What Did the Media Expect Him to Say?

Now, to be clear, I have no love for the Yankees. I do enjoy when things go wrong. I get great joy out of hearing Giuliani get eviscerated by the media for rooting for the Sox (note to Rudy, when you are a fan, you never, repeat NEVER root for your fiercest rival, unless they are playing the other team in our city, and even then, you need to think it over very carefully (I sat out the Braves/Yanks World Series). There is no "I am an AL guy". Rooting for the Sox is like a Giants fan rooting for the Cowboys, an Islander fan rooting for the Rangers, or a Mets fan rooting for the Phillies or Braves. It is not done.) Now, I am enjoying all of the reports about the Yankees manager search, and how the press is working themselves into a lather over what Girardi, Mattingly and today, Pena, have/will said/say.

Today, all the headlines were of Mattingly saying "I can do it". Well of course that is what he said? Did these nimrods really think Donnie as going to walk into the meeting with George and the Spawn (Hank and Hal) and say "I don't think I can manage this team? What idiot walks into a job interview and says they can't do the job? Seriously? This was the shock of the day?

The best part is that everyone with half a brain knows that Donnie is getting the job. No matter how ill George is, he is still "The Boss", and he will get his way. Shit, if he could, he would dig up Martin and name him manager. The Spawn can crow all they want about how they are "in charge", but until George passes, he has the final say. Mattingly was a good soldier for George, he was a bright light when the team was down in the dumps, and missed out on getting his ring when he retired after 1995. He came back after pleas from George. You think George is going to change his addled mind now? No chance in hell.

The whole process is a sham. Pena is being interviewed so the Yanks follow the edict from MLB about interviewing minority candidates. He has little in the way of Yankee ties. Girardi won rings, and Mattingly played his whole career in the Bronx. Pena had little shot going in. Too bad really, because he did a fine job with the Royals, a crappy situation, and would do well with the Yankees.

What really irks me, and should piss off Selig as well, is that the Yanks are doing all this during the World Series, when all organization moves are supposed to be quiet, so as to not distract from the Series. Once again though, George bends Selig over and does what he wants, and Selig says nothing besides "thank you George, may I have another?" We are about to see the Rockies, who are a great story right now, face the Sox, who toppled the Yankees in the regular season. There is the Rockies feel good story, and the star power of the Sox. We have the Rockies, who have some good young players who have gotten insanely hot for the last month, facing a juggernaut in the Sox. Yet all the media in NY (and ESPN as well, with their wall to wall coverage of the Torre saga DURING THE FRAKING ALCS) are talking about is the Yankees managerial search. Stories about what each guy said, how the Spawn feel about each guy. In other words, Yankee media comination during a time that should be spent covering the World Series. And MLB wonders why ratings are down. Tell your TV partners to forget about the Yankees and concentrate on the playoffs. Talk about the Rockies, and how they are giving a full share to the family of their AAA first base coach who died after being struck in the neck with a ball. Talk about how good Beckett is, and how good Tulowitski is (we can stop with the "Mets should have kept Matsui stuff though). This is a time MLB can have new stars put in the spotlight. Instead, all we get though is coverage of Torre checking his mail, and how Mattingly says he can do the job.

The Spawn will have to wait a while before they can name their manager. Of course, they will be able to frak things up royally with player moves and the like. I see the Yankees reverting to the late 80's, early 90's, with bombast from the front office and lots of losses. And this brings a smile to my face.