Note to (Some) Yankee Fans: Grow Up Already

I was in a bad mood after the Yankees lost Game 5 of the ALDS, and I'm still peeved this morning. But frankly, most of the my peckishness is directed at some of the Yankees fan base than at the team. The way some of these fans carried on last night, both online and at the Stadium, you would think that the team hadn't won a playoff series in 50 years. 
 
Please understand that I'm not talking about all Yankee fans. But some of the team's fans need to hear this: Get over yourselves already. Acting like spoiled, entitled jerks doesn't make you good Yankee fans. It just makes you spoiled, entitled jerks. Newsflash: The Yankees won the World Series TWO YEARS AGO. It really wasn't that long ago, folks. Show a little gratitude for once in your miserable lives.

You think you have it bad? Imagine being a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, who hasn't seen their team even sniff .500 in nearly 20 years. Or a Chicago Cubs fan, rooting for a franchise that hasn't won in 103 years. Or a New York Mets fan, being in the same town as the Yankees, but having dumb owners who lost their money in a Ponzi scheme and are now making it clear that they're going to run a big-market team with a very small-market budget. I could go on and on, but you get the point. How many teams' fan bases would love to make the playoffs every year but one since 1995?

Back in March, the Yanks weren't expected to win anything this year, not with CC and the Has-Beens and Never Weres in the starting rotation, let alone win the AL East with 97 games. I certainly didn't think so this spring. No Cliff Lee, no Andy Pettitte, and no hope. The joke was that Brian Cashman had assembled a team that would have been great for 2005; not so great for 2011. It was supposed to be the Sox's year, not the Yanks.

And the Bombers had a ton of injuries throughout the year, including to Derek Jeter, Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, Alex Rodriguez, Bartolo Colon, and Rafael Soriano. Not to mention A.J. Burnett pitching horribly for the second year in a row. Yet the team overachieved, got key contributions from the Class of 2005, and made it to the postseason with the best record in the league.

Sure, I'm disappointed and ticked off that the Yanks lost the series. And I can point to a lot of things that went wrong -- like Joe Girardi refusing to pinch-hit for anybody last night, and the Yankee hitters' inability to get much done in runners in scoring position (and frankly, when you only score two runs against the Tigers at a home game, and one of them was driven in by a bases-loaded walk, you don't deserve to win.)

But it's one thing to be upset over the series loss (although for me, it doesn't even make my top five worst losses, and nothing will ever match the pain of 2004.) It's another thing to act like some unruly, hateful mob, scapegoating one player (you know who, of course!) Some of the very same "fans" who couldn't open their mouths to cheer on their team in the ninth inning -- the Yanks were behind by just one run, but the place sounded like a morgue -- found their voice outside the Stadium after the game, chanting "A-Rod sucks." Sure, Alex had a bad series, but this was a collective loss, and shouldn't be pinned on one person. Ross Sheingold of NYYStadiumInsider.com was at the game, and described the scene this way on Facebook:

Never been more embarrassed to be an New York Yankees fan. Hundreds (if not more) were chanting "A-Rod Sucks" in unison as they exited the stadium and headed down River Ave. In the past, chanting as a crowd down River Avenue was reserved for joyous moments. Now, the fans are entitled and only enjoy the game of baseball if the team marches to a World Series victory. It is sickening, and not enjoyable to be a part of.

Do those Yankee fans think this makes them look good? As Sully Baseball, a Red Sox fan friend of mine, put it last night on Facebook, "THIS is why people hate Yankee fans. Most fan bases would salivate to have a 2 time MVP who led their team to a World Series title. You cry that he hasn't given you more. Next time you wonder why the rest of the planet Earth cheers when the Yankees lose, look in the mirror. (That is if they allow mirrors in Bellevue.)" Exactly!

I just hope A-Rod has bodyguards with him anywhere he goes in this town. The unbridled hatred for him out there is out of control, and more than a little frightening.


Not only have too many Yankee fans forgotten 2009, they have forgotten who led them to that title. When I pointed out online to some Yankee fans last night that A-Rod carried the team on their shoulders that postseason, they either denied that he was the reason they won, or said "that was two years ago," like it's ancient history, or said that he only did it once, and implied that it somehow didn't count (tell that to Bucky Dent, Aaron Boone, Jim Leyritz, etc....) When I then pointed out that the Flip Play was ten years ago, but people still talk about it incessantly, I was chastised for daring to put Rodriguez in the same category as Derek Jeter. Good grief. What a bunch of ungrateful clowns.

Sure, it stinks that the Yanks lost, but they did do much more this year than I expected them to. Besides, things could be worse -- the Red Sox humiliated themselves way more this season than the Bombers did!


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Why Some Yankee Fans Feel the Need to Put the Goat Horns on A-Rod

The Yankees can never just lose a game in the postseason. There always has to be a goat. And it should be no surprise that many have already decided that Alex Rodriguez is the Game 2 goat. It's amazing how the tone in Yankeeland changes so quickly -- Saturday night, everything is sunshine and lollipops. But less than 24 hours later, you'd think the series was already lost.

Anyhow, it really ticked me off last night when Alex Rodriguez was getting booed by his own team's fan base during the game. Sometimes, I really can't stand some so-called Yankee "fans." As I've said over and over in this blog over the years, booing your own home players doesn't fix anything. All it shows is that you're a fair-weather, petulant moron. And that goes for the Met fans who booed David Wright, too.

The booing yesterday -- and the subsequent media attacks on A-Rod-- are nothing but predictable. (Although I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by ESPN New York writer Wally Matthews defending Rodriguez, saying about that the scapegoating: "It isn't fair and it isn't right.")

As I have been saying for years, no matter what he ever does in the postseason, A-Rod will always be held as a scapegoat. Those booing Yankee fans who pride themselves on being so knowledgeable on Yankee history seem to have conveniently forgotten that if it weren't for him, the Bombers wouldn't have won the 2009 World Series. And all the talk back before 2009 how if he would just have one great postseason, all would be forgiven is just nonsense, as I said at the time.

Sure, A-Rod is hitless in this series, although he does have an RBI and a walk. But the Yanks only got five hits yesterday, and Jorge Posada was the one batter in the lineup to have two hits (including a triple, my favorite moment of the day.) Nick Swisher, Robinson Cano, and Curtis Granderson were the other batters to have hits. And how did Derek Jeter, aka Captain Clutch, do? He went 0-for-5 with two strikeouts, left five runners on base, did nothing when the Yanks were trying to rally in the ninth, committed an error that led to a run, and helped cause a Boone Logan balk.


Also, I wasn't crazy with Joe Girardi pitching Luis Ayala in the ninth inning. Best bullpen in baseball, and he goes to the last man in the lineup? Hey, Joe, we're not playing Tampa anymore!

I've already heard talk about switching Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira in the starting lineup -- one ignorant writer from NBC Sports' Hardball Talk even sez A-Rod should be batting eighth, with Teixeira batting cleanup, because Mark is "the better option right now." This, even though Tex has exactly one hit in the ALDS this year, and has a .168 average in the postseason as a Yankee over the last three years. When, exactly, did Tex become Mr. October?

Anyhow, CC Sabathia better win tonight, or there will be full-scale panic in Yankeeland, given that A.J. Burnett is the Game 4 starter!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Yankees dominate Twins again, but Joe Girardi's son is bored by the whole thing

Last night's game didn't have a lot of suspense -- Phil Hughes looked flat-out dominant right from the beginning, and the Yankees' scoring five runs off Brian Duensing by the fourth inning didn't exactly leave a lot of doubt as to whether the Yankees would sweep the Twins.

It's easy to be all blase about the Yanks "only" winning the ALDS so far, especially after winning the 2009 World Series. However, I haven't forgotten how much trouble the Yanks had getting through that series in 2005 through 2007, even when they had inferior competition. Come to think of it, the Bombers haven't won an ALDS that didn't have the Twins as their opponent since 2001!

Two things I noticed last night after the game:

* The on-field celebration was extremely subdued. You might expect that if they clinched in Minnesota, but for a home field clinching, I've seen bigger excitement after a regular-season win against the Red Sox! Heck, I was there last year when they clinched the AL East, and the Yanks showed more emotion then. I wondered on Facebook if the quiet on-field celebration had something to do with Kendry Morales breaking his leg in a walkoff celebration, and Chris Coghlan tearing his ACL throwing a pie! Yeah, I get that winning the ALDS is just the first step for the Yankees, but it still seemed very quiet.

* Why the heck did Joe Girardi bring his obviously disinterested son, Dante, with him to the post-game presser? I haven't a kid be so openly bored and annoyed at being on camera since Rudy Giuliani's son acted up at his first inaugural! It was just painful to watch. It was impossible to pay attention to what Joe was saying, when his son was making a complete spectacle of himself. One Facebook friend noted,"I guess it doesn't matter what your parents do for a living, a kid is always going to think its boring." Heh!


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My thoughts on the Yankees sweep of the Twins, and whether Carl Pavano should be a Met

Well, my prediction that the Yankees would win the ALDS in four games was a bit off the mark - they did it in three. But I was correct that Carl Pavano would give the Yankees fits. I was pretty cranky when watching the  game, and watching the Yankees flail against him. So Alex Rodriguez's homer to tie the game, and Jorge Posada's to get the lead, were pretty satisfying.

I'm not big on unnecessary cap-tipping, but give Pavano credit for shutting the Yankees down for most of the game, and for being perhaps the toughest starter the Yankees have faced this year. I'm not kidding about that comparison - at least the Yanks beat up on Roy Halladay a few times this  year. Pavano, on the other hand, pitched three quality, huge starts against the Yanks this year, the strongest one in a playoff game. I predict some team will reward him handsomely next season. Squawker Jon, how about Pavano as a Met?  Imagine if he becomes the Mets' Iron Horse!

By the way, I enjoyed watching the Yankees beat up on Joe Nathan and the other Twins pitchers. Nathan really can't handle the Yankees, can he? It's amusing to watch. But hey, as Squawker Jon noted, he did pick up dirt from the Metrodome after the game. Good grief.

Squawker Jon also mocked the Derek Jeter worship about the Nick Punto play. I think Jeter made a terrific play, and had a phenomenal series. He would be my MVP, after A-Rod, for the ALDS. But the problem with all the unnecessary worship he gets is that when Jeter does have  a spectacular series, like he did this week, it just seems like the praise is the usual over-the-top stuff, when it's actually well-deserved.


Oh, and I loved the postgame celebration stuff last night. That photo above, where A-Rod was trying to sneak up on Jeter, was a scream!


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Shocker! Angels sweep Jonathan Papelbon and Red Sox!

I spent my afternoon watching the Angels-Red Sox game. What fun that was. While I was officially neutral on the Red Sox-Angels series (it would be like trying to decide to root for arsenic or cyanide!), I have to say, now that it's over, and I can't karmically jinx things, I really, really enjoyed seeing the Red Sox lose.

I also appreciated seeing Bobby Abreu being an Anaheim hero.And I especially cherished seeing Jonathan Papelbon (aka Cinco Dopo) give up three runs in the ninth, when he was literally one strike away from getting the win. So much for his 0.00 postseason ERA. So much for him being better than Mariano Rivera. His lousy outing reminded me of when Omir Santos and the Mets, in one of their few 2009 season highlights, destroyed Papelbon. Or when Baltimore beat up on him, in a game where they trailed by nine runs. Sox fans are already tired of Papelbon's mouth; wonder if they're going to be sick of him as a closer, as well.

Seeing Billy (Country Time) Wagner give up two runs was also fun as well. Wheeee!

I was very shocked Boston lost, but perhaps they have gotten a little too complacent, thanks to all their comeback wins in recent years. The Red Sox have done a 180 from their "OMG, something's going to go wrong!" attitude, to this "don't worry, we'll get 'em later" lethargy. And they didn't seem to take their opponent seriously, until it was too late. It didn't appear to occur to Boston that, much like the Sox were once sick of losing to the Yankees, that the Angels were sick of losing to the Red Sox. As friend of the Squawkers Bob Ekstrom put it last week, "When you punch an opponent in the mouth enough times, he’s eventually going to punch you back."

What also struck me is how quiet Fenway Park was throughout the game, even when the Sox were winning. It was not a raucous crowd at all. Where was the home field advantage?

Papelbon will get the blame for this loss, but he isn't the only one to blame for the sweep. The Sox's hitting was anemic - Jacoby Ellsbury had the most hits for the series, at three. David Ortiz hit .083!

Friend of the Squawkers Larry Milian asked me about this series on the radio the other day, and I told him what I've said before - ever since the 2006 Tigers killed the Yankees, I stopped trying to wish for one team as being a better matchup in the postseason. But now, that I can speak about the Angels, I will close with this prediction. Just like the Angels got the Red Sox monkey off their backs this year, the Yankees are going to finally get that Anaheim rally monkey off their own backs this year!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Shut up, haters! A-Rod silences his critics with two swings of the bat

What a game! I didn't get much sleep last night - too much adrenaline! - after the Yankees great, great victory over the Twins. And get this - I totally called Alex Rodriguez's homer last night, although it ended up being a game-tying, not a game-winning, one.

Here's what happened. Shortly after A-Rod had that game-tying hit in the sixth inning, I posted this on my Facebook status update at around 9 p.m. or so: "I'm calling it now - this game is going to end with a walkoff homer by A-Rod! Remember, I did call that A-Rod would hit the walkoff homer in the 15-inning Yankees-Red Sox game!"

By the time the ninth inning rolled around, Rodriguez was not in a position to hit a walkoff, of course (he was only the second batter of the inning, with the score 3-1 Twins.) Johnny, a Red Sox fan/Squawker reader, wrote "Not tonight, Lisa" in Facebook about my prediction. I responded: "As Yogi sez, it ain't over til it's over. Besides, the Yankees own Joe Nathan! A-Rod will do something good this inning."

And I was right! Of course, it was off  Nathan. The Yankees haven't owned a pitcher like that since the heyday of Arthur Rhodes. One example this year: if you may remember, Squawker Jon and I were at the Stadium on May 15, A-Rod's first night at the new Stadium (that was the Brett Gardner inside-the-park game, and the first great game at the new ballpark.) As Squawker Jon recounted then: "I told Lisa that I would think the Yankees were going to win if top closer Joe Nathan were not on the mound. But Lisa correctly predicted that the Yankees could get to Nathan."

And, as Red Sox fan Bob Ekstrom wrote in his guest Squawk the other day, "what can brighten the Bronx outlook more than thoughts of Joe Nathan trying to hold a one-run lead in the bottom of the ninth at Yankee Stadium?" (Incidentally, Bob also correctly predicted in that piece that the Angels would be much tougher for the Red Sox than expected.) 

So, when A-Rod came up to bat, Joe, another Sox fan/Squawker reader, wrote to me, "A-Rod's gonna tie it." And whaddaya know - A-Rod did tie it!

Of course, given Nathan's body langauge during that at-bat, it wasn't exactly a shock. He was practically hyperventilating out there (as was I, after A-Rod's homer!)

And I also got tears in my eyes over the home run. I was so finally that A-Rod gave all his haters a nice steaming cup of shut the heck up!

Longtime Squawker readers know what I've been defending A-Rod against the "he's not a true Yankee" brigade since the Subway Squawkers blog started. Has A-Rod been perfect? Of course not. He ticked me off with the opting out, and the way he seemed in his own world in the 2008 season. His Details photo shoot was really dumb, too. And of course he's been terrible in October since the 2004 ALCS. But the abuse and blame this guy has gotten has been completely out of proportion with reality.

Really, I am so sick of this portion of the fanbase thinking that they were so righteous in booing A-Rod. I am tired of the "why can't he hit when it counts" haters, as Jim Green of the Yankee Scrolls blog called them (as if A-Rod's eight Yankee walkoff hits didn't count.) I am so sick of these so-called fans who don't seem to realize that, jf it weren't for A-Rod's MVP seasons in 2005 and 2007, the Yanks would never have even made the playoffs those years. Not to mention the way this year's team slogged without A-Rod in the lineup. Oh, and it's a good thing the Yankees didn't listen to a New York tabloid columnist who wrote this spring that the Yankees should just cut A-Rod!

But guess what? The bandwagon is full. If you call yourself a Yankee fan, and you really couldn't deign to root for Alex before last night, fuggedaboudit. If you really think A-Rod became a so-called real Yankee last night, please, step off already and go crawl under a rock or something. And take that, haters!

I'm going to write more today on the rest of the game, including Mark Teixeira's epic walkoff, but I just had to get that A-Rod stuff off my chest! In the meantime, leave us a comment!

Momentum, schmomentum - Don't think the Twins will win because they had a sizzling September

I knew it. As soon as I saw the Twins beat the Tigers, in one of the most epic one-game playoff matchups ever, I was sure people would start talking about that discredited canard, about how the hottest team, not the best team, wins in the playoffs. (Didn't they read my Faster Times piece breaking down the numbers? Sheesh.)

Momentum, schomentum, I say. The Yankees are going to win the series. I'm not going to claim a sweep or decimation or anything like that - as Squawker reader Bob from Kiev pointed out; Orlando Cabrera and Joe Mauer are both Yankee killers. Come to think of it, so is Carl Pavano. But the Yankees are still going to win.

Yankees in four, I say. That's my prediction, and I'm sticking to it!


Yesterday's game was pretty phenomenal, though - it was the best one-game playoff I can remember in ages. Fun to watch, even if I had no rooting interest. But TBS is terrible. What's more annoying - Craig Sager's fashions, or Chip Caray's awful calls? (I wrote a piece breaking down how bad Caray was.)

I will probably be squawking on Twitter and Facebook during tonight'ts game , if you'd like to follow me.

One other note - the Poughkeepsie Journal had a good video breaking down the Yanks-Twins series. Check it out.

What are your own predictions for the series? Tell us about it!