The Yankees and Orioles enter play tonight at Camden Yards tied for the lead in the AL East, the former’s 10 game lead having evaporated with no shortage of fitness-related alibis. In the midst of the collapse, the New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman gives the YES Network’s Michael Kay a backhand compliment for representing “the sky-is-falling side of the room”, while colleague Ken Singleton (above) prefers to focus on….the Orioles’ poor attendance?
Throughout the Rays series, analyst Lou Piniella paid lip service to the gloom surrounding the Yankees. He went for the positive spin, saying: “That’s the fun of playing baseball in September and you are in a pennant race. You come to the ballpark enthused.”
Not when you’re in the process of blowing a 10-game lead. That’s a panic race, not a pennant race. No matter, Piniella was walking on sunshine. As Curtis Granderson stepped into the box Tuesday night, Piniella rooted: “Come on Granderson.” Sweet Luigi forgot to check his pom-poms at the door. What else would you expect from a part-timer?
Evidently not any criticism of Robinson Cano. On Monday, the second baseman didn’t dive in an attempt smother Chris Gimenez’s eighth-inning ground-ball single, which allowed Ryan Roberts to score what turned out to be the winning run. Singleton was the only mouth to address the situation — kind of. He never mentioned Cano’s failure to dive. Instead, he was concerned with Cano’s health.
“Robinson Cano might actually be hurt,” Singleton said. “(He) might have strained himself.”