And then the Tampa Bay Rays came into Yankee Stadium II, and the Uankees played like crap against them. Again. They lost the 1st game of the series 5 -3, won the 2nd game 5-3, and lost the 3rd game 5-2. In addition, they finally stood up to the Rays beanball tactics, and ended up getting suspended for more games than the classless thug Rays did.
And then, last night, came their makeup game against the Mets at Citi Field, the 1st Mets game since the death of their greatest player ever, Tom Seaver. The Yankees had leads of 4-0 and 7-4, and blew them, giving up home runs in the 9th and 10th innings to lose 9-7.
The trading deadline came and went, and general manager Brian Cashman did absolutely nothing to strengthen the team. At least he did nothing to further hurt it.
Surely, a team with the Yankees' resources should have an entire 25-man roster (or 29-man, given the rejiggering of the rules due to the COVID-19 pandemic) of competent major league players, with all non-starters capable of stepping into another man's starting position and playing it without embarrassing himself or the team.
And yet, the Yankees are starting to look like Arsenal. And not just because the North London-based soccer moved from a historic old stadium into a new one accused of being "corporate" and "soulless" and "having no atmosphere" in the 2000s.
It's because, almost since Arsenal moved from the Arsenal Stadium (a.k.a. Highbury after its neighborhood) to the Emirates Stadium in 2006, they have had one injury crisis after another. We can even match current Yankees up with notable Arsenal players of the last few years:
* Gleyber Torres is Cesc Fabregas, the golden child brought in with the hope that he would be the guy around whom a dynasty could be built, except he kept getting hurt, and couldn't reach his full potential.
* Aaron Judge is Robin van Persie, the dynamic offensive threat who scored wonder goals, except he got hurt so often he was said to be "made of glass."
* Aroldis Chapman is Emmanuel Adebayor, an intimidating presence, but also something of a head case, who turned out to be unreliable.
* Giancarlo Stanton is Alexis Sanchez, the much-hyped muscle man who was going to open up all kinds of new opportunities, except he frequently blew it when the team needed his production the most.
Cesc Fabregas (left) and Robin van Persie,
after scoring goals 50 seconds apart
vs. arch-rival Tottenham Hotspur, October 31, 2009
In each of those cases, the Arsenal player in the comparison ended up wanting to leave, and the departure was very acrimonious.
The difference is, in each case, Arsenal was accused of having "a lack of ambition," to the point where their "transfer window" dealings are usually underwhelming. Nobody is publicly saying that the Yankees have no ambition.
But maybe they don't. That's another parallel: Ownership seems content to sell tickets (except this year, with the pandemic) and merchandise, rather than to actually challenge for a title.
Arsenal haven't won the Premier League since 2004, and finished 8th in the Premier League last season, their worst in the last 25 years. But they did just win their 4th Football Association Cup in the last 7 seasons, which is worth celebrating.
Sadly, baseball has no equivalent to the FA Cup. I have drawn the analogy that, with its great powers flexing their muscles mixed with smaller schools pulling legendary upsets, it's more like college basketball's NCAA Tournament, a "March Madness," except that it goes on all season long, concurrent with the regular league season.
The Yankees are 20-16, 5 games behind the Rays in the American League Eastern Division, 4 in the all-important loss column. They are currently tied with the Toronto Blue Jays for the last Wild Card berth in this season's expanded Playoffs.
Can someone explain to me why Cashman still has a job? Cashman Out!