With the Yankees’ postseason hopes slipping away, Hank Steinbrenner made a rare appearance in The Bronx last night and issued a warning.
“There’s going to be a lot going on this offseason,” Steinbrenner said shortly before the Yankees hosted the Red Sox. “I promise you that.”
And things didn’t get any better after he saw them get clobbered, 11-3, to fall seven games behind Boston in the wild-card race and 10 1/2 games south of Tampa Bay in the AL East.
“I’m very disappointed,” Steinbrenner said upon exiting the Stadium. “The bottom line is, they [stunk].”
Like father, like son.
The new voice of the Yankees didn’t elaborate on what changes might be made, but the most recent victim of the fans’ wrath – Alex Rodriguez – certainly won’t be involved, no matter how much he gets booed.
“He can still turn it around,” Steinbrenner said of the third baseman, who has struggled in clutch situations throughout this season after signing a 10-year contract in the offseason. “He’s just gotta quit pressing.”
Rodriguez doubled twice last night after going 0-for-5 on Tuesday.
“When he has a night like that, he’s going to hear it from the crowd,” Steinbrenner said. “That’s the way it works, but I’d rather have him than not have him. He’s still young enough. He’s gonna have a lot of good years ahead of him.”
Despite the team’s growing deficit in both the division and the wild-card race, Steinbrenner said he hadn’t given up hope on the season. That came on the heels of his recent statements in which he blamed some of the team’s problems on injuries, seemingly giving the players a bit of a free pass for the rest of the year.
Last night, he said that wasn’t the case.
“I’m not happy, obviously,” Steinbrenner said. “They gotta start hitting. Injuries or no injuries, they gotta be more consistent.”
That’s going to have to happen if the team’s 13-year postseason run is going to continue.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Steinbrenner said. “I’m just thinking about this loss.”