Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Washington Post: Tom Boswell: Yankees Are Monuments To Baseball Success
(www.washingtonpost.com)
posted 3 days ago by The Yankee Clapper to aging, great baseball players, injuries, pennant race, veteran leadership, yankees
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15 comment(s)
Boz pays homage to the gritty, gutsy, scrappy, first place 2013 underdog Yankees:
Read More...Perhaps for the first time in their history, the Yankees now epitomize exactly the kind of team that always used to try to beat them: a group of inspired-by-adversity, too-old-or-too-young, one-last-chance players who band together to prove that baseball is a team game, not just an aggregation of talent and fat contracts.
Put a few all-star seasons, such as Cano’s 31 RBI, Kiroda’s 1.99 ERA and Rivera’s 16 ...
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1 2 >The Tigers' defense in that disaster inning made me nostalgic for my own little league lowlight reel. Some classic stuff in there.
Cross-posting from the other thread: I said earlier that if the Yankees took two from each of their remaining series (Oakland inclusive) they'd be in good shape. So far, mission accomplished.
EDIT: And they have ten games against three teams who are collectively 198-259 (.433), so if the Yankees can't win 6 of those 10, they don't deserve any kind of playoff berth.
They've had a few gems already to start the second game. Watching Brennan Boesch hurts.
Well, the second half of the week is the inverse, so...
Of course the season ends with the bad formulation again, but I guess if there is a series that the Rangers might be taking off to some extent, it would be that one depending on whether they've clinched.
I can't look that far ahead...I'm just barely peeking through my fingers. My stomach has been unsettled for the last two weeks.
Right now it's more like a three-legged race.
Who gets Felix, though?
I am going to be in conflict, because I am pulling for the A's to make the playoffs, the M's and Boston having shat the bed.
What the A's deserve has nothing to do with it. It's about the outcome I want!
Well sure, me too.
I really, really, really wish there was some basis - any basis - for me to disagree with this. Somehow, the White Sox haven't been able to out-choke Detroit, but give it time! Six games left against a terrible Cleveland team. 2-4 in those 6 games sounds about right, at this point. And a Tampa Bay team that has been all but eliminated? Maybe 1-3 in that four-gamer. Of course, Detroit will be almost as bad, forcing a Game 163, which Bud will declare a tie in Inning 22 after the Sox hitting with RISP can't out-bedcrap the Tigers' D. And the Mayans discover they were a little over 2 months off in their prediction as everything fades to black...
The Orioles and Yankees appear to be mimicking the behavior of the Nats and Braves for the last several weeks. I made the remark that those two teams seemed to have a tungsten steel bar welded between them in the standings because they would win or lose in lockstep each night. It was getting tedious for a time there. At least it's not a boring end to the baseball season.
The Angels, on Wednesday.
I thought the Tigers would be a game up by now. Boy was I wrong.
If the A's can't hold on here, they really don't deserve a playoff berth.
It's a 162-game schedule, folks. Some of those games, you're gonna (1) win when you should've lost and (2) lose when you should've won. Good teams usually have more (1) than (2). Usually.
Yes, losing 23,674 consecutive one-run games is a tad disappointing for us Tigers fans. So is the lack of offense. And defense. And relief pitching. But them's the breaks. One game back with ten to play? In a division we should've clinched around the 4th of July? OK, I'll take it. Play ball!
Just going to the Orioles' website Saturday and clicking 'playoff tickets' to see if I could manage a seat for the WC game (I did) was surreal. I hope for many more surreal moments over the next bunch of days!
I never have overconfidence in the Rangers' clutch abilities either, but 4 games with 10 to play is a big hill to climb, and the Rangers have been playing solid, if unspectacular, baseball in September (12-9 so far this month). The Rangers haven't swept a series since late June, but conversely haven't been swept since the Fourth of July; they very rarely have a game where they're not competitive. Every possible wheel will have to fall off for Oakland to catch them. And having said that, the wheels will probably start to loosen up tonight :)
Well, since the Blue Jays are going to be playing the Yankees in Toronto on Thursday, would you like for the Orioles to get the 1916 A's or the 1962 Mets as a replacement opponent?
The funny part about that is you probably hope that's a ticket that proves unnecessary.
But 7 of the 10 games are against Oakland. That makes it a lot easier for them to catch us.
I'm sure the Orioles would be happy to accomodate, if it would make RB more comfortable.
Yes, and dramatically so. It's an interesting little quirk of statistics.
Lets say the Rangers lead is down to one game with one game to play.
Would the Rangers rather:
1) face the As for game 162.
or
2) face the Yankees while the As face the Indians.
I haven't run the log5's, but I think #2 gives the Rangers a better chance of winning the division.
I'm sure the Orioles would be happy to accomodate, if it would make RB more comfortable.
And so would the Yankees, if they could choose how to divide up the Toronto roster. Hell, they might even find a pitcher who couldn't strike out Curtis Granderson.
Unfortunately for the Yankees, Romero is pitching today.
Even accounting for the quality of opposition, it's certainly the latter. In scenario 1, there are only two possible outcomes, tied or up 2. It's pretty close to 50/50 for either.
In scenario 2, there are 4: Both win; Rangers win, A's lose; A's win, Rangers lose; both lose.
In that case 3/4 of the outcomes are positive for the Rangers. The weakness of the Indians is probably going to knock that down somewhere below true 75 percent, but probably no lower than 70.
Your former scenario gives you better odds for building your division lead, so is the situation you would want any time before Game 162. But in a situation where there is no marginal benefit to that extra 1 in the GB column, you'd want the condition that makes the status quo a strong possibility.
God I hate this team.
Obviously a pro-Orioles conspiracy, since a doubleheader means Clutch God Taylor Teagarden is in the lineup for the inevitable extra innings in game 2.
Melvin seemed like he pushed most of the right buttons, except for the bizarre pinch hitting appearance by Jemile Weeks with one out and no one on in the 9th yesterday.
Going for the righty/lefty matchup with a very fast runner in a 1-run game, esp. if he's planning to get Barton in for defense anyway, doesn't seem THAT crazy to me.
You and I have been touting him for another start for awhile; hopefully we were right to do so!
I am heading down but I will miss a lot of that first game, depending on what time I can leave my store in Gaithersburg.
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