New York Yankees Suck, They Always Have... They Always Will

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July 10, 2002
Scott Gleason
Yanks-Suck.Com

Say it aint so, Joe?

I can understand Bob Brenly being moron enough to not have enough players to continue playing past the eleventh inning as happened in last night’s 2002 All-Star game from Miller Park. Brenly looks like he’d be much better suited trying to take the pole (insert joke here) at the Winston 500 then manage a baseball team. But Joe Torre has been at the helm of what we keep hearing is one of the greatest dynasties in sports history. It would only follow that he’s supposed to be one of the top managers in baseball, right (I’ve certainly heard that from more than one New Yorker)? And this is the All-Star game, right? This is when the players give back to the fans and show them their ultimate fantasy lineup game. Of course, they wouldn’t be doing it if there weren’t those little incentive clauses in their contracts, but whose counting.

Well, last night Torre did the unthinkable. He put his team in a situation where MLB was forced to tell the fans that they weren’t going to get a winner this year. Pack it up fans. I know you guys spent $175 to sit in Miller Park, not to mention the fact that you were forced to buy tickets for all events over the three days of all-star activities. I understand your frustration, folks, but you gotta go home now. Hope you enjoyed the show. Brenly might have said it best when he said that fans got everything that they could have wanted out of an all-star game except a winner. I don’t even know how to respond to that.

Torre, on the other hand, talked about how he wouldn’t have been able to face Lou Pinella if something happened to Freddie Garcia, the American League’s last pitcher of the night, because he had to leave him in the game for too long. This, of course, after Garcia was pitching on five days rest. Also, Joe, nobody forced you to a) throw every pitcher you had and b) save a pitcher on a contender as the last guy in your pen. Think it’ll make much of a difference to the Blue Jays season if Roy Halladay is forced to miss a start? Think Barry Zito maybe should have faced more than one batter?

These excuses for what happened last night make me ill. Maybe managers can stop stockpiling the team with players from their own squads if their so concerned with a player getting hurt during the All-Star game. Isn’t that the ultimate hypocrisy. The game is meaningless when the potential for a player injury comes up, but so meaningful that you skew the proportion of players to favor your own team. Torre has been as blameful on this account as any manager of the last 15 years.

Another thing to remember, here, is that this is eleven innings we’re talking about. Baseball games routinely go extra innings, and we’re not talking about a marathon 16-inning contest, here. Why aren’t you planning for a game to go to extras, especially if this is one of the best managers in the game? Heck, the all-star game itself has gone to extras twice in the last 15 years before last night. That’s about a 13% chance, and when you add in last night, it’s nearly 20% over that span.

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, but Scott, I’ve read this story and everyone brings up the fact that managers are concerned about making sure everyone plays. I won’t even entertain this thought. They didn’t rewrite the rules of baseball, and this is the first time that one of these games hasn’t had a winner other than in a rainout. So, the new “unwritten rule” that every player has to play has absolutely no merit when entering a discussion about why one of what we get forced to hear is one of the best managers in game mismanaged the fans game. Puh-lease. This is the lamest thing that I’ve ever heard. If you want to manage that way, from now on, know the consequences, and in this case, explain to me in great detail, Joe Torre how you didn’t know them in the first place.

Joe Torre owes me an apology, and Yankee fans need to do some serious crow eating if they ever want to use that “greatest manager” bologna again.

Scott Gleason, a former writer for RotoWire.com, shows his hatred of the New York Yankees through song with the band BenderX. Download their aptly titled song Yankees Suck.