(As an ex-New York City area kid way back when there were 3 teams in New York and the Yankees‘ top salary to The Great DiMaggio was something like $100,000, I cannot resist seeing some curious analogies to the Tigers‘ sweep.  Now, GO San Francisco!!!)

The New York Yankees managed to get two (count ’em) two hits in Thursday’s Game Four of the American League Championship series against Detroit. (Tigers–8, Yankees–1)  The New York Times said today on its front page, more or less, here’s a $200 million dollar (payroll) team that can’t hit.  Or, as we should look at it–2 hits for 200 mil on Thursday; that’s a 100 mil a hit.

After 36 years in Vermont, my ‘team loyalty’ to the Yankees has been eroded by my friends who are Red Sox fans, but mostly by the big money the Yankee owners waste in trying to buy a winning team.  And also by how the Yankees have pretty consistently fucked-up in a goodly number of post season series.  So, money doesn’t bat.

Now, we’ve seen Wall Street, the Banks, and the Feds waste trillions.  Our National Guard troops are dying and killing in Afghanistan.  And, oops, sorry, those unemployment checks will be late, and us folks on Social Security are going to get the lowest increase in decades.  But, you know folks, the price of a base hit, well, somebody’s got to pay for that.

If Mitt Romney gets elected, the Yankee owners will probably ask him for a bail-out.  You know, keep sending all that money to the top where the assholes kick it around off the edge or drop it down the toilet.  Create some more A-Rod paying jobs for A-Rod types, and make up for the waste out of the pockets of the 47%, while 47 more % lose their livable wage jobs?

If it’s bad for Baseball, it’s bad for the Country.  Simple.  The Yankees deserved to lose.  The line has to be drawn somewhere, and I’m glad those Tigers of that 47% city of Detroit showed Americans last night that BIG MONEY CAN BE BEATEN!  And also showed us what is wrong and maddening with an economics that says the Rich Guys can just…well, fuck up and give C- performance, cause, hell, they’ve got the money already.  Giving them more money will not fix things.  Things are broke because they do not appreciate the value of the money they have because they didn’t (or REFUSE TO) earn it.

Before the Wall Street Yankees spend more money during off-season, perhaps they should consider moving the goddamn franchise to Atlanta.  After all, those goddamn Braves are there almost every post season but do not quite make it all the way.  Why not the Atlanta Yankees?  Sort of a Gone With The Wind team.

And Romney?  He’s pitching shit and popping out.  He needs to be traded–to China, let us hope.  In Baseball, the team that plays the best should win, not the team that spends the most and thinks it can fake it through.  It looked like the Yankees didn’t have a plan, or a clue.  Or that plan was a secret plan.  Romney will not tell us his plan.  Don’t bet money on him.

Peter Buknatski

Montpelier, Vt.