THE YANKEES NEVER QUIT & NEITHER DO YOU

There’s too much reporting stacked against the Yankees. It’s always been that way.  Sports writers are not supposed to be fans, they’re supposed to report, or, be a critic in order to sell newspapers.  That’s their job.  That’s why Pete Caldera is so refreshing, because while he does some of the best Yankee reporting in the business, he leaves a nugget that every Yankee fan can latch on to.  Hence, a simple sentence that I read in his Sunday edition of a piece titled Pettitte: Yanks team to beat in AL East (HERE)… writing “If the Yankees have any advantage over their division foes, it’s a healthy trio of CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda and Pettitte as they head into April.”

Stop and think about that for a second.  We’ve all been so wrapped up in the moves the Yankees DIDN’T make this off season (Suddenly we signed Vernon Wells and Lyle Overbay, HERE), and we’ve been so wrapped up in the brainwashing of the NY sports media telling us day in and day out about how "old" our team is, that it will drive anyone to drink. I'm here to tell you that I don’t care about any of those reports.  I want the positive right now and that's why I highlighted Caldera's piece. Look, we are just a few days away from April 1^st… that's Opening day against the Boston Red Sox.  The season is here!  We have CC Monster, Andy and Hiroki… I feel pretty damn good right now knowing that's the top 3 of our rotation. 

Caldera goes on: “It’s the same front three that went to battle last year and ‘We came four games away from going to the World Series,’ said Pettitte, whose hopes aren’t dimmed."

Well, when you put it that way, you can't help but get excited.  It’s true, it was damn close and I am of the belief that when Derek Jeter got hurt, the walls crumbled around us. It was like the balloon deflated.  If he didn’t, I wonder if the result would have been different. We’ll never know, but I do think about it, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t. 

But truth be told, we have a good club.  Sure, we have a few older guys, Like Mariano Rivera, like Ichiro, like Vernon Wells, but every team does.  Sometimes the best teams are the teams with a few veterans, and a few youngsters mixed in with the core.  It’s happened for years on many great clubs. 

I often think about our Yankee clubs and think about other teams... like the Dodgers back in 1988 with "old man" bad-knees Kirk Gibson.  Look at the Diamondbacks in 2001 with those "old timers", Mark Grace and Luis Gonzalez. That still stings by the way... but the point is, sometimes veterans who have been there before shine and age really doesn’t matter.  They are there for the big moments. Age becomes irrelevant and experience takes hold.

As it starts to get warmer in New York, I see trees blooming and baseball being played and my Yankees are days away from their run for #28.  And you know what? Reading Caldera… reading Yankees.com, or Bleeding Yankee Blue or the YESNetwork.com, you start the realize that maybe all that negative press around us isn't giving us the full story and that's why we're here. That's why you read the positive stuff on YESNetwork.com, or with Caldera.  Instead of us fans being depressed with those angry, critical editorials, get the full story! We're the Yankees... and we have a great club going into April! I believe that. Think about our team and what we have and sure, there are injuries, but every team has a few.  All you can do is suck it up, strap on the gear and grind it out.  That goes for us fans too.  

Do you think I just put my Posada Jersey in the trash after they lost to the Tigers last year? No.  I wore it bed and the next day, I wore my Yankee cap as I trekked into work.  Because one thing my Yankees aren’t are quitters… and I’m not either… and neither are you. 


In the end, we’re Yankees, be it fans or players… and we push to the limit and never quit… and this year will be no different... I swear.

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