I have been a Yankee fan since the 1976 World Series when I was 7 years old.
That was the year my beloved
Thurman Munson played his heart
out, batting .539 despite being swept by my neighbor and best friend’s team,
the
Johnny Bench-led Cincinnati Reds. From that fall on I had
my team. I knew not of the future to come, six more World Series Championships,
the most in my lifetime (
Ed note: see sidebar below). I just knew that
this was the team I was going to root for forever.
I love the New York Yankees but they should have lost earlier in the
playoffs last year. The 2001 version of the Yankees was not that good. They
were getting old (
Scott Atrocious and
Paul O’Neil
retired at the end of the season as did Luis Sojo but he seems to have
resurfaced again), they had lost some speed and punch (
Chuck Knoblauch
and
Tino Martinez), and the 4 and 5 pitching spots were
suspect all season long (who remembers
Christian Parker as the
5th starter in April?). Injuries proved costly to them over the course of the
season, but they were still able to make the playoffs because the Red Sox, as
predicted, self-destructed before September.
Somehow, the Yankees were able to get past a hungry
Oakland team in the Divisional Series. The
Young A’s nipped at the Yankees’ heals for a second straight year. Pushing them
to the brink until
Jeremy Giambi’s inability to slide at home
plate allowed
Derek Jeter and
Jorge Posada to
make perhaps the best post season play I have ever witnessed (time and again on
ESPN’s Sportscenter). Had he slid, he probably would have been safe and
New York would not have
even made it to the Series. It would have allowed the Mariners to fulfill my
preseason prediction of the M’s going to the Series, since the A’s would have
believed that they did what they needed to do by knocking out the dreaded
Yanks. But Giambi did not slide. I bet the
Oakland coaches have slid him to death this
spring.
The Yankees were able to ride the momentum of that play through the ALCS and
past the 116 win Seattle Mariners in a series without much drama. Some will
claim that this series was payback for the 1995 Division Series, but enough
players had turned over to make this theory a real non-issue (hell,
Tino
Martinez and Luis Sojo played for the other side in ’95 plus
Jeff
Nelson and
Sterling Hitchcock had been back and forth
in that time). Needless to say the New York Yankees were on to their fifth
World Series in six years, and playing the expansion Arizona Diamondbacks, who
were under rookie manager
Bob Brenly.
On paper, the World Series looked pretty even. It will go down in history as
one of the best Series of all time. Most of the games were close and had the
intensity that you would expect from a World Series. The home team wound up
winning every single game, which sent the fans home happy. The Yankees showed
their legacy and pride, the fight and determination that had won four of the
previous five series.
However, they only did this for four of the seven games played (games 3, 4,
5 and 7). They were manhandled and had their asses handed to them in the other
games. They barely bothered to show up for the other games hoping for some kind
of Yankee magic to miraculously lift them to victory.
Let me give credit where credit is due. The Diamondbacks deserved to win and
were the better team. They outplayed and out-hustled the Yankees. They had a
1-2 pitching punch of
Schilling and
Johnson
that was, in the end, impossible to beat. I don’t wish to take anything away
from the—this hurts—World Champions since they were the better ball club, but
here is my rant nonetheless.
Bob Brenly is a horrible manager, not the genius that he was made out to be
after the World Series. His decision in Game 4 to pull Schilling in the seventh
inning because of a pitch count is ludicrous. He has the three-time defending
Champs on the ropes with his ace, who has no problem racking up the innings, on
the mound in a groove killing the Yankees. Why is he concerned about Game 7
when he is about to go up 3-1? Does he believe in the Yankee mystique so much
that he knows they are going to come back?
Then in just about the opposite situation in Game 6, he leaves Randy Johnson
in for seven innings in a 15-2 blowout. He should have brought Johnson out in the
fifth so that he qualified for the win. That way he could have used Johnson
sooner in Game 7 (which he was obviously planning on playing since Game 4) than
he actually did if Schilling ran into any problems. I have no idea what would
possess him to leave his second ace in for all this time, in a blowout, and
burn his arm out when he could have needed him earlier in Game 7. In retrospect
he did not need Johnson until the 8th, but if you are going to play Game 4
conservative, why not play Game 6 conservative as well. I just don’t get it.
Finally, bringing in a 21-year old
Byong-Hyon Kim in Game 5
after he got shellacked in Game 4, when you have experienced veterans like
Mike
Morgan,
Greg Swindell, and
Bobby Witt
in the bullpen. Now, in hindsight there is no way you can predict that your
reliever is going to self destruct two nights in a row, but Brenly had ample
opportunity to see that Kim did not have his best stuff and could have pulled
him prior to giving up the second bomb, that almost brought the Yankees back
from the brink.
That is just bad managing. Brenly alone gave the Yankees multiple
opportunities to come back, when he had the hammer in his hand ready to hit the
nails in the coffin. Game 7 would never have been played. Had Brenly been a
better manager, the outcome that will go down in the ages, should never had
occurred. But it did.
In the end, if the D’backs had won Game 7 by a score such as 7-2 or 4-1 or
even blew the Yankees out again a la Game 6, I would have been satisfied with
the outcome. I would have been able to commend them on being the better team
with no second thoughts. I might have even been able to read the paper and news
articles about the greatness of the series or the individual games, without my
stomach turning over. But how they won Game 7 will forever burn in my stomach,
at least it still does today, five months later. They beat us at our own game,
coming back in the ninth against the best and most clutch reliever in the
history of the game, with one bunt, three dribblers (two that should have been
turned into DP’s) and one well-hit ball. (
Ed note: see sidebar below)
It was a nice run while it lasted. The 2001 Yankees went further than they
really deserved.
However, all is fair in love and baseball and April 1 we start anew. I expect
the 2002 Yankees to reclaim the crown stolen by those snakes in
Phoenix and I don’t
really expect the Diamondbacks to repeat, nor do I predict they will even make
it back to the Series this October. But that is just me, I have been a Yankee
fan for over a quarter century.
Yankees over Cardinals in 6 games, unless
Rick Ankiel
pitches then the Yankees sweep.
__________________________________________
World Series Championships in my lifetime (1969-present)
NY Yankees – 6 (1977, 1978, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000)
Oakland
Athletics – 4 (1972, 1973, 1974, 1989)
Cincinnati
Reds – 3 (1975, 1976, 1990)
Baltimore
Orioles – 2 (1970, 1983)
Los Angeles
Dodgers – 2 (1981, 1988)
Minnesota
Twins – 2 (1987, 1991)
New York
Mets – 2 (1969, 1986)
Pittsburgh
Pirates –2 (1971, 1979)
Toronto Blue
Jays – 2 (1992, 1993)
Arizona
Diamondbacks – 1 (2001)
Atlanta
Braves – 1 (1995)
Detroit
Tigers – 1 (1984)
Florida
Marlins – 1 (1997)
Kansas City
Royals – 1 (1985)
Philadelphia
Phillies – 1 (1980)
St. Louis
Cardinals – 1 (1982)
_______________________________________
Let’s painfully relive Jeff Herz’s thoughts on that (un)fateful night...
The unheralded rookie
Alfonso Soriano hit what should have
been a Series winning and MVP producing home run in the eighth. That should
have been sufficient for the Yankees. Instead
Joe Torre
reached into the well a little too early and perhaps a little too often,
starting the bottom of the eighth with
Mariano Rivera. I
suggested at the time he should have gone with
Mike Stanton a
little longer or brought
Ramiro Mendoza in to start the
inning. If either one of them got into trouble you could always go to Rivera
and they were able to get through the eighth then that leaves Rivera fresher
for the ninth, when you really need him at his best. Somehow, we got through
the eighth virtually unscathed though Rivera looked shaky. It was raining in
the desert, which is never a good sign. The Yankees went quietly in the ninth
as the Big Unit retires
Bernie Williams,
Tino Martinez
and
Jorge Posada in order.
Then
Mark Grace, Mr. Cub as far as I am concerned (why the
hell didn’t the Cubbies re-sign him?) and Mr. Poopy-pants from my fantasy team
perspective gets a lame hit off of Rivera to lead off the ninth. The rain
continues to fall, making the grip on the ball more and more slippery. Grace is
taken out for a pinch runner, you don’t need to be a brain surgeon to know that
Grace is no
Carl Lewis. A dribbler is hit back to the box.
Rivera fields the ball cleanly then…
NOOOOOOO, FUCK, HE THROWS THE BALL INTO CENTERFIELD.
Ok, first and second, no one out. It should have been a DP, but whatever, he
still has not blown a save in the postseason since 1997.
Jay Bell
then pinch-hits for Randy Johnson. He bunts. Rivera fields it cleanly throws to
Atrocious at third for the force. But Atrocious does not attempt the DP.
AAAARGGGH. He holds the ball instead of trying to get the slow-footed
Bell at first. That would
have left a one run lead, with two outs and a man on second. But no, now we
have a one run lead, men at first and second and only one out. The rest is
history:
Womak doubles, scoring a run, Counsell is HPB,
Gonzalez
bloops a ball to left over a drawn in infield, game over.
