Arsenal: No Change

Today, Arsenal Football Club of North London opened their 2018-19 Premier League season. It was their 1st since 1995-96 with a manager other than Arsène Wenger.

The new manager is Unai Emery, age 46, from the Basque Country of Spain, once a mediocre midfielder in Spain, and has managed in his homeland, Russia and France, including winning 3 Europa League titles with Sevilla (Seville, Spain), and 1 Ligue 1 title and 2 Coupes de France with Paris Saint-Germain.

The Wenger Out Brigade, a.k.a. the WOB, led by the ungrateful wretches of Arsenal Fan TV, got what they wanted: A new manager.

The Arsene Knows Best people, including myself, a.k.a. the AKB, were willing to give the new manager a chance.

The 1st 2 games of the season were Manchester City, the defending Premier League Champions, at home; and Chelsea, the West London club perennially in the Champions League and a particular problem for Arsenal since 2004, away.

Right away, we knew Emery would be tested.

I knew he'd failed the test as soon as I heard that he'd named Petr Čech the Team Captain, in the absence of the injured centreback Laurent Koscielny.

Čech, from the Czech Republic, once Chelsea's starting goalkeeper, is starting his 4th season at Arsenal. By all accounts, he's a good guy. But he has been terrible. It was argued that he would be worth 15 points a season to Arsenal, the equivalent to winning 5 games we otherwise would have lost.

Instead, he has let in many, many cheap goals, particularly against teams Arsenal should be beating anyway. Instead of being worth 15 points a season, he may have cost Arsenal the 2016 League title, the 2016 FA Cup, and Champions League berths for 2017-18 and 2018-19.

I have nothing personal against Čech. I hope he has a long and happy life. But I want it to be away from Arsenal.

I saw the team sheet for today's game. Emery started Čech in goal. Against the defending champions, who set League records for most points won and most goals scored in a season.

Man City's 1st goal was cheap. I am 48 years old, with a bad hip on one leg and a bad knee on the other, and I need to lose at least 30 pounds. I could have come closer to stopping that shot.

Man City's 2nd goal was a bit harder. But it might not have happened without the 1st.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles, a black Englishman about to turn 21, has played right back, right wing and central midfield for Arsenal. This versatility led Emery to think that, with both the Spaniard Nacho Monreal and the Bosnian Sead Kolašinac unavailable due to injury, AMN could play left back.

At first, this seemed like a good idea. He was doing fairly well, until the 31st minute. A City player purposely injured him. This is how Josep "Pep" Guardiola manages. This is how he managed at Barcelona. This is how he managed at Bayern Munich. This is how he manages at Man City. He likes dirty play. Instead of being the dominant figure in European soccer the last 10 years, if he were to play cleanly -- or if the rules would be enforced against him -- he would be managing in Spain's 2nd division.

AMN tried to play on his injured leg for 5 minutes, but could go no further. Stephan Lichtsteiner, a new acquisition from Switzerland, intended as Spanish star Hector Bellerin's backup at right back, was put in as an emergency left back, and did fine at the position.

After about 55 minutes, Emery took out Welsh midfielder Aaron Ramsey, who (in spite of being my favorite player on the team) did not have a good game, and replaced him with French striker Alexandre Lacazette, moving Gabonese forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang out wide. This was unusual: Wenger almost never made a substitution prior to the 70th minute, except when required by injury.

This, too, looked like it might work. Arsenal moved forward better. And, twice, Arsenal put the ball in the back of the net. But, both times, they were judged to be offside. The instant replay confirmed this. It also appeared, a little later on, that Arsenal should have been awarded a penalty by referee Michael Oliver. But he did not award one. The replay confirmed that this was also the right decision.

Indeed, Oliver's only shortcoming was that he did not sufficiently warn the City players about their dirty play. The game ended 2-0 to City, and I refuse to blame this loss on Oliver.

*

Arsenal fans -- some of them -- said they wanted "change." Let's look at the complaints, and see whether they've changed:

* My complaint: Starting Čech in goal. No change at all.

* Their complaint: Signing players they'd never heard of. That's been done, too.

* My complaint: Too much sideways passing, not enough forward charging. No change at all.

* Their complaint: Not enough toughness in midfield. Not much change there, although having Swiss star Granit Xhaka in there made the argument idiotic, and Frenchman Mattéo Guendouzi has been added, but, while he's tough, at age 19, he is far from ready for the Premier League.

* Their complaint: Giving players who are not ready a chance too soon. Maitland-Niles and Guendouzi were today's examples, although in AMN's case, it was putting a player who'd already done well elsewhere in a brand-new position, an emergency situation, and he did all right for as long as he could.

* My complaint, and theirs: Waiting too long to make substitutions. Emery did change this, but it didn't make any difference.

* My complaint, and theirs: Not challenging the big clubs. The game ended 2-0 to City. We never looked like we were going to win the game. City didn't need to get out of 1st gear. If they had, or if their best player, midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, still looking to regain full strength after a tough World Cup in which he helped Belgium to reach the Semifinal, had started, this game could have been a massacre.

Now, some people told me (on Twitter) that I shouldn't be so reactionary, that I should have more patience. Well...

* The whole point of wanting Wenger out is that "the fans" (mainly Arsenal Fan TV and their idiot watchers) had shown too much patience, and wanted to win now.

* "Rome wasn't built in a day." No, but ancient Rome did burn many times, and was corrupt to the core even at its peak.

* "This is only the beginning of the revolution." Which revolution? Will it end with DT, the Robespierre of the WOB, metaphorically having his head cut off? Because, between the storming of the Bastille and the end of the French Revolution, there was a lot of innocent blood spilled. Or is it the Bolshevik Revolution? That led to civil war, repression and starvation -- and that was under Lenin, even before Stalin came in.

Those of you who wanted "change": What has changed? Apparently, two things:

1. The identity of the manager making the same old mistakes. And...

2. Arsène Wenger is no longer taking the insidious abuse he took. I suppose, sometimes, you have to accept small victories.

But for Arsenal as a team, I'll take any victory at this point.

But with Čech in goal, I don't know when I'll see victory again.

I want my Arsenal back.

*

Days until Arsenal play again: 6, this coming Saturday, at 12:30 PM New York time, away to Chelsea.


Days until the New York Red Bulls play again: 6, this coming Saturday, at 7:00 PM, away to the Vancouver Whitecaps. They beat the Chicago Fire 1-0 away last night.

Days until the Red Bulls next play a "derby": 10, on Wednesday, August 22, against New York City FC, at Yankee Stadium II. 

Days until Rutgers University plays football again: 20, on Saturday, September 1, home to Texas State University. Under 3 weeks.

Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: 26, on Friday, September 7, away to Piscataway. Under 4 weeks.

Days until the U.S. national soccer team plays again: 26, on Friday, September 7, a "friendly" against Brazil, at MetLife Stadium at the Meadowlands.

Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series begins: 37, on Tuesday night, September 18, at Yankee Stadium II. A little over 5 weeks. Not that it matters.

Days until the New Jersey Devils play another competitive game: 55, on Saturday, October 6, against the Edmonton Oilers, at... Scandinavium, an arena in Göteborg (Gothenburg), Sweden. Yes, that will be a regular-season game, part of the NHL Global Series. Exactly 2 months. The Mulberry Street Marauders will warm up for it on October 1, with an exhibition game in Switzerland against SC Bern; while the Oilers will visit Kölner Haie in Cologne, Germany on October 3.

Days until the New Jersey Devils next play a local rival: 69, on Saturday afternoon, October 20, against the Philadelphia Flyers, a.k.a. The Philth, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. The 1st game against the New York Islanders, a.k.a. the Fish Sticks, will be on Saturday night, November 3, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The 1st game against the New York Rangers, a.k.a. The Scum, will be on Thursday night, January 31, 2019, at the Prudential Center.

Days until the next Congressional election, when we can elect a Democratic Congress that can impeach and remove Donald Trump from the Presidency: 86, on November 6. Under 3 months.

Days until the next Rutgers-Penn State game: 97, on Saturday, November 17, at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey.

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge Thanksgiving high school football game: 102, on Thursday, November 22. A little over 3 months.

Days until the next North London Derby: 112, on Sunday, December 2, at the Emirates Stadium. It had been set for December 1, but was moved due to Arsenal once again being stuck playing Europa League games on Thursday nights. No more "Thursday is Spursday" jokes for us Gooners.

Days until a Democratic Congress can convene, and the impeachment process can begin: 144, on Thursday, January 3, 2019. A little under 5 months.

Days until the Baseball Hall of Fame vote is announced, electing Mariano Rivera: 164, on January 23, 2019. A little over 5 months.

Days until the next Women's World Cup kicks off: 299, on June 7, 2019, in France. Under 10 months. The U.S. team, as 3-time and defending Champions, has, as usual, a better chance than the men's team would have had in 2018 anyway.

Days until the Yankees and Red Sox play each other in London: 321, on June 29, 2019. A little over 10 months.

Days until my 50th Birthday, at which point I can join AARP and get discounts for travel and game tickets: 493, on December 18, 2019. A little under a year and a half, or a little over 16 months.

Days until the Baseball Hall of Fame vote is announced, electing Derek Jeter: 528, on January 22, 2020. A little under a year and a half, or a little over 17 months.

Days until the next Summer Olympics begins in Tokyo, Japan: 712, on July 24, 2020. Under 2 years, or a little over 23 months.

Days until the next Presidential election, when we can dump the Trump-Pence regime and elect a real Administration: 814, on November 3, 2020. Under 2 1/2 years, or a little under 27 months.

Days until Liberation Day: 892, at noon on January 20, 2021. Under 2 1/2 years, or a little over 29 monnths. Note that this is liberation from the Republican Party, not just from Donald Trump. Having Mike Pence as President wouldn't be better, just differently bad, mixing theocracy with plutocracy, rather than mixing kleptocracy with plutocracy.

Days until the next Winter Olympics begins in Beijing, China: 1,272, on February 4, 2022. A little over 3 1/2 years, or a little under 42 months.

Days until the next World Cup for which the American team will be eligible is scheduled to kick off: 1,562, on November 21, 2022, in Qatar. Under 4 1/2 years, or under 52 months. The charges of corruption against Qatar may yet mean that they will lose the tournament, in which case it will be moved to a nation where it would not be too hot to play it in June and July.

Stanton Leads Gutless Wonders In Yankees' Choke

Yesterday's game at Yankee Stadium II was an absolute debacle. It may have been the single most angering regular-season game I have ever seen.

It's a good thing there isn't -- yet -- a Yankees equivalent of Arsenal Fan TV. I would have been like Troopz: "Cashman out, fam. 'e's lost the plot, blud." Or even Claude, the man who apparently gargles with battery acid: "Sack him now! It's time to go!"

I waited until today to write about this game, because, for most of yesterday, I was in a fury, writing much of the following on Facebook and Twitter:

Fire Brian Cashman, @Yankees. For gross incompetence for assembling this bunch of gutless wonders.

Do it now. Do not even let that worthless wretch get on the plane to Boston.

(Different tweet) If only somebody had warned us that keeping Starlin Castro and Todd Frazier would have been a good idea. If only somebody had warned us that Giancarlo Stanton could have become Chris Carter 2.0. If only...

(On Facebook) I want every Yankee fan who defended Brian Cashman after all the stupid transactions he's made to remember this game.

He assembled this bunch of gutless wonders, none more gutless than his shiny new toy Giancarlo Stanton. I warned you all that trading Starlin Castro for him was a stupid idea. I warned you all that Stanton could be Chris Carter 2.0.

Just like I warned you all that getting Adam Warren back was a stupid idea. Just like I warned you all that trading away Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller, Carlos Beltran and Ivan Nova, and getting nothing but Warren and a bunch of teenagers in return was a stupid idea.

Meanwhile, Castro is batting .314. And, thanks to Cashman's moves, the Chicago Cubs, the Cleveland Indians and the Houston Astros all have Pennants since October 2016. You know who DOESN'T have a Pennant since October 2009? The team Brian Cashman actually (allegedly) works for, the New York Yankees.

*

Anyway... Here's what brought it all on:

Bottom of the 1st: Brett Gardner leads off with a single. Aaron Judge follows with another. Giancarlo Stanton... strikes out. Neil Walker grounds into an error. 1-0 Yankees. Tyler Austin draws a walk to load the bases. Miguel Andujar singles. 3-0 Yankees. Jacen Peterson pops up. Austin Romine singles. 4-0 Yankees. Ronald Torreyes hits a double. 5-0 Yankees.

A 5-0 lead in the 1st inning. With that, you should win. But, as they would say in English soccer, "Five-nil, and we fucked it up!"

Jordan Montgomery allowed a run in the 2nd inning, and another in the 3rd, but 5-2 is no big deal. Then he allowed 2 more in the top of the 5th. Aaron Boone had seen enough, and brought in Domingo German, who kept it at 5-4. The Yankees made it 6-4 in the bottom of the 5th. But in the top of the 6th, it became 6-5 thanks to a throwing error by... Stanton.

In the top of the 7th, German allowed another home run , and this made it 7-6 Orioles. The choke --or, to use the English soccer term, the bottlejob -- was complete.

If that had been how it ended, that would have been bad enough. But the Yankees tied the game in the bottom of the 7th. Once they failed to take the lead, you could feel in your stomach what was going to happen: An extra-inning loss.

With 1 out in the bottom of the 8th, Judge singled. Stanton came up. Clutch situation. He had already struck out 3 times and grounded into a double play. He struck out again, killing that chance to win the game. We wanted him to be 2009 Alex Rodriguez, and, instead, he's been October 2007 A-Rod. Andujar reached on an infield single with 2 out in the 9th, but could get no closer. As was easily predicted, extra innings.

Didi Gregorius doubled with 1 out in the 10th. Golden opportunity. Gardner flew out. Judge up. Well, this is how far Stanton has fallen so fast: The Orioles chose to pitch to him, walking Judge intentionally. It's not like the runs that Judge and Stanton represented meant anything: Gregorius was the only run that mattered. Buck Showalter was saying, "We want to pitch to you, because we know we can get you out. You were the National League's Most Valuable Player last season? Welcome to the American League, rookie!"

Stanton grounded to 3rd, fielder's choice, inning over.

Tyler Austin doubled with 1 out in the 11th, but could get no closer. Then, in the top of the 12th, manager Aaron Boone brought in Adam Warren, whose previous failure with the Yankees did not deter Cashman from asking for him, along with 3 "prospects," from the Chicago Cubs in the idiotic deal that sent Aroldis Chapman there.

Cliche alert: Walks can kill you. Warren struck out 2 of the 1st 3 batters he faced, but mixed a walk in between them. Then a pair of singles gave Baltimore the lead. The few fans remaining in Yankee Stadium seemed to leave, all but a few who stayed, and a "Yankees suck!" chant could be heard. Were these visiting Oriole fans? Or... Yankee Fans, angry at Cashman and his, as I put it earlier, bunch of gutless wonders?

But there was still a chance to win. Brad Brach came on to close it out, and the Yankees had him right where they wanted him. Romine drew a walk. So did Gregorius. Gardner tried to bunt them over, and Brach mishandled it.

Now, consider the situation. The Yankees need 1 run to at least send the game to a 13th inning, and 2 runs to win it right here. The next 2 batters are Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. Between them, they had 246 RBIs last season. You gotta like your chances, right?

Judge grounded back to Brach, who threw home to catcher Caleb Joseph for the 1st out, and he threw to 3rd baseman Tim Beckham for a force and a double play.

Then Stanton struck out. Ballgame over. Orioles 8, Yankees 7. WP: Richard Bleier (2-0). SV: Brach (2). LP: Warren (0-1).

*

Giancarlo Stanton, who was supposed to be the next great Yankee slugger, went 0-for-7: 5 strikeouts (the 2nd time in a week he's had the platinum sombrero), a double play, a rally-killing fielder's choice, and a run-allowing error. It might be the single worst game I've ever seen a Yankee have, and I've been watching them for 41 years. He's batting .167, with an on-base percentage of .271.

Meanwhile, Starlin Castro, who we traded away to get him, is batting .314 for the Florida Marlins.

The Yankees are 5-5. They are only 3-3 at home. They are already 3 1/2 games, 4 in the all-important loss column, behind the Boston Red Sox in the American League Eastern Division.

And now, we have to go to the little green pinball machine in the Back Bay. With our team reeling and the Red Sox rolling.

That team, against our gutless wonders.

Fans of the 28 teams not involved have offered their thoughts and prayers.

Beating the Mets Can't Make Us Forget

I said I wasn't going to do full recaps of the remaining games this season, because I thought it was pointless, because failure to win the Division, even if it meant getting into the Playoffs via the Wild Card, would drop the Yankees chances to win the World Series from plausible to damn near impossible. And I meant it. But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy beating the Small Club In Flushing last night.

Call it the Citi Series. If you like soccer, call it the Subway Derby. Just don't call it a Subway Series. That can only be a World Series, and neither of these teams is making it -- not the Mets as long as they keep making bonehead trades, and not the Yankees as long as Joe Girardi is screwing up the pitching.

The Mets took a 2-0 lead in the top of the 3rd inning last night, with Curtis Granderson and Yoenis Cespedes both taking Luis Cessa deep. Cessa is not ready to be a major league starter, but with both teams' rotations in injury crisis at the moment, he might be a survivable alternative for either.

But from that point onward, Yankee pitching allowed only 1 hit and 2 walks. Cessa pitched into the 5th, Chad Green got us through the 7th, David Robertson pitched the 8th, and Girardi let Dellin Betances, not Aroldis Chapman, close it out.

The reason the Yankees were in position to close it out is because the Mets' pitching, so often cited as a reason why they won the 2015 National League Pennant, reached last season's NL Wild Card Game, and were supposed to "take over New York," or "take New York back from the Yankees," is in even worse shape than the Yankees'.

In the 4th, Gary Sanchez hit a sacrifice fly that got the Yankees on the board. In the 6th, Aaron Judge hit a home run to tie it. In the 8th, Aaron Hicks continued his post-injury hot streak with a homer that gave the Yankees the lead, and Sanchez followed with a homer to ice it.

Yankees 4, Mets 2. Robertson the winner, and Betances with his 7th save. And the Boston Red Sox lost last night, to the Cleveland Indians, bringing the Yankees back within 4 1/2 games, 4 in the loss column.

There are 45 games to play. Or, to put it another way, a little less than 7 weeks. It is not unreasonable to ask your team to be able to make up an average of 1 game per week. As long as there are more remaining weeks than games behind that you are (and, for the moment, there are), you have a legitimate chance to win the Division.

And yet... This win does not change much. After all, the Yankees are still not within a single series' worth of games against the Sox. (There have been 5-game series with the Sox, notably in 2006, but not many.) We were expected to have the upper hand against the Mets.

Judge seems to have shaken off his post-Home Run Derby slump, but Clint Frazier (who didn't play last night, and probably won't play much more, now that he's been exposed as far from ready and Hicks is back to play center field) is really not ready.

Chapman is still a question mark, as is Betances. And we're missing 3 starting pitchers: Michael Pineda is out for the year, and when CC Sabathia and Masahiro Tanaka come back, probably over the next weekend, they'll still be question marks.

If CC and Masa are all right when they come back, we'll have a better chance. If we can get that and can trust either Chapman or Betances down the stretch, we'll have an even better one.

And yet... Girardi is still the manager.

I'm beginning to sound like one of those "Arsenal fans" on Arsenal Fan TV. Like Liam "Mr. DT" Cunningham: "Yes, Robbie, I know we won, but this just papers over the cracks. We still need more world-class players." Or Ross "Troopz" Smith with his Ja-fake-an accent: "The manager is too stubborn, fam. He's lost the plot, blud. I hate him so much, I just want to punch him. It's time to go."

At least this last time, Troopz was positive -- and check out the Yankee cap!

The moment you say, "I know we won, but... " you've got a problem.

As Alcoholics Anonymous says, "The first step is admitting that you have a problem."

Hi, I'm Michael P., and I'm a Yankeeholic. I have a problem.

The difference is, if the Yankees had a better manager, there would be more games like last night against the Mets and Friday night against the Red Sox, and fewer games like Saturday and Sunday against the Red Sox. In other words, you can remove the harmful element and make it net beneficial.

In contrast, you cannot remove the harmful elements from alcoholic beverages while keeping the taste.

And while baseball can take your mind off bad things for a while, it can't make you forget, which is why some people drink. Do you know how much you have to drink to actually make you forget things? Look at Ozzy Osbourne. Matthew Perry says he's got about a 3-year gap in his memory -- including the middle years of filming Friends.

Baseball? I have forgotten many little things, but the big things I remember. Thurman Munson's crash. Mike Ferraro waving Willie Randolph home. Bob Lemon following George Steinbrenner's order and benching Reggie Jackson during a World Series. Trading Shane Rawley for Marty Bystrom. Dave Winfield missing an entire prime season due to a back injury. The Strike of '94. Edgar Martinez in the '95 Playoffs. Joe Torre using Mariano Rivera for 2 many 2-inning saves in 2001. Jeff Weaver. Alex Rodriguez' many postseason disappearing acts. Scott Proctor. Kyle Farnsworth. Boone Logan. Tyler Clippard. Joe Girardi's many, many pitching screwups.

And George Steinbrenner's managerial musical chairs -- and Hal Steinbrenner's refusal to do that just one time now.

Yes, I'm glad we beat the Mets last night. I hope we do it the next 3 nights as well. I hope we pull off the longshot comeback and win the AL East, and use that as a springboard to Title 28. The Yankees have done longer shots than that in my fan experience: 1977 in the ALCS, 1978 in the Division race and the World Series, 1996 in the ALDS and the World Series, 2000 in the ALDS, 2001 in the ALDS, 2003 in the ALCS, 2009 in the Division race.

Yes, I hope we do it. But I'm not expecting it. Like those "Arsenal fans," I need to learn how to stop expecting it, even as I hope for a manager with "more ambition."