Where Have You Gone, Hank Steinbrenner?

A Nation turns its lonely eyes to you. We miss you out here at Fenway West, come back soon.

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Hank Still Wants Manny

About a month ago Hank Steinbrenner said he wants Manny on the Yanks. He has reiterated that point today. From Jon Hayman of SI:

LAS VEGAS -- Yankees co-owner Hank Steinbrenner is said by people close to him to want Manny Ramirez in pinstripes. Unlike his father, who dreaded dreadlocks, Steinbrenner the junior is said by a Yankees person "not to give a (hoot) about his hair.'

Am I the only one who thinks Hank may have given up on his plan to build from within?

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Hank Likes Manny, Manny Likes Money

Could it be a match made in heaven? Dumbass Hank told the AP:

“And personally, I like Manny. He’s one of the greatest hitters in the history of the game. He’s a free spirit for sure, but he knows how to win."

Manny said the following about becoming a free agent:

“I want to see who is the highest bidder, gas is up and so am I.”

Ramirez is the Yankees for the taking if they want to spend the cash. It will be interesting to see if Manny goes to New York after saying he wanted to get out of the spotlight in Boston. The New York media is not going to be much different but we all know it was all about the cash anyway.

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Mother Nature: "Psyche!"

That's just the way it goes in baseball sometimes.

Baseball gets rain delays and postponements. Football? Phpffphtt! No way! (Don't forget they only play 16 regular season games.) Baseball is different. Even the parks are of different dimensions from one to the next. But one of the biggest differences is that 2 teams could play 4 & 1/2 innings, and if the umpires and Mother Nature deemed it so, that partial game could be completely wiped off the books and started over again. Can you imagine the ugly howl that would have emanated from the bowels of the Evil Empire had the rain continued last night, wiping out a Yankee 13-4 lead?! Ol' dumbass Hank would have complained to the commissioner, weather.com, the governor, GW, and Jesus Christ himself had the umps called last nights game! You don't hear the Sox whining about resuming play or why it rained today and didn't rain enough last night.

Given the history between these two team, a thought did cross the back of my mind when the Sox had scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th and were threatening to score more. I thought, "I suppose it is within the realm of possibility that the Sox could score 15 runs in one inning." (I wonder how many Yank fans were thinking the same thing~ grin/snicker/chuckle.) A basketball team could be down by 15 points with 45 seconds left on the clock and you know there is no way to make up the difference (unless the opposition walks off the court.) In football, you could be down by 15 with less than a 45 seconds to go and the same scenario ensues. But in baseball, highly unlikely as it may be, it still could happen. Actually, the Sox scored 17 runs in one inning against Detroit on 18 June, 1953, 7th inning. (This being the MLB record of the modern era.)

These are just some of the differences that make this such a great game.

And that's just the way it goes in baseball.

(Get used to it, Hank.)

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Dumbass Hank Guarantees the Yankees Will Suck Next Year

If the Yankees were bad this year, just think how bad they will be when Dumbass Hank makes all the decisions next season. Here is what he told the Record yesterday:

“Suffice to say, there’s not going to be any more, on my part, of trying to keep everybody happy. If I want somebody, I’m going to go after him,” Steinbrenner told The Record by phone this afternoon. Immediately after the season, Steinbrenner plans to review the entire organization. “Just as my dad would have,” he said, adding that George Steinbrenner has equally been dismayed by the Yankees’ fourth-place standing. “It’s been a very disappointing year for both of us."

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Dancing On the Yankees Grave

You never know how long the good times will last so lets enjoy them while they are here. If you look at the headline of the NY Daily News, you will notice our old friend Hank has something to say about his team. He only really states the obvious: "All I can think about is this game at this point," Steinbrenner said when asked if his team's playoff hopes were finished. "We'll see what happens (today), but the bottom line is they sucked." Maybe Hank is not as dumb as we thought. But then he went right back to being Hank with: It's very disappointing," Steinbrenner said. "Even without having our two best pitchers, so forth and so on, they still stunk. That's the bottom line." Hank, do you realize that Beckett was not in the game? Your team just lost to Paul Byrd. Why are you still whining about injuries?





Hank watches in horror as he realizes his first year at the helm has been a total disaster.







Yes, that is Jack looking on as his team gets beat in another sport by Boston. It is also nice to see two Sox fans right behind him to make his night more painful.

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Hank Shoots the Messanger

Hank Steinbrenner delights us with another Hankism:

"Most of the national media is full of Yankee haters. That's why I have to point out the injuries, because the media sweep that under the rug and say we're playing poorly. But next year, in a new stadium, we'll be much better."

So let me get this straight, it's a Yankee Universe but somehow that doesn't apply to the media, you are not going to blame the season on injuries even though you do, you are not going to give up on the season even though your are, and the team is going to be better because they are leaving the stadium where they won 26 World Championships. Just put this under Hank being Hank.

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How The Yankees Blew It

How is that the team with the highest payroll in baseball is not going to make the playoffs? The answer is simple mismanagement from the top down. In the past the Yankees became a good team by developing top talent in their farm system and adding expensive free agents to fill in the gaps. As George neared the end of his tenure he forgot about the farm system and traded most of the talent away for big name players. With an All-Star at every base they played well enough to make the playoffs but they did not have the team cohesiveness to go all the way, call it the curse of A-Rod.

When Theo adapted some of the moneyball theories to Boston, the Red Sox became the best and most emulated team in baseball. They combined a strong farm system with the seeking out of undervalued free agents like David Ortiz.

After 2 World Series Championships in Boston and none in New York, the Yankees tried to play catch up. Hank is now at the helm and is trying to take some of the lessons the Sox had learned and apply them to the Yankees. Unfortunately for Hank, he is behind the curve and has bungled his new approach to team building. The Yankees had a chance to make their team better for the season but they made some early mistakes. They gave Posada and Rivera huge contracts in their declining years; Rivera pitched well but is showing signs of fading in the most important part of the season, while Posada has spent half of the season on the DL. The biggest mistake they made was overvaluing their young pitching. They could have had Santana for what now looks like a steal but they were trying to keep Hughes and Kennedy. In the early season they had a chance to trade Matsui to the Giants but they did not make the deal and now Matsui sits on the DL like Posada. For some reason they waited until too long to make trades for players like Pudge an Nady.

So now the Yankees are going to miss the playoffs and Hank says they are going to be the team to beat next year. The 2 best pitchers on the Yankees this season were Pettitte and Mussina. Are the Yankees going to shell out big money to keep some of their oldest players? Pettitte cost the Yankees $16 million this season and Moose will want a long term deal. Yesterday Peter Gammons said the Yankees were going to go after C.C. Sabathia in the off season but it will be a year too late because the Yankees will not have enough good pitching if they let Mussina and Pettitte go. Now that Hank was burned on the Santana deal he will overreach and go back to trying to buy a team. Cashman has tried to put some stability into the long term goals of the Yankees but it will be hard for him to achieve his goals with Hank breathing down his neck.

Let the good times roll.

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Don't Worry Folks, We Found Hank

Earlier today I wondered if Hank was OK since we had not heard from him for so long. But don't despair, Hank has been located after coming out of his bunker and yes, he is still a dumbass. Hank blamed injuries for the Yankee woes with the following from AP:

"I think it's very simple, we've been devastated by injuries. No team I've ever seen in baseball has been decimated like this. It would kill any team," Steinbrenner said. "Imagine the Red Sox without Josh Beckett aand Jon Lester.....It's not making excuses. It's reality. That's part of the game. That's clearly our problem.

Kinda sounds like an excuse to me. Didn't the Sox lose Schilling for the season? Didn't Big Papi miss over a month? Isn't Wake on the DL? Isn't Colon on the DL? Isn't Lugo on the DL? But Hank was not done yet, there's more:

"I'm not writing off this season," the team's co-chairman said Tuesday. "They're trying hard to win. There's only so much you can do. They're not supermen.......We're going to win it next year," he said. "If we need to add a top veteran pitcher, we'll do that. We'll do whatever we need to do. Next year we'll be extremely dangerous."

That's right Hank, there's always next year.

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I'm Worried About Hank

What's going on in Tampa or Ocala or the undisclosed secure location where Hank Steinbrenner is hanging out? The Yanks are imploding after having lost 4 in a row and falling to 9 games back in the division. With news like that we should surely be hearing from Hank, but there has been nothing but dead air. Where is the calling out of players or the "we are going to go on a run" from Hank? Maybe Hank is sick or maybe he is worried more about his horses than the Yankees. Remember when Hank told the AP this earlier in the year?

`But as far as missing the playoffs - if we miss the playoffs by the end of this year, I don't know how patient I'll be.

Hank has been too quiet, I think he may be in some sort of trouble but I don't think Brian Cashman is going to notify the authorities.

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Ian Kennedy or Hank Steinbrenner, Who's Smarter?

There may be someone associated with the Yankees that can give Hank a run for his money in the brains department, and his name is Ian Kennedy. After Friday's loss Kennedy had the following to say:

"The singles were ground balls, which isn't a big deal," Kennedy said Friday night. "I gave up a couple doubles, but I felt like I made some good pitches. I competed, which is all that really matters.

"I'm just not real upset about it," he later added. "I'm just going to move on. I've already done that."

Since he only "gave up a couple doubles" and "competed" and is judging his performance on T-Ball starndards, maybe Hank will take the whole team to Friendly's for a Fribble to celebrate a job well done.

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Dumbass Hank Hides From The Yankees

When asked why he hasn't been to Yankee Stadium since opening day, Hank Steinbrenner told USA Today the following:

"I keep that top secret," he says, "I sneak in and sneak out. I'd like to be there more often, but I just have so much going on here. To go up there, and stay at a hotel, you can't get much done."

Why would the owner of a team have to sneak in and out of his own stadium?

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Dumbass Hank Rips the Sox Again

Hank Steinbrenner keeps the quotes coming with this one from yesterday's USA Today interview:

"People in baseball know it, whether they want to admit it or not," Steinbrenner said. "It helps everyone when the Yankees are good. The Red Sox, whether they're good or not doesn't necessarily matter, nationally. ... Let's face it: The Yankees are baseball history. You're talking about 26 championships."

Note to Hank: The Sox outdraw the Yanks on the road. The only reason people are even talking about the Yankees now is because of the All-Star Game. Baseball attendance and ratings are up over the last few years...what team was on top during this period? That's right it was the Sox. Nice job by the Yanks on getting 2 hits last night BTW, maybe you should let blockhead Hal do the talking.

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Dumbass Hank Blames The NL for the Loss of Wang

Chien-Ming Wang gets hurt running the bases last night and whose fault is it? According to Hank Steinbrenner it is the NL's fault because they have the pitchers bat and run the bases. Here's another Hankism:

"Truthfully, the NL owners should be concerned with it, even with the practice their pitchers get doing it. You don't need to lose your best pitcher. The pitcher has enough work to do. It's something Bud (Selig) needs to address and he needs to address it soon. Don't give me that traditionalist crap. We go to these NL cities, draw great crowds and we end up losing one of our best pitchers. I'm not happy."

Mike Musinna must have been drinking some of the dumbass cool-aid because he jumped on the Hank bandwagon with this:

"AL pitchers are at the most risk because we don't run the bases," Mussina said Sunday. "When you get four or five at-bats, at most, and get on base a couple times, you never know. We run in a straight line most of the time."

Maybe we should change all tracks around the country to take out the turns so runners don't get hurt. I can be really hard to run bases, I don't think they even get to that part of the game until players reach T-ball.

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Another Gem From Dumbass Hank

Hank Steinbrenner shows his wit once again with this quote to the NY Daily News,

"Johnny is a player, and as players, they all need to let the brain trust do the thinking and do the talking.

"The players just need to play and to worry about winning games."

Wasn't Damon worried about winning games when he made his comments about Joba? Hank, when did you become part of a "Brain Trust?" If it has not been created yet I need to develop a book of Hankisms, I could then sell a calender...looks like easy money.

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Damon Takes A Jab at Hank

In the battle of the Idiot vs. the Dumbass, Johnny Damon has called out Hank's choice is putting Joba in the starting rotation. Damon told the NY Daily News, "I just felt like our bullpen was our strength. I think it still could be, but when you move a guy like that, everyone's trying to find a role. Everyone's trying to replace a guy who was possibly the best in that role. I remember the teams the Yankees won (championships) with, if they were winning after five innings, it was pretty much game over. We kind of felt that way this year. If we were winning after six, we had (Kyle) Farnsworth in the seventh, Joba in the eighth, and Mariano in the ninth - we thought it was game over. Now, instead, we're trying to find out who's best suited for that eighth-inning role."

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Dumbass Hank Strikes Again

Hank Steinbrenner may have had his best quote yet today when he said the following:

“We just can’t win one out of five games, every time Wang pitches, it’s not going to work. It’s not a good win percentage.

Wow, I would have thought that 1 win every 5 games would be good, thanks for pointing that out Hank.

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You Can Never Have Too Much Hank News

Today there is more Bronx controversy after Dumbass Hank said he wanted Mike Mussina to throw more like Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer. Mussina responded to Hank by saying: "He owns the team or runs the team or whatever it is; he can say whatever he wants to say, I'm not going to get into some verbal argument with somebody, because it's useless."

Bob Ryan compares Hank to Fredo Corleone. Watch it:

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More Trouble in the Bronx

The Yankee pitching staff is not getting it done and now Dumbass Hank is getting into the mix. His public outburst about Joba is now in all of the New York papers and is spilling over into the Boston media. Ha ha.

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Saturday's Game Could Be The Most Attended Event In Team Sports History

When the Red Sox and Dodgers play this Saturday there is a chance the attendance could be the highest for any team sport event in history. The record attendance is 112,912 from a 1929 football game between USC and Notre Dame at Soldier Field in Chicago. The biggest crowd ever to see a baseball game was 93,103 when the Dodgers played the Yankees in an exhibition in 1959 at the L.A. Coliseum. If the Red Sox and Dodgers can break the attendance record it will be further proof that this is indeed Red Sox Nation, sorry Hank.

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