Now it’s the media’s fault.
Hank Steinbrenner, who has gone out of his way to emphasize how much injuries have hurt the Yankees this season, told the new Sporting News magazine that he had to do it because, “Most of the national media is full of Yankee haters.”
“That’s why I have to point out the injuries,” Steinbrenner writes in his column in the magazine’s relauch issue, dated Sept. 1. “Because the media sweep that under the rug and say we’re playing poorly.
“But next year, in a new stadium, we’ll be much better.”
The Yankees have lost All-Stars Chien-Ming Wang, Jorge Posada and Hideki Matsui, as well as rising prospects Joba Chamerlain, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy for long stretches to injury this season.
But the team with a $200-million plus payroll still has All-Stars at seven different positions in the lineup, as well as three on their pitching staff.
The Yankees trailed the Tampa Bay Rays by 10 games in the AL East heading into tonight’s game at Toronto. The Yanks were 5 ½ games behind in the wild-card chase.
“We’ll add players,” Steinbrenner writes. “We’re gonna be very tough (next season).”
On Aug. 12, Steinbrenner said from Tampa, Fla., “They’re trying hard to win. There’s only so much you can do. They’re not supermen.
“I think it’s very simple, we’ve been devastated by injuries. No team I’ve ever seen in baseball has been decimated like this. It would kill any team.”
Steinbrenner spends most of his column revisiting Yankee Stadium nostalgia and looking forward to the opening of the team’s new ballpark.
The magazine is on newsstands.