Amaro_world_seriesPhoto source: CBS

Ruben Amaro was reading from the wrong script!

Big Rube (something tells me he likes it when people call him that) took a page out of Joe Banner’s book, when he appeared on 97.5 with Harry Mayes, Brian Baldinger and his pinky:

Do you look at this season like the fans do, as a World Series or bust type of mentality?

Nope. Nope! 

Well how do you approach it then?

I have to have a more realistic view as to what this is about. People tend to forget that winning is very, very difficult. And things have to really fall into place. And not necessarily the best team in baseball ends up winning. I thought we had the best team in baseball last year, we didn’t win the World Series. That said, we do have expectations, and the first one that we’re trying to achieve is to win the National League East and kind of go from there. When you get into a playoff situation, it’s really a matter of who’s playing the best baseball and who gets the ball to roll the right way. I want our guys to put themselves in a position to be in the playoffs, be a contender as many years in a row as we can possibly do that. And as long as we can do that on a consistent basis, then I think we’ve done our job.

 

I don’t believe you, Ruben. Status quo, let’s just contend GMs don’t sign Cliff Lee to a $120 million contract to assemble a dick-rising hurling foursome of epic proportions. No, Rube, they don’t pull-off midseason trades for six total Cy Youngs over the course of three years (Cliff Lee, Pedro Martinez, Roy Halladay), either. And they don't put their teams in debt by letting their payrolls balloon to $170 million.

Amaro couldn’t really say it is "World Series or bust." Doing so would put even more undo pressure on his players. He’s just playing coy. Of course, what he didn’t tell us was that while he was on the phone he was scribbling pictures of the Commissioner’s Trophy on his bedroom wall with withered-down Crayolas, not unlike Ray Finkle in Ace Ventura. Flags fly out, Bud. 

Chase_utley_trophy

Make no mistake, folks, it’s World Series or bust. Rube is just lying.

97.5 has the audio.