"I WANT 25 PAUL O'NEILL'S OUT THERE!"

Every player is different.  But one thing is clear about my New York Yankees…they all are talented and they all want to win.  I was hammered a bit by some of the Yankee fans out there for being too harsh with analysis of the Yankees losing more than they're winning lately, but that’s because I’m a fan who wants my team to win all the time.  That’s a fan, what can I say?
 

I’m not sure what it is, but lately, while I hang on ever pitch and every inning, I've been thinking about the 2001 World Series.  It was after 9/11 and it was clear to me and many New Yorkers that it was destiny that the Yankees won that World Series, for America and for the city of New York. When we lost, it was devastating…more than most, probably because of the way everything unfolded that year. 

But I remember the games going late into the night and me sitting by myself in a dark room literally hanging on every pitch and when we were up at bat, gripping my bat until I could feel the heat in my hands.  It was right then that I realized just how obsessed I was about my team. I rooted very hard that year and have ever since.

I don’t like when my Yankees run into a rut because it bothers me the next day, worse than if I was to lose my house keys or get lost or something. In the end, there are ways of fixing those problems, I can control those things. I can’t control the Yankees however. Instead, it’s a lot of hope and a lot of worry and a lot of appreciation when they win one for us fans. They won last night, that's good, but I want a streak, a winning streak to prove to me that they're back.

I wrote THERE'S NO SMILING IN BASEBALL WHEN YOU LOSE the other night because I was pretty ticked off at Robinson Cano smiling during a game that was within their reach, but didn’t win.  Was I too harsh?  Maybe.  I apologize for that, but I felt that way because of Paul O’Neill, one of the toughest competitors I’ve ever seen play the game.  I loved his approach and I loved it before the Yankees too, when Paulie was in Cincinnati. If Paulie succeeded he was pumped and showed it.  If he didn't he let everyone on the field know.  The passion dripped from him. He was hard on himself and the fans embraced it.

The guy was an animal on the field and wanted to hit the ball every time.  He told us here on BYB (Read HERE) he was a perfectionist of sorts, saying: “I tend to be a perfectionist, hating failure. That may have started long ago as the youngest of six. There were so many of us, you sort of had to vie for dad’s praise and attention. But baseball is a game where great hitters get beat 7 out of 10 times. Where a guy could play fifteen years and feel accomplished because he has two World Series rings. Over 95% of roster players go home losing every year in baseball. I probably needed a thicker skin. I spent too many sleepless nights going over strikeouts or popups."

Sure, he’s mellowed out these days while in the booth, but there is no denying that right now the Yankees need to have alittle Paul O’Neill injected into this club.  We don’t need to be sluggish, we need to be aggressive.  Look, I’m saying this in the kindest of terms. Of course I know my Yankees play hard, but I've noticed something that I said would happen...and it's creeping in.  A team that relies on the long ball forgets how to play baseball.  Remember that.  There are too many games lately where there are huge opportunities and no runs score.  Some nights it's almost like we’ve forgotten how to play. Can we change it? Yes.  Will we change it? Damn, I hope so. Last night in the Yankees 12-8 win against the Tigers could be the beginning of something special...let's hope so.

So yeah, I wrote this on Twitter last night:

I meant it, but I meant it because I believe in my club and I know they are capable of playing better than they are.  I know Cano’s talented, but look, my take on his "tender moment" smile with Octavio Dotel the other night is simple;

These athletes get paid millions to play a boy's game.  We pay their salary and we pay to see them play hard and win. We want results… we want our guys to bust ass down the first base line.  We want them to knock the runner in from second base. We want sacrifice flies and we sure as hell want the long ball, but when there are men on base so we can do damage.

We want them to be pissed if they strikeout and we want to know their hearts in the game... like Paul O'Neill.   Plus... we sure as hell don’t want smiling when we’re losing a game we need to win.

At the end of the day, they are the New York Yankees and we are their fans.  Am I being too harsh?  Really? OK…then think about this…what would George say right about now? Exactly…  That’s what I thought.

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