Most of the Steinbrenner family was here tonight. Each of the four children were represented, with Hank here for the second time all year, Hal here and Jenny here, along with Jessica's husband Felix Lopez.
Here's Hank's sum-up: "The bottom line is, they sucked."
That's a pretty fitting description of the Yankees' 11-3 loss to the Red Sox tonight, a loss which might be the ender to their season in all reality. It was ugly, so ugly that there were largely cheers after Dustin Pedroia's eighth-inning grand slam, given that most of the people remaining at Yankee Stadium were Red Sox fans.
Sad that Yankee Stadium, a place that's hosted so many World Series, is going to end with no playoffs.
Comments (20)
wow, tough way to close the door, huh? oh well, looks like the old ballpark won't be closed out with any bunting hanging from the railings ... probably better off cause this team is not built correctly to win a playoff series (at least not this year) ... hopefully the "brains" will soon get together and devise a plan on how to fix this team. And someone buy Abreu a GPS for Christmas so he can find walls next year (either at Yankee Stadium or somewhere else) ... I've never seen a grown man fear an inanimate object like Abreu fears walls
"Sad that Yankee Stadium, a place that's hosted so many World Series, is going to end with no playoffs."
Kat, in the months I have been reading and commenting on your blog that is the worst choice of words dispersed by your keyboard.
Sad?
D-I-S-G-R-A-C-E-F-U-L
I can't remember ever seeing a Yankee team playing out the season this early.
And that includes the late 60's.
What a heartless, gutless bunch of overpaid PUNKS.
I could sit here and expound on this guy and that guy and the other guy that gave every indication for the 2nd night in a row of taking advantage of an early departure and signing on for the all expenses paid Yankee Suckup Cruise to Bermuda or the Southern Caribbean in October.
SHAME SHAME SHAME on these bubble pinstripers.
Time for Girardi to start a lineup tomorrow night with Ransom, Gardner, Betemit and Molina.
Take a night off Captain, A-Rod, Giambino, Abreu,
Drop 2 pitchers and bring up a coupla minor leaguers to replace Cano and Damon.
(Okay Viper, go ahead and tell me why the logistics or the lineup
can't work).
Wake up the spirits....
Cuz the ghosts are crying right now.
Just my opinion, from 2 time zones away.
I understand the media's inclination to seek Hank Steinbrenner for his usual colorful (or moronic, if you ask me) quotes - but Yankee fans need to understand that Hank really doesn't run this team.
It's Hal and Cashman who run the team.
Tonight's game was just the second game all season in which Hank attended at the Stadium.
Hank never stepped foot in NY during the All Star festivities, which is especially odd when you consider that his own father was being honored before the game.
Hal was there and rode in the golf cart with him around the field.
Hank did not attend the Virginia Tech charity game.
Hal did.
Hank did not attend the Bobby Murcer memorial services.
Hal did.
Hank also wanted Santana and it didn't happen.
Hank wanted Joba in the rotation back in April and that didn't happen until June as was planned all along.
Do we really need anymore evidence that Hank happens to be an owner in job description and last name only and that he's little more than a media hound who really doesn't make any of the final decisions regarding this team?
Islander,
I'd be with you on the whole "bring up the kids" argument if there were any kids to bring up.
It's not really worthwhile to bring up minor leaguers to simply bring up minor leaguers unless they have a future with the big club.
At this point, some pitchers would qualify (Hughes, Kennedy, Melancon, maybe Coke) but only a couple of position players (Gardner and maybe Miranda).
Molina couldn't physically play everyday and noticeably wore down after starting so many games - which is why they traded for Pudge in the first place.
I think we already know what Betemit offers. Not a whole lot outside of strikeouts.
Ransom is 32 years old and not a prospect.
It's easy to make the argument to bring up the kids, but the reality is a bit tougher when the farm doesn't have any legitimate young kids to bring up.
Uh Viper...
Who said anything about "kids" or "prospects"?
Please re-read my comment.
Zero mention of the word kids.
Zero mention of the word prospects.
I'm just looking for some bodies with a heartbeat.
Cuz the current squad of pin cushions is lacking one.
I don't give a damn how old they are.
Drop 2 pitchers and bring up a coupla minor leaguers to replace Cano and Damon.
--------------------
Uh, sorry - you said a "coupla miner leaguers" which I interpreted as "kids" or "prospects."
I didn't think even a frustrated Yankee fan would suggest promoting some scrubs for the sake of promoting bodies, especially when they haven't played well enough in the minors to warrant it.
Seems kind of pointless to do such a thing when they have no real future with the ball club.
Let the vets play and mail it in for the next 30 games. That would give the organization a really good reason to get rid of some of the dead weight once the season is over.
None of this stuff bothers me anymore because I've seen this coming for awhile now and football season starts this weekend.
I hope they continue to play like crap because it's much more likely to provoke many changes over the offseason.
Hey, it worked for the Red Sox in 2006.
As I watched in dismay over the state of our Yankees. I watched with reespect on the state of the Red Sox's, I counted many recent players on the field at any given time who were products of their system. Pedroia, Youkolis, Lowery, Elsbury and Delcarmen. Than I looked at our Yankees. Cano was the only recent product from the system but a further look at the team on the field revealed many broken pieces or suspect pieces to our next championship puzzle. No SP, First base, rigth field, catcher, center field and possibly second base with air head or so natural that he looks lackadasical Cano. Their is much work to do over the winter that I believe 2009 could be year 2 of many years in transition unless the Yankees make some tough decisions on getting younger quick. How I don't have a glue except that I know their is no positional player ready to help us at aa or aaa if Gardner is sitting on the bench watching our best perform on the field.
As I sat and watched the game in the 9th inning. I had a feeling Giambi would hit one off of Timlin who was once the Sox's go to guy but has been reduced to mob up in a blow out. Much as Giambi has been reduced to on our team but still good enough to start. Their is the difference in the Sox's and Yanks. Two proud teams/fan bases going in different directions for years to come.
I can exhale now but I just don't see it getting beter any time soon. Some of you guys who are into players and other teams might see some possibilities but I believe that players are being developed and held onto by most teams especially now that revenue sharing will take a big hit in years to come with yanks and mets owning their own parks.
I have in respect to the board stayed away because... well... this hasn't been pretty for the Yankees.
But I have a question:
Why the hell would Joba, Hughes or Kennedy pitch another pitch this season?
Shut them down and have them healthy for next year
Sully,
If they are healthy, they should pitch. Now is the time for Kennedy to come up and just work it out at the ML level if you ask me. If Hughes is healthy, then bring him up too and see what he's made of.
It's this damn innings limit thing and not being able to pitch 40 more innings than the previous year. If they follow that rule than Hughes and Joba won't be pitching past June next year either.
I know Hank gets blasted a lot for what he says, but his honesty last night was fine with me. Who doesn't agree with what he said? They did suck so why should Hank make up some nonsense that nobody believes? I hope Girardi is telling these guys the same thing.
another reason to have them pitch this year is to build up their innings ... this year was supposed to be the "hump year" for these guys ... without them pitching we'll have the same exact problem next year as this (innings limits for these kids)
They SUCK!!!!!!!
They get beat by Paul Byrd? They get only 5 hits off of Paul Byrd?
They get hammered by Coco Crisp, Jed Lowrey, Dustin Pedroia?
Abreu rots!!! I don't care how good he hits (at times). That triple by Jason Bay should have been CAUGHT. It would have been a tough catch, but that ball should have been caught.
Yeah, let's shut down Hughes, Chamberlain and Kennedy. Let's baby them some more.
I read in Feinsand's blog on the News that Girardi still believes in his players.
Maybe they need some voodoo to straighten this thing out.
They need to sacrifice a chicken and pour it's blood over a statue of Jobu.
No maybe they should just do like Viper says and "mail it in"
"Let the vets play and mail it in for the next 30 games."
That comment really sickens me Viper.
This is just a bad team and it's one of those years. I want to stay optimistic, but the Yanks just don't have the staff to pull off a big run.
It ain't gonna happen.
Islander,
That's fine if my comment sickens you.
You DO want major changes next season, no? I've been advocating such changes all year regardless how the team finishes.
Well, maybe an aging team full of vets mailing it in is just the thing the front office needs to see in order to make the necessary changes.
Instead of using spackle to patch holes - take a crowbar and a sledgehammer and tear down a few walls.
It has to start with Giambi, Abreu, and Cano too - and go from there.
Playing warm bodies who don't have any business on a baseball field isn't the answer either.
Guys,
This is not a bad team. This is a team that was in transition to begin with but injuries and some ineffectiveness derailed the season. I believe the Yanks would be in contention if not for the injuries to Wang, Joba and Posada and if Hughes or Kennedy would have at least been somewhat effective. I still believe a Yankee rotation this season of:
Wang
Moose
Pettitte
Joba
Hughes
would have kept the team in contention and Matsui in the lineup on a regular basis along with Posada and you are looking at a much different result than we're seeing now.
I know we all (except Sully and some others) hate it when the Yanks lose to Boston but this team fought off the injuries as long as they could and the older players are no longer contributing much. It was fragile to begin with as there is no way that Mike Mussina should have been as important as he is to the team this year, he should have been a veteran presence who made spot starts here and there, but the team has had to lean on him and to his credit he has responded.
The defense is awful and the only real hope I see of improving that is by getting a better 1B than Giambi and maybe a RF if Abreu leaves, but other than that, the Yanks are stuck with what they have. Of course you could improve CF by moving Melky back there or getting another OF, but then what do you do w/ Damon and/or Matsui?
Jeter at short really shouldn't go on much longer than a year or two at most and Cano needs to pick up his defense a lot.
Injuries are part of the game and as we all know, teams have to over come them and find a way.
I will say that the one injury that really bothered me this year was the one that Wang got in Houston. To me, that was an injury that never should have happened. Meacham never should have waved Wang in and should have held him up at 3rd. The yanks had a rally going and were up big on Oswalt at the time. He's not adept at running the bases because he doesn't have to run the bases. That injury was a disaster, plain and simple.
As far as the rest of these guys. I said a while back on one of the live game day blogs that maybe this Yankee team couldn't over come another slow start like they did in the past three seasons. I think that it finally caught up to them because you can only tempt the devil so many times before he gets you.
They have to make some changes and it starts with pitching. They have to find a way to get some arms here that can either dominate or keep them in games. If they fail to do that, thenthey need another approach concerning the young guys development (Hughes, Joba, Kennedy, and the rest of the reclamation projects currently scattered about through the system.
John,
I understand the fact that teams have to overcome injuries, but losing your number one starter, all-star catch, young fireballer (Joba), the most clutch hitter in your lineup (sorry Jeter, it's Matsui) and having your young pitchers pitch like crap then get hurt is just too much for a team already trying to move toward the future and get younger.
While I agree that Wang should not have been waved in, I disagree that he is not used to running the bases and therefore he got hurt. If Wang is like any other guy who has played baseball and I'm assuming he is since he made it to the pros, then I'm certain somewhere along the way someone taught him how to run the bases. I'm not a pro by any means but I know I could do one thing on a major league field and that is run the bases correctly.
Having said that, Meacham has been a terrible 3B coach and I would like to see Willie Randolph in that spot next year.
I think the injury that really shook this team to its core was Joba's. I saw the looks on the faces of Giambi, Jeter and A-Rod when Joba pointed to his shoulder and they all looked like they had just bitten into a finger in their Wendy's chili.
I believe the thing the players on the field look forward to is playing behind a dominant pitcher or at least a pitcher with the stuff to dominate and when the rotation lost Joba, I really believe that just devastated the players more than we'll know. I'm sure they thought to themselves 'Now we have to score 10 runs a game to have a chance, unless Pettitte or Moose pitch well" because they had Rasner, Ponson and even Kennedy pitching. I think Joba going down took the wind out of their sails and made the hitters start pressing way too much.
Also.....has anyone noticed that the Dodgers are hitting less than the Yankees are right now and it coincided with Donnie Baseball becoming their hitting coach after the all-star break? For Donnie's sake, I hope they break out of their funk too.
The Season was lost when Hank and his baseball experts would not trade for Santana, There is an old baseball saying you can never have too much pitching, Hank would not give up an unknown commodity for an established pitcher like Santana. They made no effort to shore up a weak pitching staff. Hank stayed put with his youth that proved incapable to the task. Would the Boss have done the same?
I'm with ya Bob. I wanted Santana in pinstripes badly and too many people said he would get hurt because he had logged a lot of innings in his career. I thought a lefthanded, CY Young winner in the prime of his career would be a great fit for the Yankees. Silly me.