The Red Sox missed the playoffs and never were really in contention in 2022. However, Boston fans at least get to bask in the glow of Yankees schadenfreude.
New York’s title drought officially expanded to 13 years Sunday night when the Houston Astros swept the Bronx Bombers in the American League Championship Series. Now, the Yankees have to figure out how they intend to pick up the pieces to get past an Astros team they simply cannot beat… all while coming to grips with the idea Aaron Judge could leave in free agency.
While the Yankees did put forth a solid effort Sunday night in Game 4, they still fell short and became one of the many, many teams who fell behind 3-0 in a series and failed to advance. Red Sox fans will be the first to remind you it’s only happened once, actually, when the 2004 Sox stormed all the way back to beat the hated Yankees in seven games.
In an attempt to find some sort of motivation for a miracle comeback of their own, the 2022 Yankees watched highlights of the ’04 Red Sox putting the Yankees in a history-making headlock. That rubbed some Yankees fans the wrong way, like Yankees play-by-play man and radio host Michael Kay.
Kay on Monday tore into the organization’s “tone-deaf” decision to use the most historic collapse in Yankees history as motivation for this year’s squad.
“How in baseball gods’ name can you be so tone-deaf as an organization, as if to do that?” Kay asked Monday on his WFAN radio show. “How can you be that tone-deaf? I mean, talk about bad optics. Are you out of your mind? I talked to three players from the (2004 Yankees) team. They were outraged by the fact that their failure was being used as motivation for the 2022 team. How could you do that?
“It would be like somebody from Lincoln’s family, and you’re trying to teach them about shootings in theatres, and you use their dad as an example of how to avoid it. Are you out of your mind?”
(You can watch the full rant by clicking here with the good stuff beginning at the 21-minute mark.)
In addition to the highlights, ESPN’s Eduardo Perez says he also FaceTimed with Red Sox legend David Ortiz in Yankees manager Aaron Boone’s office. As Kay points out, that interaction was downplayed, but Kay still believes it adds to the tough scene.
“Aaron Boone has to say thank you but no, we’re not going there,” a miffed Kay said. ” … Here’s the amazing thing, Don and Peter: They told the media. They told the media. Aaron Boone told the media, ‘Oh yeah, we put together a tape of the ’04 Red Sox.’ Oh my goodness.
“I hate to do it, I hate to do it, I hate to do it because I don’t want it done on the show, but if George Steinbrenner were alive today, somebody would be fired for doing something like that. That’s tone-deaf. You’re going to use the darkest moment in Yankees history, the darkest moment on field in Yankees history where they blow a 3-0 lead — the only team to ever do that — and you’re going to use it as motivation for the 2022 Yankees.”
If the Yankees are looking to take another page from past Red Sox playbooks, here’s one that’s a little more applicable: There’s always next year.
