End Of The Dog Days!
Guest Post from Dennis Cole
September 4, 2023
***
As September roles into town, so too excessive Yankee losing will cease. What's more, the Yanks will win more games than they lose this year. The big story however is Aaron Boone. The players love for their manager will finally translate into more wins.
The arrogance I saw from Brian Cashman is also going away, and soon, like a long fly ball, will be gone . Brian has admitted his mistakes, and he will have to admit even more. There are many.
Aaron Boone will not be fired. For the first time since they fired Joe Girardi I don't want Aaron Boone to be fired. Why? Because this team was Cashman's responsibility and with Cashman openly taking the blame, it will protect Boone. What Brian Cashman is doing is admirable.
My reasons for wanting Boone to stay are the human part of baseball. It's the way he handles players on their way out the door. Aaron Hicks, Josh Donaldson, and there will be more. The classy way Harrison Bader handled being put on waviers was a revelation of their clubhouse. That's Boone's domain. The losing Yankees had Aaron's back. When a fall is happening, it can't be stopped. Boone is competitive and compassionate. The Yanks can rise fast, but only with the manager they have! The Yankee fall was July and August. The rise is September.
'You gotta believe.'
Firing Girardi was a mistake, but to fire Boone would be worse because the Yankees are now much worse than in 2017. The players who will survive the break up, DJ, Gleyber, Stanton, Judge, and Rizzo all love Boone. He respected them in their on-field failures and unintended injuries. Life is hard. It can often be cruel. These players play in a goldfish bowl. They make big money, and have great fame. Ironically, that makes it even harder . They play a boy's game that has failure in its DNA. I think that's why we love baseball. It morally challenges each of us, yet inspires childlike play. Childlikeness is good for humans. It's especially good for professional baseball players. Every Yankee from Hal to the batboy is human.
Aaron Boone is a good baseball man, but he's becoming a great manager, by being a human being first. He's shown that quality particularly while the Yankees have fallen. After six years managing he's gotten better at integrating the human with strategy. He's more in-game focused. Under the current circumstances the team needs a growing human who knows baseball. All baseball players are human. Aaron Boone is now one who has now endured failure as a manager. I never had this kind of respect for Boone until this summer when things got so very bad for the Yankees. Of course no one wins them all. A famous Casey Stengel quote is, "They don't pay me to win them all, just two out of three." Well, two out of three won't get them into the playoffs, but four out of five might. I remember Joe Girardi after the Yankees sold off in 2016 saying, "I'm still going to manage to win."
The Yanks are like the guy on a 12 Step program who says, "Its about today.'' Coming out of denial is a behind the scenes winning streak. It's where boldness meets humility. A true champion knows this.
Play the new guys, yet play them to win today! Watch the wins go up! No team wins all 162, yet in the process of how you play the game; there is a greater, essential victory. The Yanks can win this one. When the boy's game heart transcends the arrogance of the analytical , we all win.
