On Friday night, Kenny Rogers shut out the Yankees. Yes, that’s right, the same Kenny Rogers who stunk up the Bronx during his time in pinstripes and has struggled mightily against them since. Afterward, they were forced to prepare to face a young flamethrower, and sent Jaret Wright to the mound to save their season.
Tell me that when you went to bed on Friday night you didn’t feel an impending sense of doom.
When the Yankees drew the Detroit Tigers in the first round, most Bombers fans were already filling out their lineup cards for the ALCS and deciding whether they wanted to play the A’s or Twins.
Insert the “best laid plans never work” clich√É.√© here.
What is obvious is that what happened to the Yankees this weekend was disastrous. For the first time in my life, I honestly thought the team I have rooted for since I was 4 played with little heart, and little care. When people approached me after the series was over, be it to console me or to mock me, I had the same reaction.
And for once, it didn’t involve throwing something at the TV.
I was just stunned.
Give the Tigers credit; they played the series of their lives. But there is absolutely no excuse for the way the Yanks played. Realistically you can’t win every year, but that performance was disgusting.
And at this point the same questions will dog the Yankees, as they have for the past few Octobers after not winning the Fall Classic. But this year, for the first time in a long time, there are no clear answers.
They may not have always made the right moves, but they knew where the gaps were. As a result, the “what now?” questions are all the more interesting. In past years the Yankees have known if they needed to beef up pitching, or grab a hitter or a base running threat. Now, there is no pressing need. There are no gaps in positions; the only gaps are in pride and desire.
And when the Yankees repeated as division champs, the celebration was the most impressive part of their postseason festivities. After seeing the champagne flow in Toronto, it just looked like nothing was beating behind the interlocking “NY” on the Yankee jerseys.
I argued in a previous issue that Joe Torre did a good job this year because he was guiding players who had not established themselves, which is what he does best. And the minute the overpaid veterans returned for the postseason, instead of waiting to return until next season, the team that helped the Yankees win the division title sat on the bench while Torre’s magic disappeared.
Reports have already surfaced that the Yankees may let Torre go and instead bring in someone with more fire. Lou Piniella’s name has surfaced, and if he can bring all the brush fires he left in Seattle before he went to Tampa Bay with him, his intensity may bring out a drive we haven’t seen from the Yankees recently. That includes, best case scenario, reawakening Alex Rodriguez, who always performed well under Piniella.
While the Yankees looked like they were performing a chore just by playing this weekend, the Tigers had the intensity and emotion needed to win in October.
It is true their celebration was over the top, sort of like a team of 25 Lastings Milledges that completely lost control. But give them credit; they did beat the unbeatable Yankees, when only getting an STD from Paris Hilton was supposedly more of a sure thing.
Yankees fans can now spend the winter sulking. They don’t have to take crap from Red Sox fans; when they mock you just remind them that the view up from third place is awfully dark. Regardless, for yet another season, no championship, and this time no big changes are needed.
And in an organization built on making changes, King George may finally drop the axe on his skipper. And as long as the 2006 lineup is coming back for 2007, that may be the best thing for everyone.
If nothing else, the Yankees can take solace from the fact that in the trade that sent Bonderman to Detroit, the Yanks got their supposed ace of the future: Jeff Weaver.
Insert the “best laid plans never work” clich√É.√© here. Again.