IT'S ALL ABOUT CLIMATE

This weekend my son’s Varsity Baseball Team got together for a practice without their coaches.  They lost a couple of games they should have won this week and they felt that getting together for a little pick up game, infield and outfield drills and hitting would be a way to find their moxie, their chemistry.  Right now, the guys are casting a vote of no confidence for their coaches, something that is never good for the culture of an organization and in this case, a team. 

A fan and friend of mine said Sunday while watching the game that she didn’t like this year’s team.  She feels that Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran don’t belong here, Mark Teixeira is always injured, and Brian McCann isn’t worth the money. 

She is entitled to her opinion of course, but I worry that comments such as these will hurt us much like a vote of no confidence hurts the climate of a team.  To add to this, one of our readers weighed in on our piece about CC Sabathia entitled TURN OFF THE SPOTLIGHT & CHILL OUT! Here’s his tweet, which sort of set me back a bit:

No lectures please on @CC_Sabathia #Overpaid #Underperforms RT: @suzieprof: TURN OFF THE SPOTLIGHT & CHILL OUT http://t.co/p5TqYfR83u #byb
— T. Frank Gentry (@yankeefrank23) April 6, 2014

Even the Orioles fans worry about the spotlight being too bright on their team.

@suzieprof Good morning! I want to regurgitate this for Orioles fans. lol
— Orioles Rob (@SupermanRob2914) April 6, 2014

My point here is this, staying positive, particularly at the beginning of a new season is critical.  And that means looking for the silver lining and focusing on that.  Sure CC Sabathia gave up a homerun in the first inning, but then he battled back and held his own.  Sure, it took six games for us to hit a homerun, but guess what Gardy went Yardy and although he might not have been the first player you thought would nab the first homerun for the Yankees this season, he caught the pitch just right and launched it. 

Derek Jeter is hitting, Jacoby Ellsbury is stealing bases and David Robertson has two saves already this season.  And guess what, we are going home for a monumental Core Four Home Opener.  What better way to turn around the climate of the fan base and a team then coming home with the fire to win.  As Jeter said today in an interview with Meredith Marakovits, “there’s nothing like opening day at home.” 

So, let’s stay up and rally for the Yankees.  They may be gritty, they may be squeaky and in need of some WD40 and they may seem a bit unfamiliar, but we need time for the team to develop its chemistry, its culture.  Let’s keep our climate positive as we look forward to this second week of baseball, at home!

--Suzie Pinstripe, BYB Opinion Columnist
Twitter: @suzieprof



 
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