Mike Lupica is a Jackass: Chapter Five
Well it's been a while since I did one of these - which actually used to be the primary focus of my old blog - but I happened upon another article by New York's preeminent jackass. Now as to be fair, I've only read the first two paragraphs so far, so I'll be commenting from a fresh perspective as always. However, let's all bear in mind the typical Lupica gripes:
Ok so with that out of the way, let's get to it. Guess how many Mets are left from their last championship? Zero. None. I guess we constantly act as if Hernandez and Carter and Knight and Strawberry are still the Mets, even if the Mets haven't won the Series since 1986. It is a nice thought. Now for the most part, the have-not Yankees have delivered the kind of numbers they were supposed to. Mussina fell off a little bit last year because of injury, Giambi seemed to be breaking down entirely in 2003 before he got big and strong again. Rodriguez became the MVP of the American League last year after a productive but odd first year at the Stadium that ended with Joe Torre finally having to bat him second. I can't believe I'm going to do this, but I'll defend Joe Torre there. It wasn't Rodriguez's fault that he "had to bat second." That was probably the best position for him to bat. He got more ABs and was an OBP machine, and the Yankees didn't really have a better option. Matsui has been swell, if not quite the defensive wizard in left we thought we were getting. Called Godzilla, plays like it out there sometimes. He plays like Godzilla? Meaning what, exactly? Is he attacking airplanes, fighting giant moths or stepping on Japanese fans in the bleachers? What the hell does that mean? Mussina, in fact, pitching for a new contract, has been one of the great pitching buys in free-agent history. It is usually nuts to give a pitcher, especially a starting pitcher, a contract as long as Mussina's, six years and $84 million. But he has pitched into the last season of that contract, mostly at a high level, even if his playoff record is only one game over .500. When he's been healthy he has pitched and won and for the time being, is pitching at as high a level as he has since he put on a Yankee uniform. Yep, bring up records. You love that. A guy can lose 1-0 and he's garbage. Mussina has been the best Yankee postseason starting pitcher since he's been on the team. Go ahead, look it up. Statistically, he's easily outdistanced Johnson, Clemens, Pettitte, Brown, Vazquez, Weaver, Wells, etc. I know this because I looked it up and didn't just look at a W-L record. Only the Yankees have not won a World Series in those five seasons he has already pitched here. They have not won since they paid Giambi the $119 million, a contract they would have done anything possible to get out from under as recently as one year ago. Mussina has pitched in the Series twice. Giambi has been there once, even if he wasn't much help three years ago. A-Rod? You know about A-Rod. He was one inning away from the Series in 2004 before the sky fell on him and everybody else. Yeah, that's when he choked, right? Odd to mention that here, in the same breath as Rodriguez. They all knew the deal before they got here, A-Rod better than any of them: George Steinbrenner is not just buying big names and big numbers, he always believes he is buying the championship. I think he believes he's acquiring the best players possible to make the best team possible. I mean I could be wrong, but my opinion of what Steinbrenner "believes" is just as valid as yours. We hear now that the Yankees have this crackerjack farm system. We'll see about that. Who wants to bet the only prospects Lupica has heard of are Phil Hughes and Eric Duncan? You mention Tabata to him and he'd probably think it's a new type of italian sandwich. Since they stopped winning the World Series, they have considered the rest of baseball their farm system, every time there was another big-ticket guy they wanted. Carlos Beltran says hello. Mussina was supposed to be a difference-maker, Giambi was supposed to be a difference-maker after that 2001 World Series, when the Yankees could only produce 16 runs in seven games against the Diamondbacks. A-Rod was supposed to be the ultimate difference-maker, because not only were the Yankees getting him, the Red Sox weren't. They were difference makers. The difference is that - last year for example - you take away Giambi or Rodriguez and the Yankees don't even make the playoffs. "These guys could have gotten their money somewhere else," Torre likes to say. They could have. Torre says he understands the responsibilities of the uniform. So do the new hired guns who show up every year. It's just that the core of have-nots keeps growing, like the payroll. Have not won here. Yes, every year the number of players there from a specific fixed year in the past that are still on the roster - or still even active in baseball - dwindles. Clemens, O'Neill, Martinez, Brosius, Cone, Mendoza, Neagle, Nelson, Stanton, Tessmer, Watson, Yarnall, Turner, Delgado, Sojo, Kelly, Bellinger, Johnson, Polonia, Spencer, Thompson, Jose, Justice, Canseco, Hill and Leyritz all played for the Yankees in 2000, the last time they won the Series, and yet none of them are active in the majors. But I suppose they should all still be Yankees, because then the "haves" would out number the "have nots." A team with those guys plus Jeter, Williams, Posada and Rivera would win about 30 games. Most started by Clemens. Maybe this is the year when the old Yankees and the new Yankees finally become one team. I'm assuming you're only "one team" when you win the World Series? It used to be you could come here for big money and easy rings, the way Roger Clemens did. Not anymore. It was never easy rings. For you to say that completely invalidates the efforts of those players who won those four championships, you jackass. BONUS LUPICA! If the Yankee pitching goes south this year, does the old man still blame it on Mel Stottlemyre? No, since he's no longer a pitching coach. Kind of a silly question. Labels: douchebag, insecure mean-spirited busybodies, jackass, lupica, ring counting, true yankee
posted by Mr. Faded Glory @ 12:05 PM
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2 Comments:
Amen brother amen. Next time I see that smidget at the Stadium I'm bopping him on the head.
you'd give him the satisfaction of knowing that someone recognizes him? as a duchess, shouldn't your noblesse oblige kick in and shouldn't you look right over his head as if he weren't even there? :D
seriously, I'd probably kick him in the face, myself....
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