I suppose I should chime in about the Yankees situation. Thanks to Mr. Steinbrenner, the only possible success for a Yankees season is to win the World Series. While they may have won 4 out of 5 back in the late 90's, it's just not that easy to win it all. The most interesting stat from this postseason for me is the fact that 7 of 8 teams that made the playoffs this year, didn't last year. While football gets all the parity talk (somewhat deservedly thanks to their salary cap), it's baseball that has had 7 different champions in 7 years.
Anyways, getting back to this year's Yankees, according to many, this year was a failure. I'm just not sure I agree with that. It may have been the last gap of the group from the nineties, but in many ways I think was a re-building year for the Yankees. There's a real chance that next year the Yankees will have three starting pitchers who were rookies this year. Just making the playoffs with rookies carrying the weight is an achievement, never mind making up a 14 game deficit.
All that said, the thing that needs to be mentioned is that the Yankees lost because the Indians played better for four games. (Even the game the Yankees won.) They had better all around pitching, better hitting, better fielding. If they had played more games, would this have changed? I don't think so actually, I think the Indians were a better team this year. It happens sometimes.
As for next year, there is also a real chance that the Yankees will have lost ARod, Posada, Pettite and Rivera. (Honestly, at this point, losing Clemens is addition by subtraction.) Even for a team with the resources of the Yankees, that's a lot to lose. It would leave them with a team that looks something like this:
C - Me
1b - Giambi/Minkyvitch
2b - Cano
SS - El Capitan
3b - Betimit
LF - Damon/Matsui
CF - Cabrera
RF - Abreau
DH - Giambi/Damon/Matsui
SP - Wang, Hughes, Kennedy, Mussina, Chamberlain?
Closer - Chamberlain (If he is not starting)
And a mishmash of relievers who may or may not be returning. Seriously, I'd pick that team to compete against most teams. Even without ARod and Posada, they'd still score some runs. They'd miss Pettite and Rivera the most out of those two I think, by a long shot.
As for my feelings about this Yankee's team? Thanks to the wonder of mlb.com, I watched more Yankees games this year than any year since I moved to Maine. I liked watching this team. Watching rookies learn on the fly, making mistakes and great plays at equal rates, is to me one of the easiest things to root for. Red Sox fans know what I mean, after watching Pedroia, Ellsbury, Lester, and Buchholz this year.
To make a long blog short, I wasn't all that disappointed in the Yankees this year. I think they lost to a better team, and I think they battled the whole time. As a fan, I can accept that. (By the way, Red Sox fans, the Indians should scare the crap out of you. This is a good team.)
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3 comments:
I'm more scared of the Indians than either National League team. They're good, and they're young. They're lack of playoff experience (other than Lofton & Nixon) does not seem to be a factor. Or at least it wasn't in the ALDS. We're about to find out if that holds true now that they are one step closer to the World Series.
However, on the other side, the Rockies are riding a kind of high that's impossible to ignore. What's their streak at now, 18 of their last 19? That's unbelievable.
Regardless, I was a little disappointed in the NLCS last night. I found the game rather boring after the 3rd inning. (I did go to bed before the controversial interference call)
I think the difference between the Sox and Yankees basically comes down to Josh Beckett. He is the only pitcher that gets swings and misses. I would not be surprised if both Schill and Dice-K struggle, as they both rely on hitters making mistakes or losing their patience.
As far as the NLCS goes, I don't think Arizona is quite done yet, but Colorado certainly is impressive.
Indians vs Red Sox will be a great series. They are very evenly matched teams. What scares me the most is Colorado. You see it time and time again. The hot team wins. They have something working for them. The better hope that they can keep it up for the next 7-13 games.
Yankees will be fine. They have some young guns coming up. But only time will tell how they can perform in a big market place. Unfortunately for both Sox and Yanks, the players that usually do well in that environment are tried and true players who demand more $$. Hence their big pockets.
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