of 2 games I’d have felt good about the Phillies chances the rest of the way. I have to respect his willingness to pitch whenever they need him and ability to do it as a workhorse, but I’d be a little worried about his ineffectiveness in the World Series for years to come. Might like him if he played for anyone else.
AJ Burnett – Apparently he signed here once he knew he would be the #2 behind CC. Gotta love a guy who doesn’t want the ball in big situations, like I don’t know a clinching game 5 of the World Series. Hate him.
Andy Pettitte – the other “Mr. Yankee” who has won more post season games then anyone in history. Gotta give him respect for that, but he really didn’t pitch too well in the series. Yankees fans will agree he didn’t have very good command or his best stuff. Good enough to win, as they say…I guess. Hate him.
Manager:
Joe Girardi – I don’t really believe the manager has that much influence on the outcome of the game. Especially in this series, both managers are very hands-off and let their players play. Also, he pretty much has a gift waiting for him in the bullpen that makes every game a 7 inning game for him if they can get the lead by then. Not really getting a feeling as a manager but since he played on the team – Hate him.
Last and yes obviously least, Yankees fans:
Fans in NY – New Yorkers like to act tough and smart and classy, but I have to agree with Jimmy Rollins that they didn’t really show up for Game 1 or 2 and the people who were there sat on their hands, then left early. I know there wasn’t much to get excited about in Game 1 (thanks, Cliff) but still, show some emotion. I guess they expected to win and didn’t really get that into it until they had a chance to win it in their shiny new stadium.
All other fans – I’m not sure why right now, but I do have some friends who are Yankees fans. They are actually decent, respectable human beings. But from what I read/see/hear, most Yankees fans are not really baseball fans, they just hop on and pretend to care when the Yankees are winning. I can’t really blame the Yankees or their real fans for this, and I know every city has people like this, but it makes them no less annoying.
Summary: Don’t absolutely hate Matsui and Sabathia. The rest of the team is pretty much useless to NY except for Jeter, who I hate because he IS a Yankee, but at least he’s homegrown so it’s not technically his fault. Makes you wonder how this team even got to the World Series. It’s amazing how the bright lights make certain individuals disappear into thin air. On that note, I will be going over the Phillies lineup tomorrow. Should be fun…
Wow, this is a bit harsh. Are you seriously wondering how the Yankees got to the World Series? If you say that, I can’t wait to hear what you say about the Phillies, who lost to the Yankees in 6 games (and couldn’t beat them without Cliff Lee pitching).
Also, you bring up the steroids thing…do you honestly believe that no one on the Phillies has used (or is using) steroids? You do realize that there are still 90-something other players on the list that A-Rod was on, don’t you?
One thing that I will agree with you on is the fans in the stadium for the first two games. I really think this has everything to do with the cost of the tickets at the new stadium. The tickets are so expensive that the majority of fans are business people that aren’t really die hard fans. Trust me, I was at game 6 of the 96 World Series. The stadium was shaking and it was so loud in there that I couldn’t hear myself scream.
I do have to take offense to you making such a general statement like “most Yankee fans aren’t baseball fans.” I grew up watching the Yankees in the 80s and can remember rooting for them to just finish .500. I know you’ll just lump me in with those not in the “most” group, but I know a lot of Yankee fans and most of them are serious baseball fans, not just bandwagon fans.
Actually, I think both teams had a somewhat easy road to get there. I’ll be writing up a post on the Phillies and obviously as I’m not too happy about the outcome of the season, there will be some in-depth criticisms. Other than the season being extremely long, I don’t think either team was very “battle tested” before getting to the playoffs. Of course I’m not saying they are bad – it’s more of a statement about how poor the rest of the league in its inability to compete.
I’m glad you argued my steroids point. Actually, we know JC Romero tested positive for steroids this season, was suspended 50 games, then remained on the injured list most of the season. I’m sure there are guys on every team who have used them, but until the names come out, I have to go with what has been proven and admitted to. A-Rod admitted he took them – how do you root for a guy like that? Is it OK just because he said he’s sorry?
Finally, my point about “most fans” is that I think most fans who watch baseball, especially in the playoffs, are not real fans. If you saw one of my Tweets today, I wrote “Goodbye, bandwagon fans. See you next October.” I was referring to Phillies fans. Everyone at work suddenly shows up wearing Phillies gear, but they are nowhere to be found in the Spring or Summer. It’s natural for people to want to jump on when a team is doing well if they are not true baseball fans. Since the Yankees have the most fans outside of where they live, I don’t consider these people baseball fans and they have nothing in common with real Yankees fans, so you shouldn’t take offense. If the Phillies had 27 championships they’d be Phillies fans. These are the people who are also Lakers and Cowboys fans. They are who I was addressing my frustration at.