The Yankees blew two different leads on Sunday before losing to the Rockies in extra innings, and it might have been more than a simple bullpen meltdown.
The YES Network had former Yankees John “Flash” Flaherty and Jeff Nelson on the call. Flaherty, normally an analyst and not play-by-play man, should change his nickname to “Mush” after this call:
found it pic.twitter.com/XcmFAQELx3 https://t.co/QSN5LehjCv
— jack (@Jolly_Olive) July 16, 2023
It’s a tale as old as time. John Flaherty mentions Alan Trejo hasn’t hit a home run all year, and the young infielder gets a Coors Field Special from Ron Marinaccio. Just like how Mike Vanderjagt missed the field goal against the Steelers in 2006 right after broadcasters mentioned his being the then-most accurate kicker in NFL history.
Except Flaherty is so rough on the mic that this walk-off, jinx, mush, whatever, stings more. Don’t forget he also called Nolan Jones’ game-tying homer a pop-up, just one batter before Trejo won the game. Even if it looked like a pop-up off the bat, it’s clear Flaherty was watching his monitor and not the field.
Unfortunately for Yankees fans, goofing on John Flaherty for jinxing the game is just that. It’s banter in place of venting frustrations over the bullpen, bad hitting, etc. Easy as it is to blame him, Flash/Mush isn’t why the Yankees are tied for last in the AL East.
The Yankees got beat on Sunday and underachieved against the Rockies. Plain and simple. You have to beat up on teams whose three starters in a series all have ERAs 6.00 or over.
Instead, the Yankees didn’t show up Friday, then showed up Saturday, and took to long to show up Sunday before the bullpen crapped out. All-Star Break fatigue was real.
Just ask John Flaherty, who was so tired that he forgot the rules of Broadcasting Jinx.
