contributed by Music Man

Astros at Yankees, April 29 – May 1, 2013

Monday, 4/29, 6:05 CDT (TV: CSN Black Hole, NO! Network)
Lucas Harrell (2-2, 4.08) vs. Andy Pettitte (3-1, 2.22)

Tuesday, 4/30, 6:05 CDT (TV: ibid)
Philip Humber (0-5, 7.99) vs. Hiroki Kuroda (3-1, 2.79)

Wednesday, 5/1, 6:05 CDT (TV: ibid)
Erik Bedard (0-2, 7.98) vs. David Phelps (1-1, 5.29)

Let’s get the minor business of the Astros out of the way. Look at those last two pitchers for the Astros. Put them in your mind’s eye, and put them in your heart. They should be what you picture the next time some clown (sorry, Peter Gammons) tells you that the Astros should go after more veterans to remain “legitimate” in their rebuilding process.

As for Mr. Gammons – who has a long history of writing; who has experienced more in baseball than I likely ever will; who should be admired for his efforts in stroke recovery – well, he’s just flat out wrong here.

Peter Gammons ‏@pgammo25 Apr
How can any MLB team in the top 10 markets be allowed revenue-sharing money? Jim Crane’s business model–affront to integrity of game

Let’s get one thing straight: as long as Jeffrey Loria owns the Marlins, or any other team, Jim Crane could never, EVER mount a comparable affront to the integrity of the game.

THE YANKEES

Thus do we begin our first series sharing a league with the most storied franchise in the history of the game: The New York Yankees.

Yankee-hating is easy. It is understandable. I embrace it at times myself. But there is no way to dispute that the Yankees have been the biggest winners in the game’s history, and as they say, history is written by the victors.

My father grew up in upstate New York. His favorite player was Mickey Mantle – and so, of course, my first favorite player was the Mick. His was the first biography I ever read. Suffice it to say, the Yankees were a formative part of my youth – a youth spent in several locations, never developing any close ties to one team until we finally settled in Houston. All this is to say – I understand a little bit of the Yankees, at least from an outsider perspective. As Vince Vaughn said, “I flat out hate your guts. But damn, do I respect you.”

And then there was Yankee stadium. The House That Ruth Built. Not only the most iconic stadium in baseball, but one of the iconic stadia in all the world – and really, atop the list for much of the 20th century. This was the place where Lou Gehrig made his speech. This was the place where Marilyn Monroe’s husband patrolled center field. This was the place where Mr. October sent three different pitching sailing into the night.

This was the place that was. But it is not the place that is.

The degree to which the Yankees dropped the ball with New Yankee Stadium is astounding, and illustrative of all that went right for Houston. When replacing a legendary structure, you have two directions to go: a slavish homage to the original, or something completely new. There’s really no in between.

Minute Maid Park, nee Enron Field, opted for the latter. Gone was the Astrodome’s sense of grandeur; its cookie-cutter fences, the standard of their time; the Astroturf (of course); and the hokey charms of the Home Run Spectacular. In their place came nooks, crannies, hills, trains, Big Bamboos, and the like. You could argue with some of it – many argued with all of it – but there was no question that it was different than that which preceded it. And as such, it was embraced by the city, by the team, and if the national media never embraced it, well, that was typical of the team.

Yankee Stadium chose the other path. A path to copy the old grounds, down to the facades, field shaping, you name it. Which of course, begged the question:

Why bother?

Literally – why build the stadium? Why not just renovate the old park to bring it into the 21st century? There was never a good answer, other than “money”. I was always taught that decisions made with money as the sole driver will end up bad decisions. This one certainly did. There was a movie several years back called “Mutliplicity”, which tried to cash in on the “cloning” concept. The movie rode on the idea that, when you make a copy of a copy, each successive copy gets fuzzier and fuzzier. So, too, with Yankee Stadium. The initial copy, within the hallowed Bronx grounds, lost a little of the character – monuments in play, Death Valley, etc. – but at least it was still the same building.

Then they tried to copy it again, to a new piece of real estate – and the copy was fuzzier than they ever expected. Oh, it had all the latest bells and whistles, and it had premium seats galore, such that the moneyed elite could fall all over themselves for the status symbol of Yankee seating – or so the Steinbrenners thought. But the plan failed, and failed in impressive fashion. Seats were routinely empty, from the second game on. The word was quickly out – the new stadium was completely devoid of charm, overpriced, unwanted.

The Yankees used to occupy a palace, worthy of their monarchy, lording over all of baseball with their (insert current number here) championships. They abandoned their palace in search of a McMansion. And their place atop the sport threatens to crumble with it.

For lately has gone relatively unnoticed an item concerning baseball’s CBA: the Yankees are looking seriously at remaining below the new luxury tax threshold. No big deal for the Yankees, one would think – except that they are already on the hook for over $103M in guaranteed contracts, none of whom are named Derek Jeter, and which does not include free agents-to-be like Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson, both of whom will seek raises from their current $15M pay. Oh, and those 5 guaranteed contracts include a 39 year old (A-Rod), a 40-year old (Ichiro), a 34 year old who will be 4 seasons removed from his last meaningful production (Teixeira), an outfielder who has been paid by two different teams to go away (Wells), and an aging, overweight starting pitcher (Sabathia).

Following a 2009 World Series win, the Yankees have increasingly depended on splashy free agent signings (Sabathia) and big trades (Granderson) to keep afloat – but all for naught, with playoff losses the last three seasons, and most predictions for this season having them fall further in an increasingly competitive AL East. Meanwhile, the trades and lack of success in the draft have left the farm system increasingly depleted, with their best prospects a catcher who can’t catch, and a center fielder who was just arrested.

If all this sounds vaguely familiar, it should.

I come to bury the Yankees, not to praise them. They may well make another run this year. They may certainly sweep the Astros in the process.

But their house in now built upon sand.