Bleeding Yankee Blue: "CONFUSED" BY FANS, HAL? LET US CLUE YOU IN!

Thursday, June 22, 2023

"CONFUSED" BY FANS, HAL? LET US CLUE YOU IN!

Yankee fans are demanding. I think we are the most demanding, and I don't apologize for that. In fact, I carry that demanding title with pride and you would think Yankee ownership knows what we expect and shouldn't be surprised when we are upset. They shouldn't be confused either....but Hal Steinbrenner is. I wish he inherited his dad's pursuit of excellence.

I look back at last year and think about how we won 99 games and the American League East. We are almost at the halfway point of the season and this time last season we were 56-21, a far cry from our 41-33 record today and that 9.5 games out of first place stings even more. This team underachieves in a big way....but Hal doesn't get it and he even admits that.

"I want to know what the vibe is out there, and I understand they're upset," Steinbrenner said. "I'm a little confused this year, being the third week in June, why they're so upset. But they're upset, and that's going to get my attention, of course. Everybody just needs to know that we're working hard on all fronts to get this back on the rails and start playing the way we were for a couple of weeks there in May," you can read more HERE.

This is where I truly miss George Steinbrenner's passion and I wish those genes were passed down to Hal, but they weren't. This Yankee team is off the rails because there is no leadership. Aaron Boone is a huge mistake and should've been fired a long time ago. He doesn't get the best out of his players and he doesn't get results because the Yankees don't win. They don't win because they can't hit. They can't hit because they lack the basic fundamentals, and they haven't been taught those fundamentals in a LONG time. This has been missing long before Dillon Lawson became affiliated with the Yankees but Lawson and his "hit strikes hard" mantra has proven to be a failure. He is "flipping over all the rocks" trying to figure out how to get the Yankees to hit. He can flip over every rock on the East coast and this man still won't find the answer. He is a terrible mistake.

We can all see that, except for Hal. He was asked about Lawson's job security and responded with "nobody's on the hot seat right now. Let's get through the season; let's see what happens," Steinbrenner said. "There's no way that Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo aren't going to start hitting, and the others as well, I'm sure. I think we're going to be fine. I believe we're going to be fine." I'd like to know where Hal got his crystal ball and physic abilities from because it's almost July and being 9.5 games out of first place is not a good place to be with hitters that can't put the ball in play. It is no coincidence that the Yankees and their .196 batting average rank DEAD LAST in the month of June for MLB teams.... but Lawson is safe for now.

If the Yankees get healthy in the second half of the year and don't make the playoffs, then Hal says "I'm going to be asking some tough questions" but I don't even believe that. It's all a bunch of talk but no action. There is no accountability on this team whatsoever, and with no accountability or strong leadership then a championship is just a pipedream.

Hal ended by saying "People can call me delusional" for saying he thinks the Yankees will be "fine." He is delusional, and insane because he thinks somehow this will magically get better. Even if we clone Gerrit Cole and make him pitch every day and clone a healthy Aaron Judge and bat him 1-9 this team will not be "fine" with the weak leadership around it.

Hal doesn't get it. He IS delusional. The Yankees are not going to be "fine" and "fine" teams do not win championships. GREAT teams win championships, and great teams have hot streaks for more than just a couple of weeks in May. Hal doesn't get it now, and I fear he never will.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa