Friday, May 18, 2007

The Climb

Brian from Washington Heights sank into a seat on the 1 train this morning and asked, “Are the Yankees going to climb out of this?”

Of course.

New Yorkers climb and climb and climb. There are stairs everywhere: Subways, ballparks and walk-ups.

Jimmy Breslin once said, “No story in New York happens under the fourth floor. You climb stairs and all the stories are at the top of the stairs. You get into trouble when you get there using an elevator. All the news business starts with your feet.”

The baseball business, too.

It’s hard to appreciate the game without the climb. Baseball is as hard as the streets and the tunnels and the stairwells. That’s why baseball is so much a part of New York and New York is so much a part of baseball.

Up and down the same stairs every day never gets old because New Yorkers know that the climb is all the fun.
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9 comments:

Zachary Lesser said...

Three against the Mets this weekend, then three against the Red Sox.

How many of the 6 do the Yanks have to win to prevent Torre from being fired at the end of these two series?

If they lose both these series, I think he's out.

May 18, 2007 at 3:25 PM
Todd Drew said...

Z,
It’s an interesting question, but I honestly think Joe is safe. He has turned teams around before and he should get the chance to turn this around. If he doesn’t, they may look to make a change at the end of the year. I don’t think you want to hand this team to Don Mattingly in the middle of a crises. It wouldn’t be fair to Donnie or the team. This is Joe’s team and it’s his responsibility to get things going.

May 18, 2007 at 4:04 PM
Todd Drew said...

Joe Torre WILL get things going.

May 18, 2007 at 4:13 PM
Ben said...

I agree with Z that Steinbrenner would get rid of Torre midstream, but I think Jeter has made pretty clear that the team won't accept that.

May 18, 2007 at 4:56 PM
Jessica Lee said...

I think something will happen if they don't win next two series.I am with you,z.

Things can't get worse for Yankees.I can't believe things will go worse than this.

May 18, 2007 at 5:22 PM
Zachary Lesser said...

I'm speaking descriptively not prescriptively here--although my faith in Torre is definitely less than Todd's.

After the near-firing a few weeks back, I don't think Steinbrenner will sit by if the Yanks go down to both the Mets and the Sox in quick succession.

(If it came to it, I'd much favor hiring Joe Girardi over giving the team to Mattingly, who has zero relevant experience.)

Ben: The thing about Jeter is that he's ultimately a company man: he never says anything wrong, always watches what he does very carefully, in the Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods mold. So my guess is that if Torre does get fired, you'll hear a lot of "These things happen in baseball, and we just need to focus on winning. Mr Torre was a great manager, but we need to just think about today's game" from him. I love Jeter but he's not exactly one to start a wildcat strike.

May 18, 2007 at 5:41 PM
Ben said...

Have you been watching Piniella's press conferences after Cubs' losses? He turns as red as a tomato and sputters hilariously. If the Yankees are gonna lose, I want a show like that. (Just kidding, Todd -- I'm not calling for Torre's scalp. His sister's a nun.)

May 18, 2007 at 9:06 PM
Todd Drew said...

Z and Ben,
I understand your points, but I think changing managers would create more problems than it might solve. While Joe Girardi may be a good choice, he is not going to want to inherit Joe Torre’s coaching staff. And Mattingly clearly wants to manage and I doubt he would want to sit next to a man who passed him for the job. I will stand be my statement that Torre deserves the opportunity to turn this around. That is clearly the best scenario for all of us.

May 19, 2007 at 10:16 AM
Ben said...

I don't disagree, Todd. I don't think you can ever blame the manager for all-star hitters being in slumps.

May 19, 2007 at 11:27 AM

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