SPORTS/KAREN’S MUSINGS: END OF A YANKEES ERA

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END OF A YANKEES ERA

 

Here we are, in the thick of the baseball play-offs, but without the Yankees for only the second time in nineteen years. That situation is so sad to me, especially because this year has truly marked the end of a major Yankees era. (And I could have really used the distraction while I’m trying to recover from double hand surgery over here.)

[Note #1: I started writing this about three weeks ago, but didn’t publish it right away because I realized I needed to calm down and get some perspective before I finished it.]

The great Mariano Rivera leaving the field at Yankee Stadium for the last time.

The great Mariano Rivera leaving the field at Yankee Stadium for the last time.

I know I often look like a mental patient, but right now I feel like one, too. I’m writing this on Sunday, September 22, as I’m waiting to see the Yankees honor pitching great Mariano Rivera, who’s retiring at the end of the season, which may be here quicker than any of us Yankee fans had hoped.

On top of that, another longtime Yankees pitcher, Andy Pettite, is about to pitch his last game. [Note #2: It’s torture to use this voice dictation system while I’m crying my guts out. It’s not understanding a word I’m saying, and it’s just typing sentences that bear no resemblance at all to what I’m dictating. As if today’s situation wasn’t sad enough.] [Note #3: Andy did get to pitch one more game, which turned-out to be a complete game! So at least he went out faring better than he would have if the September 22 game had been his last.]

With team captain Derek Jeter being almost forty and injured this whole season, and slugger Alex Rodriguez being injured most of the season, as well, and then possibly out for the entire next season because of the performance-enhancing drugs scandal that could get him suspended, this truly is the end of an era for the Yankees. I’ve gotten through many other retirements since I became a fan as a teen-ager, but I’m really having trouble coping this time.

[Note #4: Okay, I’m writing the rest of this column weeks later. I was crying so hard that whole day I just could not finish. But those waterworks were nothing compared to those that spewed from my eyes on September 26, the last day that Mo pitched at Yankee Stadium, which turned out to be the last day he pitched, period.

You know what? I’m crying again, so I can’t even finish this. I love this man so much, as I’m sure every single sports fan in America does, even members and fans of opposing teams, that no tribute I can write at this point needs to be said. But I’ll give it one more go anyway.]

Okay, I give up. This is perhaps my least eloquent piece I’ve ever written. But it’s just too hard to write about something that’s making me so sad.

For most of the 2013 season, the Yankees team was comprised of mainly strangers. But I finally got through that stressful situation. Now next year, even if everyone’s healthy, (knock on wood,) it will still be mainly strangers because of all the retirements and all the older players. At least we now know that manager Joe Girardi will be back, and are all keeping our fingers crossed that Robinson Cano will be back. I’m praying they also keep Alfonso Soriano, who returned to the team a few months ago after ten years away, and was a complete asset. And in my fantasies, I picture the colorful Nick Swisher returning, too. Trust me, they could have really used his positive energy this year.

For right now, though, I thank Mario Rivera thought all the fabulous times is given as Yankees fans, and wish him nothing but happiness for his post-baseball life. He’s one who truly deserves only the best.

Now the rest of you guys, please rest up and heal a lot over the winter, and I look forward to a fabulous spring and summer 2014!

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