Jesus Montero, the prospect we’ve all been salivating over for years now, finally makes his major league debut tonight. It’s easy to scoff at and write off as extremely nerdy exuberance, but I think the excitement level has reached 9am Christmas morning for many of us around here. Of course it is extremely nerdy exuberance. The monthly Montero posts have probably been written at a 5-10 post pace for a long while now. Let’s try and picture this another way.
Imagine you’re 8 years old again and you’re told that in 3 years, you’ll be receiving the Ninja Turtle Sewer Playset with all the accessories and even a coveted April O’Neill action figure that your mom had to wait on line for at 6 in the morning. Literally for YEARS you hear about how great this playset is. You hear there’s a punching bag for Rafael. There’s a periscope disguised as a fire hydrant for the turtles to scan the area. There are even climbable telephone poles and a working trap door elevator into the lair. You cannot wait to get your hands on this thing.
And yet you wait. And wait and wait and wait. Then finally, it’s Christmas Eve, you’re in your Michelangelo onesie and eyeing packages suspiciously wondering which is the gift you covet most. The next morning you wait in your bed, staring at the clock, begging for the minutes to melt away towards an acceptable hour to wake up and tear through that wrapping paper.
That is where we’re at right now. Waiting for that clock to tick down, waiting for Montero, waiting for the sewer playset. We’re all hoping it’s as good as advertised. If it turns out your parents mistakenly just got you the turtle van and ignored your hopes and dreams altogether, you’re going to scream, rip down the Christmas lights, knock the tree over and throw that van through the fucking window. It’s not going to happen of course. It can’t happen. No, no, the sewer set will be there, just as advertised. It’s under that tree somewhere and hopefully it’s just as great s you’ve been imagining.
After awhile though, it’ll be onto the next big thing. Manny Banuelos waits in AAA much like somewhere in a toy store, the Technodrome waits to meet our greedy little hands next Christmas. It’ll have a holding cell, an eyeball lookout periscope, a Brain action figure and it will be glorious as well.
So today finally is the big day. We’ll get to see Jesus Montero in a Yankee uniform, something we’ve been imagining for years now. It’s very understandable people are excited. Inevitably, as with anything related to the Yankees, I’m sure some expectations are too high. Honestly I don’t care at all how everyone else will react or not react to Montero today. I just know that I’m excited, I’m happy for him and that’s all that matters to me.
Kowabunga.
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7 Responses to Montero, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Christmas
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TIQ IQ
You just reminded me that I never got the damn Technodrome when I was a kid. I hate you for that right now.
i’ve never been more excited for a regular season yankee game (besides opening day) than i am today.
If there were Yankees fans who weren’t excited before reading this, they certainly must be now!
And where does having to watch A.J. Burnett pitch tonight fit into this metaphor? Is he the itchy underwear you have to open before you can get to the good stuff? The stale fruitcake? The four-hour sermon you have to endure before you get your presents?
Unfortunately, Montero had a lackluster debut, but we have faith he will perform. Hey, at least we won.
I think the process was better than the results. He looked to be going with pitches most of the time and was right on a lot of Lester’s fastballs that he fouled off.
I disagree. He was 0-2 seemingly every AB, and Lester really had his way with him. Classic example of a veteran MLB pitcher exploiting a young hitter’s aggressiveness. The Sox pitched around the uber-aggressive Jones all night just to get to Monte, which isn’t easy to do. He was tested, and failed. Its only one game, but Tito would have pitched to him all night if he could.
I had thought the Yanks wouldn’t give him such a tough assignment in his MLB debut, favoring an easier assignment where he can get some success under his belt. But maybe there was something else at play. Reports are he’s a very confident guy. Maybe the Yanks WANTED to impress upon the young man just how tough this league can be. He’s had a lot of success at a very young age, and had a few disciplinary incidents. Maybe they wanted to impress upon Montero that he will need to respect the game, and be willing to make constant adjustments to succeed at this level.