Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Joe Torre's 'I Managed Good, But Boy Did They Play Bad' tour hits NYC

It's somehow appropriate that Jim Bouton has been defending Joe Torre as of late. Because not only did Bouton write "Ball Four," that inside look inside a clubhouse, but he also wrote a book of baseball anecdotes called "I Managed Good, But Boy Did They Play Bad."

And while nobody could accuse the late-90s dynasty Yankees of playing bad, it seems like Joe was all too willing to shift blame to his team, instead of taking the heat himself, for their playoff failures this decade.

I have yet to hear that Joe takes any blame for his dopey moves. I still can't understand why, if he can describe Jeff Weaver as unable to handle pressure and Kevin Brown as being a mess, that he put them in important playoff games? It makes no sense.

I haven't read "The Yankee Years" yet, and I will not buy a copy, as I don't want to put a penny into Joe Torre's pocket. As I never did get a review copy, I will have to read it from getting a waiting list copy at the library. Oh well.

Real-life obligations intruded on missing hearing Joeapalooza live on the radio yesterday. Heck, I even missed getting my Snuggie shipment. UPS didn't want to leave the box without me signing for it. And I can understand, because if the Snuggies walked off when I was away from home, I would be pretty peeved! Who can resist the temptation of the Snuggie?

Anyhow, I digress. Even without reading the book, I think I can comment a little on Joe's big day in New York City yesterday, and the fallout from the book.

First off, why are journalists surprised that most of the people on line for Torre's book signings think he's the cat's meow? How many people are going to wait hours on line, and plunk down 30 bucks, just to tell somebody they can't stand him? Not many.

Put it this way - Joe could be signing books across the street from me, and I'd still have to think long and hard about going to say something to him, if it would cost me money to buy his book!

What amazes me is that Torre is still trying to spin the A-Fraud description as a joking thing done to Alex's face, even though his own book says nothing of the sort. What, is he going to claim to be misquoted in his own book?

Joe did acknowledge yesterday that he probably shouldn't have told Randy Levine to "shut the bleep up" in 2003. Interestingly enough, they were on a conference call to discuss the fallout over David Wells' book!
"It's probably not the best idea in the world to tell the president of the ballclub to shut up," he said.
Guess that's why Torre was the highest-paid manager in the history of the game - because it took him six years to figure that out, and to wonder why Levine wasn't very fond of him after that. Sheesh.

Two of the dynasty-era Yankees commented on the book. Jorge Posada defended Joe:

"He's been a father figure to me. I don't think he can do any wrong," Posada said. "There's nothing that has been on the book that hasn't been written or talked about earlier or before."

Posada is such a solipsist. Just because he knew that - no joke - Kevin Brown once curled into the fetal position during a game doesn't mean that everybody knew it.

It also would be nice if Posada could be loyal to his current team. Joe may be a father figure to him, but he's not his manager anymore.

And Derek Jeter has - in a true shocker - come out and defended Alex Rodriguez:
"I'm just curious as to why people keep asking the same questions over and over. We've been down this road before. Alex is a teammate. I support him. Our whole team is behind him. We all support him. And we're looking forward to a new season. To be quite honest with you, it's old hearing the same questions. It's something that's been addressed before in the past. Everyone's moved beyond it. And it doesn't really need to be addressed again."
Maybe Jeter ought to ask Mr. T, as he calls him, why he felt compelled to write a book about his team which described A-R0d as a "Single White Female."

Anyhow, the most telling reaction yesterday was Brian Cashman refusing to comment on "The Yankee Years." Just wished Cash had not also said that the Yanks would be skipping going after Manny Ramirez. Bummer.

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Lisa,
I always enjoy reading your blog, especially when you expose Clueless Joe as a phony and a snitch. The only reason he was able to win four championships were because of the "core" players, (O'Neil. Brosius, Jeter. Mariano, Tino). Plus the strategies of Don Zimmer, and Mel Stottlemyre. He wants to get credit for all the Yanks success, BUT will never take the blame for his dozens and dozens of mistakes!! Plus, why didn't he write anything negative about his boys? (Jeter, Posada, Mariano, Paulie etc.) Were they totally beyond reproach? And what about Lupica always kissing his rear end?! Speaking of Mr. "Shooting From The Lip", how come he does not have set-up a "response" section for his stories. He too is a phony! I quess players like Sheffield. Sierra, Lofton, and many others were right about Torre. Lisa, you can hear Torre's interview on WFAN.com. Plus, as I am writing these comments, I'm listening to Dan Patrick interview him. He says that he did nothing wrong in what he said in his book. Wow, what a liar and/or in total denial. You will be able to hear his interview, after they post it, on si.com. Click the section, "Dan Patrick" and his "podcasts". I could go on and on, but I am already getting nauseeous and need to excuse myself. One other thing, he says he did not know of steroid use amongst the players. What a joke! Do us all a favor Clueless; go away and don't come back

Anonymous said...

What amazes me is how people can pass judgement without reading the book first. Lisa ...all these posts and you haven't read the book. How can you be objective with your comments? I'm not defending Joe Torre but I'm not ripping him apart till I read the book. I've read comments from others on different blogs who have read the book and agree it's no where near as bad as the excerpts that the book's publishing house "leaked".
The content of these leaks were aimed to get people talking and hopefully to buy the book...so ..they were "juiced" up if you will.

The only opinions that can be taken seriously are from those who have read the book and can give an informed and honest opinion either for or against. All the other opinions are just a form of hearsay.

Anonymous said...

Lisa, I'm siding with you on this one. I can't blame you for not reading the book and for being upset about what's been reported. I'd feel the same way if it were about the Sox. I'm guessing Terry Francona could write a heck of a book with the Manny stuff alone (although I doubt he would.)I don't want the dirt, or the distractions, I just want the baseball. Pitchers and catchers in seven days! Go Sox!
Cindy R.

Anonymous said...

The Snuggie. Lisa step away from the cliff. Soon you're going to be buying the sham wow.

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