It’s probably better we can’t see how George Steinbrenner would have handled these Yankees

Most days, it’s just an easy punch line, a cudgel to angrily swing as you’re cursing at your television set. Most days, the reasonable fans roll their eyes and quote Billy Joel when they hear the fractious lament, and sing: “The good old days weren’t always good.”

Most days.

But the Yankees’ season has officially reached a crucible where it’s almost impossible not to ask the question, even if you’re among the silent majority who believe it’s best to let the baseball season play out over the whole 162. Even uber-patient fans can’t help themselves. They ask the question after a stretch like this:

What would George do?

What would George do if he watched the Mets finish off a season sweep of the Subway Series by making Yankees fans wistful for the 10-run mercy rule?

What would George do if, before the seventh-inning stretch, Yankee Stadium had already been abandoned by most of the less masochistic Yankees fans, taken over instead by the infernal chant of “Let’s go Mets!” Let’s go METS! LET’S GO METS!”?