Saturday, October 8, 2011

Hip. Hip. Jorge.

They made it to The Show in the same season on the same team. Derek Jeter, Andy Petitte, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera, the Core Four. The seasons between then and now were very kind to all of them and to all of us who rooted for them. Andy went away, came back and then retired. Derek is The Captain and picked up base hit #3000 this past season and Mo was on the mound the afternoon my son, Pat, took me to my birthday present, a Yankees home game (won by A. J. Burnett).

It's very probable Jorge Posada played his last game Thursday night as Detroit eliminated New York in a Divisional playoff. In a post season where the heroes were outnumbered by the villains quite handily, Jorge shone. He had a good series, says the guy who never played a second of professional sports in his life, and certainly (yet again) a better post season than Alex or Mark. He deserved it as his regular season was rocky and more.

Some sports guys, and not just in New York, are certain it was very much Posada's last game as a Yankee but I'm rooting for him to retire entirely even though I suspect, at 40, he thinks he can still play. It's not a question of want; that's a constant and he'll have that, as does anyone who is passionate about what s/he does for a living, burning within him until the day he dies. Sitting in Yankees Stadium in April at nearly two decades his senior, I assure Jorge, you can definitely play baseball, just not indefinitely.

As a Yankees fan, I want us to win every year even if by 'us,' I mean you on the field. At the risk of making Hank look like Billy Beane, let's not be stupid, okay? I concede it's not gonna happen. And I'm not going to demand Joe Girardi's head, either. There's a fortnight or so of great baseball yet to be played-league championships and then the World Series and then the long, cold off-season.

There will be time enough for those so inclined to replay every pitch in their minds to, and through, Opening Day 2012. A time to dance and a time to mourn. To look into the reflection of your own eyes in the mirror and ask yourself what if yesterday were all the tomorrow's I could have? And a time for every purpose under heaven.
-bill kenny

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