Keidel: Considering All The Injuries, It's Amazing Yankees Are Where They Are Right Now
By Jason Keidel
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Whenever we praise the Mets, the Yankees fan shrieks with indignity. Just for asserting that the Mets have had an enchanted 2015 season, I was branded the catalogue of toxic nouns. Hack. Homer. Heretic.
As if the two New York teams are mutually exclusive. There are more than enough people in the Tri-State Area (13 million) to support both clubs, and more than enough land to spawn two stadiums. But you'd never know that after Monday's fare, when I declared the Mets fan deserves this. What a dreadful thing to say!
The Yankees have a sprawling, glittering history, but the Yankees fan sure has some self-esteem issues, especially when you consider the season you've enjoyed in the Bronx from the Bombers.
It's not enough that the Yanks are the best local club 95 percent of the time, nor are the 27 rings and laundromat of retired jerseys and the long list of cinematic renditions. Just the scent of Mets success sends the Yankee devotee into delirium. And it shouldn't, as there have been similar miracles worked in pinstripes.
Joe Girardi has performed his share wizardry this year, perhaps his best job since leading the Marlins to 83 wins and the Manager of the Year Award. (And was quickly fired thereafter.) He's waved his managerial wand over a battered ballclub that looks nothing like the roll call of All-Stars that freckled the diamond over the last 20 years.
At times, the Yanks fielded little more than high-numbered gypsies and minor leaguers, the baseball equivalent of the red shirts at the beginning of a Star Trek episode, who would surely be zapped into salt cubes. At times you needed an iPad just to track the replacement players that have flooded the field this year. Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira have been revelations, but also part of a walking triage that has defined this pinstriped season.
The Yankees had a line of variables in the rotation, from Nathan Eovaldi to Luis Severino. Ivan Nova is still getting into form after Tommy John surgery. Their ace, Masahiro Tanaka, declined Tommy John but had a surgery-worthy injury. Their former ace and workhorse, CC Sabathia, is a shadow of his former eminence.
Over the last tow years they have lost Mariano Rivera and David Robertson, yet have still pieced together perhaps the best bullpen in the sport. They also lost the spiritual vortex of the team, Derek Jeter, who may no longer have been the annual emblem of Yankees dominance but you can't quantify his importance to the team's mojo.
The Yanks absorbed all the loss, retirement, and injury and still churned out a winning product. When a rookie pitcher is being seriously considered for the wild card game, then that should tell you about the endless obstacles the team has hurdled.
Here's a partial list of players who have missed time since spring training:
• Ivan Nova
• Chris Capuano
• Brendan Ryan
• Masahiro Tanaka
• Chase Whitley
• Jacoby Ellsbury
• Slade Heathcott
• Andrew Miller
• Mason Williams
• Carlos Beltran
• Michael Pineda
• CC Sabathia
• Mark Teixeira
• Nathan Eovaldi
Yet if the Yanks go 4-2 the rest of the way, they will win 90 games despite that MASH unit.
There was no reason to expect this team to flourish. Considering they haven't been to the playoffs the last two seasons, the age, wage of their position players, and the uncertainty of their starting pitching, the fact that the Yanks contended for the AL East crown so long into September says something about their fortitude.
The Yankees will be favored to win the one-game playoff. After that, they'll assume the rare role of underdog the rest of the way. But if they can squeak by the Astros or Angels or whomever they play next Tuesday, there isn't a team that puts abject fear in your soul. The Blue Jays dominated the Yanks during the regular season, but we've learned over the years -- like from the Mets, circa 1988 -- that regular-season tormentors are far from unbeatable in October.
So while the champagne pops and sprays in Queens, the team on River Avenue also has ample reasons to break out some bubbly. As Girardi has surely told his club, just worry about yourselves and the results will come.
It's a shame he can't share that wisdom with Yankees fans.
Follow Jason on Twitter at @JasonKeidel
