{"id":706,"date":"2008-09-20T10:36:43","date_gmt":"2008-09-20T17:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2008\/09\/20\/whats-a-yankees-fan-to-do\/"},"modified":"2009-09-16T09:58:36","modified_gmt":"2009-09-16T16:58:36","slug":"whats-a-yankees-fan-to-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2008\/09\/20\/whats-a-yankees-fan-to-do\/","title":{"rendered":"What&#8217;s a Yankees Fan to Do?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>With eight games to go in their 2008 Major League Baseball season, the Yankees&#8217;  &#8220;tragic number&#8221; currently stands at 2. <\/em><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>That is, any combination of two Boston wins  and New York losses will result in the Yankees missing the playoffs for the  first time since 1993, not including the cancelled post-season of 1994. This  leaves fans of this disappointing edition of the storied Bronx Bombers in some  very unfamiliar territory. So, facing a late September of virtually meaningless  baseball followed by a huge October void, what are Yankees fans to do with  themselves?<\/p>\n<p>First, let me say that this doesn&#8217;t apply to me as much as I  suspect it does to many others. I love the season&#8217;s stretch run and October  baseball, whether my team&#8217;s in it or not. Don&#8217;t get me wrong, it&#8217;s more exciting  when they are involved, but more stressful as well. So, I offer these  suggestions as my short list of what Yankees fans still have to root for this  year.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Mike Mussina&#8217;s quest for the first 20-win season of his career. I have to believe that, by winning his 18th Thursday night,  the Yanks will skip over Phil Hughes&#8217; next turn in the rotation, and let Moose  pitch on the 23rd, and then again on the 28th, the season&#8217;s final day. Mussina&#8217;s  comeback season has greatly improved his Hall of Fame credentials, and if he  truly has reinvented himself a la Greg Maddux, he might not need that 20-win  season to secure his place in Cooperstown.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The emergence of young pitchers Alfredo Aceves and Phil Coke, both of whom  have been nothing short of impressive since their recent callups. Aceves, who  joined the team on August 28, has a 1.80 ERA, and has allowed 15 hits and just 3  walks, while striking out 12, in 20 innings, including earning the win in his  first major league start. Coke, a September 1 callup, has pitched 10 2\/3 innings in 8 relief appearances, and has been virtually untouchable, allowing no runs on  just 3 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 8.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Most importantly, Yankees fans can pray that their team is not eliminated  from playoff contention in the final game played at Yankee Stadium on Sunday  night. Just one Boston win or New York loss could  put the the Yankees in the unfortunate position of needing to win that night to prevent the  worst from happening. Being eliminated before that game would even be preferable  to that scenario.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Finally, of course, there&#8217;s rooting against the Red Sox. While this sounds  simple, I&#8217;m not talking about just rooting for a first round playoff exit. As  difficult as this sounds, I challenge Yankees fans to actually root for the Red  Sox to reach the World Series, only to lose to Joe Torre&#8217;s Dodgers, powered by  Manny Ramirez and Nomar Garciaparra. If not the Dodgers, the Sox could fall to  the Mets in some kind of approximation of the 1986 World Series, or make history  by being the team to fall to the Cubs for their first Series victory in 100  years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So, don&#8217;t worry fellow Yankees fans. There still is plenty to be excited  about this fall. You just have to exercise a little creativity. That, of course,  and promise yourself that next year will mark a return to glory, or at least be  a little less frustrating than this season has been.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With eight games to go in their 2008 Major League Baseball season, the Yankees&#8217; &#8220;tragic number&#8221; currently stands at 2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}