Grrrrrrrrrr. Not only did the weather last night cause a rainout for the Yankees, but it meant another day of media pontificating and self-righteousness about Rafael Soriano and Joe Girardi.
The press makes such a big stink if a player doesn't talk to them. Look, I get that it makes their job harder, but sometimes they take their complaints a little too far. For example, ESPN NY's Wally Matthews said what Soriano "did was wrong, to his teammates, to the media and to the fans who depend upon the media as their pipeline into the clubhouse." Spare me. The Soriano kerfuffle was completely media-created. I don't think any fans lost any sleep over it.
Anyhow, Rafael Soriano did apologize to the media for not speaking after Tuesday's game. But because of the rainout, there were a whole slew of columns going after Joe Girardi for what they perceived as blunders in Tuesday's game. I think it's second-guessing, myself. There are plenty of times I thought Girardi made bad decisions with the bullpen, most notably his terrible job in the ALCS last year. Tuesday's game was not one of them. And I was there, freezing in the cold, so if I thought he messed up, I would be squawking bigtime about it.
But the press is flipping out over the game like it's a playoff one. Kevin Kernan of the New York Post wrote, "The new-math Yankees are so locked into pitch counts that they put the freeze on Sabathia. That tells me they are so concerned about their starting pitching that they are babying Sabathia, and that cost them a game Tuesday night." CC had thrown 104 pitches on a bitterly cold night on his second start of the year. If Girardi had pitched him into the eighth, and he had faltered, we would be hearing from the press about how the tightly-wound manager was riding his best pitching arm too hard.
And the media has mocked Girardi for saying yesterday that Soriano was his eighth-inning guy. But if he hadn't used him Monday, and the rest of the bullpen had faltered, you just know we would hear about how Girardi had lost confidence in his $35 million setup guy. Joe just can't win.
Anyhow, I'm hoping the weather holds up, so we see actual baseball today, so that there is something for the media to write about other than the As the Bullpen Turns drama!
What do you think? Tell us about it!
As for the teammate issue, that's another media-created thing -- they make a big story about a player not talking, harangue the player's teammates over it to the point of annoyance, then complain "ooh, the teammates are annoyed." Wheeeee!
An aside -- the thing a lot of fans wanted to see the media ask more questions on was to A.J. Burnett last year. He stunk up the joint from June on, shows up and pitches a game with a black eye, then politely says he's not going to talk about how he got said black eye, and the press just drops it? Sorry, when you've won just four games in four months, and you show up for a game looking like you went 15 rounds beforehand, the fans do have a right to know what going on. And the fact that the media essentially gave Burnett a pass is mind-boggling.
Anyhow, Rafael Soriano did apologize to the media for not speaking after Tuesday's game. But because of the rainout, there were a whole slew of columns going after Joe Girardi for what they perceived as blunders in Tuesday's game. I think it's second-guessing, myself. There are plenty of times I thought Girardi made bad decisions with the bullpen, most notably his terrible job in the ALCS last year. Tuesday's game was not one of them. And I was there, freezing in the cold, so if I thought he messed up, I would be squawking bigtime about it.
But the press is flipping out over the game like it's a playoff one. Kevin Kernan of the New York Post wrote, "The new-math Yankees are so locked into pitch counts that they put the freeze on Sabathia. That tells me they are so concerned about their starting pitching that they are babying Sabathia, and that cost them a game Tuesday night." CC had thrown 104 pitches on a bitterly cold night on his second start of the year. If Girardi had pitched him into the eighth, and he had faltered, we would be hearing from the press about how the tightly-wound manager was riding his best pitching arm too hard.
And the media has mocked Girardi for saying yesterday that Soriano was his eighth-inning guy. But if he hadn't used him Monday, and the rest of the bullpen had faltered, you just know we would hear about how Girardi had lost confidence in his $35 million setup guy. Joe just can't win.
Anyhow, I'm hoping the weather holds up, so we see actual baseball today, so that there is something for the media to write about other than the As the Bullpen Turns drama!
What do you think? Tell us about it!
Here's an idea, Lisa: Stop reading the Post. It's a lousy paper even when its sportswriters aren't being ridiculous, and now they are. If you stop reading that paper, you'll feel a lot better. Especially if you're not giving any of your hard-earned money to Rupert Murdoch and his flunkies.
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