A Nightmare On 161st Street, Part 18: The F-Word Cometh
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by Lenora X
I Have Seen This Movie Before And It's Just As Scary Every Time.
The script is horrifyingly familiar, made no less upsetting by virtue of repetition.
We lead late. Have to get the eighth inning to give the game to Mariano. In comes Farnsworth.
And then there's a baserunner. Or two. Or a home run. Or some walks. Or all of the above.
Unlike the horror movie series, though, the bad guy isn't wearing a goalie mask, as if he's proud of his grisly crimes.
But, as often happens in the horror genre, the monster has a master, the mad scientist pushing the buttons and throwing the switches, giving life to the beast.
How many times do we have to see this particular (bad) movie?
I don't care how much money Farnsworth is making -- he's pitched his way to the bottom of the heap. That Torre keeps running him out there in big spots is inexplicable and bizarre.
If the archives are still out there, you'll know I'm not second -guessing. When the Yankees were thinking of signing Farnsworth, I wrote on the Yankees message boards that we needed to stay away from this goon at all costs. He had had one good season (one good half-season, really) and that we shouldn't be fooled by that.
He is Armando Benitez with a better workout regimen. All arm and no brains. All stuff and no heart.
Supposedly Cashman is looking to trade Farnsworth. Do it -- amazingly enough there are some teams out there desperate/stupid enough to actually trade us something for him. In the meantime, Torre needs to not pitch him unless we are ahead or behind 7 or more runs. Right now I want to see Proctor or Bruney or anyone else (except Meyers) in the eighth inning.
But this is what Torre does. You'll note that it took no time at all for Ron Villone to earn his way back into important spots. He's a Joe guy and a Joe guy gets 1,293 chances to fail. Meanwhile Chris Britton, who apparently insulted Torre's family or something, rots in Scranton. And don't tell me that Sean Henn can't do a better job than Mike Meyers.
