Yankees GIFs: How not to perfect game

Perfect games are great and all but, come on, they're so hard to do! Too unattainable, I say. Stick to what you know and don't dream too much. Remember: screwing up in the field is much, much easier.

By loadtimes Nov 14, 2013, 3:00pm EST

As you may recall, last time out we chronicled David Cone’s perfect game. Strikeouts and good fielding are essential facets of perfect games, the former keeping the ball out of play (where things will, one way or another, eventually go wrong), and the latter keeping the ball in check when it does end up in play. Sure, there’s a little bit of luck involved—it helps if the ball is hit at a fielder—but, really, there are plenty of players out there that can’t be trusted to safely field a slow dribbler hit directly at them, even if they've had twenty minutes to track it. Don't just take my word for it: look no further for evidence of this than these exquisite examples of Yankees fielding.

Those Ramiro Pena Days

Who would you rather have in the infield: Ramiro Pena or Eduardo Nunez? Ramiro Pena or Prince Fielder? (Pro: A ball hit at Fielder will at least be blocked by his mass. Con: A ball hit at Fielder may very well be absorbed by his mass.) Ramiro Pena or a Sumatran tiger? Ramiro Pena or a Gummi Venus de Milo? (Okay, okay. So the metrics sort of say that Ramiro Pena is about average in the field and would probably be a better option than all of the above. But, really, which are you going to trust, the metrics or my GIFs?)

DOINK!: Kelly Johnson

Considered a successor to the world-famous DOINK!

That’s Not Baseball, Johnny Damon

A Slow Go Down, Like the Titanic

You know those moments in life when you’re in the middle of tripping over something, but you’re, like, staggering, and your brain desperately tries to correct and fix your footing like a hamster scrambling around a wheel, but you can’t do anything about it, and then a moment before you fall you’re like oh I’m going to fall, and then you fall? Yeah.