How ugly was it? If it were any uglier, Muhammad Ali would have to come back from the dead and fight it.
The reasons for confidence were there: We had the Big Fella, CC Sabathia, on the mound to start. The Astros had Charlie Morton. And we had the kind of bats that could take Minute Maid Park apart.
There were also reasons for concern: Joe Girardi exhausted the bullpen the night before. And we hadn't scored enough runs in the 1st 3 games in Houston, getting all 3 of our wins in New York.
It was reminding me of the 2001 World Series -- which didn't end well on the road.
Instead, this Game 7 was like Game 6 of the 2003 World Series: The Yankees didn't go out with a bang, they went out with a whimper.
CC was fine for 3 innings, and we dared to hope he would come through in the clutch one more time. But Evan Gattis hit a home run in the 4th, and our hearts sank. Being 1-0 down at that point felt like...
It felt like that scene in the original version of Fever Pitch:
Steve (played by Mark Strong): "We're doing okay."
Paul (Colin Firth): "Well, what's the use of okay? We might as well be losing 8-0!"
Steve: "I don't think that's really true, Paul. It seems to me, if you want to win a game 2-0, you've got a much better chance if it's 0-0 at halftime than if you're 8 goals down. You see where I'm coming from?"
Paul: "You're living in Cloud Cuckoo Land! Join the real world!"
Steve: "I the real world, it's 0-0 at halftime!"
Paul: "Might as well be 8-0."
Steve: "Jesus, Paul! You need medical help! You've got some kind of disease that turns people into miserable bastards!"
Yeah, it's called "Girarditis."
CC got into more trouble, and Girardi took him out. If that's the last time we see CC in a Yankee uniform (except for Old-Timers' Day), as we suspect it is, well, I can't fault him. He, more than Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Didi Gregorius, Aroldis Chapman, or anyone else, was the reason we got this far.
Girardi brought Tommy Kahnle in, and he got out of it. But he allowed a home run to Jose Altuve in the 5th. As John Sterling would say, that's still within "a bloop and a blast." But I had seen nothing suggesting that a bloop and a blast, or a walk and a wallop, was is coming. At that point, I would have had more confidence being 2-0 down with Arsenal and the Devils than with the Yankees.
Kahnle allowed 2 more runs in that inning, to make it 4-0 Houston. Lance McCullers Jr. relieved Morton in the 6th, and he was just as good.
Top of the 9th, and it occurred to me that it would be just like this Yankee team to make it 4-3 and load the bases, and then fail.
Instead, they went down quietly. Final score, Astros 4, Yankees 0.
A season that could have been so much more than it was, and could have been such as late as 8:00 PM Eastern Time tonight, comes to a disgraceful end. Nice memories, but, in the end, we won nothing. Not even the American League Eastern Division title.
In the 3 games in New York, the Yankees outscored the Astros 19-5. In the 4 games in Houston, they were outscored 15-3. On the average: In New York, won 6-2; in Houston, lost 4-1.
Scoring just 3 runs in 36 innings? In Minute Maid Park? Unacceptable.
Giving up 2 runs in Game 1, and 2 runs in Game 2, and losing both games? Unacceptable.
Being up 3 games to 2, needing to win only 1 out of 2, and scoring just 1 run in those 2 games? Unacceptable.
For the Astros: Their 2nd Pennant in their 56-season history, the 1st coming in 2005, in the National League, so this is their 1st in the American League; and a trip to the World Series to face their former NL Western Division rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers.
For the Yankees: Another failure. Now 8 years without a Pennant or a World Championship.
*
For the Joe Girardi apologists, and the Brian Cashman apologists, the excuses are coming hard and fast.
"Rome wasn't built in a day," someone told me on Twitter. It didn't take 8 years, either.
Another: "I'd have to say #Yankees are on their way there. This postseason run of theirs only strengthens the notion that NYY can only get better." Not with an idiot as field manager and a guy who doesn't give a damn as general manager.
"Nobody expected the Yankees to get this far this soon." You should have expected it. If you didn't expect the Yankees to get this far, then you have failed as much as they have. If you're a Yankee Fan, you demand that they do whatever it takes, within the rules, to win the World Series. Cashman and Girardi didn't.
Optimistic for the future? Why? Gleyber Torres? He might never play a game in the major leagues. If he does, what makes you think he'll do any better than Clint Frazier and his .243 batting average? And of all those "prospects" that Cashman threw last season away for, none of them will be starting any meaningful games for the Yankees until at least Opening Day 2019 -- if then.
Derek Jeter's not walking through that door. Reggie Jackson's not walking through that door. Mickey Mantle's not walking through that door.
Perhaps, more importantly, there's no Andy Pettitte walking through that door. Or Orlando Hernandez. Or David Wells. Or David Cone. Or Jimmy Key. Or Ron Guidry. Or Catfish Hunter. Or... I'd rather not say it, but, yeah... Roger Clemens.
Girardi has to go. Hitting instructor Alan Cockrell has to go. Cashman has to go. They have all failed, over and over again.
Enough is enough. I have had it with these motherfucking failures from that motherfucking Girardi and that motherfucking Cashman!
They must go! Girard out! Cashman out! Fire them. Tonight. Before they get on the goddamned plane!
At any rate, congratulations to the 2017 American League Champions, the Houston Astros. Now, with the people of New York in mind, with the Treason of '57 never to be forgiven...
BEAT L.A.!
No comments:
Post a Comment