Still a Little Depressed

So the World Series.  Despite Thursday night’s “heartbreaking” Yankee loss, I’m not quite sure how I’m going to deal with the highly likely Philadelphia vs. New York match up.  It’s a little bit like voting for a presidential election that consists of Ronald McDonald and the Devil.

While the Phillies have absolutely shredded the dominant pitching in Colorado and Los Angeles, don’t think there will be a repeat of any kind.  Last year they went up against a Tampa Bay squad that thought the season was over after winning a grueling seven game ALCS against Boston. It was obvious to see they were a different team going up against Philadelphia, almost like they weren’t in to it.

It’s very tough to think, believe and say what I’m about to write, but 2009 is most definitely the year of the Yankees. Deep down, in the Amazonian unknowns of my brain, I envisioned myself as an old man. Sitting in a rocking chair on a rickety wrap around porch, sipping ice tea with my grand son sitting at my side. I’d reminisce about the days when Yankee fans had a one up on us.   When “1918”, instead of “2000” (not sure how that year would even work as a chant) was a symbol of failure that caused Bostonians, instead of New Yorkers, to get violent.  It would be a glorious time, but unfortunately it looks like it’ll never happen.

What separates this Yankees squad from the insane, failed splurges of years past, besides Sabathia and Teixeira, is clearly the successful intermingling.  While they didn’t quite resemble the makings of a  frat house in the late 90’s, their business like professionalism in the mid 2000’s wasn’t the same. Even through the regular season dominance, players looked tired, stressed and fed up with the daily media intensity. Costly failed free agent signings like Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens and Jose Contreras didn’t exactly help the situation. Those teams didn’t gel like the team of 2009 and the World Series winning teams of the late 90’s and 2000.

This year’s team is more affected by the free agent signings that went unnoticeable. Nick Swisher for example, as obnoxious a person as he appears to be, was a crucial signing.  Not as much for his 126 strike-outs as his reportedly looser than loose personality.  Just a quick tangent about Swisher this season.  I wonder if anyone in the entire world thought Nick Swisher would end up with more home-runs than David Ortiz this year.  That has to be one of the most embarrassing statistics of the year.

A lot of talk has been made about A.J. Burnett’s celebratory post game trademark “shaving cream in the face”.  I get it. He’s keeping everybody detached from the various pressures all 25 of those guys have to deal with. Reminding everyone on the team that baseball is just a game.  What I don’t quite understand is the logic behind paying somebody 82.5 million dollars to slam a paper plate covered with shaving cream into another man’s face, because he clearly isn’t getting paid for his god awful pitching. Great decision and smart use of  New Yorker’s money by Cashman right there.

Alright, all this Yankee speak is making me nauseous; if it weren’t for Tuesday’s Celtics opener, I’d probably vomit.