* Pity The Yankees

The Yankees deserve to win the World Series every year because, after all, they are the Yankees.

The best team in baseball didn’t win the World Series. Again. The best team in baseball didn’t get to the World Series. Again. I know it, you know it, and Jonny Damon knows it:

“‘We still are the best team,’ said Johnny Damon after the Yankees lost to the Tigers, 8-3, and were knocked out of the American League Division Series in four games. ‘The best team doesn’t always win.'”

Please don’t bother me with the dictionary definition of “best.” I know that the “best” team in baseball is determined by a four-part process: 1) win enough games in the 162-game regular season to be one of the eight teams in the playoffs, 2) win three games in the five-game divisional series, 3) win four games in the seven-game league championship series, and 4) win four games to win the World Series and be officially crowned the “best” baseball team of the year.

Spare me the details. The 2006 Yankees are the best team period. I know it, you know it, and Hall-of-Famer Joe Morgan knows it:

“I do believe good pitching stops good hitting, but I didn’t believe that good pitching could stop great hitting.”

And we all know that this group of Yankees is the greatest group of hitters since the discovery of the stick. Please stop the Jeter and A-Rod bashing and let’s look at their magnificent statistics in the 2006 ALDS Game 1. Their performance in Games 2-4 was not their fault. It was the fault of defective equipment, unsupportive national media, Yankee fans, bad calls by the umpires, the ozone hole, and Canada:

2006-10-07-yankees-jeter.jpg
2006 MVP Derek Jeter

Derek Jeter, Game 1: 5 for 5 (1.000 BA), 1 HR, 1 RBI

Derek Jeter, Games 2-4: 3 for 11 (.273 BA), 0 HR, 0 RBI

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2005 MVP Alex Rodriguez

Alex Rodriguez, Game 1: 1 for 4 (.250 BA), 0 HR, 0 RBI

Alex Rodriguez, Games 2-4: 0 for 10 (.000 BA), 0 HR, 0 RBI

If those aren’t MVP numbers, then I don’t know what are.

The Yankees were ordained to be champions again this year. The Yankees deserve to win the World Series every year because, after all, they are the Yankees. And with a limited budget to work with, the Yankees overcame adversity this year while fielding a patchwork collection of all-star players. Do you think it’s easy to acquire every free agent all-star at the trading deadline?

So pity the Yankees. At least the Yankees have their loyal fans to welcome them home and a caring owner to keep the chemistry of this group of winners intact for future seasons.

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7 Replies to “* Pity The Yankees”

  1. Greetings, Ruth,

    Are you a Yankees fan or a Red Sox fan? Note that neither team made the finals this year. It’s just that the Yankees failed in a more spectacular fashion than the Sox this year. It’s actually been a bit of a trend for the Yankees lately.

    Regards,
    Erik

  2. Laugh riot.
    Johnny is such a suck up. And you are stuck with him – you’ll enjoy his performance the last 3 years. lol — I hope so much he sucks so bad you boo him too.

    The fact of the matter is this: you lost. You weren’t the “best” — you didn’t even MAKE the finals. You didn’t even make the semi-finals. You are not the “best”. The “best” have heart. Your team has no heart.

  3. I think the team will be at it´s peak in 2008. Then te Yankees will definetly win the series. I am not very optimistic for the next two years..

  4. Fox and ESPN wanted the Yankees to win. It was painfully obvious watching the broadcasts. Although one of them did refer to the “getting fat on the empty calories of free-agent sluggers.” So that was good commentary.

    You need three good starting pitchers and one good reliever to win it all. In 2006, the Yankees had none of the above.

    By the way, after the Red Sox won in 2004, Jeter also said that “the best team doesn’t always win.” I think that Joe Morgan invented that phrase after the Twins beat the A’s in the 2002 ALDS. You don’t hear winners saying that “the best team doesn’t always win” after they win, only losers saying it after they lose.

  5. I was tired of hearing that there wss not an easy out in the Yankee’s lineup. While it may have been true, for a game anyways, it was never said about the Tiger’s batting order. With every batter in the Tigers starting lineup, one feels good about the batter getting on base. 1 thru 9, all are considered a seriuos threat at the plate. Yet it was never said or acknowledged.

  6. Pingback: The Big Lead » blog » Yankees Haters, Rejoice

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