In the immortal words of Michael Ray Richardson, “the ship be sinking” in the Bronx. 11 hits this weekend being swept by the Rays. Keep in mind Tampa Bay’s entire pitching staff is on the injured list. They roll out a lot of no name pitchers. The FCC has put out a warning that you should not operate heavy machinery while watching a Yankee game for fear of dozing off. SU stumbled across highlights from the Yankees ALCS vs Boston in 2003, and the 2001 World Series vs Arizona. Those were real teams with players who put the ball in play with a plan.
SU had noticed that the Yankees were not hitting in Spring Training. I know no one cares about that but they rarely had more than 10 hits in a game. Boone is managing by playing the same guys who are slumping every game figuring they will break out of it. SU says start Tauchman now every game. You have so few position players on the roster. He deserves a shot now. Hicks in his best years hits .230. Unacceptable. Signing Jay Bruce (now retiring) and trading for Odor ( can’t field, can’t hit lefties and hits the occasional home run) were panic moves. Cashman had done well restocking the farm system. OK, the Stanton trade was a mistake (have I told you that?) but his other moves are decent. Going forward, get more hitters who can hit to the opposite field. Voit will return in May but he’s just another swing for the fences hitter.
SU says it’s too early to worry about the new starting pitchers. They haven’t pitched for over a year. I can be patient. But not the offense. Players have to earn their at bats. Make them uncomfortable. Boone is not going to get fired nor should he be as long as he starts playing Tauchman. That is SU’s condition.
This is embarrassing.
Check out the Julian Edelman special on Showtime. Very entertaining. He is quite the character.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
Michael Ray Richardson was a talent. Sorry to see his career get derailed by substance abuse. Also was a big fan of Bernard King. Great scorer. Great talent. Seemed like a good person. I had the Converse poster of Bernard and Albert “Kings of New York” poster (of course I took it off the wall in the locker room after the freshman basketball season ended). Bernard had a knee injury before knee injuries were cool. I miss 1980’s NBA when things just felt different.
My joke at dinner was that the Yanks are so bad that even Jay Bruce decided to retire. My wife tries hard not to laugh at my jokes but even she appreciated that one. Like you, I noticed that hitting was awful down in spring training. The team is unable to string hits together. As a last resort maybe they can hire David Price to pitch a few days of batting practice. This is not getting better.
SU, I think it is time to blame Cashman for the sabermetrics philosophy of homerun or bust. I’m sure approaches at the plate can be manipulated, and if balls in play were the priority we would see more balls in play (show me the incentive and i’ll show you the outcome).
Perhaps the roster is to blame, that HR or bust is their individual natures. But I think it’s become an organizational philosophy, and that starts at the top.
Two years ago the Yankee hitters who came in for all the injuries all seemed to overachieve and as a result we had 100 wins. That’s pretty damn good. Contact hitters are Judge, Lemahieu, Frazier, Torrez and Urshella. I had them all with a batting average of over 270. I would think the balance of the team would be somewhere between 230- 270… even Sanchez. That should be enough. Gardner and Tauchmann would also be included in hitting over 270. If this becomes the case for this year then I’m Ok with the other hitters where they end up. I believe Voit also can hit above 270.
Now we get to why the Yankees are hitting as poorly as they are in April. I can honestly say I am mystified with so much offensive talent. I will say this though…I hope our Manager begins to show a little less coddling. Too bad George isn’t around. He would have done the dirty work to get things moving in the right direction.
My 21st century questions which includes all sports are this:
1. Is there too much Kum-Ba- Ya going on between the Players and Management?
2. Has the Player’s Union gathered too much power?
3. Are we overpaying… and if so somehow performance and salaries should be tied in to one another across the board.
4. Once the players have their contract with so much GUARANTEED money up front should that be done away with? It always seems like when a player is doing well more often than not the Sportscaster claims “well, I guess he is playing hard for a Contract.” Did you ever hear that back in the 60’s, 70’s and even the 80’s?
5 As we have seen done in basketball will other sport stars begin to want a day off here and there? If a family of four wants to see Judge play and he decides the day before that he wants a day off would that family of four have the right to get their money back? What about the businesses that are paying all that money for the AD they have placed during that event. Do they get a discount?
You do not see any of this in hockey. I will not go there because _____. There are no primadonnas in this sport. You also don’t see tis crap from offensive linemen, defensive linemen and linebackers… even the tight end and to a lesser degree the running back. The receivers though are high maintenance. I know Bill Belechek would never put up with any of it.
I will end by saying that Durant has now topped Porsingas as the most frail NBA player out there. AND LOOK AT ALL THE MONEY HE IS MAKING. I HOPE THEY LOSE BADLY SO WE, THE PEOPLE CAN START TO BOO THIS PRIMADONNA. CAREY TOO… AND EVEN WORSE. I HAVE TRMENDOUS RESPECT FOR JAMES HARDEN THOUGH. WHAT A GREAT OFFENSIVE PLAYER….ALL AROUND OFFENSIVELY.