EYES DON’T LIE: The continued refusal of Yankees broadcasters on YES to address Robinson Cano’s sometimes lackadaisical efforts is an offense to fans of good baseball. (Getty Images)
I Have never sat down to watch a baseball game as a TV critic, but as a baseball fan, which I reckon I’ve been since my very earliest memory of watching games on TV, the 1959 White Sox-Dodgers World Series.
And I suppose that somewhere inside — gut or head — can be found the emotional scar tissue left from watching Yogi Berra prep to field a ball off the left-field wall at Forbes Field, a rebound that never was, as Bill Mazeroski’s homer ended the ’60 Series.
But I am sure of one thing, again, foremost as a baseball fan: Yankee fans, specifically, and all baseball fans who watch Yankee telecasts deserve a lot better than what they see and hear.
It has become insufferable to first watch Brett Gardner, then 39-year-old Ichiro Suzuki busting it to reach first base, followed by watching Robinson Cano regularly surrender himself at home plate to see-no-evil silence and the ambient issue as to whether his next contract will be for $200 million.
I don’t care if Cano hits .350 and 40 home runs, the way he plays the game at its highest, most significant level is impossible to reconcile; it’s an assault on all the good common senses and a crime against The Game.
So is the silence of Yankee TV commentators who for some reason — perhaps a lack of guidance from YES management or YES’ fear of having to hear from Yankee management — feel that we don’t know good baseball from bad.
Friday, in the top of the first against the Rays, Gardner was on third with one out — he had walked, stolen second, moved to third on a fly ball — when Cano struck out, swinging at a ball in the dirt that banged off and then away from catcher Jose Lobaton, who then quickly had to rise and chase it down. Play on!
Never mind. Cano never bothered to make a move toward first. He was already headed back to the dugout. All the variables that could have scored Gardner and/or minimally placed Cano at first with only one out left when Cano left. Cano surrendered before he forced anyone to take a shot.
The Yanks’ TV truck didn’t bother to show how the second out was officially made, but it can be assumed Lobaton tagged out Cano as Cano walked to the dugout. This was in the first inning of a late-August game the Yanks needed.
Yet, the Yankee TV guys, Ken Singleton, David Cone and Lou Piniella, ignored what had just happened. They passed on Cano’s inconceivable disregard for playing winning baseball before they even had a chance to change the subject. Piniella, three-time Manager of the Year for crying out loud, said nothing!
Standard Cano, followed by standard TV indulgence.
By now, several YES analysts should have distinguished themselves as special. But Cone, like Paul O’Neill and John Flaherty, apparently feels too conflicted or restricted. He so painfully and needlessly sees things only one way — or just ignores the plainly visible — that he must be under tacit orders to treat us as dopes.
Last week against the Jays, the Yanks had first and second, one out, when Curtis Granderson hit a hard bouncer to pitcher Thad Weber. In his haste to throw to third for the force or to start a double play, Weber muffed the ball, thus he only got Granderson at first.
Clearly, the Yankees caught a break. And that’s OK. But Cone, who had to know better, told us something entirely different. He said that Granderson had just made “a productive out” — typical, YES-style nonsense.
Had Cone been in the dugout, he would have congratulated Granderson for his “productive out”? No way. So why feed us such silliness?
Yankee fans — all thinking, seeing, knowing baseball fans — deserve a lot better.
No Nolan in Sept.? Unlikely
What would we someday know about Nolan Ryan if starting, say, last season, he pitched for the bad teams he so often pitched for until 1993, when he was 46? In other words, what if Ryan had been “shut down” come September to preserve his arm, as has become the modern consideration?
How would we remember Ryan if he had been obligatorily removed after seven innings for the designated eighth-inning reliever who would then be obligatorily relieved by the closer?
Consider that two of Ryan’s seven no-hitters, totaling 30 strikeouts, were thrown in the last week of the season.
In 1974, at 27, Ryan went 22-16 and led the league in strikeouts and innings pitched — for the 68-94 Angels. Today, would they “shut him down” come Sept. 1? Just askin’.
Giving a hand to ‘leg guy’
Kenny Bontz wants to publicly thank Chris Kort, his “leg guy” at Manhattan’s Prosthetics In Motion.
Bontz, from Tinton Falls, N.J., was 19 when he lost a leg to cancer. From there it was multiple, pain-filled fittings and wearing of cadaver leg bones that would snap on him. Finally, eight years ago, Bontz said to hell with it, he’ll wear a shiny, unadorned full prosthesis.
This month in Nebraska, Bontz, a three-handicap against all comers, finished fourth in the National Amputee Golf Association U.S. Nationals. He won the Above The Knee division. Earlier, he was one of 20 qualifiers from a field of 121 (120 of them not missing a leg) to qualify from New Jersey for a biggie, the U.S. Mid-Amateur.
Bontz, 43, is pretty sensitive about his missing leg, has no sense of humor about it. You can tell after a round, when he flips his prosthesis around and uses the bottom of his metal foot to rest his cold mug of beer. Again, he’d like to thank Chris Kort for making his leg/cup-holder rust-proof.
* Despite semi-regular stories about Dean Meminger’s inspirational recovery from drug addiction, those who ran into him on the street knew a lot better than those who reported such stories.
* The Lakers will occasionally shelve their 53-year, instantly identifiable uniforms this season to wear an “alternative” uniform. Guess what color? Did you answer: “black”? Gee, how’d ya know?
* For those who tuned to ESPN’s “SportsCenter,” Thursday and Friday, to find out what was going on at The Barclays in Jersey City, all that was available from the Worldwide Leader in Sports was how Tiger Woods was making out, plus a brief mention of who was winning.
* Sure, Vin Scully’s coming back; he’ll work his 65th season. What else was he going to do? At 85, he’s long past retirement age.