Off Ottavino ... which, for some reason, just makes it more pleasurable for Yankee fans.

Mike Lupica now publishes transcripts from WFAN callers.

"But if they do fall short of the postseason, or get bounced out of it in a division round the way they did last season against the Rays, a team spending about $130 million less on baseball players than they do, then the Yankees will arrive at a crossroads when this season is over, if they haven’t arrived at one already."

The Rays have never won a World Series, so they are not successful. That's not my paradigm, that's your paradigm.

"I received an email on Friday morning from a friend who is as smart and passionate and reasonable as any Yankee fan on the planet."

Even smarter than you?

"He attended his first game as a seven-year-old at the old Stadium in 1977. So he came to the Yankees with those teams, with Reggie and Munson and Guidry and Sweet Lou. And then, after college, he got the whole show from Torre’s Yankees, the last Yankee dynasty we will ever see."

Ha ha ha. What?

Does he think that the managers should bunt more often and when's the last time you saw a hit-and-run, can you tell me that?

“'This is the most important storyline in New York sports right now — the future of the New York Yankees. Hal Steinbrenner has to determine whether he is better served by acting boldly or embracing stability. Maybe he’s afraid of change, but when you have one of the best jobs in pro sports to offer very attractive candidates, those fears really seem silly, unless Hal really doesn’t have the stomach to serve as Yankees owner. Again, all he needs to do is look north to see how being cold and cutthroat has served the Boston Red Sox. If the Red Sox thought it had grown stale with Theo Epstein only 4 years after he led them to their 2nd World Series championship, where are we with a front office that has delivered only one championship in the last 20 years?'"

Sure; nothing new here.

The Yankees stink. It's worse because they're under-achievers.

"But if they can’t, in another season when they can’t even win their division, then it will be time for the owner to actually act like one."

So fire Cashman already.

I don't even know why we're talking about the Red Sox, but fire Cashman and see what happens. 

Nothing happens ... unless the batters on the team miraculously stop hitting into double plays.

The Yankees are boring, gutless under-achievers even if they miraculously win the World Series, and they've been boring, gutless under-achievers for two full seasons now. 

The Wild Card doesn't excite the fan base, nor should it. 

The Yankee don't deserve to make the playoffs. Neither do the Red Sox or the Blue Jays.

The only Baby Bomber who isn't a bust is Aaron Judge, and at least a couple of the Baby Bombers don't even seem to care about playing baseball as a profession.

The "World Series or Bust" stuff is a red herring. Cashman is a VP of a company whose net worth has increased over 10x in 20 years.

"But if the 2021 Yankees don’t play deep into October, if they don’t get close to winning the dozen games that means they’ve won it all, then where are they, really, with the current vision of the team? Where are they with a program that never ever seems to have enough starting pitching, and has a plodding swing-and-miss offense that lacks both versatility and speed and even flair, and is joined at the hip with Giancarlo Stanton forever?"

The Rays win division titles and play deep into October without enough starting pitching and with a plodding swing-and-miss offense that lacks both versatility and speed and even flair.

The Rays have 207 HRs and 1,430 strikeouts.

The Yankees have 203 HRs and 1,362 strikeouts.

The Rays starter with the most IP is Ryan Yarborough, and it's just 144 innings ... and his ERA is 5.30.

 

So how do the Rays beat the Yankees and win so many games with such a low payroll?

We know how.

They have mostly abandoned the idea of a starting pitching rotation, and they've mostly abandoned the idea of a versatile offense (even if they have more stolen bases than I figured).

They seem to have players that are smarter and tougher than the Yankees, but that could surely be nullified in a short series.

Do you really want to replace Cashman with a bold GM who follows the Rays model?

OK then.

Trade Cole for three setup guys.

 

 

The catching situation.

"It's been a bad week for Gary Sanchez defensively.

On Thursday, although charged as wild pitches to Clay Holmes, Sanchez couldn't catch two pitches, bringing in the Orioles' tying run in the bottom of the ninth. They eventually lost, 3-2.

On Sept. 10, Joe Gallo threw a dart that had Mets' Jonathan Villar out by several feet, but Sanchez inexplicably went for a high tag that Villar got under - Villar was safe.

On Saturday Sanchez dropped a foul pop-up right behind home plate in the fifth inning. 

After the pop-up fell to the dirt, the Indians piled it on for seven runs that inning."

"In my general experience playing baseball, catchers should try to catch the pitch."

"Not to mention, tag runners at home plate."

“Yeah, that heater up and away there, you probably gotta get to,” Boone said. “It’s obviously tough in that spot where it’s rainy and it’s wet, I think that probably affected pitchers grip-wise and stuff and footing. It was a tough night in that regard. Just a tough one that we gotta get over.

“There were a couple that seemed like it slipped out for whatever reason, I’m sure the elements had something to do with that, but those are balls we gotta try and keep in front of us.”

 

"Almost losing" is also known as "winning."

The Spider Tack story is long forgotten.

The historical key to Yankee Championship teams is to have a mediocre player at second base instead of a mediocre player at shortstop.

The Yankees put a lot of faith in this guy and he has been a bust. He is still very young ... shockingly young ... but it's hard to believe he is going to turn it around.

Maybe the Yankees think they are in first place and their main goal is to stay healthy for the deep playoff run.

If you're going to bring in Andrew Heaney with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth inning, while the game is still within reach, it is difficult for a fan to emotionally commit to this team.

Loser.

Quite a contrast to the recent reminders of Jeter's flip play.

It's over for Gleyber and Sanchez. If they don't want to learn their craft, put in some effort, stay in shape ... get rid of them.

The end of the Andrew Heaney era.

Eleven home runs allowed in thirty innings ought to be enough of an indicator to never put him on the mound again.

Over time, Gleyber revealed himself to be a fraud.

I was fooled. I thought Gleyber was going to be an MVP candidate. I thought he was going to bat third in a powerful lineup for years to come.

A closer examination reveals his success at the plate in the majors is mostly based on a one-season freakish domination of the Baltimore Orioles. 

The second coming of Rob Refsnyder.

"Lackadasical play" is bad, sure. Frustrating to watch.

I can also think of plenty of productive players who were lackadasical in the field. I can think of HOF players who were lackadasical in the field.

The bottom line is that Torres only has six home runs this entire season. 

If you're going to be no-field/no-hit, you will be replaced by a light-hitting slick fielder. Those guys are easy to find.

Moving Gleyber to second base doesn't solve the problem. The Yankees don't need a second baseman who hits .250 with six home runs.

The difference between correlation and causation.

The Yankees went on a 13-game winning streak shortly after acquiring Joey Gallo. However, he has stunk the whole time.

Oh, yeah. That guy we all forgot about.

 Aaron Judge is hitting .300 with 30 HRs.

Gearing up for a pennant race at the Daily News.

Kyle Higashioka has a home run every 16.9 at-bats.

Gary Sanchez has a home run every 17.6 at-bats.

 

Sanchez is better overall, but not by much.

While Sanchez has lost considerable shine over the past couple of seasons, he is still one of the Baby Bombers.

Higashioka is an afterthought for most fans and observers.

If Higashioka can play better defense? In the playoffs? He might be preferable over Sanchez.

Tedious take.

"The comeback, this winning streak, the rise from the dead -- it's all been a pleasure to watch. Even those nail-biting ninth innings have been kind of cool, sometimes. If you told me the Yankees would win 34 of their next 45 games after that Mets loss, let alone still be in the Wild Card hunt, I would have laughed at you.

But now that they are almost a lock to make the postseason (like we expected months ago) here is a reminder that anything less than an American League pennant is unacceptable.

...

As things stood on Opening Day, you could not name one Yankee fan who would have been happy with anything short of a World Series appearance. You're not allowed to go from Opening Day American League favorite to 'it would be nice to make a run' just because you made a comeback from what once looked to be a lost season."

You're not allowed to enjoy simply enjoy the ride and enjoy being a fan of a baseball team.

If the Yankee don't make the World Series in 2021, it would be unacceptable. Which is a filler adjective devoid of meaning. I don't accept that an event happened. An undesirable event. The consequences will be ... ummm ... I'm not sure. I will blog derisively.

 

 

I mean, OK: The Yankees have to make the World Series in 2021.

If they don't make the World Series, the season will be a failure.

Which means the season will probably be a failure. 

I could have told you that one month ago or three months ago or nine months ago or ten years ago. No team ever started a season with a 51% chance of making the World Series and the rest is just boring PR.

We already know the rest of the story, anyway.

If the Yankees win the World Series in 2021, it's only one. 

It's still not as good as the Torre Yankees or the Stengel Yankees or the McCarthy Yankees and Taillon can't hold a candle to Real Champs like Pettitte and Arroyo and Herb Pennock.

I've been a Yankee fans since 1875 and, let me tell you, in the clutch, you need a guy like Herb Pennock who one time threw back-to-back-to-back no-hitters in the playoffs and never threw one ball out of the strike zone the whole time. Two-hundred innings in one weekend and he didn't complain once. Now I see Cole come out of a game after 7 2/3 innings while Lefty Gomez spins in his grave.

If the Yankees win the World Series in 2021 and it starts a streak of four Championships in a row, it's still not as impressive as what Epstein did with the Red Sox or what Tampa did with a smaller payroll. Sure, I'm happy that LeMahieu hit .350 in the playoffs, but it's not not as impressive as Tom Brady's seven Super Bowl rings.

 

I'll design a credo that make easier on fans and analysts:

• Winning is good.
• Winning is fun.
• Winning is always better than losing.
  

Rojas made a bad managerial move for sure.

 Having said that:

1. The relief pitcher can get a batter out.
2. The team can score more than two runs.
   

Is it a major league statistic if the opponent is the Orioles?

"A Maddux describes a start in which a pitcher tosses a shutout on fewer than 100 pitches. It's named after Hall of Fame pitcher -- and former Brave -- Greg Maddux. Fried joined the ranks of two other Braves pitchers who tossed shutouts on 90 or fewer pitches (since pitch counts began being tracked in 1988): Tom Glavine and Maddux himself, who did it five times and was the last Braves pitcher to do it in 90 pitchers or fewer."

It's named after career 39-game winner Mike Maddux, who once threw 100 pitches in one inning, in a childhood backyard wiffle ball game.

I think I first blogged about this in 1996.

No, wait.

I didn't have a blog in 1996.

I probably didn't have a home computer in 1996.

Spider Tack back in the headlines all of a sudden.