Posted on 05/24/2008 8:04:19 AM PDT by raccoonradio
All-Star promo with David Ortiz as Babe Ruth irks NY
OAKLAND, Calif. - Touchy, touchy, touchy.
Like a colicky baby who’s also battling diaper rash, the 2008 Yankees can’t seem to stop bawling.
Besides a good burp, they also need to grow up.
As if sitting in last place in the AL East were not bad enough, the Bronx Bombers discovered on Thursday that after years of planning for this summer’s All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium, they were the last to discover that a new “Call Your Shot” insurance-company promotion would feature the Red Sox [team stats]’ David Ortiz [stats] mimicking Babe Ruth’s famous called-shot home run from the 1932 World Series.
Their beef about being left out of the loop until the New York Times asked about it on Wednesday is legitimate, but honestly, does it really matter if Ortiz is the star of that show?
Sadly, it does to the Yankees.
They burst out in a case of hives when they learned that a mischievous Red Sox fan/construction worker buried an Ortiz jersey in the concrete of the new Yankee Stadium, so this latest affront should come as no surprise.
It’s quite bad in the Bronx right now.
“We spoke with the commissioner’s office and they understand the sensitivity of the matter,” said Yankees president Randy Levine in a statement.
“We’ll be having further discussions.”
Sensitivity of the matter? Even MLB is trying to calm the sensitive ones.
“We are sensitive to their concerns and will talk to them,” said MLB spokesperson Pat Courtney.
It is almost June. The Yankees are an under-.500 club that has yet to show that its mix of veterans and youth can jell into a serious threat. Their feelings are hurt that a Red Sox known as one of the best sluggers in the game with one of the most winning personalities was chosen for an All-Star Game promotion?
How “sensitive” are things going to be come July, August and September if it turns out there will be no October for the Yankees?
Baby, it could turn real ugly.
The eye of the storm, Ortiz, artfully dodged any connection to the Bronx bleatings.
“I think the Yankees are going through a lot of things, so it might bother them for a minute, but I had nothing to do with it,” said Ortiz in the visitors clubhouse before last night’s game against the Athletics.
It used to be the Red Sox [team stats] who had the inferiority complex about the Yankees. Now the insecurities are leaking from the Yankees faster than a Woody Allen monologue. It cannot help that the Sox have won two World Series championships in the last four years while the Yankees have been shooting blanks since 2000.
That was Levine’s first year at the helm, so his frustration level must be off the charts.
It cannot be easy working for first George and now Hank Steinbrenner. The family’s competitive fire is legendary, and Levine has enough of his own. Remember that after the Aaron Boone pennant-winning homer in the seventh game of the 2003 ALCS, when he was overheard saying, “Take that, you 1918 (expletives)?”
As the Yankees found out right afterward, in the 2003 World Series, winning is not a birthright for any organization. It takes a mixture of luck, foresight, savvy front-office moves and an organization willing to open its wallet.
The Yankees are certainly capable of all of the above.
Just because they can’t do it yet is no excuse to cry about anything.
>>ntil the New York Times asked about it on Wednesday
Ironically enough the NYT owns about 17 per cent... of the Sox!
“The Babe is a freak,” Gehrig told him. “He’s the greatest player, the greatest hitter, in the history of the game, but he’s a freak just the same. Look at the way he swings, legs, body, arms, shoulders, even his ears go with the bat. No one else can do that.”
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