BOOTH TRUTH
John & Suzyn delivered Yank eulogy before Bombers’ last out in Boston
The inconsistency displayed by the Yankees throughout the season left a bad taste in the mouths of John (Pa Pinstripe) Sterling and Suzyn (Ma Pinstripe) Waldman. Why else would Ma and Pa put pinstriped pom-poms on ice to figuratively throw in the towel on the Bombers in the 7th inning with the Yankees trailing (first 4-1, then 6-1) Boston in the Wild Card game Tuesday night?
This was highly unusual. Especially during a game played in Fenway Park, where leads go to die on a regular basis. It was certainly more unusual than Sterling giving Giancarlo Stanton the big first inning “It is high ... it is far ...” call for a ball that hit midway up the Green Monster and turned into a “Stantonian” single. Sterling blowing home run calls is nothing new. It has been a regular occurrence since he entered the Bronx radio booth in 1989.
But Tuesday in the seventh was mind-bending. When Sterling said “there is never a good time to talk about this” it sounded like he was about to announce a death in the family. Yet he was actually dishing a preamble to he and Waldman’s candid postmortem on Hal Steinbrenner/Brian Cashman’s Yankees while, simultaneously, lowering the curtain on the Bombers 2021 season with three turns at-bat still remaining.
In between pitches, both voices went back and forth agreeing the organization needs a change in philosophy when it comes to how the team plays the game. If you listen to their broadcasts on a regular basis, their rap was consistent. Neither is a big fan of the paint by numbers approach. They have taken issue with analytics and how it has affected pitching changes, lineups, defensive shifting, etc.
On this occasion, their decision to perform the autopsy before the body was cold indicated the Yankees were about to fade away without a whimper. The voices took a chance. Or did they? Sterling and Waldman, like many Yankees loyalists, had already seen this movie.
And how it ends.
DOGGING IT?
Is Christopher (Mad Dog) Russo trying to submarine the new “Let’s Go” show, which airs on his own SiriusXM “Mad Dog Sports Radio” channel?
While Doggie is doing what is required of him to promote the program, he is also going out of his way to portray “Let’s Go” host Jim Gray as a shill for Tom Brady, who is featured on the hour-long, weekly soiree along with Arizona wideout, and 11-time Pro Bowler, Larry Fitzgerald Jr.
Russo, who said he’s had “enough” of Brady, believes the QB has nothing to say, especially when Gray is conducting what amounts to a Twinkie Munch. “He is never going to ask Brady a tough question,” Russo said of Gray during a recent show.
Dog said he envisions Gray asking Brady: “How was your dinner?” Or, “How did your mother like the Sunday night game?” Dog said the cozy nature of the BradyGray relationship really hit home when he saw Gray sitting next to Brady’s mom in a Gillette Stadium suite during Bucs-Pats.
While dropping dime on Gray & Co. Russo cast a wide net. He even accused his aide-de-camp, Steve Torre, of being a member of Gray’s team. Russo took issue with Torre for having Gray as a recent guest on his “Sunday Drive” NFL show.
“Mr. Torre is nothing more than a bag man for Jim Gray,” Russo proclaimed.
Ouch! While Dogologists might chalk this off as Russo (who had Gray on his show last November), doing a tongue-in cheek thing, it should give the SXM crew reason to pause. For after listening to Russo take Gray & Brady down, casting aspersions on their credibility, why would anyone even bother listening to “Let’s Go?”
AN ESPN CLASSIC
ESPN has never paid much attention to even the perception of conflict of interest. (The Bristol Faculty used Magic Johnson as an NBA analyst when he was working for the Lakers, for example.) It’s proving that again by having the Manning Brothers work Giants-Chiefs on Monday night Nov. 1.
Eli Manning is not the Giants QB anymore but is still employed by the organization in a “business operations” role. So, you would think Manning ran this scenario by Big Blue honchos. Since the game remains on the ManningCast schedule, the appearance must have been blessed by John Mara & Co. too.
So, how exactly will Eli, even in the light-hearted format, criticize his successor, Daniel Jones, when he turns the ball over? Will he let Peyton do the heavy lifting, then direct double-birds at his bro if he’s too harsh on Jones?
SPARE US THE ROD
The much-maligned Alex Rodriguez was right to question why Yankees third base coach Phil Nevin waved Aaron Judge home on Giancarlo Stanton’s sixth-inning drive off the Green Monster during ESPN’s Wild Card telecast.
Unfortunately, A-Rod — and whoever was producing the broadcast — thought it was a fine idea to beat the point to death and continue talking about it well into the eighth inning. “I’m surprised at the magnitude of that mistake in that situation,” A-Rod, among other shots at Nevin, said on ESPN.
By casting Nevin, who stood by his decision, as the dunderhead, Rodriguez failed to balance the equation by comprehensively analyzing the precision sequence it took for the Red Sox to throw Judge out at the plate: center fielder Enrique Hernandez backing up the play, fielding the carom before hitting cutoff man Xander Bogaerts. The shortstop’s throw easily beat Judge, who was tagged out by catcher Kevin Plawecki.
A-Rod placing blame on Nevin, didn’t tell the whole story of the play at the plate. It did make Rodriguez the focal point of another controversy. It became all about A-Rod. Isn’t it always?