October 23, 2009

Newsday: 2009 Collapse Would Be Worse Than 2004

Newsday's Wallace Matthews says that if the Yankees blow the ALCS to the Angels, it would be
the worst postseason collapse in their history. Yes, this would be worse than coughing up a 3-0 lead to the Red Sox in 2004.
His reasoning?
[T]hese Angels are not nearly as good as the 2004 Red Sox. And these Yankees are a lot better than the 2004 Yankees. At least, they're supposed to be.
If the Angels come back, the Yankees would have spit up a 3-1 lead, not an unprecedented 3-0 advantage. That alone makes Matthews dead wrong. But there is also this: the Angels are the Angels and the Red Sox were the Red Sox.

Then again, this is the same writer who complained that Tim Wakefield was perhaps the slowest worker on the mound in baseball and called him and his knuckleball "a bigger menace to the game than steroids".



ALCS 6 is Saturday at 8 PM.

20 comments:

s1c said...

Off topic but you should see if you can find Theo's interview on WEEI - comes out and defends JD and says he is worth every penny they have paid him. Has generated a lot of pro and con talk.

laura k said...

Theo did that here, too.

* * * *

"Worse than 2004" is just sensationalism. NYY fans and media know nothing will EVER be worse than 2004!

Amy said...

Why no Schadenfreude in the title?

tim said...

Pfft. Recency effect. That's all this is.

BklynSoxFan said...

Matthews the moron strikes again. Someone actually pays him to write crap like this? Amazing.

allan said...

Why no Schadenfreude in the title?

I don't know. I did tag it, though.

When they lose Saturday night, it'll be there.

allan said...

NYY fans and media know nothing will EVER be worse than 2004!

Amusing Daily News poll

Shades of '04

Are you worried the Yankees might be in for a repeat of their 2004 ALCS collapse?

* Yes, if Joe Saunders has a bloody sock Saturday, we're done

* No, we got CC for Game 7 if needed

* There was an ALCS in 2004?

allan said...

Someone actually pays him to write crap like this?

I assume he is drawing a salary, but I can't be sure.

tim said...

I'm curious to see how well everyone does on this.

I'm also surprised at how dumb I am.

allan said...

Tim: I got 21 pretty much right off the bat, though I had to go to BRef to get the correct spelling of the 1B. Was stuck and then got two more before the 3:00 mark (I am shocked at who they were). Ended up not getting the last two.

allan said...

Wanna buy some of Dustin Pedroia's game-used underwear?

9casey said...

I wonder if the game is rained out if they bring back CC to pitch game 6 (on normal rest)

tim said...

Comment of the day found on my tour around the interwebs:

"The only disgusting act was Joe Buck managing to talk clearly for 9 innings around a mouthful of Steinbrenner's nutsack. You generally have to visit a pachinko parlor to see high quality ball-washing like that."

tim said...

Should've probably cited that.

s1c said...

L-girl - This was different though, World is Round or Flat was also said. It was a great interview and boy has it generated talk.

laura k said...

Ok. I was just linking for information's sake.

laura k said...

One of my close friends who is on the dark side said that all the WS titles they won in the 90's were as important as 1996.

That's not so strange. If this friend is old enough, 1996 wasn't his first WS win.

There are plenty of reasons to dislike some NYY fans, but this hardly seems like one of them.

Subway Squawkers said...

I agree with you that it's a bad column, and that 2004 does not equal 2009. But I also don't think the writer even believes in his own article's premise. He's just doing it to be edgy/provocative.

In other news, thanks for your participation in The Faster Times interview, and for posting a link to the piece. Appreciate it.

Lisa

9casey said...

I asked a few yankee fans which one would be worse and they laughed , like it was even close...

allan said...

Not sure why I didn't think of this before.

Another way to look at Matthews's claim: Insisting that the Red Sox's comeback against Cleveland down 1-3 in 2007 was a greater comeback than 2004 against the Yankees.

Laughable.

I think he's finally topped the Wakefield column.