"Frazz" (c) Jeff Mallett
If there is a Hell, then for fans of the New York Yankees such as Yours truly it surely must be this: Boston Red Sox vs. Houston Astros in the American League Championship Series. Talk about your "no-win" situation.
While I love rooting for the Yankees, ever since Mariano Rivera threw that comebacker over Derek Jeter's head and into center field in the bottom of the 9th inning of Game Seven of the 2001 World Series, which helped set the stage for Luis Gonzalez's Series-winning heroics, they have been chasing their own tails. Where once upon a generation ago, when Gene Michaels was active (behind-the-scenes) helping guide their baseball operations, they acted and forced the rest of baseball to react to what they did. For the past two decades, they have been a reactionary force, responding to changes foisted upon them by organizations run in a more aggressive, forward-thinking manner.
Remember the only World Series to date the Bombers have won in the 21st century, way back when in 2009? It is time for Yankees fans to stop deluding ourselves into thinking that 2009 was the template for success - the blueprint, if you will, for how the Yankees get things done. It is time to come to grips with the fact that it was an aberration. It was the exception that proves the rule.
Strap yourself in and join Sherman and Professor Peabody in the WABAC Machine for a journey back to the dying days of the Yankees dynasty in early November 2001. Having lost a classic World Series to Arizona, a team that boasted two #1 starters still at the top of their game in Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson and that, at times, made the Yankees' bats look anemic, they reacted by sloughing off Tino Martinez and replacing him with Jason Giambi, whose offensive prowess had masked his defensive limitations when he mashed the ball all over the yard as an Oakland Athletic but who proved to be a high-priced bust for the Bombers. In short order, Giambi was joined in the Bronx by other big-name sluggers such as Alex Rodriguez and Garry Sheffield. The Yankees put together one hell of a fantasy baseball team or - perhaps - a Sunday slow-pitch beer league softball team. Entertaining as hell to watch but at day's end, incapable of delivering the goods.
Their infirmities of course were not limited to the offense. Over time, they bade farewell to stalwarts such as Andy Pettitte, foolishly believing that gritless posers such as Jeff Weaver, Javy Vazquez, and Kevin Brown could man his post. It was as if they believed in the old cliche about "the uniform making the man" and presumed that simply putting on the pinstripes with the interlocking "NY" on the front and no name, of course, on the back would elevate the player. Over the course of the past two decades, their belief in that old cliche has bitten them in the ass too many times to count.
So, as the Bombers head into yet another winter of discontentment, with a roster of statuesque sluggers, mediocre starting pitchers, and young players who (with the notable exception of Aaron Judge who is simply extraordinary) have not only failed to live up to the hype that heralded their arrival in the Bronx (I am looking at you Messrs. Frazier, Sanchez, and Torres), but have been drowned by it, they will undoubtedly spend at least a portion of their time trying to figure out how to bridge the gap between themselves and the top teams in the American League, whose number includes not just the Astros and the Red Sox but also the Tampa Bay Rays, who won the American League East again this year.
What's that old saw about the importance of being the lead dog?
But for one magical season one dozen years ago, the view has not changed for the Yankees in two decades. Here is to hoping that they do what needs to be done to change this narrative.
-AK
