It’s been nearly a month since Buck Martinez criticized the New York Yankees.
However, his comments haven’t been forgotten.
When the Blue Jays beat the Houston Astros on Sept. 9, the story wasn’t about the final result (a 4-3 Toronto win). What most remember from that game were Martinez’s comments in the seventh inning when he found out that the Detroit Tigers were pounding the Yankees.
“You know, the Yankees, they’re not a good team. I don’t care what their record is. They have a lot of wild pitches, they make a lot of mistakes in the field, they don’t run the bases very well. If they don’t hit home runs, they don’t have a chance to win.”
Well, turns out that neither the fans nor Yankees manager Aaron Boone have forgotten his comments.
“Contrary to some thoughts up here, we’re a really good team,” Boone told reporters on Friday.
Just in case it wasn’t clear who Boone was talking about, he later clarified.
“I know Buck had some thoughts. That’s all I was responding to. He’s wrong. But it doesn’t matter. We’ve got to go play, and we’ve got to go perform.”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone hasn’t forgotten about Buck Martinez’s comments (Tommy Gilligan/USA TODAY Sports)
Martinez’s comments from last month did have some truth to them. The Yankees finished the season with the eighth-most team errors per game. They also threw the 10th-most wild pitches.
The Yankees have also been one of the best teams in baseball since the 76-year-old’s comments, going 16-5 to end the season.
They nearly caught the Blue Jays for the AL East Division crown (and top spot in the American League), ending their season with identical 94-68 records. However, the Blue Jays emerged with the first-place title since they held the head-to-head tiebreaker over New York, winning eight of 13 games against them during the season.
Martinez, unsurprisingly, has been the target of a lot of hate from Yankees fans online.
That prompted recent Sportsnet addition Kevin Pillar to stand up for the long-time broadcaster.
We’ll see if Martinez gets to respond with an “I told you so” moment after the Blue Jays and Yankees battle each other in the playoffs for the first time ever.
Lead photo by
Mitch Stringer/Imagn Images