Friendly Neighborhood Yankees Fan Returns to Poke You With Pointy Stick

For some reason we decided to let Rob Iracane, one of the rapscallions from WalkoffWalk, back to pen this post. He's a Yankees fan but says he roots for the Phillies when they aren't playing the Yankees. Isn't that cute? Please don't be nice to him.

Hey, Phillies fans! As your friendly Yankees fan correspondent, it's so nice to be back here five months after you greeted me with such kindness. Sadly, my predictions were mistaken and the Yankees failed to sweep the series. And sure, your cherished Phillies have had quite a nice run since then, even making it back to the World Series for the second year in a row despite the best (worst?) efforts of Brad Lidge and his miasmic attempts to close out games.

But the Yankees, my squadron of choice, has simply outplayed your squadron of choice since that point. We ended up topping the 100-win mark, finishing first in the most competitive division since the outset of Wild Card play, and seizing home field advantage throughout the course of our tidy playoff run. You know the big names, from Alex Rodriguez to Mariano Rivera to Derek Jeter, and you know that we actually have a sympathetic group of non-Yankees fans cheering us on (even fans of the hated Dodgers!) With the jokester A.J. Burnett and the fun-loving Nick Swisher keeping things light, we're easily the most fun Yankees team to witness in more than ten years. There's simply nothing to dislike about this team!

Well, except for the money.

You got me on that point. The Yankees did spend unfathomable amounts of money this past winter on CC Sabathia, Burnett, and Mark Teixeira. Throw in the dollars they spent on Alex Rodriguez, Johnny Damon, and returning son Andy Pettitte and you've got approximately the gross domestic product of Bangladesh. If you remove the high-priced free agents, isolate the 'home-grown' talent of the Yankees, and compare them to that of the Phillies, or the Red Sox, or any given team, there's not a significant difference. All of the top teams have good evaluators of talent and they certainly have made their share of mistakes on the farm.

So, is it unfair, in that case, that the Yankees were able to fill out their squad by spending so much money on the best and brightest of other team's hard work? Hell no. Historically, the Steinbrenner-era Yankees invested their income without much shrewdness or frugality. If a talented free agent presented himself, the Yankees would come calling. If a team wanted to trade a big name, the Yankees would show up to the market with a huge paper bag of money and prospects. This is not against the rules. Baseball has no salary cap. Unlike the NFL, baseball teams survive and thrive by their own results on the field, plus a tidy bit of revenue sharing, mostly from the wealthiest teams. The Yankees' historic success, started back when they stole Babe Ruth from the Red Sox, has led to more success, which has built on more success and led to even more success.

It's a successvalanche, and the only difficult part about being a Yankees fan is when you go nine or more years between successes. The burden of those 40 pennants and 26 World Series trophies is the expectation to return such wonderfulness on a yearly basis. So enjoy your 30-year gaps between titles, Phillies fans. I wouldn't wish such repetitive success on my worst enemy.

Comments

[Lucille Licksack]

You let this jackass back to write some malarkey? What sort of Phillies base-ball blog is this anyway? Harrumph!

[Kevin Krappants]

We're gonna twist 'em up, just like our delicious Philly Soft Pretzel!

[fuck the mets]

Pretty sure that article is why everybody hates the Yankees and their fans.

[matt_t]

What does this Rob guy know anyways, he thinks a shrimp on a treadmill is funny.

[Poster Nutbag]

a tale of two fanbases in pictures: brooke hundley (the steve phillips mistress, yankees): http://bit.ly/4mk3o8; kate atkins (antarctic explorer extraordinaire, phillies): http://bit.ly/NyL5A. phillies 1, yankees 0

[obligatory fist-pump]

krappants, i thought you were going somewhere else with the twisting comment with something else that bears the name phillies

[obligatory fist-pump]

i cant wait for this series to start, the arrogance is getting tiresome at this point and the feeble attempts to get under our skin are laughable. we have more experience in the big game then this yankee team, and we will step it up when it counts

[theKrisheim]

"If you remove the high-priced free agents, isolate the 'home-grown' talent of the Yankees, and compare them to that of the Phillies, or the Red Sox, or any given team, there's not a significant difference."

hmmm

[Mr. Bryan]

Yawn.

[gladly]

I'm sorry, how is this different than the NY Post article?

All of this trash talking between fanbases is so meaningless. You know, we're not actually playing right?

Or maybe since Mr. Iracane uses "We" in his post, he's on the Steinbrenner payroll after all? I mean, there's probably a few bucks in there for him, right? He's not just a guy writing a blog equating his performance with Jeter's, A-Rod's, and C.C.'s? God, he would be a moron to do that.

[Scott B]

"We ended up topping the 100-win mark, finishing first in the most competitive division since the outset of Wild Card play, and seizing home field advantage throughout the course of our tidy playoff run."

You actually have home field because the AL won the All-star game, not because the Yankees finished in first. ass

[d.nugz]

this dude is a herb. GTFO!!!

[Chase Mutley]

The Rays, Orioles, and Blue Jays were super competitive this year. I'm glad we don't play in that division. I mean, we'd be in like cellar in that division for sure.

[Mike]

no facts or figures to back up ANYTHING in this article. Just like his last one, it's just a bunch of crap from a guy who's only exposure to the Phils is a small sample size that he considers enough to make these terrible arguments.

By the way, take away the overpaid free-agents and trades, and your "home grown" talent isn't even close to ours AND those player's peaks were years ago.

[Rick]

I never truly understood the hatred Red Sox Nation had for the Yankees.. Until now...

[DP]

In the best Philly tradition: Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Ster--roids...Ster--roids...Ster--roids...Ster--roids...Ster--roids...

Yankees Suck! Yankees Suck! Yankees Suck!
Yankees Suck! Yankees Suck! Yankees Suck

[Benjamin]

Was there a point to this post? It just rambled on with points that made no sense whatsoever.

How about this : Rollins, Utley, Howard, Ruiz, Hamels are all homegrown on the Phillies farm. Who exactly is homegrown on the Yankees farm of that stature?

[Yuri Youshouldgohangyourself]

We're gonna come at the Phillies from all sides, similar to our many bridges, tunnels, trains, and ferries which provide relative ease of transport to and from this great city of ours.

[TheSportsHernia]

"this dude is a herb."

People still really use that term?

[Mike P]

I have to agree with ChaseMutley. The AL East wasn't really all that impressive this year. The O's and Jays sucked, and while the Rays were halfway competitive for a while, they also had a streak where they dropped something like 17 of 19. That's insane. Sure, Boston was a good team, but the Phils at least had to contend with 2 other decent teams in their division.

[jd]

how can you possibly omit the steroid scandles? the failed drug tests? the past failures of the yankees when buying the best talent out there?

i just can't like this version of the yankees as a team. to me, it's like that guy who sits by his computer the first week of the nfl and picks up whatever guy just scored a touchdown. it requires no skill whatsoever to put that team together, and there are no repercussions for poor decisionmaking on personnel.

[will.H]

jd, the yankees are only proud of distant hitsory, not recent history. we're supposed to salute them for their 26 rings won last century. all that steroid talk gets a little awkward, so lets just ignore that it even happend. The phils just dumped one fake hall of famer from the post season, now its time to dispose of two others.

[astcter]

"With the jokester AJ Burnett and the fun-loving Nick Swisher CREATING HUGE VOIDS IN THE LINEUP..."

/fixed

[Snevik]

Attempt to rile failed, Mr. Iracane. A little too predictable, a little too self-consciously rabble-rousing (I'm not sure that last word is English...).

Still, a few points:
-Your mistake last time you stopped by was overlooking El Senor Octubre. Even though it was still only May, he
-You don't have any sympathetic supporters outside New York; only reluctant ones. They still hate you, they simply hate us more. I'm okay with that.
-I don't think Phillies fans especially revile the Yankees. For most of the 90s and early 00s, we straight envied the money you spent, and your management's commitment to win. But you haven't done it in so long, you seem harmless. More than anything else, the run of the current Yankees squad seems cute to me. I don't even mind the media attention lavished on your squad because there's only one team that has my ear. You haven't faced this Phillies team in October--they are a full-fledged monster. Until we have a reason to actually dislike you, I think most Phillies fans, when presented with provocation, are going to play the Gandhi to your British Army. Bring the noise, bitch, and see who's standing when it's done.

[Farthammer]

This is so stupid. I don't even see what this has to do with the Human Condition.

[Farthammer]

This is so stupid. I don't even see what this has to do with the Human Condition.

[matt_t]

But what does it have to do with Guy Clark

[njpanick]

"How about this : Rollins, Utley, Howard, Ruiz, Hamels are all homegrown on the Phillies farm. Who exactly is homegrown on the Yankees farm of that stature?"

I'm a Phils fan through and through, but you're really going to dismiss Jeter, Posada, and Cano? Come on, statements like that make us look like we don't know what we're talking about.

The Phillies and Yankees are the best two teams in baseball this year - have been all season long. When the Phillies win, we can take satisfaction knowing they beat the best that the MLB had to offer.

[Mike (Delaware County)]

Phillies > Yankees

No need for any more words. Ill see you on broad street when your watchin us ride down the pavement in style with our repeat trophy an wonder "how did this happen"

[Drew]

Not to be "that guy", but drop the Rays and even the Jays into the National League and suddenly they'd rank as the second and third best teams. Just sayin'.

[Joe]

Players admitted to being lying, cheating, no good, steroid pumping losers

Yankees 2, Phillies 0

Gonna be about the only thing the cock yanks win against the Phightins.

[theKrisheim]

"Yuri Youshouldgohangyourself"

i might steal this name

amazing

[SteveGueze]

@ Drew You're an idiot. That is simply not true. You're "that guy" because what you said makes you look like a complete jackass.

The October version of the 2009 Philadelphia Phillies is absolutely a "full-fledged monster". Let's smoke these chumps.

[EastFallowfield]

Seems to me from watching the playoffs that the AL advantage ain't what it used to be.

[Ryan]

I'm sorry was there any actual content in that post?

[Benjamin]

Njpanick - Cano has no business being compared to
utley, Howard or rollins.

[Robert]

Yankees fans, followed closely by Mets fans, are the most arrogant douchebags in baseballdom. They expect to win. They expect a World Series ring every season. if the Yankees start out a season at 0-2, Yankees fans are already calling the season over.

There's something fundemental about baseball, and all sports, and that is LOSING. It takes a better sportsman (or fan) to appreciate losing. Take for example Phillies fans. They have the humility of 10,000 loses and one 2 World Series rings in 125 seasons. 2009 being their 126th season.

Granted, I was born and raised in Philly, but I am not a Phillies fan. My father and grandfather were both Athletic's fans who to their dying day proclaimed the wrong team moved to Kansas City. If you know baseball history and especially Phillies history, that's not a far off assessement.

I digress.