When the Yankees are 30 games over .500 in July, John Harper will worry about the long-relief guy in the bullpen; When Mariano gives up a homerun to Jason Varitek in game #2, John Harper fast-forwards to a potentially disastrous ALCS; When the Yankees win 101 games and miss the World Series by one game, John Harper will try to convince you that they're an awful team.
Remember just three weeks ago, Yankee fans? When you were supposed to worry about pitching to David Ortiz in the playoffs? "How are the Yankees going to get out David Ortiz in the playoffs?"
Now the Yankees are 11-19, way out of first place, and getting Ortiz out in the playoffs is a problem we'd all like to have once October rolls around.
Since Harper has made a habit of creating panic out of calm, he has nowhere to go when the Yankees truly do play poorly. Now, John Harper is forced to be the contrarian calming voice of restraint:
"This is when fans want the manager to scream and yell and turn over the food spread in a show of violent temper. That'll teach the players, right?
It's a natural reaction after seeing the Yankees lose three in a row to the Devil Rays. The Devil Rays. If you're a fan, you want to strangle somebody, and rightly so."
Yes, some of us doting, unwashed fans think Torre is doing a bad job motivating this team. Especially when they respond to another team meeting by zipping through a game vs. Tampa Bay -- plumb full of mental errors -- in 2 hours and 26 minutes.
Are you guys in a rush? Late for a funeral?
Teach me, John Harper. Teach me to elevate my consciousness and stop responding in such a base, violent, reactionary manner.
Because it seems to me that an anti-Torre assessment at this time is quite level-headed and reasonable. I thought Torre would lose his job on the spot if the Yankees lost the series to TB, and I meant it.
"Yet this is when Joe Torre prefers the Dr. Phil approach. He believes his team needs a hug right now more than a kick in the butt."
I happen to disagree, and I know that a new manager is not going to turn back the clock or cure Kevin Brown's back. But this team is clearly not responding to Torre.
"Pretty soon Steinbrenner figures to relieve his stress the way he did in the old days - by firing somebody.
Torre is almost surely safe, at least partly because he's on the first year of a $19 million contract extension, and partly because his star status is still such that it gives him immunity of sorts.
More likely either GM Brian Cashman or pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre would pay the price if this team continues to struggle and Steinbrenner becomes determined to pull the trigger.
...
Is a group hug the answer? Even if it's not, this doesn't fall on Torre. At least not this year.
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Is [Torre] right? It's tough to argue with a manager who almost always has had the right touch since he put on the pinstripes 10 seasons ago."
It's not that tough to argue with a manager who has lost his touch.
Primary argument: "11-19." Gee, that wasn't so tough.
Heck, I saw Joe Torre send the runners with Roy Halladay on the mound and Tino Martinez on second base. Tino was thrown out by 15 ft. at third base after Womack struck out, but Hillenbrand dropped the ball. That decision alone was enough for me to question Joe Torre's mental acuity.
C'mon, John Harper. You're John Harper. Big Bad John. You're a grizzled NY writer. You chew up hicks like Randy Johnson and spit 'em out. You run guys out of town on a rail. Don't eyeball me, boy, learn to use your peripheral vision.
But when it come to Joe Towwe, you're just a cuddly wuddly teddy bear.
If Steinbrenner starts firing some of the architects and leaders of this team, it won't simply be an over-reaction and attempt to relieve stress. It will be an attempt to save the season and a $200 million investment.
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