The Sommer Frieze

As you may have seen on The Bronx is Burning, the defending A.L. Champion Yanks faced big expectations for 1977 after signing Reggie Jackson in the offseason (left unmentioned in that series was the Don Gullett signing). I write this for all the “Chicken Littles” out there screaming that the sky is falling because the Yanks have a 2-3 start. They started slowly (much to our chagrin) in 2005 and 2007, and even in 1978 and 1998 got off to 1-4 starts.

In 1977, that start was 2-8. Thank goodness blogs weren’t around then. The naysayers would have had a field day. They would really have had a field day if the lineup were posted on blogs before the 4/20/77 game vs. the expansion Blue Jays.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA197704200.shtml

Yup. Rivers fifth, Chambliss eighth. Manager Billy Martin picked his lineup out of a hat. The shakeup worked. The Yanks won that day 7-5 and Rivers drove in two runs out of the 5 spot. The shakeup sparked a six-game winning streak that put the 1977 Yanks back at .500.

My hope, as I’ve written before, is that the Yanks end April at .500 or better. What I don’t want is five games or more under .500 when the calendar turns to May. .500 won’t be great, and the “Chicken Littles” will probably give up on the season at that point, but as the phrase goes, “it’s a marathon, not a sprint.” A good start does make things easier down the road, but at 2-3, the panic from some people is moronic.

Chill.

I’ll be in and out today, but will be checking in on the Bombers and all of this afternoon’s minor league action and most likely will have posts up by the time the Radio Show starts at 6 p.m. tonight. Hope you can tune in. Ty, Uncle Joe and Tony will repeat the mantras…”it’s early, stifle, chill out.”