Ha! Just kidding, but now that I’ve got your attention, allow me to re-introduce myself.
My name is Dan Benton and I am officially taking over this glorious Red Sox page on behalf of Yankee Nation. Well, not really, but you will be forced to read my Yankees propaganda for the remainder of this guest article. …OK, that’s a lie, too.
While I am a huge New York Yankees fan, I am not, have never been and never will be a Yankees troll. I fend off the Sox trolls (not the true fans) daily and know what it’s like to be on the other side of the fence, so I’ll spare you.
With that said, let’s talk some Yankees, shall we?
Many people were surprised and disappointed in me prior to the regular season when I picked the Boston Red Sox to win the AL East. People were calling me a “sell out” and a “traitor” all because I tried to remain realistic. As Yankees fans, we can’t wake up every single day and honestly believe that the Yankees will never lose the division. Good ole’ George could spend $500 million per year and eventually they would still lose, that’s just baseball.
So here we sit on June 20th and the Yankees find themselves in second place by a good margin, despite their recent tear — a tear I will try not to speak of because I am amazingly superstitious and this sentence has already cost them three games.
I would love to think the Yankees could come all the way back and take the AL East, but the chances of that are slim. Baseball is about hot streaks and slumps. Right now New York is on a hot streak, while Boston is fending off their annual “June swoon.” Eventually things will settle down again and only half a season will remain. Even if the Yankees were to be five games out at the All-Star break, does anyone honestly believe that they can play five games better than the Sox over the remaining season? A Boston team, which I might add, has been battling for the best record in Major League Baseball all year.
Yankees fans had better start to accept that there is a chance they won’t win the AL East, or God forbid, even make the playoffs. And although the suicide watch has been taken off New York City recently, one more Alex Rodriguez dry spell might have it back in full force.
It pains me to say that Boston fans may finally enjoy an AL East championship, but I’ve already lived through a Red Sox World Series victory and nothing could be more painful than that.
So, while I’m not throwing in the white flag — something I’ll never, ever do — I have come to terms with the fact that this may not be the Yankees year and that the lingering bits of a fabulous dynasty are slowly fading to black in front of my eyes.
