The 2021 Yankees Are Obscene

In 1964, there was a case before the Supreme Court of the United States. In Jacobellis v. Ohio, one of those groups of self-appointed moral arbiters wanted the Court to judge that a particular film, The Lovers, released in 1958 by French director Louis Malle, was pornography, that it was obscene, and that the conviction of the manager of a theater in Cleveland Heights, Ohio who showed it should be upheld.

In a 6-3 vote -- oddly, the Chief Justice of the time, Earl Warren, normally a liberal Justice, voted the more conservative way -- the Court ruled that the film was not obscene, and vaccted the conviction. One of the Justices, Potter Stewart, wrote in his opinion that the 1st Amendment protected every form of artistic expression except, as he put it, "hard-core pornography." And he refused to flat out define that, giving only this definition, which entered the American lexicon: "I know it when I see it." He said this wasn't it, and the self appointed moral arbiters lost.

By the standards of France, where the film was made, it was not a big deal. By the standards of early 1960s America, it was pretty racy, but tame by today's standards.

In 1969, Irving Wallace published a novel titled The Seven Minutes. There was a book within the book, also titled The Seven Minutes, declared to be the most obscene book ever written, because it was about a woman's thoughts during 7 minutes of sex. It was made into a movie in 1971, and yesterday was the 50th Anniversary of its release.

As with the book it was based on, the film tried to make the point that there is a difference between art and obscenity, and that the people should decide for themselves, without any group ordering them to accept a definition.

*

What does this have to do with baseball? This: At some point, we need to decide whether the 2021 New York Yankees are art, or obscene.

Last night, the 2nd game of a 4-game series against the hated Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, may have been the game they most needed to win this season, and they couldn't do it, not even with Garrett Cole as the starting pitcher. It ended up going similar to the game before it, as the Yankees threatened to break the game wide open, but only got 1 run, stranding baserunners, and living to regret it as the game went on.

Gary Sanchez led off the top of the 2nd with a walk, followed by a single by Gleyber Torres and a double by Brett Gardner. And Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez left the game, with a migraine as we later found out. So Phillips Valdez was brought in to relieve, and the Yankees had a 1-0 lead, men on 2nd and 3rd, nobody out, and the Sox bullpen needed to get 24 outs at Fenway. And Gerrit Cole on the mound.

This was set up to be the Yankees' best game of the year.

Instead, Chris Gittens struck out, Ryan LaMarre was hit by a pitch, Greg Allen struck out, and DJ LeMahieu struck out. That was it for the inning.

Giancarlo Stanton led off the top of the 3rd with a walk, and was stranded. Gittens singled with 2 out in the 4th, and was stranded. With 2 out in the 5th, Stanton walked, an advanced to 2nd on a wild pitch, but was stranded. Think about that: Giancarlo Stanton drew two walks, and we did not reward this unexpected plate discipline with any runs.

And then the final nail may have been driven into the Yankees' 2021 coffin in the bottom of the 5th. Cole ended it with 104 pitches. He began it with a strikeout, but allowed a single to Enrique Hernandez, a double to Jarren Duran, a sacrifice fly by Xander Bogaerts, and a home run by Rafael Devers. It was 3-1 Red Sox, and that was it for Cole.

A 3-1 deficit, at Fenway, against the Boston bullpen, should not be too much to overcome -- for a good team. The 2021 Yankees are not a good team. They have shown flashes of past Yankee teams -- 1978, 1996 and 2009 come to mind -- but they are not getting the job done.

Gardner walked with 2 out in the 6th. Stranded. With 1 out in the 7th, Allen was hit with a pitch, and LeMahieu singled. Both stranded. Nestor Cortes, back from the COVID version of the Injured List, gave up 2 singles and a home run by Devers, and it was 6-1 Boston. In the 8th, with 1 out, Torres was hit with a pitch. With 2 out, Gittens drew a walk. Both stranded.

The Yankees mounted a 2-out rally in the 9th, but it was too little, too late: Stanton singled, and Rougned Odor doubled him home. But Rob Brantly popped up to end the game.

Red Sox 6, Yankees 2. WP: Yacksel Rios (3-0). No save. LP: Cole (10-5).

The Yankees are now 9 games behind the Red Sox in the American League Eastern Division, and 4 1/2 games out of the AL's 2nd Wild Card slot. According to Baseball-Reference.com, they have an 11.7 percent chance of making the Playoffs, and this chance has dropped 14.6 percent in the last 30 days. Since the All-Star Break, they are 6-for-55 with runners in scoring position, a batting average of .109.

Yankee RISPfail: As Michael Corleone would have said, "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!"

I'm reminded of a story I once saw in Mad magazine. A character based on Joe Namath interviews a judge, who turns out to be corrupt. He asked the judge, "What kind of cases do you enjoy the most?" The judge said, "Pornography cases! I have to view all the films to see if they're obscene! Isn't this great?" And the Namath analogue says, "It sure does beat looking at old football films. Except for the last few games of my career, which really were obscene!"

In that sense, the 2021 Yankees are obscene. No, they are not pornography. There is nothing about this team that excites a person. Not sexually, not any other way. But they are obscene, with no artistic value. I know it when I see it.

The series continues this afternoon, for all the good that does the Yankees. Especially since the starting pitchers are Jameson Taillon (who, to be fair, has pitched better for the Yankees lately) and Nathan Eovaldi (who has spent all the time since Cashman got rid of him pointing out what a mistake that was).

I may have reached the point where reporting the details of every game the Yankees have left this season is no longer worth it.