The Art Neuro Weblog

Slide of the Yankees
The Guy who runs league leader 'Alsorans' in the Jack Kerouac Memorial League is a real wag. He rang me up to let me know he knew how badly the Yankees lost yesterday because he started Jake Westbrook against the Yankees for his fantasy team. Well, I'll let you know that my Yankee hitters, Derek Jeter and Hideki Matsui went 1-for-2 each and were pulled, so stat-wise they did okay by me, even amidst the huge loss. :)
He also sent me the pickie above, for which I thank him; it's quite a work of art.

Alsorans' manager pointed out that the Australian ABC also ran (pardon the pun!) a story on the historic loss; which goes to show, everybody loves an underdog even if they don't know the underdog from a bar of lead piping. Being an ex-ABC man myself, I can see the kind of screwy 'Left-wing-media-bias' (as Mr. Conservative Weasel would put it) in reporting the historic Yankee loss. Afterall, if the said team won 22-0, would they be reporting it? No. You're expected to win EVERY game with a roster featureing the likes of Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, and Hideki Matsui. I don't know what you call that, but blank expectation of the best outcomes with no caution for real-life accidents. The thing is, the Australian ABC wouldn't know any of them if they swung their bats at their heads at fullspeed, but they're happy to report the historic loss. A bit of crappy editorial-ship, no?

Well, here's a bit of history for you. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the worst losses in the 101 year history of the New York Yankees are as follows:

Cleveland 22, N.Y. Yankees 0, Aug. 31, 2004
Cleveland 24, N.Y. Yankees 6, July 29, 1928
Detroit 19, N.Y. Yankees 1, June 17, 1925
Texas 20, N.Y. Yankees 3, July 19, 1987

What sticks out on the list is that two of the worst losses featured in the 1920's were wrought with Babe Ruth (arguably the best player ever) on the roster. Two of them were done unto the Yankees by the Cleveland Indians, and two happened on George Steinbrenner's watch as Owner, while, obviously the other two happened with Colonel Tom Ruppert as team owner. That's not too bad for King George, he's now in vaunted company.

Here's even more to ponder from Larry Mahnken who wrote:

What do you say about a 22-0 loss?Well, you can say it counts the same as a 1-0 loss. You can say it's less frustrating than a 22-21 loss. Um, nobody died.

Well, LOL yeah. It's not like it's the casualties taken in the War in Iraq. As for King George, I was able to find this:

Yankees owner George Steinbrenner chimed in with another of his statements, part of which appeared on some of the boards. "Sure, we got punished badly last night, but winners never quit and quitters never win,'' Steinbrenner said. ``New Yorkers never quit, and we reflect the spirit of New York."

Sure, George. I'm not sure New Yorkers want to idenitfy with historic losses, but then there's all that stuff about 9/11, so I may be wrong.

All Hail 'El Duque the Stopper'
In the mean time, I'll tell you this much. our favourite magic Cuban Orlando Hernandez pitched 7 strong innings today, striking out 7, walking 2, scattering 3 hits for a run in the first after which, he shut down the Cleveland offense; he got the win in a solid 5-3 Yankee win. Mariano Rivera got the save. So much for that one; and it goes to show life does go on after historic losses, whether it be 22-0 ballgames or 9/11 attacks.

- Art Neuro