Upon Fan Support in the World Series

As the Yankees closed out Game 6 last night with a victory over the Angels, and headed to their first World Series since 2003, I went over to Facebook to enjoy the pennant win with other Yankee fans.

Many of the comments I found were expected; die-hards expressing excitement and relief, bandwagon-jumpers crowing, and Phillies fans throwing down the gauntlet. However, one trend began to emerge which I must admit caught me a bit off-guard. Friends who are Met fans began declaring their intention to support….the Phillies?

Now I can understand Met fans finding this series a bit distasteful. It’s your main divisional rival against the team you fight for the hearts of the city faithful. I know I wouldn’t like it if the Red Sox played the Mets in the World Series.  Still, if a rematch of the 1986 Series were to occur, the idea of rooting for Boston would not cross my mind. Not for a second.

The immediate support for the Phillies, and the adamant “eff you” attitude displayed toward any Yankee fan who had the temerity to question this decision, was startling. The asinine comparisons to Sophie’s Choice, are even worse. Sure Met fans, deciding who to cheer for in a world series between two teams you dont like is JUST like a woman choosing which child will live and which will die in a concentration camp during the Holocaust. Nice job, very rational. Even if this was done tounge-in-cheek, it is beyond stupid to compare the two. Despite the less-serious implications of the phrase “Sophie’s Choice” as it has come to be used in the common parlance, this is a serious misapplication of the term.

I am struggling to figure a reason why, beyond spite, bitterness, and envy, an New Yorker would back the Phillies.  So lets outline some possibilities:

1) You like NL Baseball- So you are a Met fan first, but after that you are a fan of the game “the way it was meant to be played”. You enjoy the inferior product the NL offers up as a whole, and think the DH is a travesty. If it comes down to it, the NL representative should be the team to win it all.

2) You would rather hear from Phillies fans than Met fans-You know more Yankees fans. You live near them, you work with them, you see them around the city. We will gloat and strut after winning the World Series, and you will have to watch it happen. We will cast off our recent post season failures, and reassume our place on top of the mountain. This will bother you to no end. You will decide to root for a team who repeatedly denies you a spot in the playoffs, who wins where you fail, whose fans say worse things to you than any Yankee fan. This will be your team of choice. Not a team whose fans most likely make up many of your friends and family, no,  a team whose city and fans laugh at you and your mediocrity.

3) You don’t like the Yankees way of operating- Oh wait, the Mets spend like crazy too, and would have done more if they hadn’t been rocked by the Madoff scheme. Never mind then, thats just a littler pot calling a bigger kettle black.

But as I continued to think on the subject, I realized something….good. You are rooting for the Phillies? Good. We never counted on the support of Met fans, and we won’t count on it now. We will gladly throw the support of a karma-striken, sad-sack, bitter and demoralized group of fans behind Philadelphia. I am not sure we would even want to be associated with a bunch of fans who create a baseless and unwarranted air of superiority around themselves and their choke-job of a team, fans who can’t be happy for their friends.  We’d be pulling for you against the Red Sox, but maybe you don’t have that kind of rivalry with Philly. You haven’t given us a chance to see if its true, but I wager the Yankee fans in this city would pull for the Mets vs anyone AL. Maybe if one day they stop gagging away their playoff chances we will see. But for now, enjoy watching the Phillies lose, and when they do, show Phillie fans how to deal with failure. It’s what you are good at….

 

PS – To Met fans on our side I say “Welcome aboard”, there’s plenty of room on the bandwagon and we’re happy to have fellow New Yorkers.

Upon Jeter vs Wright- Year End Wrap

And just for the heck of it, let’s dust off the old Jeter vs Wright:

Jeter- .334, .406 OBP, .871 OPS, 18 HR, 66 RBI, 107 Runs, 212 hits

Wright- .307, .390 OBP, .837 OPS, 10 HR, 72 RBI, 88 runs, 164 hits

Seems like a clear-cut, decisive win for the Captain.

But then again, I’m sure it’s hard to find a guy who put up better numbers than Wright on a team as bad (cough-Justin Upton-cough). In a lost season, the individual numbers by David Wright should represent about as good as a player can be with no protection (cough-Billy Butler-cough). I mean this is “the best 3B in NY” we are talking about here. (achoo-Nick Markakis-ahem).

Upon Wrapping Up the Regular Season

On Sunday, the Yankees defeated the Tampa Bay Rays, notching their 103 victory of the season. Already playoff bound, the Yankees now await the winner on the AL Central, which has yet to be determined. On Tuesday, the Tigers and Twins will have a one-game playoff for all the marbles.

At the beginning of the year, I picked the Yankees to finish in first, with 99 wins. They exceeded my expectations, and those of many others, with a 103- 59 record that was by far the best in baseball. After a slow start, the Yankees have come on since the All Star break to blow away the field.  some notes on their record:

• The closest team in baseball to the Yankees in terms of record was the LAA of A, who are 6 games behind the Yankees at 97-65. The closest in the NL are the Dodgers, who are 8 games behind with 95 wins.
• The Red Sox finished 2nd in the AL East, and won the wild card. They also finished 8 games behind the Yankees. After storming out to an 8-0 lead in the head-to-head series, the Red Sox lost 9 of 10 to the Yankees (including consecutive 4 and 3 game sweeps at the Stadium), to finish tied at 9-9.
• The AL Central teams are playing a 163rd game to determine the division champ. Both teams currently have 86 wins, which places them an astounding 17 games behind the Yankees. I know the playoff system is what it is, but it does seem unusual that the only disadvantage faced by the division champ (besides the one-game playoff), is one less home game in Round 1. It does seem like winning 17 more games than your opponent should be worth something more.

In the game itself, the Yankees had a nice victory to send themselves into the post-season. Alex Rodriguez tied an American League record with 7 RBI in one inning, smacking both a 3-run HR and a Grand Slam in the Yankees’ 10-run 6th inning. He trails only the Mets’ Fernando Tatis, who famously hit two Grand Slams in one inning while with the Cards.

The 2 HR, 7 RBI game allowed A-Rod to finish with 30 HR nd 100 RBI. This marks the 12th consecutive season, and 13th overall, in which he has had at least 30 and 100. After missing more than a month with his hip injury and subsequent surgery, A-Rod has somewhat quietly produced an excellent season at the plate. To rack up these numbers in only 124 games is pretty special.

The Yankees finished the regular season with some excellent offensiveand pitching numbers:

2009 American League Ranks

AVG	R	OBP	SLG	OPS	SB
.283	915	.362	.478	.839	111
2nd	1st	1st	1st	1st	7th
ERA	BAA	OPS	SV	WHIP	QS
4.26	.251	.734	51	1.35	76
4th	2nd	2nd	1st	3rd	7th

Team Leaders:

Hits- Jeter 212

Runs- (tie) Jeter/Damon 107

RBI- Teixeira 122 – Lead the AL

HR- Teixeira 39- Tied for AL Lead

OPS- Teixiera -.948

Avg.- Jeter .334

The Yankees had 7 players with 20 or more HR, 7 with 80 or more RBI, and 4 with over 100 runs scored.

Wins- CC 19

ERA- CC- 3.37

Strikeouts- CC 197

WHIP- CC 1.15

Saves- Who Else? 44 (of 46)

The top 3 in the rotation (CC, AJ and Pettitte) finished 46-25 for the season, 21 games over .500. Mariano continued to defy time, going 44-46 in save chances, with a 1.76 ERA and a 0.90 WHIP. Alfredo Aceves came out of nowhere to post a 10-1 record out of the bullpen, with 3.54 ERA, in 84 innings (6th most on the team).  Phil Hughes was 8-3, with a 3.03, and transformed into a quasi-1996 Mariano, serving as the 8th inning bridge.

Great season for the Yankees, and an even better bounce-back after missing the playoffs for the first time in ages last season. I can’t wait for the playoffs to start, because despite the great season, the goal for the Yankees remains World Series or bust.