The New York Yankees are currently in first place in the AL East with the second-best record in all of baseball, so as soon as they have that best record in baseball status locked up – and maybe toss in a few highway robbery trades as well – all will be well in the universe, according to Yankees fans. One of the luxuries of being “business as usual” for baseball’s highest payroll is that Yankees players and fans can once again laugh, not only at the fans of teams beneath them in the standings, but also at their own miseries of previous years.
For example, on Friday the Yankees visited the Kansas City Royals for a quick three-game sweep to extend their winning streak to five games, but because Kauffman Stadium is where Yankees closer and first ballot Hall-of-Famer Mariano Rivera ended his season a wee bit early last season while shagging fly balls in warm-ups, his teammates decided to poke fun at the injury with the “No Mo Zone”.
Rivera seemed to get a kick out of the sign, even posing for a photo in which he was clutching his surgically repaired right knee. It was on this field that Rivera suffered his torn ACL just over a year ago, leaving him crumpled on the warning track in left-center field writhing in pain.
After the game, Rivera had very little to say about the sign, which was folded up and sitting in the locker next to his. Asked what he planned to do with it, Rivera grinned.
“I’m going to put it in front of my house,” he said. (Via the NY Daily News)
Meanwhile, if the Yankees are in first place by the All-Star Break, they plan to have a trampoline and stretch of Nebraska highway installed in the bullpen for Joba Chamberlain, according to something that I just made up.
(Image and GIF via MLB)
