Trying Hard Not To Laugh/The Quest For 100

I'm not a Yankees fan who hates the Mets. Never have been. Besides the small pangs of sick glee I get from watching the Mets continually fuck up on an organization-wide basis, I usually root for their success, except for when they're playing the Yankees.

And that's why this season has been hard to swallow.

I like to have a "prev" channel that I can flip to while I'm watching a Yankees game. In past years, there's a good chance that would have been the Mets game.

Not anymore.

First, I find Keith Hernandez to be the douchiest of douches, and I've had about all I can take of him. And that's coming from a fan of a team that employs John Sterling, so that's saying something.

Second, and the bigger issue, is the fact that AAA baseball isn't very interesting. And I'm sorry, but that's the caliber of team the Mets are fielding at the moment. And some of it has just been rotten luck, but some of it has been a failure to plan beyond what's right in front of one's face.

Come to think of it, National League baseball, which as an elitist AL East fan I view as more of a AAAA league, isn't very interesting either.

Somebody might want to take a look at that.

--

What I never like to laugh at, is safety.

I'm all for improvements that bring down the number of times players are injured--especially life/career-threatening injuries.

I was not happy to see David Wright get hit in the head a couple of weeks ago by a 94 mph fastball. It was disturbing to watch more than once.

Okay, maybe three of four times.

But dear god, this cannot be the answer:



There's just no way.

There is no way something that ridiculous-looking will be adopted by professional athletes. Not a chance.

And just in case you thought, "Well, that's not that bad," here's a shot that gives some more perspective:



I'm sorry, but there's got to be a better way.

I'm an NHL fan. Goalies take frozen rubber discs traveling at 100 mph to the head all the time and their helmets aren't nearly as, um, portly.

If the MLBPA really cares about safety, they'll fix this.

Unfortunately, they won't be able to do a damn thing about the Mets season.

--

So why did I lead with a picture of a prepubescent Derek Jeter?

With 30 games left to play, I sat down this morning and laid out the remaining games the Yankees have left to play. I do this every season. I try and guess how they'll finish up when all is said and done, and as I realized last season, it's not nearly as fun when they're not winning.

But it's 2009, the year of the Swish, and they are winning.

So here we go:

-1 w/ Baltimore: W
-4 w/ Toronto: W,W,L,L
-4 w/ Tampa Bay: W,W,L,L
-3 w/ Baltimore: W,W,L
-1 w/ Los Angeles: W
-2 w/ Toronto: W,W
-3 w/ Seattle: W,W,L
-3 w/ Los Angeles: W,L,L
-3 w/ Boston: W,L,L
-3 w/ Kansas City: W,W,W
-3 w/ Tampa Bay: W,W,L

Going into tonight's game, the Yankees are 84-48. If they stay on track with what I've laid out here--19-11--they will finish the season at a super impressive 103-59.

And I was fair with this. I took into account their lack of winning in Los Angeles. I took into account that Boston will probably be hungrier as they try and stay on top of the Wild Card. I took into account the fact that the Yankees might not always be giving max effort--only two sweeps in eleven series--especially with 40-man rosters in play.

But still.

103-59?

Peter Gammons said that the Yankees weren't even the second-best team in the division.

Maybe $200 million does buy what it used to.


More soon.

JS