Raissman & Mushnick Lambaste The Playoff Yacksters



Deluded or just a World Class Shill? In Friday's New York Daily News' Bob Raissman writes about the YES Network's Michael Kay and his rosy-impression of History's Biggest Fold.

Michael Kay said the Yankees had had a "great season," but acknowledged it hadn't ended the way they would have liked it to. He pointed out that the Bombers had won 101 games while also setting "attendance records" at the Stadium. Kay said that "superstars up and down the lineup" had provided excitement in 61 come-from-behind victories.




"Again, they fell short, but have nothing, nothing to be embarrassed about. It didn't end the way they wanted it to end. And the Red Sox made history tonight as they go to the World Series," Kay said. "But the Yankees certainly don't have anything to hang their heads about when you look at the entire season as a whole."

It would be too easy just calling this a typical Al Yankzeera moment. It was pure fantasy.

Even Kay's primary benefactor - George Steinbrenner - wouldn't buy this jive.

Would anyone be shocked if, behind closed doors, Steinbrenner himself is embarrassed by the Yankees' performance? Does anyone actually believe Steinbrenner or Joe Torre is finding any solace in the Yankees' regular-season performance?

How many times have you heard Kay say the Yankees are "built for October." The regular season? Regular season come-from-behind victories? Attendance records? When October comes and goes, those subjects are rarely discussed in Yankeeland.

The Yankeecentric, and all other interested parties, know Steinbrenner's blueprint begins and ends with winning the World Series. How many times have you heard that line?

The 2004 regular season already is a distant memory. Is anyone going to remember - or care - about the Yankees finishing first when that achievement is compared with the memory of becoming the first and only team in baseball history to blow a 3-0 playoff series lead? The Red Sox factor makes this a double whammy.

And the statement about the Yankees having "nothing, nothing" to be "embarrassed about" strongly suggests Kay is taking on ostrich-like qualities.

Only someone with his head in the sand - or looking to play Dr. Feelgood for heartbroken Yankee fans - would not realize the Bombers have everything to be embarrassed about. This is an eternal embarrassment for everyone in the organization - especially the players.

In the future, when people reminisce about all those Yankee World Series titles and pennants, they also will bring up the year the Bombers blew it like no other team ever has. That's what usually happens when a dubious achievement is authored.

Over at the NY Post, Peter Vescey saves his most harsh criticism (short of saying the broadcaster sells expensive sneakers) for Fox Sports' Joe Buck.

(During Game 6) in the bottom of the third, Derek Jeter hit a lined shot that landed an inch or two foul, just past third base. During a replay, Buck said, "Again, all it has to do is go over the bag."

What? What! Buck clearly was under the impression that had the ball passed over third — and it appeared to do just that — it would have been in play! My gosh, all those hooking shots down the lines that curve foul before they land in the seats should have, according to Buck, been home runs! And for the last 100 years!

Stunning. Buck was of a mind that the rule that applies to balls that bounce over third (or first) before passing into foul territory, applies to balls that first touch down in foul territory.

And that Buck prefaced his butchered explanation of the rule with, "Again," confirmed a suspicion from a regular season Fox telecast when he provided the same explanation on a line drive almost exactly like Jeter's. At the time, we figured that Buck certainly knows baseball's most basic rules and that he had simply tripped over some words and wording.

But Wednesday he proved that he not only was unfamiliar with one of baseball's fundamental rules, he provided an "of course" explanation to a national audience — an explanation that was mind-blowing for how wrong it was.

McCarver gently tried to clarify and rectify without embarrassing Buck — "If it hits any part of the line it's a fair ball," he said — but there was no indication that Buck knew that he was being discreetly corrected.

There was no indication — again — that Buck was aware that any batted ball — line drive, popup and everything in between — that lands foul past first or third base is a foul ball.

Posted: Fri - October 22, 2004 at 11:24 PM      

©