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The secret behind the New York Yankees' playoff push is ... a new pet? Facebook Twitter Facebook Messenger Pinterest Email print BOSTON WAS BEAUTIFUL on Saturday. Warm. Breezy. A little after noon, a yellow luxury coach bus idled outside the front entrance of the Four Seasons Hotel. A small crowd gathered behind a metal fence. It was all very standard. The autograph hunters with their bags of jerseys and cards. A couple of college-age fans who shouted out their love for the team. A pair of women with New York Yankees T-shirts. The Yankees players trickled out slowly. Giancarlo Stanton. Aaron Judge. Gerrit Cole. Nestor Cortes was the only one to stop to sign anything, and he only did so after chiding one of the regulars for a posting a mean-spirited Instagram message. As a man and a little girl walked by, the man pointed to the players climbing onto the bus. "Look at those Yankees," he said, and the little girl stopped. She stared for a moment at the big bus and the big players. And then, in the matter-of-fact tone only an adorable child can produce, she asked the same question that New York fans have been asking each other, over and over, for months. "Daddy," she said, "Who are those Yankees?" THE ANSWER TO that little girl, as any exhausted Yankees fan will surely tell you, has ranged widely during this gloriously maddening, maddeningly glorious season. There have been separate stretches where the Yankees have lost 10 out of 15 games or 13 out of 18 or 13 out of 20, as well as other stretches where they have won 23 out of 32 or 13 in a row or 43 out of 63. These Yankees are everything: a juggernaut or a disgrace; world-beaters or a team that couldn't get a hit off a high schooler. Because of their violent fluctuations, all the labels have felt valid. With only six games remaining in this season, however, here is a previously unknown story that might offer a new potential identity: A little more than a week ago, the Yankees got a pet. Was the secret to the Yankees' recent win streak ... Nestor Cortes adopting a turtle from a pet store? Pandemic puppies are on trend, but Cortes, the Cuban lefthander who played for the Yankees in 2019 and rejoined them this season, led a group of players who were interested in becoming animal owners in a different way. Specifically, they wanted a turtle. After some discussion, a small (and, it must be said, very cute) turtle was acquired from a neighborhood pet store. The players were elated. The turtle's name is Bronxie, an ode to its home borough, and it lives a comfortable life. It wiles away most of its hours in a tank with a piece of tape labeled "Bronxie the Turtle" on it. It is well-fed. At times, it even roams freely, crawling among the white, interlocking-NYs on the blue clubhouse carpet. The Yankees famously do not have an organizational mascot, but Bronxie has been immediately embraced. Cortes is very much a proud papa, but others, including DJ LeMahieu -- who is said to just enjoy staring at Bronxie -- are involved and engaged caretakers, as well. This week, Bronxie made his first road trip, joining the team in Boston. Bronxie, seen in the Yankees clubhouse, has been a "lucky charm" on the team's recent win streak, Brett Gardner says. "There is a lot of love," Yankees veteran outfielder Brett Gardner told me, adding, "Everyone is also very aware of what's happening lately." Gardner, of course, was referring to New York's performance since Bronxie's adoption: a three-game sweep of the Texas Rangers; a three-game sweep of the Red Sox, including a dramatic eighth-inning comeback on Sunday night; and a critical move from a place outside the American League's second wild-card spot to a position squarely in the mix for the first one, as the Yankees begin their final six games against the Toronto Blue Jays and the Tampa Bay Rays. "Lucky charm, whatever you want to call it; I know a lot of guys believe there's a connection here," Gardner said before Sunday's game. "At the end of it, it would be great if we could go out and get him a little World Series ring." He smiled and jogged out to join his teammates. Who are those Yankees? Maybe they are Bronxie's team. ALTHOUGH THIS SEASON has brought the topic into sharper focus than ever before, the question of identity is one that has lingered over the Yankees for some time. The last championship dynasty (Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and others) ended two decades ago, but for many, the larger philosophical sentiment underpinning those Yankees teams, and really all Yankees teams under George Steinbrenner, persists. The Yankees are the best, that thinking goes. So, they buy the best players, use those players to put together the best teams and, because of all that, should win the World Series all the time. Michael Kay, who does play-by-play of the Yankees games on television and also hosts a weekday radio show in which he often takes calls from fans, said he calls this phenomenon "the Steinbrenner-ization of a generation." "That's what George sold them," Kay said. "And so, those fans who still want that to be the case have been miserable since 2009." (That year, the Yankees spent more than $400 million on CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira in the offseason before winning the franchise's 27th title.) In truth, Kay continued, the Yankees under Steinbrenner's son, Hal, are different. "George fired Yogi Berra 16 games into the season, so this year, at 41-41, I don't think there's any chance George wouldn't have fired Aaron Boone," Kay said, adding that baseball, as a sport, has caught up anyway. The rise of analytics-based player evaluation has allowed a team like the Rays, currently in first place in the AL East and eight games ahead of the Yankees, to have an objectively deeper team than the Yankees despite having a payroll that is $130 million smaller. For an ever-growing segment of Yankees fans, as well as a significant part of the Yankees organization, that model -- the Rays' bargain-hunting brilliance -- is aspirational as well as, it sure seems, quite a bit more fun. Who doesn't prefer diamonds found to diamonds bought? But there isn't anything close to unanimity on that kind of seismic shift, within or outside the team, and so a schism has developed that makes years like this one even more complicated. When the Yankees thrive, is it because of their high-priced stars performing? Or because of canny decision-making from the manager or the front office? And when they swoon, is it because general manager Brian Cashman pushes the team to rely too much on analytics? Or not enough? As the Yankees pull out of another swoon in a roller-coaster season, DJ LeMahieu described it as such: "The story of our season is getting punched in the face and coming back." At the center of it is Boone, the former Yankee who had his own indelible moment at Fenway Park Yankee Stadium with that AL Championship Series-winning home run in 2003. Boone is as warm and thoughtful as he was in his playing days, and he remains the epitome of the old-school ballplayer. He comes from a baseball family. He essentially grew up around major league clubhouses before playing 13 big league seasons himself, and he largely presents in that classic mold. He defends his players and their ability to perform to the point of occasional absurdity. He is relentlessly positive. He does not have a problem relying on a series of well-worn clichés ("Every game is important," "I believe in my guys") in his daily interactions with the beat reporters. Boone has tried to engage with the injection of analytics that Cashman has brought to the club through assistant GM Michael Fishman, but it is clearly not his natural inclination. His coaching staff is a mix of old-school and numbers-rooted coaches, and he is a frequent target for complaints about his inconsistency in the cacophonous multiverse that is Yankees fans on the internet. (Sunday's decision to remove reliever Clay Holmes after one inning, in which Holmes struck out the side, was just the latest example.) Boone's steadfast commitment to remaining unruffled can give him an at-times pained look on the bench, but Kay said he sensed a visceral difference in Boone for a few weeks back in August. Yes, it was during one of the Yankees' best stretches this summer, but it wasn't simply because they were winning, either, Kay said. It had just as much to do with the fact that the Yankees, due to injuries and COVID-19 protocols, were forced to play lesser-known players such as Greg Allen and Andrew Velazquez and Kyle Higashioka. Not coincidentally, their style shifted, as well. Suddenly, the Yankees' baserunning was more aggressive. There were more steals. There was more hitting-and-running and fewer double plays. The Yankees were more assertive; they didn't simply wait for analytics' lasting contributions to the recent game -- a walk, a strikeout or a home run. That kind of play (and those kind of players), the numbers tell us, is not necessarily as reliably effective. But that does not mean it isn't engaging. "I think if you injected him with truth serum, Boone would say that was the most fun he had this season," Kay said. "He was managing the team like it was a team from before analytics existed." CASEY STENGEL ONCE said that "managing is getting paid for home runs someone else hits," and while that is assuredly true (whether you're Boone, Tony La Russa or anyone else), it also undersells the personal component of what modern sports leadership requires. Whatever one thinks of Boone's baseball acumen, there is no denying that a significant part of his responsibility lies in motivating his players. It is his job to create an environment in which the players believe -- regardless of whatever just happened -- that another success is attainable. This task, which is inevitably heightened in the pressure cooker that is playing in New York, is something Boone made a significant part of his team talk on the first day of spring training. "I wanted them to be clear about it right away," he told me in Boston. "I said it straight: 'There is adversity coming for you.' Because there always is. It isn't about if; it's when. And I wanted them to know I would support them when it happened." Boone, admittedly, didn't necessarily foresee a season with so many extremes -- the Yankees went from preseason title favorites to underwhelming and possibly out of contention to now back to a dangerous postseason pick -- but while one could look at the Yankees' season as a series of disappointing inconsistencies, another interpretation is to see it as one of perpetual redemptions. Or as LeMahieu put it: "The story of our season is getting punched in the face and coming back." What story will be told about the 2021 Yankees remains to be seen -- but a sweep against the Red Sox in the two teams' final meeting of the season doesn't hurt. The Yankees' ability to plow on is remarkable enough, but to go one layer deeper, it is their unshaking belief that they'll be able to plow on that feels like it could be special. On Saturday, trailing the Red Sox by a run with two outs in the eighth inning, Stanton stood in the on-deck circle at Fenway as Boston lefty Darwinzon Hernandez tried to retire Anthony Rizzo to end the inning. As he watched, Stanton had one thought: "They better get Rizz." When Hernandez didn't (he hit Rizzo to load the bases), Stanton strode to the plate and obliterated the first pitch he saw, rocketing the ball into the night sky for a grand slam that pushed the Yankees to an unlikely victory and made the summer slogs feel that much farther away. Will those moments continue? Will that energy always be there? Or to put it another way, who are those Yankees? As Gardner said when I asked him the question the next afternoon, "Well ... that's still to be determined, isn't it?" And it is. On Sunday, Stanton homered again and the Yankees came back again. And that is, in the end, what will push the Yankees as far as they can go. They will need to mash. And pitch. And take the opportunities when they are right there in front of them. They will need Stanton. And Judge. And Cole, who pitched well in Friday's win. And Gardner. And the bullpen guys. And yes, maybe even Bronxie. There are six games left in this serpentine season, and there was some serious discussion about what to do with Bronxie as the series in Boston neared its end. Travel is tricky for a turtle, so the question was asked: Should Bronxie go on to Toronto with the team? Or perhaps head back to New York and his more familiar surroundings? There was talk. And debate. And then the Yankees completed their rally, and Bronxie's record moved to a perfect 6-0, and the answer, to everyone, was obvious. Bronxie is in Toronto. Neither he, nor the Yankees, are going anywhere.

the last 14 runs he has scored have been on his homers. The last time he scored any other way was August 21st (my & Jeff Stryker's 59th birthday). Yes, that's 14 homers in 5 weeks. He vetoed that possibility when the Marlins were looking to trade him.

I watched Thursday's 2 episodes on PEACOCK Saturday morning and NO COMMERCIALS! I believe that service is free, so you should try watching it there.

There was never a major league player with the first name TYLER before 1993. Now there have been about 50, the cutest one being Tyler Wade of the Yankees BTW, the Yanks have a minor leaguer named Tyler HARDman.

She has, he hasn't. I don't believe he ever got a nomination, though he should have for the 10th season episode with Ellen Burstyn as his mother. (the best episode the show ever had) I believe she'll be making an appearance this year on his show. I may have mentioned this before, but Elliot has half-siblings he may not even know about. Bonnie Plunkett (Allison Janney on MOM) and her gay, black half-brother Ray had a mother named Shirley STABLER, who was played by Ellen Burstyn.

Giancarlo Stanton can carry a team like almost nobody else when he's going well. I was looking at his game log and noticed something weird... the last 13 runs he has scored have been on his homers. The last time he scored any other way was August 21st (my & Jeff Stryker's 59th birthday).

You should put that on a bumper sticker. I'd buy one.

I'd say they should compromise and stipulate that a small section of the property should be set aside for a memorial, but who's going to buy a luxury condo that's the site of such a thing? (Not to mention all the people who would show up periodically to grieve, especially on the anniversary of the collapse)

Bill Gates has been hyping the technology to turn piss into drinkable water. Are you a hippie or a commie, or both? Spoken (actually typed) like a true American!

They've been playing Lars Nootbaar in right field. Wasn't he married to Phyllis on THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW?

The Whoopster has signed on for four more years.

I just did a search and couldn't find one mention of the subject. That seems odd. A billionaire real estate developer from the MIddle East is bidding $120 million for the two-acre oceanfront site where a Florida condo collapsed in the middle of the night in June, killing 98 people. East Oceanside Development, owned by Dubai-based DAMAC Properties, a publicly traded company in the United Arab Emirates founded by wealthy businessman Hussain Sajwani, has agreed to bid $120 million for the Surfside property, The Miami Herald reported, citing a court document filed Friday. The 12-story Champlain Towers South partially collapsed June 24. The rest of the 136-unit condominium complex was brought down July 4 as rescue workers combed through the rubble searching first for survivors, then for the remains of the victims. A luxury high-rise condo is expected to eventually go up at the site. The developer’s bid is considered a “stalking horse,” which sets a minimum price for the property. The Real Deal reported other companies will be able to submit offers at an auction expected to occur in late February or March. Court papers show information about the site was given to more than 160 interested buyers, and the real estate agents handling the property continue to market it. The judge handling the cases filed against the condo board and developers approved the sale of the site in July. Proceeds are expected to go to compensate the victims and their families. Legal claims could reach $1 billion, according to The Real Deal.

On Friday, the Utah Jazz and Vivint Arena announced that all home games will require proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of an event to gain access to the arena. So naturally, local reporters were out on the streets to hear how the community felt about the recent announcement. A member of the Jazz organization, who also happens to be coming off a career-best year, was in the area and willing to comment. What KUTV reporter Hayley Crombleholme didn't realize as she was conducting one interview was that she was talking to (last season's sixth man of the year) Jordan Clarkson in the Salt Lake City-area. At one point, the KUTV reporter asked, "Did you go to any Jazz games [last year]?" Clarkson responded with a hilariously honest answer. "Yeah, a lot," he said. They were both good sports about the situation and later acknowledged it on Twitter. Although Crombleholme said she'd interview Clarkson again, she also admitted that the sports department probably won't ask for her help.

I am happy with some of the changes at SVU; I'll leave it at that for those who haven't seen the first 2 episodes yet. Mariska's moving around pretty well with her bum ankle. BTW, Maddie Corman, the actress who played Jenna's mother, is Jane Alexander's daughter in law. Her husband Jace directed many episodes of the LAW & ORDER franchise... until he was arrested for possession of kiddie porn. She decided not to divorce him, however.

The New York City Council on Thursday approved a slate of bills improving working conditions for app-based food deliverers — becoming the first major U.S. city to set minimum protections for people toiling in the gig economy. The Council’s six-bill package — which includes granting couriers access to restaurant bathrooms, mandating minimum payments per trip and ensuring that tips get to workers — is expected to be signed into law by Mayor Bill de Blasio. Outside City Hall, dozens of delivery workers cheered as they heard the news, gathering ahead of the vote to distribute helmets to other couriers and help with bike tune-ups. “This started with the group chat that I created with some compañeros also from Guatemala, and we saw this as a very long, complicated journey. Something in me said: ‘Don’t give up,’” said Sergio Ajche, who helped organize fellow delivery workers. “We hope this sends a message to other delivery workers in New York and elsewhere: If you work from the heart, you’ll get results,” Ajche, of Brooklyn, told THE CITY in Spanish. The lack of bathroom access became the rallying cry for Los Deliveristas Unidos — a grassroots collective of immigrant food delivery workers that began organizing last winter after pandemic rules shuttered restaurants to indoor dining and closed other bathroom options. The Deliveristas, most of whom travel the city by bike, helped keep New Yorkers fed in a city on lockdown. “This is a testament to the organizing power and determination of our city’s delivery workers,” said Councilmember Carlina Rivera (D-Manhattan), who sponsored a bill requiring restaurants to make their bathrooms available to app-based couriers or face fines. Supporters of the legislative package hope that New York City’s action spur other cities to follow, offering a roadmap on how to negotiate a package with input from delivery workers and app-based tech companies making billions off the gig economy. ‘Solid Legal Ground’ The minimum pay rate approved by the Council in a 40-to-3 vote marks the first time a major U.S. city will standardize the working conditions of people toiling for the app-based delivery industry — setting a precedent as some major tech companies embark on a national campaign to clamp down on government regulations. The bills also included measures that will put limits on how far workers can be asked to ride — an issue that came to the forefront when some delivery people were sent on interborough trips as remnants of Hurricane Ida pounded the city earlier this month. At least one major food delivery company — Grubhub, which owns Seamless — told THE CITY that it supports the regulations passed by the Council. But the measures could face legal pushback from other industry players. “These bills are common sense steps to support the delivery workers who work hard every day for New York’s restaurants and residents. Ensuring they receive a living wage and have access to restrooms isn’t just a good idea — it’s the right thing to do,” said Grant Klinzman, a Grubhub spokesperson. This month, Grubhub, Uber and DoorDash sued the city over an extension of fee caps on restaurants the Council approved in August. San Francisco-based DoorDash sued the city last week over a new law that requires delivery companies to share more customer data with restaurants. City Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan) expressed confidence Thursday that the new working conditions bills would hold up in court. “We’re on solid legal ground. We don’t think there is any deficiency in what we’re passing today.” Johnson said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if some of the large — you know, at this point, probably multi-billion-dollar corporations that are making a lot of money in New York City, try to stop this.” Representatives for Uber Eats and DoorDash did not immediately respond to inquiries on whether the companies plan to file any legal challenges. As trading closed Thursday afternoon, DoorDash’s stock dropped from $220.04 a share to $217.66. Meanwhile, Uber shares closed at $45.48, a nearly 1.4% increase from its opening price. Relay, a smaller New York City-based food delivery company that works with restaurants, said in a statement that the company “is supportive of the new legislation and we celebrate this victory with delivery workers everywhere.” The various bills have the backing of de Blasio, who has not set a date for signing them into law, a City Hall spokesperson said. ‘A Seat at the Table’ The City Council vote comes nearly a year after THE CITY first reported workers were beginning to unite over the perilous and exploitative nature of app-based delivery work — including lack of bathroom access, alleged wage theft, insufficient pay, and reports of muggings and robberies. The improvements delivery workers notched Thursday build on the modest gains gig workers have won elsewhere in the country. In March, Philadelphia extended paid sick leave to low-wage workers, including gig workers. Seattle established an emergency minimum wage standard for delivery workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and is looking to make it permanent. The pay requirements introduced in New York by Councilmember Brad Lander (D- Brooklyn) are similar to those already in place to for-hire vehicle drivers, such as those who work for Uber and Lyft. Though a major victory for the Deliveristas, the minimum pay standards pale in comparison to the rights the workers would have if they were considered full employees as opposed to contractors. But they’re a good start, said Andrew Wolf, a lecturer at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies. “It’s new and innovative,” for the industry, Wolf said, “and it’s important that governments do this, but it’s not like we’re creating new benefits for workers. Which is important, because we shouldn’t let companies decide who and who isn’t covered by the law.” The City Council’s bills also reignited discussions over how to classify people who do work for app-based tech companies, but are not considered employees. Instead, workers in the gig economy are designated independent contractors, which typically allows people to set their own wages and hours, something that’s not the case for app-based delivery workers. “This opens the doors of possibilities for workers,” Ligia Guallpa, executive director of the Workers Justice Project, which represents the Deliveristas, told THE CITY shortly after the vote. “One thing is real full representation [as employees] — that is the first step to start addressing all of the issues and regulating the entire industry, and making sure workers have a seat at the table, that they have the power to decide what goes in and doesn’t go in that contract. “And why not, forming a union that has the power to actually fight back against these giant tech companies,” she added. Hochul Eyes Worker Help Gov. Kathy Hochul said her administration was “absolutely looking” at reclassifying app-based workers, something that has failed to gain steam in New York. “God bless our delivery workers, too. My gosh. How did we rely on them so much last year? It was incredible what they did. So yes, we’re taking a close look at that,” Hochul said during a news conference in Manhattan. In January 2020, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo pitched a nine-member panel that would be charged with coming up with regulations for the budding gig economy. But plans were abandoned as the pandemic hit and attention directed to fighting COVID-19. Nascent discussions over a state proposal that would allow gig workers to unionize but fell short of classifying them as employees collapsed in May over restrictions that would have barred workers from striking or demonstrating against an employer. Voters in California approved a 2020 ballot proposition that allowed gig workers to be reclassified as independent contractors, but a trial court last month dealt a blow to tech moguls, ruling that the proposition was unconstitutional. “Being the first to do it, as one of the most powerful cities of the world and where most of these apps are concentrated, it sends a strong message to the rest of the country that it is possible to regulate this industry, that it is possible to provide rights and protections to app-based delivery workers,” Guallpa said. “This is what power looks like when workers decide to unite and organize.”

They pulled it off pretty well. The overhead mike in the kitchen came into view briefly, but that happens sometimes in shows that aren't live, too. Mark has apparently grown eight feet since the series began.

I may have jinxed Mr. Arenado. He left tonight's game with lower back tightness... though I'll bet he did it adorably. The team got its 11th straight. They scored 2 runs on one sacrifice fly.

is adorable.

Where's the line for returns? 😁😎😇🤣

Damn, you'll look for any excuse to pat yourself on the back, toot your own horn, or any other cliche about being impressed with yourself, huh?

You see it all ties together... Roxanne was the name of one of The Police's biggest hits, sung (of course) by Sting. Who is in Only Murders. (Far Out, man!)

I always call Jeff my long-lost identical twin, but I clarify that I'm an inch bigger than he is... He's 5'6, I'm 5'7 (or at least I was when I could stand up straight).

And I've had the opposite reaction. I've honestly not seen much of Martin Short's work, and never found him enjoyable. I like him in this. I also haven't seen all that much of Steve Martin; I loved him in All Of Me with Lily Tomlin, and liked him on talk shows, but didn't really watch much of his other stuff, either. (I only watched the first couple of years of SNL, but found his 'wild & crazy guys' routine with Dan Ackroyd to be asinine.) I like him in this. Random Steve Martin-related story: He starred in the dud DEAD MEN DON'T WEAR PLAID. At the time the movie was out, the Atlanta Braves had a relief pitcher named Jeff Dedmon. One day he was out on the field before the game and suddenly manager Joe Torre barked at him-- DEDMON! Thinking he'd done something wrong, he turned towards Torre, who said to him "Don't wear plaid!"

I don't need to see a pic to know that he's aged much better than I have.

same day