NO CLOSURE: Yankees closer Mariano Rivera reacts after giving up the game-winning home run to Adrian Beltre in the ninth inning of last night’s 3-2 loss to the Mariners.
Posted on 05/08/2007 8:36:39 AM PDT by raccoonradio
It is sad, really. Even during their current seven-year championship drought, even while they were losing four straight to the Red Sox in 2004 or flopping in the first round of the playoffs to the Tigers last year, the Yankees at least were interesting. They always were dangerous, always threatening to put it all together and return to the top of the baseball world.
As they made one ridiculously expensive splash after another - signing Giambi, signing Pavano, signing Damon, trading for A-Rod or Abreu - you couldn’t help but wonder: Is this it? Is this the move that finally puts them over the top? They haven’t won anything since 2000, but the Yankees always succeeded in instilling a little fear and anxiety in the Red Sox and their fans.
And now? Now the Yankees are just kind of pathetic. These days, their game plan seems to be simple. The Boss is old and getting older. They need to win and win now. Do something, anything, everything. They’ve already used five rookie starters, and that didn’t work. Now they’re turning their lonely eyes to a guy who was a rookie two years before Phil Hughes was born. How desperate are they? This is the baseball equivalent of purchasing a mail-order bride from Outer Mongolia.
Consider the scene Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium: More than 52,000 fans stood and cheered as if their team had just won the World Series, or at least gotten back to .500. In the broadcast booth, our friend Suzyn Waldman had what has been described as a Meg Ryan moment. It was a delirious celebration for all of Yankees Nation, the highlight of this star-crossed baseball season in New York. And what exactly did the mighty Bombers do to engender such joy and happiness?
Well, they essentially bought the most expensive car on the lot, the most expensive house in the neighborhood, the most expensive athlete in team sports - and they paid above the listed price. Talk about brilliant front-office maneuvering: The Yankees signed Roger Clemens to a contract that would be worth $28 million for an entire season, or more than the entire Devil Rays payroll, and now they have to wait a month for him to take the mound. The Yanks will pay $4.5 million a month (plus 40 percent for the luxury tax) for a guy who:
Turns 45 in August;
Was 7-6 last year (and made $12 million);
Averaged fewer than six innings per start last year - against National League lineups;
Plans to be a part-time member of manager Joe Torre’s team, returning home to Houston (or to Augusta or Pebble Beach) between starts;
Is coming back for the money, as always.
The Red Sox did not come close to meeting Clemens’ price, and it’s worth noting they didn’t want Clemens to join their rotation right away. The Sox preferred to wait another month, probably because they know there is only so much gas left in Rocket’s tank. He is not only a six-inning pitcher these days, but a three-month pitcher. The Yankees cannot afford to wait: They want their mail-order bride, and they want her now.
Everyone knows Clemens was a great pitcher, perhaps the greatest ever, and once upon a time, he was worth more than any player in the game. But we’ve got some disappointing news for our friends in New York: That time has passed. He’s older than aged left-handers Jamie Moyer (Phillies) and David Wells (Padres), older than Red Sox hitting coach Dave Magadan.
Every pitcher grows old and breaks down some day, and that day is fast approaching for Clemens. You know how some athletes don’t want to leave the game if they have one more great performance in them? Roger doesn’t want to leave while he has one more big payday in him. He wants to grow old on somebody’s dime, and right now, that somebody is wearing a white turtleneck and conversing with the coat rack in his New York apartment.
Curt Schilling is absolutely right when he says the Red Sox don’t need Clemens. Did the Sox want Clemens? Sure they did, but they didn’t need him. Not like the Yankees, who ranked 26th in the majors in ERA entering last night. New York GM Brian Cashman was forced to grovel at the feet of Clemens because he spent $100 million on his starting rotation and ended up with a more dysfunctional cast than “Diff’rent Strokes.” You want to know why the Yankees had to get Clemens? Because they didn’t get Schilling, Beckett or Matsuzaka.
Now they hand a blank check to Roger and tell him they’ll take anything he can give them. Five or six innings, three or four months. Anything to stop the bleeding. Clemens says he’s going to New York for the ring, which is like going to Ireland for the food. He says he wants to win for the “three or four guys down here that still don’t have a championship ring.” Oh, sure. He’s doing it for Mike Mussina and Alex Rodriguez. And Colter Bean, too.
Actually, Clemens is doing it for the same reason he’s done just about everything else for the past 23 years: lots and lots of money. Nothing wrong with that. Every player has his priorities. This will put Roger over the $150 million career mark, which means he’s not lying when he says he just wants to win. He’s almost 45, and now he’s the highest-paid player ever.
He won’t save the Yankees, but you’ve got to hand it to Roger: He wins again.
No it isn't :)
>>You want to know why the Yankees had to get Clemens? Because they didn’t get Schilling, Beckett or Matsuzaka.
How long will it take the "Rocket Man"'s new team to win it all again?
"And I think it's gonna be a, long long time And I think it's gonna be a, LONG long time..."
NO CLOSURE: Yankees closer Mariano Rivera reacts after giving up the game-winning home run to Adrian Beltre in the ninth inning of last night’s 3-2 loss to the Mariners.
Gosh, I wish he’d retire already. Hubby has his rookie card, and it won’t achieve its true value until he is in the HoF. LOL.
As a Red Sox fan, I can only sit back and truly enjoy this fiasco. I really, really, really am getting a kick out of this. This is priceless for us. Thanks for the entertainment, Yanks. It’s like getting a two-for-one season. So far, my beloved Sox are doing well, and the Yankees could not be more of an embarrasment.
But they did get Mr. Jenga, Carl Pravano.
When I heard they signed Clemens, I thought, man are they desperate.
Red Sox retired numbers: 1-4-8-9-27-42(J. Robinson).
Will there be a 21? Oh, I’m sorry, Roger, but you didn’t
retire with the Sox so you’re ineligible... :)
Get ready for the Ro-ger, RO-ger chants...
Red Sox/Yankees Ping....
Roger is certainly an upgrade over what they have and since money is not an issue in NY there’s limited downside. The younger guys on the team won’t say “Boo” about Roger having different rules and the vets signed off on it.
Time has a way of revealing all, no?
Excuse me but the Yankees got a bum deal at second base last night. They should have won that game.
Just keep remembering 2004. We'll remember the previous 86 years. And when the Tigers took us out, where were the Bosox? Oh yeah, home, watching the playoffs they weren't in. The only people on Earth with a more selective memory than Red Sox fans are the French.
True but another starter who can't get thru the seventh inning won't help an overworked bullpen.
I'm glad the Sox didn't end up with him I think the chemistry would have suffered.
Who said we didn't? The Yankmee's offer just trumped ours by something on the order of $10 MM. If you guys want to pay that much for a part-time player, go right ahead---it's a free country.
You run ‘em out of town [Boggs, Clemens, Damon] - it's their fault, especially when they wind up in Pinstripes. You lose out in the bidding, hey,you didn't really want 'em anyway.
The definition of a Yankee fan: Born on third base, thinks he or she has hit a triple.
Just keep remembering 2004. We'll remember the previous 86 years.
That refrain is getting about as old as the stupid "Yankees Suck" chant at Fenway.
I’ll be surprised if he makes it out of AAA ball, and even more surprised if he makes it through the season.
I remember Roger pitching for NY against Boston a few years ago. He lasted about 2 innings.
I wouldn’t pick on Roger for being greedy. Steinbrenner has plenty of money and offered $28 million. Who in their right could walk away from such an offer after making a measly $12 million for a 7-6 season?
“Just keep remembering 2004”
I’m not a Red Sox or Yankee$ fan, but it is tough to forget the Greatest Collapse in the History of Professional Sports. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer owner....
Now the Yankees are just kind of pathetic
Dream on.
Saying it over and over will never make that statement come anywhere near the truth.
The Sox win one Championship in a bazillion years and now they think they have risen to the level of an actual baseball team.
They are arrogant at best. They should pray that one day they will rise to the level of being as pathetic as the NY Yankees
“Clemens is a punk.Always has been,always will be.”
Yup. But the steroids have made it worse. I’ve never seen anything as pathetic as the 2000 beaning of Mike Piazza, followed by Clemens firing a broken bat at him in the WS. Piazza was never the same batter after Clemens put him down that year. Clemens is deranged. And Piazza should have kicked his ass, or at least tried, after that assault.
I hope that next time Clemens faces an NL team, he gets a heavy dose of high inside fastballs.
A guy who could barely get through six innings in the National League last year is going to have a tougher time in this year's American League - which won't make Joe Torre's job any easier in keeping his bullpen from melting into a bubbling puddle of tar by mid-August. Maybe he'll give the Yanks 20 starts and 5-6 more wins than they would otherwise have this year, but given the strength of not only the Red Sox in the AL East but the AL Central teams as well - a wild card slot is not going to come easily.
As a Sox fan, it's all good. Let Roger finish his career in New York; we can give #21 to John Lester when he rejoins the club later this summer.
The Sox offered a 44 going on 45 year old 6 inning NL pitcher a $18 million pro-rated salary. The Astros offered him better than that amount and the ability to stay home. Roger in the end, was all about the Benjamins. As usual.
Clemmens had losing records in 2/4 of his last years in Boston. He was not the best pitcher in the game any longer when he left Boston to be closer to his family by going to Totonto for the biggest paycheck. Guess he decided to up his game once his contract expired.
Boggs was a guy that had worn out his welcome in Boston and went to NY to be a platoon player. The Sox had younger players waiting to play.
The Yanks won one more playoff game than the Sox did despite spending over $80 million more than the Sox.
Last year the Sox suffered a ton of injuries starting in late July which is when their season went south. Ask the Yankee fans why they suck this year and they will point to injuries but of course that is different.
Yankee fans also want to talk about championships from 70-80 years ago back in the day when a team owned players throughout their lives. In the post free agency era that they play in today, they have won more than anyone else but they were not the best team of the 70s & 80s and this decade has produced 1 WS victory and 2 losses while outspending everyone else by a wide margin.
By the way, how long do you think it will take before the “Roger & Roids” controversy starts up again. His name was one of several players listed in the Jason Grimsley affidavit. It’s certainly curious how Roger’s career suddenly turned to the upside back in 97 after he left the Sox. That was right around the time that the Mike McGuire/Sammy Sooser HR chase was on and also the time that plenty of other players started with the juice.
Roger is up at least 30 lbs since his 20’s and it’s all bulk.
October 21, 2004 Mike Vaccaro, New York Post Blame all of them for this. Blame all of them for the most stunning choke in the history of baseball, an egregious gag. Start with the owner, and line him up alongside the GM and the manager, and their hitters who stopped hitting and the pitchers who stopped pitching. Get them all in the team photo. Let them all understand what they've done.
"There's no way I expected this season to end this way," said Gary Sheffield, whose season ended on a l-for-17 slide toward nowhere, who embodies so much of what this newer generation of Yankees has become: a whole pile of gaudy numbers, with not a hell of a lot to show for it in the end. "They beat us four straight. That's hard to accept right now."
As is the fact that, from this day forward, this remarkable retching will be as much a part of the Yankees' permanent record as any of those 26 championship flags they like to flap in the face of anyone who wants to see them. Believe that...
[The Red Sox] still have to win four more games to hear the word "curse" vanish from the New England lexicon forever. But they'll never have to listen to New York talk about the sway the Yankees hold over them ever again. Not after this series. Not after this amazing comeback...
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