Get Those Wankers A Tissue
By Slappy’s drowning in his own tears:
Showalter removed starters Michael Young, Mark Teixeira and Hank Blalock for pinch-runners in the third inning against the Angels on Sunday. The Texas Rangers led 4-1 after three innings, but the Angels rallied for a 7-4 victory and earned home-field advantage for the first round against the Yankees with the victory.
Young, Teixeira and Blalock went a combined 4-for-5 on Sunday, but their replacements went 0-for-6.
The Yankees, who lost 10-1 in Boston on Sunday, finished with an identical 95-67 record as the Angels, but Los Angeles won the tiebreaker because it won six of 10 games against New York this season.
Former Ranger Alex Rodriguez, who played for Showalter in Texas, was one of the Yankees who was peeved at the Rangers manager’s decision.
“There’s a code of honor when so much is on the line,” Rodriguez told the New York Daily News. “You hope people do the right thing. But you can’t control what people do.”
Boo hoo hoo hoo! What’s particularly laughable about the charge in this case, of course, is that The Yankees didn’t need the Rangers to win; they controlled their destiny. If they wanted to start at home, they just needed to win. So where was this mysterious “code of honor” when the Yankees started Jaret Wright and had guys like Escalona and Nieves and Womack in the game when it was barely half over? And, of course, Torre was completely right not to start Mussina; saving him for Game 1 is a much bigger advantage than getting home field. But the Yankees can hardly complain when the Rangers do what’s in the best interests of their team.
These mysterious debates seem to come up every year, about what also-ran teams “owe” to the teams in a pennant race. The answer is: nothing. Teams should do what they feel is in their interest, full stop. If you’re in a position where you need somebody else’s help, that’s your problem. And remember, too, that sometimes putting hungry players into the lineup works. There were complaints when Pedro didn’t make his last start against the Phillies–but the Mets beat them anyway. Guillen played his scrubs for much of the last weekend–and swept the Indians anyway (condolences to frequent commenter JRD.) So, us usual, Rodriguez should sidle over to the bar, tilt his frosty mug, and draw himself a tall, delicious mug of shut the fuck up.
…Francesa just played Sterling and Waldman whining and moaning about Showalter–“it’s a disgrace,”,etc., and apparently Kay was worse. To his credit, Francesa is going ape on them.