The Yankees Were The Team We All Want Them To Be Last Night
Since I started at Barstool my biggest complaint of the Yankees has been that they have fought. I don’t necessarily mean in the literal sense of the word like we saw last night, but I mean having pride in themselves. It may be too little too late on the season but with so many young guys on this roster that will be back next year, it’s good to instill that fire in them early.
The Blue Jays are assholes. I don’t give a shit about bat flips and think they make the game fun, but that’s not what last night was about. Last night was a team full of guys who think they don’t get enough respect/credit/whatever else they think they deserve, getting up in arms because a rookie who has had control problems in the past missed inside and nicked one of their guys. In no way was that intentional, but Toronto had to make it something bigger by drilling Headley and clearing the benches. This is where we saw the future of this team step up.
It would have been easy for Serevino to just focus on his start and pitch his game. The guy has bounced back and forth between AAA and the big club all year and figures to be a big part of next year’s club so getting him ready to go for 2017 would have made sense. Instead Severino took care of his guy and made sure that if his first pitch missed, his second one would send a message. Right there the benches cleared and guys like Sevy and Sanchez were front and center with CC looking for a fight. Their season may be over this week but that doesn’t mean they should be embarrassed.
Now what these guys need to do is remember that fire for next year. Don’t wait until September to show it. Instead come out of the gate in 2017 looking for a fight because the vets are almost all gone and no one expects much from this core until 2018. The talent is there but it needs to be brought out and night like last night where you turn what looks like a loss into a win because you show pride in what you do.
PS: The Blue Jays and their fans are a joke. Most of the fans just learned about baseball last summer and they’re insufferable. On top of that, these players are going to bolt when they can. Toronto isn’t going to pay Bautista and Encarnacion what they want and they’ll skip town leaving your franchise right back in the crappy position it’s always been in.
PPS: This is exactly what you do when you know a team can never hit you with a pitch again.