The Bullpen To End All Bullpens

First of all, I don't have a problem with the Yankees getting Chapman.  Yea they bought low on a guy who's value has diminished because of the potential domestic violence suspension looming over his head, but it isn't Brian Cashman's fault that Aroldis Chapman is available.  Should Cashman just sit on his hands while the Red Sox or Blue Jays swoop in and acquire him for cents on the dollar?  Is it on Brian Cashman to investigate the case and stand up against domestic violence when the criminal justice system and MLB won't?  Sure it's going to be more difficult to root for a guy like Chapman than it will be for guys like Dellin and Andrew Miller but I'm at a point in my life where I'm ready to accept that not all professional athletes are glorified souls.

As for the acquisition itself, it probably isn't a stretch to say this is the most obnoxious medley of talent ever assembled within a major league relief unit.  It looks more like a roster you'd put together in Dynasty Mode playing MLB The Show.  Arguably the three best relievers in all of baseball pitching back-to-back-to-back.  But an embarrassment of riches?  Not necessarily.  There are plenty of teams in baseball that can get by without having a 7th inning guy who averages 14 Ks per 9.  But the Yankees get a starting pitcher past the 6th inning just about as often at they manufacture a run against Dallas Kuechel.  With a rotation of question marks, a lineup of bloated contracts and no real solution in sight the best way to make the 2016 Yankees better than the 2015 Yankees is to bolster the bullpen even further and give them an advantage in the late innings that no other team has.  That's modern day baseball.  Six, maybe seven innings from your starter and then your relievers hold the game in their hands, even more so in the postseason.  You absolutely cannot win anymore without a lights out guy at the backend.  You know that feeling when the other team's big guy goes to the mound in the ninth and you know you have no shot?  Imagine that feeling with nine outs to play with.

I'll admit at first I was disappointed when I heard that Eric Jagielo was in the deal.  He wasn't on the major league radar but he was a late first round pick two years ago out of Notre Dame and still has a lot of potential in his bat.  He was hitting .284/.347/.495 in Trenton this season before he messed up his knee and missed the rest of the year.  His problem is he doesn't have a position.  He made nine errors in 39 games at third base in 2015 and scouts say he is an absolute butcher, perhaps even too much so to plug in at first (not that it would've mattered with Greg Bird slated to live there for the next fifteen years).  The second biggest piece, RHP Rookie Davis hadn't moved the needle much since his 14th round selection out of high school in the 2011 draft but he had just started to generate a little fanfare this past season with an impressive showing in A+ Tampa.  He registered a 3.70 ERA with a 9.7 K/9 and a 1.7 BB/9 but didn't fare so well upon being promoted to Trenton (4.32 and a 6.5 K/9).  He's low-mid 90's on the gun and doesn't have great secondary pitches so he projects more as a 3-5 starter/bullpen arm.  The last two prospects were essentially throw-ins (light-hitting infielder Tony Renda and Caleb Cotham).  You can argue the Yankee pitching pipeline took a hit with this deal by losing Davis but they just added two young arms a couple weeks ago by trading Justin Wilson.

To a man, the bottom line is this is still a bargain.  Chapman's asking price over the summer was probably something like Jorge Mateo AND these four guys.  Craig Kimbrel's as well.  This winter the Yankees have managed to improve their current 25-man roster while holding onto their most coveted blue-chippers.  Over the last few years they've tried very carefully to toe the line between getting younger and competing for a championship and now they're sort of right in the middle.  As presently constituted I'd say they're among the top 4-5 teams in the American League.  After the season plays out, who knows?

Yankees trade Justin Wilson to the Tigers for prospects

At first I definitely thought this was a curious move.  Two days gone by, two quality relievers out the door.  With Andrew Miller floating on the trading block it looks like Cashman is about ready to dismantle the entire 2015 bullpen.  I'm on the record as saying that I think trading Andrew Miller is a mistake and I think now that Wilson is gone the chances of making that move are much slimmer.  So as long as the two rocks at the back of the pen are still in place I think I can get on board with this deal.  The entire trade is contingent on whether or not Luis Cessa and/or Chad Green develop into legitimate major league starting pitchers.  If that happens then I think it's worth it.  Let’s remember, James Pazos came up last year for a cup of coffee and showed flashes of a bonafide major league set-up man .  Jacob Lindgren is cut from the same cloth as Wilson and has a ton of upside.  Chasen Shreeve is still salvageable.  Any one of these guys could step right in and fill Wilson's role.  

So in the last two days the roster turnover has been Justin Wilson, Adam Warren and Brendan Ryan for Starlin Castro and two pitching prospects.  Not awful.  A few organizational weaknesses going into the winter meetings were age, the starting pitching pipeline, second base and right handed hitting.  All four have been addressed in the last 48 hours.  By no means is Cashman done prepping for 2016.  I'm sure talks for Gardner are still fluid and it sounds like Miller isn't off the table yet.  We should be holding out hope that he can shock everyone and make a move for Teixeira.  Find a contender who can use a gold-glove first basemen with 30/100 potential, eat some of that contract, get something back that can help you in 2017 and let Bird get comfortable at his new home for the next 15 years.

Derek Jeter wore Jason Giambi's Gold Thong

NJ.com - Derek Jeter will never wear it again. Supermodel Hannah Davis, his soon-to-be wife, probably wouldn't allow it anyway.

But there was a day where the Yankees legend couldn't have been happier to wear a thong.

PLUS: These 9 Yankees are due serious raises in 2016

Actually, it was a golden thong, to be exact, and it belonged to first baseman Jason Giambi. Jeter was one of several Yankees in the 2000s to wear it, believing in its mystical, slump-busting powers, Giambi said on the Dan Le Batard show on ESPN Radio Thursday.

"The guys did it right," Giambi said of Jeter. "Hall of Famer, dated A-list celebrities. I mean, he finally got engaged, which I'm so happy about. You know, Derek Jeter's a gold thong-wearer. He wore it one time."

Wait. Jeter wore the thong?

"He had to get out of a slump," Giambi said.

Then the retired slugger explained that Jeter was glad he did it. Giambi said he didn't remember whether Jeter asked for it or if it ended up in his locker one day.

"The golden thong is legendary. It's never not gotten a hit," Giambi said.

"Well, it was just, you know, it was his first slump. I don't think the guy's ever slumped in his career. He's unbelievable. You know, the gold thong, he had to get out of it.

"I never gave it to anybody. I would sometimes put it in their locker. I would sometimes start mentioning I'm going to give a gold thong if you don't get out of this slump. Sometimes I would break it out because they didn't want to wear the gold thong. And most of the time it just ended up in their locker. And anybody who's worn it has gotten a hit.

"I just know first pitch, home run and the slump was over."

Before you analyze this you have to remember that before being an icon, a sex symbol and a role model Derek Jeter is first and foremost a baseball player.  And when baseball players are in a slump they do weird things (most of the time much weirder than wearing a lucky thong).

Sure Jeter seems above all that stuff because he's such a confident guy.  It also sounds unbelievable because, like Giambi said, the dude never slumps.  That's why I know exactly when Jeter gave this golden thong the privilege of holding his genitalia.  There was only one moment in his career where he was vulnerable enough to try some weird shit like this.  Going into a game against the Angels on May 20th, 2004 Jeter was hitting .187 on the season.  He was literally getting booed at Yankee Stadium.  That's how bad it was.

Now I'll never believe in a million years that Jeter "asked" for the thong.  He's way too proud a guy to do something like that.  But Giambi saw what his buddy was going through, put the thong in his locker and the rest is history.

First AB single to center.  Second AB home run.  Slump busted.  And of course that's how it happened.  That's how Derek Jeter happens.  When Derek Jeter puts on a thong he's going to have a career night.  The Captain of the New York Yankees isn't walking back into the locker room with a string in between his asscheeks without at least a home run to show for it.  Also I bet A-Rod wore the thong constantly just to try and fit in.  Probably over a hundred times.

A-Rod is hijacking the World Series

The battle for New York may not be as one-sided as it appeared a few days ago.  First The Captain announces his engagement on Tuesday night, setting the internet on fire just moments before the first pitch of Game 1.  Then Andrew Miller took to the field at Kauffman Stadium alongside the GOAT before Game 2 to accept his greatest reliever in the world award.  All the while A-Rod is becoming has become the star of the World Series.  

The Fox panel has become the final stop on the 2015 Alex Rodriguez apology tour.  And after everything he did this year, coming back from a year off at the age of 40 to put up the numbers he did, turning the entire Yankee fanbase around and garnering their unanimous support throughout the season, what he's doing with Fox right now is the most impressive.  For him to make himself so available and actually appear likable on TV is something I'd never thought I'd see in a billion years.

Now it doesn't look like he's 100% comfortable yet (he shattered a television with a football his first day on the job).  Sometimes it sounds like he's reading from a script when they ask him those monotonous questions during the pregame.  But once the cameras were off him and the focus was on the game he really dug in and kicked the shit out of it.  That fourth inning he became a star.  He basically had the whole country imploring fox to throw Reynolds and Verducci out of the booth mid-game so that A-Rod and his cognitive baseball analysis could bounce off Buck for the next five innings.

Hate him or love him, nobody on Earth loves baseball more than Alex Rodriguez.  That conversation in the fourth inning was so comfortable for him because it was all about the complexities of baseball.  The intricacies of facing a guy like Jacob deGrom.  Nobody knows more about that stuff than A-Rod.  He's the ultimate thinking-man's hitter, sometimes to a fault.  He's always trying to anticipate the pitch.  Getting inside his brain during a game, especially when there's a guy on the mound who he's familiar with, is really a pleasure to listen to if you're a baseball fan.

So basically what I'm trying to say is the Yankees are back.  They still run the city.  The Mets are about to get swept.  They're going to lose their two best hitters in the offseason and by Opening Day 2016 their offense is going to suck again.  So just hang tight for a few more days and we can go back to living in the world we're accustomed to.  A world where the Mets are a punchline and the Yankees carry the torch for New York.  The way it should be.

Your annual postseason reminder that there's Mariano Rivera and then there's everybody else

These last few weeks have been especially tough watching the Mets take over the city and last night was the perfect pick-me-up.  Not only did the Amazins drop Game 1 in excruciating fashion with a five-hour, 14-inning loss on a sacrifice fly at 1 in the morning, the great Jeurys Familia served up the game-tying home run as the Mets were two outs away from a 1-0 World Series lead.

As the Yankees have fallen further and further from World Series contention over the years, this has become my favorite time of the postseason.  It's the only thing I look forward to.  When the new hotshot closer steps to the mound for the first time under the bright lights and can't get it done, just further augmenting the reality that there's Mariano Rivera and then there's everybody else.

Now I understand how I look sitting here writing about a Yankee who retired two years ago while the Mets are in the World Series.  But every year this happens Rivera's body of work in the playoffs just becomes more and more staggering.  In 141 postseason innings pitched Mo served up TWO home runs (both wall scrapers by Sandy Alomar Jr. and Jay Peyton).  TWO.  That's 0.1 HR/9.  Mariano could suit up tonight and he wouldn't let Alex Gordon drop a 440 foot atomic bomb on him with the game on the line.

This isn't to take away from Familia.  He's been a godsend for the Mets this year.  Up until last night he'd been their MVP not only throughout the regular season but the postseason as well.  But he aint Mo.  And with all this talk about the Mets winning the next 10 World Series, let's put that shit to bed right now.  Cause if you want to put together a dynasty (and let's be very clear, there hasn't been one since the late 90's Yankees) you need that guy you can call on at the end without any trepidation and you need him to be that way for years and years.  Familia is the flavor of the week.  He's pitching awesome.  But it just takes one shot to the solar plexus to shake your confidence forever.  If he can bounce back from this and have a great rest of the series you tip your cap.  But don't be surprised if he can't rebound from this.  We've seen it happen a billion times.

They are who we thought they were

In the days following the Yanks getting swept in Baltimore to end the regular season I was clinging to the notion that once the playoffs start you get a clean slate.  That you can throw everything you've done out the window.  Maybe even become a different team all together.  That wasn't the case with the Yankees.  The team the whole country just watched flounder at the hands of Dallas Keuchel and a very ordinary bullpen was the same Yankee team that's been playing since the trade deadline.  Last night's game embodied all of the maladies that had plagued the Yankees over the past two months.  A starting pitcher snake-bitten by the home run.  A bullpen that wasn't quite as good as it needed to be.  And an embarrassing, shameful offensive effort, the likes of which haven't been seen since the 2012 ALCS.

While the Yankee lineup had been an inconsistent, mostly anemic group since July 31st, you could argue they saved their absolute worst performance for last night.  3 Hits.  No run.  Not until A-Rod came to the plate with two on and two out in the bottom of the 6th did you ever actually feel like they might have a rally in their bones.  But we should have known better.  We saw what this offense was in August and September.  A once deep and explosive lineup that had succumbed to injury, fatigue and just general lack of production.

Was Tanaka horrible?  No.  But he needed to be better than that.  He was in and out of jams every inning, had very little command and was fortunate the two mistakes he made were without anybody on base.  Betances faltered yet again, struggling with control issues.  The run he surrendered made it feel like 20-0.  But none of that mattered last night and none of it matters today.  The only thing that should be discussed this morning is the pitiful performance by everyone in the Yankee lineup because the same guys who humiliated themselves last night are going to be lining up on the first base foul line circa Opening Day 2016.  Sure the experience down the stretch stands to benefit Greg Bird, Rob Refsnyder and Didi Gregorious, but everyone else is just going to be another year older.  And the problem with that, the problem with the composition of this offense is that they don't have ONE contact hitter.  They don't have anyone who's going to contend for a batting title, flirt with 200 hits or choke up and muscle a big RBI single like Jose Altuve did last night.  They're entire lineup is just one big giant cock-tease.  Just nine guys sitting around waiting for a three-run home run and when they don't get it they can't find other ways to score.  Can't win like that.

If I can take one positive from last night it was that I was impressed by the crowd.  I have to admit I expected to walk into there with no buzz whatsoever coming off the six losses in seven games.  But for the first six innings the new Yankee Stadium was as loud as it had been since the 2009 postseason.  Sure the Rasmus and Gomez home runs took some of the air out of the place, but for the most part the real fans got out to the Bronx last night and made a lot of noise.  Of course once the Stros pushed that third run across in the 7th half of the crowd bailed.  And you know what, I don't blame them.  This team hadn't given you any reason to think they were capable of a comeback.  By the 9th inning I was just waiting to go home.  They made Luke Gregerson look like Mariano Rivera.  Just a spineless, gutless effort from their first at-bat through the end of the game.  Now I'm just left sitting here at work, hungover as a skunk on two hours of sleep with a sore throat trying to trick people into thinking that my life isn't in a complete and utter tailspin.  Awesome.

Tanaka Tuesday

It's been three long years since there's been postseason baseball in the Bronx and it honestly feels like an eternity.  I didn't really know how to live my life these past two Octobers.  Playoff baseball at Yankee Stadium is in the fabric of my being.  From watching Tino's grand slam sail over my eight-year-old head at the 98' World Series to the Raul Ibanez game in 2012, experiencing the Yankees in the postseason has easily been the best, most exciting part of my life.  And now it's back.  But it may not be back for long.

For the first time since the new wildcard format was introduced the Yankees are going to experience the rigors of the one game playoff and they couldn't have drawn a more formidable opponent.  Not only is Dallas Keuchel the front-runner for the American League CY Young, he's dominated the Yankees this year to the tune of ZERO runs in 16 innings.  Pushing a few across with this guy on the mound is going to be a daunting task but the Yanks have a couple of things working in their favor.  Paul Goldschmidt's two-run home run in game 162 brought the one game playoff to the Bronx and away from Minute Maid Park where Kuechel is 15-0 with a 1.46 ERA this season.  And while he did shutout the Yankees in the Bronx earlier this year he's 5-8 with an ERA almost two runs higher (3.77) away from Houston in 2015.  Keuchel's also pitching on three-days rest tonight for the first time all season.  That may be a factor, it may not be.  But the guy we have throwing tonight has had five full days to get in his routine and prep for the biggest start of his career.

That this game has fallen on a Tanaka Tuesday gives me about 200% more confidence going into tonight.  That and the fact that this Houston lineup is made to order for him.  All these guys do is swing and miss.  Yea, they have plenty of guys who can hit the ball out of the ballpark and every one of them is dangerous at Yankee Stadium.  But they expand the zone more than any team in baseball.  That's Tanaka's bread and butter.  Getting batters to chase is his livelihood.  If he's sharp, if he can avoid the big mistake that can wreck this game, I think we may be in store for an all time performance.  If he's not the Yanks may be chasing in this game early and if you've been paying attention the last two months that's not where we want to be.

Chris Young is playing tonight.  It hasn't been announced but I'm going to go on the premise that Girardi is using his brain and will bench Gardner.  Honestly I'd rather have Gardner in there than Jacoby but the guy making $22 million a year isn't sitting on the bench in a game like this.  At least Gardner might put together a long at-bat before he strikes out.  Expect Ellsbury to ground out weakly to the right side on first or second pitches at least a couple of times tonight.  I don't mind not playing McCann either.  He's been MISERABLE this month, especially against lefties and at least you can use him in the late innings as a pinch-hitter if you want a chance for a big home run.

The two X-factors the Yanks have in this game are Rico Noel and Carlos Beltran.  Noel because he's been an automatic stolen base every time he's pinch-ran since getting called up.  Beltran because he's one of the greatest postseason players of all time and will be the most dangerous man with a bat in his hands tonight.  Am I worried about Betances?  A little bit.  He's had his command issues but he doesn't have to pitch on the black to get these guys out.  Like I said, they chase more than any team in baseball.  As long as he isn't throwing wild pitches with guys on base I think he'll be fine.  Chances are he's going to factor into this game in a big way, even if it means getting six outs before handing it off to Miller.

The energy heading into this game isn't exactly electric.  There's plenty of reason to be down about this team given the way they've played these last two months, especially this last week.  The CC news drags things down even more.  But winning cures all ills.  If the Yanks win this game, especially if they win it dramatically, that will carry over into the division series.  They win a game or two in Kansas City, all of the sudden Yankee Stadium is rocking again.  Guaranfuckingteed.  There's nothing better than playoff baseball in the Bronx.  So let's take a deep breath, win ONE GAME tonight and see where that takes us.  Let's go.

Is CC kidding with this IG post?

Now this I don't like.  I can have empathy for a guy who feels like his life has been turned upside down. That he did something so awful that he can't go another day without seeking help.  But if you're going to pull yourself off the team the day before the playoffs start when your the quasi-captain making $25 million a year you better have done some ghastly shit.  Not something innocent enough to warrant dog poop internet memes.  So either CC has the worst sense of humor imaginable or he just flat-left the Yankees when they need him the most.  

CC is checking himself into an alcohol rehabilitation center, will miss the entire postseason

ABC - New York Yankees pitcher Sabathia is planning to check himself into a alcohol rehabilitation center Monday.

Sabathia issued a statement just after 1 p.m. (see below) that said he's leaving at a bad time, but it's something he owed to himself and his family. The announcement comes a day before the Yankees play Houston in the American League wild-card game.

The statement also said he's looking forward to playing again next season, so it appears he's not returning for the post season.

Here is the statement:
"Today I am checking myself into an alcohol rehabilitation center to receive the professional care and assistance needed to treat my disease.

"I love baseball and I love my teammates like brothers, and I am also fully aware that I am leaving at a time when we should all be coming together for one last push toward the World Series. It hurts me deeply to do this now, but I owe it to myself and to my family to get myself right. I want to take control of my disease, and I want to be a better man, father and player.

"I want to thank the New York Yankees organization for their encouragement and understanding. Their support gives me great strength and has allowed me to move forward with this decision with a clear mind.

"As difficult as this decision is to share publicly, I don't want to run and hide. But for now please respect my family's need for privacy as we work through this challenge together.

"Being an adult means being accountable. Being a baseball player means that others look up to you. I want my kids - and others who may have become fans of mine over the years - to know that I am not too big of a man to ask for help. I want to hold my head up high, have a full heart and be the type of person again that I can be proud of. And that's exactly what I am going to do.

"I am looking forward to being out on the field with my team next season playing the game that brings me so much happiness."




What the fuck is going on right now?  I'm so confused.  Never in my life have I seen something come more out of nowhere than this.  CC has a drinking problem?  A drinking problem so grave that he chose the day before the playoffs start to check into rehab?  CC?  One of the most model citizens in baseball?  Yea there was that incident earlier this summer in Toronto where him and his friends go into a scuffle while they were out.  Could there have been more to that?  Maybe, but he certainly doesn't have a history of getting into those kinds of situations.

Unfortunately my gut tells me that CC got drunk very recently and did something awful.  Something so bad that if he didn't take action right away and try to get himself help that he couldn't look his wife or kids in the eye.  If that's the case than this is really, truly unfortunate.

What an insane year this has been for CC.  He went from dragging the Yankees down with his awful performance to putting it all back together again to getting hurt with a potential career-ending injury to coming back off the DL only to be more productive and earn himself a spot on the postseason rotation to ending his season in rehab before the playoffs start.  It's tough to look past tomorrow the way the Yankees are playing but it looks like Nova is going to go from a bullpen demotion to starting Game 3 of the ALDS should they get so far.  As if you needed another reason to be down on this team before the wildcard game.

Yanks back into home field advantage

The biggest hit of the Yankee season came today off the bat of Paul Goldschmidt.  His two-run homer in Arizona lifted the Diamondbacks over the Astros in a 5-3 win that preserved the Yankees' lead over Houston in the wild card standings.  The AL wild-card play-in game will now take place in the Bronx on Tuesday night.  It'll be Dallas Kuechel on three-days rest against Tanaka.

It's a strange feeling right now.  The ultimate goal this weekend was to ensure that game was going to be at Yankee Stadium and it was achieved.  But the Yanks just got swept by the Orioles, have lost six of seven overall and look absolutely lifeless heading into Tuesday's win-or-go-home match-up with Houston.  Girardi appears as if he's actually trying to lose his job.  After Saturday's debacle he yanks Pineda after 83 pitches with the season on the line and hands the ball to Chris Capuano.  Yea, the same Chris Capuano who has about an eight ERA and has been cut four times this season.  Doesn't matter that Flaherty was like 1 for a million lifetime against Pineda.  Gotta have that lefty-lefty no matter what.

I've been trying to hold fast to the notion that the postseason erases everything and creates a fresh new slate for everyone but it's going to be really hard to get super pumped for Tuesday.  That place is going to be dead.  This team has given you no reason to get excited about anything.  I'll be there and I'm going to do my best to psyche myself up but if this team falls behind early Yankee Stadium is going to be embarrassingly empty in the mid to late innings.  

Win a game.

You can go ahead and blame Girardi for putting the Yankees in this situation.  It's pretty clear this team and all their lefties are in a far more arduous situation if they have to pack up and go across the country to play a one-game playoff in someone else's building.  And yet Girardi fielded two half-assed teams yesterday, hanging Nova and Severino out to dry and rendering game 162 enormous. It's pretty ironic he spent the entire year making sure everyone is rested and now instead of the regulars getting two full days off before the wildcard game they have to go balls-to-the-wall on the last day of the season.

But it's not entirely Joe's fault.  The guys on the field are playing AWFUL.  The offense is listless.  The bullpen is faltering way more often.  The starting pitching is just good enough to make this team painfully mediocre.  But all of that can flip in an instant.  We've seen it before and it can start today.  Big Mike on the mound against a team that's pretty much had his number all season long outside of one outstanding start.  If he can dial it up and be as good as he can be the Yanks have nothing to worry about.  If he doesn't have it you'll know it right away and will probably be reaching for your phone early to check the score of the Astros game.

Guess who's back

Up until last night I wasn't sure how I felt about the Yankees celebrating a wildcard berth.  It seems kind of silly to be popping champagne and smoking cigars when you're only one game away from cleaning out your locker.  But I loved every bit of last night.  It's difficult to embrace because the pinstripes are so awe-inspiring but this has been a team of underdogs all year long.  Vegas had them finishing below .500 before the season started.  These aren't your older brother's Yankees.  It's a cast of kids and aging veterans.  There's very little in between.  It's hard to remember that this guy...

And this guy...

were both counted out by pretty much everybody at some point in 2015.  People were wondering whether or not A-Rod was even going to make the Opening Day roster in spring training.  Everyone wanted CC out of the rotation and when he went down with his knee injury the consensus was that his season was over.  And yet they're both here and contributing to a playoff bound Yankee team not only on the field but as leaders in the clubhouse.  That in and of itself is something worth celebrating.

And how about my man John Ryan Murhpy...

It's always better when you deliver a great quote in a deadpan manner. So well done @JRMurphy513. pic.twitter.com/Qqa1TqlQU0

— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) October 2, 2015

You had to be blind not to see this coming.  Of course my good Irish brother John Ryan Murhpy led the drinking effort last night after the game.  And he earned it.  The guy hits every single time he gets a chance to play.  For a young kid it's pretty impressive how he's able to go out there and contribute with the bat and behind the plate even though he's not getting regular playing time.  He absolutely stole the show.

As for the game, how about my man Adam Warren.  Thrown into the game having no idea he was available to pitch, goes three scoreless and bridges what was seemingly an impossible gap to Betances.  Forget Ramiro Mendoza.  This guy is better than him.  He does everything.  Start, high-leverage relief, mop-up duty, paint your fence, wash your car.  The Yankees aren't where they are today without Warren and all he's been able to do this season.

It's impossible to feel good about this team given the way they've played lately.  They have a myriad of issues to sort out between now and Tuesday.  But that's the beauty of postseason baseball.  Once it starts you can toss everything you've done up until that point out the window.  All it takes is one swing of the bat to atone for a season of mediocrity.  I don't know what the postseason will bring for the Yankees.  If they run into Keuchel for the one-game playoff they're going to be in trouble, even if it is on three-days rest.  But these are short series' after that.  They don't have to sustain success over another 162 games.  They have to get hot for a few weeks.  I'm not banking on it but crazier things have happened.

Yanks lose third straight to Boston, still haven't clinched anything

Everything was laid out perfectly for the Yankees to finally breath that sigh of relief and clinch a wildcard spot.  They got the two losses they needed from the Angels and Twins.  They had a billion opportunities to score runs.  They got a huge go-ahead home run from A-Rod.  They handed a lead to Dellin Betances with two outs in the 7th and they still couldn't get the job done.  Now the bullpen is bone-dry heading into tomorrow's series finale.  Wilson, Betances and Miller are most likely all unavailable.  Just an absolutely awful loss every which way you slice it.

The Red Sox walked six of 11 batters in the 7th and 8th innings and the Yankees couldn't score.  The bottom of the 8th was maybe the worst inning of the entire season.  Four walks.  No runs.  How is that possible?  Ellsbury gets picked off at first to start it off.  Gardner has the worst at-bat of the season to end it.  After Ackley walked to load the bases he swings at the first pitch and rolls over to second base.  Can anybody in this lineup get a big hit?  Not a big home run.  A big hit.  A little ol' single with runners in scoring position.

The only good news is that Tanaka's healthy.  Yea he looked like a guy who hadn't pitched in a few weeks.  His splitter was off.  He got hardly any swings and misses.  But I'm going to go ahead and attribute that to a little rust.  He's got a week here to get in his regular routine and once he does I believe he'll be good to go.  The rest of these guys I'm not so sure about.  You couldn't possibly watch these last three games and feel any worse about this team heading into the postseason. 

And I already hate Mookie Betts.  Fuck this guy.  Just chugging around the bases all night with that big stupid ass chain flying all over the place.  Him and Jackie Bradley Jr. catching anything that flies out in death valley.  Fuck both of those guys.

I have nothing but empathy for this guy who botched three foul balls last night

Couldn't possibly have a worse night at a game then this guy @BarstoolBigCat @BarstoolJJ @KFCBarstool pic.twitter.com/B04C60EdFJ

— Jay Relay (@JayRelay) September 30, 2015

First of all I can't imagine a more perfect idea for a first date.  Impress her with a few Legends Suite seats on the third base line to a late September game that you don't really have to pay attention to cause it doesn't really mean anything.  You casually drop some comprehensive knowledge of baseball on her throughout the night cause the setting is right and all of the sudden she thinks you're a competent individual who's worthy of a second date and/or an OTPHJ during Kate Smith's rendition of God Bless America.

That is of course unless you bungle three opportunities at a foul ball in front of her.  There's no coming back from that.  If it was once, fine.  You can spin that in a goofy, loveable way.  Everyone has a good laugh and you've generated a lasting, funny memory between you and your date.  Not the worst thing in the world.  But you've got to field that second one to let her know you're still a man.  I don't care if it took a tough hop.  Corral it in with your body.  Use your chest.  Whatever it takes.

Once he was hit with that second error you knew it was over.  His mind was all over the place.  The ball boy could have walked over and handed him that third one and he would have took it off his forehead.  At that point I think you just have to leave cause there's no way to spin your lack of fielding ability into any kind of endearing quality.  She now knows you're a full-blown spazz and that's it.  Which is why my heart bleeds for this guy.  He could've been any of us.  We all think we're ready for the big time until the bright lights come on.  When I was 17 Hideki Matsui hit a foul ball into the upperdeck directly at me and it bounced off my collarbone and into my friend's lap.  Ball was in the air for about 30 seconds and I still couldn't get a read on it.  If I was trying to trick a girl into thinking I was a cool guy it would take no more than three foul balls to fully expose me.

Yanks take the field after Yogi's funeral

Yogi was officially sent off to join his wife and the spirits of Yankee legends this morning with a funeral service in Montclair.  It seems like everyone who's anyone was in attendance.  He was eulogized by none other than Joe Torre.  I honestly can't think of anyone I'd rather have read my eulogy than Torre.  Couldn't have been a dry eye in the house.  Much like Yogi, one of the sweetest, most genuine people on the planet.  Those two probably meshed together so well in their years around each other.  Like lamb and tuna fish.

Obviously the Yankees had to wait until they properly said goodbye to Yogi before they could clinch a playoff berth.  They can do that tonight with a win and a Twins loss combined with either a Tigers win over the Rangers or an Angels loss to the A's.  It'll be Big Mike on the bump this evening against Rick Porcello.  Pineda has pitched well his last few outings and always seems to throw a good game against the Sox.  It'd be great to see him hit his stride and solidify himself as the clear-cut #2 as we head into the playoffs.  Porcello pitched well against the Yankees last time they saw each other in Fenway but this lineup is probably just happy to see a righthander out there for once.


You'd really like to see this offense get something going against Porcello tonight.  Even if they don't tally a bunch of hits.  Even if they don't put together a few rallies.  Just hit a few out of the ballpark for me.  That's all I'm asking.  They've played their last five games at Yankee Stadium and they've hit just two home runs.  That's not Yankee baseball.  Whether it's McCann, Bird, Beltran, whoever.  Someone's gotta run into one tonight and when they do hopefully there's a couple guys on and it's enough to win the game.

You're probably going to see Ackley start again tonight.  It's pretty crazy how the second base situation has sorted itself out.  The platoon went from Drew/Ryan to Ackley/Refsnyder real quick.  The latter certainly don't have the defensive pedigree of the former but right now the Yankees need offense.  Refsnyder's hit lefties well and if he can stay hot through the end of the regular season I wouldn't be shocked if he's hitting 9th a week from today against Dallas Kuechel if it comes to that.

Speaking of the one-game playoff, it's kind of flown under the radar how much better the Yankees' situation is than that of whoever takes the second wild card.  The Yanks are inches away from locking up home field on Tuesday with their ace lined up to pitch that night.  The Astros/Rangers/Angels are still fighting tooth and nail for position and probably will be up until the very end of the season.  Whoever comes away with the AL West crown is in a great spot but the other two teams are kind of screwed.  One team is going to miss the playoffs completely while the other might not have a chance to throw their best pitcher against the Yankees with their lives on the line. 

Dogshit.

I can't think of anything I would have rather done less than watch this game on a Friday night.  It felt like anything BUT a playoff team working to clinch a postseason berth while clinging to division title hopes.  No buzz whatsoever, stands as empty as can be and a game rendered all the more meaningless by a Toronto win over the Rays.  Another atrocious offensive effort by the Yankees.  Rondon had absolutely nothing tonight.  Five walks, two hit batters and the only runs the Yanks could push across were on Didi's two-run single.  They hit into four 6-4-3 double plays tonight.  Gag.

The only bright spot tonight was CC.  He was on the verge of turning in another stellar outing before serving up a couple solo shots in the 7th.  Despite his final line his effort tonight helped his case to get into the postseason rotation.  Other than that tonight was dogshit.  A-Rod still can't find his way.  Headley may be the worst player in baseball right now.  And to top it all off Tanaka's hamstring is still barking.  Garbage night all around.

Chase Headley error count pic.twitter.com/k9m88YSUBO

— NOT Joe Girardi (@Joe_Girardi_28) September 26, 2015

Yanks honor Yogi at the Stadium, beat Sale 3-2

After Yogi passed away yesterday I said if the Yankees won last night in Toronto that they were going to win the World Series.  That it would be Yogi's spirit joining the ghosts of Yankee legends past to guide this team to the promise land.  Well the Yankees didn't win the game.  I thought I had made a huge mistake.  Then I realized, hey, the guy hasn't even gotten settled down yet.  Dude has been in heaven for like five minutes and I'm already asking miracles of him.  Maybe let him unpack his bags first before he wills this team to a World Series.

So it may have taken him a day but I'm pretty sure he made his way out to the Bronx tonight for his commemoration.  There were so many awesome tributes.  From the military sendoff to all the wreaths in monument park to Girardi and all of the active catchers memorializing him behind home plate.  The whole thing was great but we all knew the only way to complete the night and to properly honor Yogi was to go out and get a win and that's exactly what they did.

Michael Pineda built off his strong performance against the Mets by outpitching Chris Sale in a 3-2 win over the White Sox in the first game of an eight game homestand.  Big Mike pitched great, but for the second straight start Girardi went out and got him before he hit 90 pitches in the middle of tossing a gem.  Not really sure what Michael Kay is talking about when he says "the Yankees just aren't getting any length out of their starters."  Umm I'm pretty sure they aren't getting any length out of their manager.  If I had the back-end of the Yankee bullpen to call on every night I'd probably have a short leash on my starters too.  But sometimes the guys you have out there that night are better than Justin Wilson.  It didn't burn them tonight but it's kind of starting to get annoying.

Once Wilson was pulled with runners on first and third it was more of the same from Betances.  No command upon coming in, walking in a run and putting you on the brink of a full blown panic attack before finally getting out of it.  Not sure when he plans on getting himself back together but hopefully it happens before the calendar flips to October.

The only runs the Yankees were able to manufacture all night came via Carlos Beltran's three-run homer.  What else is new.  If you're having a hard time being inspired by this team right now the one thing you can hang your hat on is that when the lights shine the brightest this guy is absolutely going to come to play.

The Blue Jays were off tonight so the Yanks picked up a half game in the division.  Not that it feels like it matters much anymore but it's at least worth mentioning until the AL East is officially locked up.  The wild card lead is now 4.5 over Houston.  The magic number to clinch a playoff spot...

Yanks drop series to Toronto, fall 3.5 games back

It felt like a long shot a couple of weekends ago but the Yankees actually put themselves in a position to take the division lead heading into these three games.  Had Tanaka been healthy enough to start last night we may have been talking about a division race coming down to the wire these final 11 games but it most likely wouldn't have mattered.  The Yankee lineup got blanked in the biggest game of the season and had had absolutely nothing for Marcus Stroman as he cruised through 7 innings.

The Yankee bullpen, once a deep and versatile group, has now become a three-man-band of reliable arms.  That's why pulling Nova there in the 6th frustrated me so much.  I get that he has 110 pitches.  I get the lefty-lefty match-up.  Let Nova finish that inning.  It was his game.  You want to bring in Justin Wilson there?  Be my guest.  But James Pazos has been pitching all year long for the fucking RailRiders.  Maybe I'm nitpicking but I don't trust a guy with four career major league innings deciding one of the biggest at-bats of the year.  But that was going to be the consequence of Tuesday.  Not only were the odds stacked against the Yanks with Nova on the mound but the team's biggest strength was minimized by Miller's unavailability.

So the division is a wrap.  It would take nothing short of a miracle to make up 3.5 games at this point in the season.  Now the only thing the Yankees need to concern themselves with is winning enough games to ensure the one-game playoff is going to be in the Bronx and making sure Tanaka is healthy enough to pitch it.  Of course you want to see Ellsbury continue to get his groove back, Pineda build off his recent success and Betances get back command of his fastball but all of that is moot unless the Yanks can win one game on October 6th.

RIP Lawrence Peter Berra

The mood this morning is obviously much more somber than you'd expect coming on the heels of the biggest Yankee win of the season.  Yogi Berra passed away overnight at the age of 90.  I don't sit here with a heavy heart writing about his passing.  I never watched him play.  But he had been around the Yankees for as long as I can remember and there's every indication that he was just about as good of a guy as there was in the world.  They'd roll him out on every Old Timers day and every number retirement ceremony and he'd just stand there in the boiling hot sun not knowing where he was and the fans and the active players would flip.  That's when you know you're the man.  You also know you're the man when you're leaving George Costanza stuck in the mud with witticisms. 

He really led just about as charmed and as full a life as you can possibly live, epitomizing everything that was great about his generation.  While ballplayers today are taking themselves out of games to help ensure they can get every last million on their next payday, Yogi spent his off-days as a gunner's mate on the USS Bayfield during the D-Day invasion of Normandy.  Not only one of the great baseball players of all time but one of the great Americans of all time.  One of the other reasons Yogi always appealed to me was all of the parallels there were between him and Jeter.  Both not quite on that Ruth/Gehrig/Dimaggio/Mantle level but just a cut below.  Both staples of their respective Yankee dynasties.  Both universally revered throughout the baseball community.  And it seemed like they always got a kick out of one another whenever Yogi came around the clubhouse. 

I know it's probably pretty cavalier to say that Yogi's passing is going to somehow tie into this current Yankee run but I think we can all agree that the ghosts of Yankee Stadium just made a huge September call-up.

BirdMan Mothafuckaaaaaa

Greg Bird gave this ball wings. https://t.co/qIh3KUx7dY

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) September 23, 2015

What a fucking rollercoaster of emotions that was.  I'm out of breath.  That's as exciting a regular season baseball game as you'll ever see.  Just two heavyweights exchanging blow after blow.  The kid Severino and Marco Estrada matching one another through the first six innings.  Joey Bats hosing guys left and right.  Nobodies coming out of the Blue Jay bullpen and striking out A-Rod every time he comes up in a big spot.  Beltran delivering yet another huge go-ahead home run in the late innings.  Betances walking the tightrope and striking out Encarnacion with the bases loaded, clinging to a one-run lead.  Then just when you thought it was over fucking Dioner Navarro takes Miller deep to tie it in the 9th and sends Rogers Center into a frenzy.  I don't remember the last time I heard a baseball stadium erupt like that.  I bet you fangraphs win percentage for the Blue Jays after that home run was 100%.  After that it looked like a movie script.  Miller gives up the double to that pest Pillar, walks the next two guys and all of the sudden the stage is set for the MVP to send the Yankees off quietly into the night.  But somehow, SOMEHOW Donaldson strikes out to end the frame.  At this point you have no confidence going into extras.  All of the pressure in the world is on the Yanks to score in the top of the 10th to give Miller one last chance to close it out before you have to give way to the Nick Rumbelows and the Caleb Cothams to keep you in the game.

McCann leads off the tenth amidst all of the chaos with the presence of mind to lay down a bunt against the shift and get on base with an infield single.  Unbelievable.  The sky is falling, we're all panicking and Brian McCann couldn't be thinking any clearer.  Rico Noel pinch runs and helps facilitate a catchers interference during the next at-bat to put runners on first and second with nobody out for Bird.  He falls behind 0-2.  Doesn't panic.  Takes a couple of bad pitches, gets another breaking ball over the plate and bashes it over the right field fence for a three run home run.

It feels like every week you sit there and say "that was the biggest hit of the year".  A few weeks ago it was Beltran's home run in Toronto.  Then it was Heathcott's home run in Tampa.  A few innings earlier it was probably Beltran again.  Now it's Bird.  At the time I thought we needed every single one of those runs.  I had no idea what Miller had left after that last inning.  Encarnacion took him deep in the 10th to make it 6-4 but he managed to get out of it after 42 grueling pitches.  Ballgame over.  Yankees win.

Honestly words can't express how much I love Luis Severino and Greg Bird.  These guys are 007 cool.  21 and 22-years-old, thrown into the deep end like toddlers without swimmies and they're doing the fucking 400-meter freestyle.  I don't know what tomorrow or the rest of this year is going to bring but tonight I'm happy because the Yankees are still alive in the division and I've officially become sexually aroused at the thought of building a future around these two guys.

Must Win

The fate of the American League East quite literally rests on the right arm of Luis Severino.  Without a win tonight you can forget about the division.  Heading into the final 11 games of the season with 3.5 - 4.5 games to make up is going to be impossible.

Tonight is going to be a tall order for the 21-year-old who got absolutely obliterated his last time out against Toronto.  He's going to have to regroup and outpitch a guy in Marco Estrada who's been one of the best pitchers in baseball in the second half.  The formula for beating the Blue Jays isn't complicated but it's awfully difficult to execute.  Keep it close and get it to the bullpen.  We saw last night that the Blue Jay bullpen is vulnerable.  Ours is the best in baseball and you'd bet your ass Betances and Miller are going to be lock and loaded for 9 outs tonight if need be.  All Severino has to do is get the ball to those guys with the game still in tact.

We can talk about tomorrow when tomorrow comes.  If the Yankees lose tonight then the question will no longer be whether or not Nova can get it together for one start against the Blue Jays, it'll be whether or not the Yankees can handle Dallas Kuechel in a one-game playoff at Yankee Stadium.

Let's go Luis.

Yanks can't handle Price, fall 3.5 games out of first

Going into tonight you couldn't have felt very good about coming away from this thing with a win.  Pitting Adam Warren and his 85 pitch limit against David Price in Toronto didn't exactly sound promising.  And in the end things worked out just about how you might have thought they would.  The Blue Jays put up a crooked number in the first.  Price got back on the mound with a lead and mowed down the Yankees the rest of the way.  They had one real opportunity with the bases loaded in the third with one out but Price never looked out of sorts.  It was almost as if he had the Yankees on the ropes and not the other way around.  He struck out A-Rod and got McCann to fly out to end the threat.

Remember when the Blue Jays got David Price and everyone said "Oh well the Yankees always hit David Price."  I think we can officially put that notion to bed now.  In four starts against the Yankees since becoming a Blue Jay he's been beyond dominant.  It almost seems like the Yankees never even have a chance.  Toronto jumps out to a lead before you're even in your seat and then Price gets in a groove that you know they aren't going to disrupt no matter what they do.  For all of the fanfare that Cespedes has gotten with the Mets since they traded for him, this deadline deal may be even better.  Since becoming a Blue Jay Price is 8-1 in ten starts and has been every bit the ace Toronto has been missing since the days of Doc Halladay.  His acquisition has made them what they are right now and that's the best team in baseball.


These next two games are must-wins if we want to talk about division races anymore.  It's very possible Severino and Nova still have shell-shock from their last outings against Toronto so I'm not expecting either of them to go out and spin a gem.  Just avoid that early-inning disaster while you're still figuring things out.  That's the Blue Jay special.  They punch you in the gut early and knock the wind out of you before you can even get going.  If they can just get the bullpen into the game with a tie/lead then they've done their job and the Yanks will have a chance.  If not, it's probably going to be refreshing Twitter for Tanaka hamstring updates for the next two weeks before that one-game playoff.

Mets hand the Yanks the series, head into Toronto 2.5 games out

I would have loved to have gone out last night and knocked Matt Harvey around but the way things played out made it even sweeter.  Harvey was untouchable through five innings.  Cruising along having allowed just one hit and seven strikeouts through 77 pitches.  Then came the hook.  I've never seen anything like that in my entire life.  For weeks the baseball world has been waiting to see exactly how all of the Harvey hoopla was going to unfold and then like something out of a movie script it all came to fruition.  On Sunday Night Baseball, in front of the entire country the Met bullpen came in to pitch Harvey's innings and immediately blew the game.  11 runs in the 6th, 7th and 8th innings.  Can't make it up.  For the Mets, outside of the turmoil it may be causing in the locker room and the subsequent media shitstorm last night's game will in all likelihood not affect their clinching of the NL East (though nothing would make me happier than to have played a part in initiating their undoing).  And as a Yankee fan all you can do is say thanks to the Mets for being the Mets and literally handing us a win that we desperately needed.

All of the Harvey insanity overshadowed what was another stellar outing by CC.  That's the other part of what made last night so sweet.  Here you have CC, a guy who's pitched a billion innings in his career.  A guy who's pitched on three-days-rest time and again to will his team to and through the postseason.  A guy who's out there at 35-years-old on one leg pitching with less than half the stuff he used to have.  And then you have Harvey in the other dugout, silent as the grave when Terry Collins yanked him.  Since coming off the DL CC's pitching as well as he has since 2012 and has actually filled a huge void left by Eovaldi's injury and Nova's ineffectiveness.  Whether it's the new brace or the rest he seems to have found his groove and I for one couldn't be more happy for him.  I completely wrote this guy off and if he can keep this going he may just earn himself a postseason start (it'll be there for him to make, god-willing).

Yesterday wasn't all sunshine and smiles for the Yanks.  It was announced earlier in the day that Tanaka is going to miss Wednesday's start in Toronto with a Grade 1 hamstring strain.  He's only expected to miss this one start even though he's apparently been fighting to make it but this is still a HUGE blow.  That game could very well decide the division and now instead of the guy who's pitched to a 1.23 ERA in three starts against the Blue Jays since August 9th we're going to have to turn to Ivan Nova with the season on the line.

Overall it was a successful weekend for the Yanks.  After falling 4.5 games out after Friday night the Yanks picked up two games in two days.  If Toronto can carry their mini-slump into the next three games we're a long shot away from being in first place on Thursday morning.  The Blue Jay's bullpen looks like it might be a little shaken up after a rough series against the Red Sox.  If we keep it close I think when it comes down to the wire we should be able to win the battle of the bullpens.  The problem there is we're throwing out three very vulnerable starting pitchers and if we know one thing about the Blue Jays it's that they can put games out of reach in an eye-blink.

Get your metrocards ready

If you aren't psyched for these next three games than you aren't a real Met or Yankee fan.  These are the biggest subway series games since the 2000 World Series.  The Yankees are fighting for their playoff lives while the Mets have a comfortable but not so comfortable 8 game lead in the division with 16 games to play.  The outcome of this series could define the Yankees' season while the Mets are just a few more losses in a row from really putting a scare into their fans.

Matz scares me a little bit tonight.  He's basically talked like he didn't even know the Subway Series was a thing which leads me to believe he wont be phased by the enormity of the moment.  He'll have the benefit of squaring off against a lefty-heavy lineup without A-Rod but we still don't know how he's going to handle this.  I understand he's got great stuff and was a highly touted prospect but he's made four major league starts.  There's no reason to think Tanaka won't out-duel him tonight.  Tomorrow two fireballing righthanders go head-to-head in an afternoon matchup and Sunday features the resurgent former ace of the Yankees against New York's biggest prima donna.

I don't want the Mets to knock us out of the division race.  That would make me sick to my stomach.  It's been a borderline nightmare scenario for the Yankees since the trade deadline.  As they've watched a once comfortable division lead slip away the team on the other side of town has been winning at a torrid pace.  They're going to win their division and god knows how deep they're going to go into the postseason.  I can't take that.  I need a sweep here.  The Mets have become the toast of the town.  They're getting all the buzz.  They've got the young hotshot starting pitchers and the new toy in centerfield.  But Met fans are fickle.  Yanks take three straight at Citi Field and they'll be in full blown panic mode.  I need that in my life.  And more importantly, we need the wins.

Severino, Bird step up. Yanks take two of three at the Trop

Hard to not be happy with how these three games played out.  You win a game on Monday where you were down to your last out trailing by a run with nobody on.  You win a game last night against Chris Archer and the only game you lose is the one you started a guy who was on a pitch count of 65.  At this point in the season this is the bare minimum.  Win every series.  The Yankees were able to keep pace with Toronto over the last three days but keeping pace isn't enough.  With each passing game it's going to become more difficult for the Yanks to make up games in the division.

Last night the kids took the game over.  Luis came back after getting shelled by Toronto last Friday and pitched great.  Girardi yanked him early in favor of Justin Wilson but I think he had a few more batters in him.  Bird had the two biggest blows of the game, an RBI double in the second that scored Beltran from first and a monster shot off the catwalk in the 9th for a little insurance.  It's nerve-wracking but it's been really cool to see these two kids, the future of the franchise, thrust into the fire of a pennant race like this and contribute as much as they have.

It was nice to see Ellsbury get a couple of hits against Archer yesterday.  I'd like to hope that gets him going a little bit but I'd bet he's going to be on the bench Friday against Steven Matz.  I'm as frustrated with Ellsbury as anyone but those calling for Slade Heathcott to start over him need to have their head examined.  We need Jacoby to get it together if we're going to do anything and he's too talented to keep playing like this.  You want to tinker with the order a bit?  I think I'm okay with that.  But he has to be in the mix going forward cause if he gets going this lineup becomes exponentially better.

What's worrying me more than Jacoby is Betances.  He really hasn't had any command of his fastball these last few weeks but his stuff is so nasty that he's been able to navigate through it without becoming a disaster.  I know what Girardi is asking of him is insane but that's why Brian McCann said he's the MVP of the team.  The Yankees are only in this thing because of him.  When they give a lead to Dellin the game has to be over or this team doesn't have a prayer.

Texas HS Cheer Squad does their routine to the sounds of 9/11

YAHOO - A video of a high school cheerleading squad is going viral for all the wrong reasons.

The Lumberton High School cheerleaders are under fire for their 9/11 themed cheer routine, which features audio from live news reports from the day of the attack, the song “God Bless the USA” and comments made by President George W. Bush.

 The squad, from Lumberton, Texas, performed the routine on Friday, the 14th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

One of the cheerleaders shared the video on Twitter, writing “The Lumberton cheerleaders would like you to watch our appreciation & acknowledgement for the ones effected [sic] in 9/11.”

The tribute has been met with mixed emotions, while some say the performance left them speechless, others have called it tasteless to be tumbling to the sounds of audio reports from the day the towers fell.  The LHS cheerleaders have performed a 9/11 tribute routine every year since 2002, and this year has been no different.  The squad’s coach, Lauren Sheffield, told Buzzfeed News that she and the cheerleaders take the routine “very seriously.”

“We do this because we believe it is very important to honor and remember the first responders, those who gave their lives, and those who still mourn the hole left by lost loved ones,” she told Buzzfeed.

Regardless of reactions, the 9/11 tribute video has been viewed on Facebook more than 23 million times to date and has been shared over 700,000 times.

I can't think of anything less appropriate for a September 11th tribute than a cheerleading routine.  Maybe a performance by the Lumberton High School twerk team.  That's about it.  This Lauren Sheffield has got to be the worst cheer coach in history.  Nice idea lady.  Nothing gets the crowd going quite like landing a prop and elevator while the sounds of the World Trade Center collapsing echo through the gym.  Seriously what an idiot.  That spirit fingers lunatic from Bring It On is a better cheer choreographer than this dope.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not outraged.  I'm sure the coach and the team had the best of intentions.  You just have to be smarter than this in today's world.  If you give people a window for an inch of dissension they'll pick it up and run with it until you go viral.  To their credit at least they didn't do that thing where they keep a ridiculous permanent smile on for the entire routine.  And it's true that they have done a 9/11 tribute like this every year.

Literally the exact same routine three years ago and nobody said boo.  Selective outrage at it's finest.  Nobody is offended by anything until they're told by others that they should be.  

 

Slade Fucking Heathcott

I understand CC pitched his best game of the season.  I know A-Rod's hit was the biggest hit of the night.  I don't care.  This guy stole the show.  He Slade em'.  It was a heath-shot from Heathcott.  One of the biggest hits of the year from a guy wearing #72

This game was over.  Kaput.  When Ellsbury grounded out into that double play I felt the life sucked out of me.  To fall a game back in the loss column while the Blue Jays were idle would have been an absolute back-breaker.  Then Gardner kept it alive with a four pitch walk and finally, FINALLY stole a base in a big spot to set up the A-Rod RBI double.  In took just two batters and about three minutes for the outlook on the entire season to change.  The Rays would walk McCann to get to Heathcott who was brought in as a defensive replacement and he promptly drilled the first pitch he saw into the left field seats for a go-ahead three-run home run.  Unfuckingbelievable.

Like this game, this season has been maddening.  There have been so many moments like last night that make you think this team is special.  That make you think they're capable of making a run.  A-Rod's three homer game in Minnesota.  The 11-run comeback inning in Texas.  Beltran's home run in Toronto.  Miller striking out Tulo.  McCann and A-Rod's back-to-back homers off Chris Archer.  The list goes on.  But there have been just as many deflating moments, none more grueling than what happened this past weekend.  At this point there's no sense in analyzing what this team does well and what they don't.  They're pretty much two different teams.  When they hit they hit in bunches.  They can score with anyone and look resilient.  When they aren't hitting they look like they did all night against Erasmo Ramirez.  Stiff and lifeless.  You just have to hope if/when they make it to the postseason that they're the team that staged a comeback in the ninth inning yesterday and not the one that didn't show up for the first eight.

Back to Heathcott.  Nobody in the world needed a moment like that in his life quite like Slade.  There haven't been too many guys in the big leagues that have been through as much adversity, self-inflicted or not, as he has.  The beleaugered former first-round pick hasn't been able to get out of his own way or stay on the field long enough to develop into the player the Yankees hoped he would be back in 2009.  I had always heard about him having some problems with alcohol in the past but I never read too much into it.  Then I find this article today and it turns out Heathcott is basically like a real life Tim Riggins.  Have you ever felt like you were a big drinker or a real party animal?  Well Slade Heathcott is that kid who when you meet him you realize that you're actually a huge pussy.  When he was a senior in high school he blacked out and wondered five miles into the woods to punch a hole in the front door of some crack dealer's house.  That might seem funny but his story is actually pretty sad.  He almost shot his dad with a shotgun when he was a junior in high school.  He was basically homeless his senior year, jumping from couch to couch at his friends' houses.  All the while he was like a four-star recruit in both football and baseball.  The whole thing is pretty fascinating if you have a few minutes.