Hunter: 2009 Yankees Have "Different Fire," Having More Fun

From Jack Curry:

“There’s a different fire about those guys,” Hunter said. “I’ve been playing a long time. I know they hit homers, they do different things, but it’s the smaller things I see that’s different.”

While Hunter said there was a difference about the Yankees, he could not pinpoint exactly what it was. Hunter said the Yankees routinely had the largest payroll so “you can’t say it’s that.” He wondered if C.C. Sabathia’s arrival was the reason for the difference. He also mentioned the jolly Nick Swisher as a positive addition.

“It’s something different over there about those guys, like they’re having a lot more fun instead of walking on eggshells,” Hunter said.

The additions of Swisher, Sabathia, and Burnett have helped radically alter the culture in the Yankees clubhouse, with the team clearly more relaxed and having more fun than in years past. It is also important to note that Joe Girardi has been working extremely hard to cultivate this attitude since the very beginning of spring training, as Bill Madden noted back in May:

Togetherness was what Girardi made a point of in spring training when he arranged that surprise “Day at the Pool Parlor.” Say this for Girardi, he recognized what guys like Damon are only now willing to talk openly about: The Yankee clubhouse was a joyless place in the latter years of the Joe Torre regime. Part of it was the personnel – how could anyone find any fun being around Kevin Brown? – but a big part of it was the generation gap that existed between Torre and his players. Aside from his small coterie of veterans from the championship years, Torre kept his distance from his players and when each new high profile free agent came over from another organization, like Jason Giambi, Hideki Matsui or Damon, they were never able to blend in with the championship core as it gradually diminished. It was apparently the consummate “25 players, 25 taxi cabs” team.

“Rarely in the last three years I’ve been here would there be four-five guys hanging out playing video games in the hotel room,” Brian Bruney said. “Now, guys are having fun and they want to hang out together. The shaving cream, the music, people need to realize you can do those things and still win. You can’t win with just All-Stars all around. We’ve done that the past three years and we haven’t done anything.”

The manager has allowed music in the clubhouse, the awarding of the championship belt to the player of the game, and the pie throwing exploits of AJ Burnett. To Girardi’s credit, he has allowed a certain lightheartedness to enter the clubhouse at appropriate times, deftly managing the mood so that the team has not gotten too high in triumph nor too low when facing defeat. This is a pretty dramatic change from the admittedly tense demeanor that Joe brought to the 2008 version of the Yankees, as well as the buttoned-up feel that the Torre teams exhibited. Hopefully, the improved chemistry does in fact translate into a “different fire” and better results once October rolls around.

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