The Yankees are struggling right now – we get that. But why do they insist on assaulting us with empty and well-worn cliches’ and excuses?
The Yankees could have left it to their fans to peruse the box score from yesterday’s loss to the Blue Jays, where we could see the awful truth and try to absorb the second series loss of this season to Toronto.
I could have avoided the lead stories in the local papers about the game, but somehow I still have faith there will be a nugget or two of useful information that’ll make it worthwhile.
The New York Daily News and the New York Post offered none of that, and instead, they served up another portion of pablum to their masses.
Yankees: Cliches And “Explanations”
By now, you are likely to be familiar with and could have spoken or written them yourself, but here’s a sample of quotes that could have been better left unsaid.
Yankees Aaron Judge to the New York Daily News “We take a lot of pride in our craft and what we do and showing up ready to play and showing up ready to win.
“It’s just time to regroup and figure out what we need to work on, figure out what guys need to improve on, and get back to it.”
As opposed to saying, “We suck, and I don’t think anyone around here has the answers right now.” How refreshing would that be?
Or maybe, how about saying nothing at all?
Then, of course, there was the quintessential Yankees Spin Doctor, Aaron Boone, who offered, “We know eventually we are going to start banging. I have a ton of confidence in our guys and can’t wait to see them turn the corner.”
As opposed to what – telling the truth?
Like the day before when Gary Sanchez violated a prime base-running rule that says with a runner ahead of you, do not commit before he does.
In this case, Boone offered the rally-killing mistake in the eighth inning to Giancarlo Stanton’s “hesitation,” and that’s what threw Sanchez off. Why even say it – we’re not stupid.
Yankees: C’mon, You’ve Heard These, Too.
The hits keep coming from the arsenal of cliches and excuses spewing from the mouths of enablers, not only from the Yankees but from the entire cast of actors wearing a major league uniform.
Count the times you hear this – “The ball came out of his hand well today, and it was only two pitches that cost him” – like we didn’t see that in the box score and the two home runs he gave up costing his team a game?
Or, “he’s taking some good swings up there, and it’s only a matter of time before the ball finds the sweet spot on his bat.”
Or, “They got a little mixed up out there on that fly ball, but the late-afternoon sun caught my right-fielder in a blind spot. Those things happen”.
Or, and here’s the best one, “True, we’ve gotten off to a rough start, but I believe in every one of those guys in the clubhouse – and we’ll get through this.” Left unsaid is “Eventually, and I hope, soon enough.”
It Must Be Something Inherent In Our Behavior
Perhaps, it’s all the same as greeting someone who asks you, “Hey, how are you doing today?” And we come back with the familiar reply, “I’m fine, how about you?” – as an instinctive but hardly instructive reflex reaction to the question.
No harm, no foul – maybe.
And perhaps it’s the grueling and long MLB season that defeats candor and a dash of honesty in these post-game press conferences, especially when it comes to answering a question about a pitcher’s rehab – when there’s only the mundane “update” that “He’s stepped it up from throwing at 45 feet to 55 feet today”.
Yankees Aaron Boone Crosses The Barrier
Aaron Boone did, however, have one encouraging and honest thought about his Yankees when he let slip that at some point to the New York Post, “But as you go later into the month and May and the summer, you’ve got to lean on your starting pitchers to get you deeper into games.”
This followed another four-inning outing by Yankee’s offseason pickup, Corey Kluber, who is hoped to be gaining the strength needed to meet that requirement, as is Jameson Taillon, both of whom have been MIA for the past two seasons.
But we get no insight into Aaron Boone’s thinking, and therefore we can only read through the cliches to find something to hold onto that gives reason to excuse the excuses.
If I had half a brain, I should go right to the crossword puzzle instead of the sports section and those Yankees cliche-ridden stories, but I’m addicted, and every morning those stories will taste about as bland as my white toast…but I’ll eat it anyway.
Here’s What Readers Are Saying…
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
