Poetry from Tyler Kepner:
The grand slam exploded like a gunshot Wednesday night, tearing out the guts of even the most naïve believers in the 2008 Yankees.
The eighth-inning bullet by Dustin Pedroia was like the opening scene of a documentary, many years from now, capturing the thud of finality to something once so special. The question for the Yankees is what starts next: a glorious renaissance or a painful fall from grace?
In the owner’s box, Hank Steinbrenner was making his first appearance at Yankee Stadium since opening day. The team was healthy then, the young starters seemed ready, and there were few doubts that Yankee Stadium would see one more postseason, the 14th in a row for the franchise.
But as Pedroia rounded the bases, Steinbrenner hung his head. By the bottom of the inning, he was gone from his seat. There was no need to witness the final details of the Yankees’ 11-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox, the one that probably doomed their postseason chances.
More from Dan Graziano
But what makes this even worse is watching the Red Sox, and realizing how much better they are right now.
At everything.
The Red Sox took the AL East away from the Yankees last year. Right now, they’re leading a wild-card race in which the Yankees are drowning. But it’s not just in wins and losses where they outclass the Yankees these days.
Currently, the Red Sox appear better at:
Scoring runs.
Making deals at the trade deadline.
Pitching.
Making deals after the trade deadline.
Defense.
Developing young players and building the farm system.
To find something at which the Yankees are currently better, you have to move pretty far down the list, to items like “realizing their stadium needs to be replaced” and “growing reasonable-looking facial hair.” In terms of the baseball stuff, these two teams are no longer close.
“Watching them, you see it,” Johnny Damon said. “No one’s over there trying to be the man. They know how important it is to get on base, extend the inning, and when they do that they’re getting big hits. They’ve got some talented players over there — guys who not only have good batting averages but have been able to drive in runs, score runs, drive an opposing pitching staff crazy … there’s no easy spot in that lineup.”
If Damon sounds jealous, it’s probably because he is. He should be. And so should everybody connected with the Yankees.
I forgot to mention in my previous post how much I enjoyed seeing Jack Nicholson in the Bronx wearing his Yankee cap. I’m guessing, like Hank, he left early.