Morning-After Pill

A Jagged Little Abortion Of A Season To Swallow
There. How's that for mixed metaphor & references. Because it sure feels like a dog's breakfast to me.
Big Stein is upset.

"I am deeply disappointed at our being eliminated so early in
the playoffs," Steinbrenner said in a statement issued Sunday by
spokesman Howard Rubenstein. "This result is absolutely not
acceptable to me nor to our great and loyal Yankee fans. I want to
congratulate the Detroit Tigers organization and wish them well.
Rest assured, we will go back to work immediately and try to right
this sad failure and provide a championship for the Yankees, as is
our goal every year."

I'd be too if I'd spent US$1billion over 5 years to try and win this damn thing and came up empty. That's the sort of money you could invade North Korea with... or at least some place. If one were him, it's time to rail at the gods, scream your tits off and smash furniture.
For once, I'm totally with him. I'm sure he's pissed off that he's had to write one more concession to a team that took his money to beat him; and on behalf of the team that took his money and did not show up to play.

Ever Philosophical, Steven Goldman had this article in his Pinstribed Blog.

As I said above, a lot has changed since the bad old 1980s, but the Yankees are back there again now, and for the same reasons. They have been helpless since the end of 2003, when Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, and David Wells left all at once. As I've written many times before, that's not something they can be faulted for. Any team losing three great pitchers out of their starting rotation at once (regardless of what happened to any of them after) is going to be at a loss. The Yankees, though, had no options, which led to Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright, led to trading Nick Johnson for Javy Vazquez, led to Randy Johnson, led to Sidney Ponson, led to Cory Lidle. Who's next in that sequence? The answer, "Jeopardy"-style, is, "Who's the modern equivalent of Dave LaPoint?" The only difference between then and now is that the Yankees are finishing second to the Tigers in the playoffs instead of finishing second to them in the division.

Yep. They were lucky they got there at all in the previous 2 years; and this year they were misguided that average pitching was enough to get them further. The truth of the matter, and we should let it be known, Big Stein's shit (money) doesn't work in the post-season either.

Joe Torre May Be Gone

Joe Torre may have managed his last game for the Yanks.
The NY Daily News is reporting it and MLB.com and ESPN are picking up on it

Unless other team officials can talk The Boss out of it, or unless Torre, 66, agrees to resign in order to save face, sources said principal owner George Steinbrenner will replace the manager who was credited with returning the team to its fabled glory. Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman is expected to keep his job, as are most members of the front office. Torre may be offered another position within the organization.

Asked about possible changes after yesterday's loss, an emotional Torre said he had not thought about it.

"We felt pretty good about ourselves. But again, that's something for Cash and I and other people to talk about," he said. "But right now, it's just ..." - here he choked back tears - "it's just tough."

Sources said Steinbrenner lost his patience over the team's listless play in its division series loss to the Tigers - and Steinbrenner is not expected to wait long to make his move.

Sources told the Daily News that Piniella has been in discussions with the Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants and Washington Nationals, and Steinbrenner does not want the Yankees to miss a chance to sign the man considered the natural successor to Torre for years.

Piniella managed the Yankees from 1986 to 1988 but developed his reputation as one of the game's best and most emotional managers during his years with the Cincinnati Reds and Seattle Mariners.

I'm inclined to think that a change could actually be good for once. I mean what else can they really change? they're still committed at all fielding positions next year.

A-Rod Wants To Stay
Speculations is mounting that the Yanks (read Big Stein) will want A-Rod sent away to a NL gulag - the Cubs or something. A-Rod says he wants to stay. I still say, keep him.

"I don't know how to explain it," Rodriguez said. "I hit balls hard at times. The frustrating part is I felt very comfortable, very relaxed. I had some good swings, some bad swings. It's a numbers game. Overall I wish I could have been better.

"I've been successful in New York in the regular season. Obviously I have to find the success in the postseason. There's a lot to be learned from (Derek) Jeter, (Jorge) Posada, Bernie (Williams) and Joe (Torre), the guys that have done it. It seems like they played so relaxed. They all had monster series. There's something to be learned from those guys."

Over the four games against the Tigers, Rodriguez recorded just one hit and four strikeouts, hardly the ideal numbers from a two-time MVP at two different positions, shortstop and third base. His play in the field may never be questioned, beating out Boston's David Ortiz solely on his defensive play in last year's race, but his bat is absolutely out for inspection.

"This season for me was probably the toughest year of my career and I had to endure some unbelievable things," Rodriguez said. Nothing compares to what I went through this summer. It was pretty painful to watch me play so poorly. I thought overall that had prepared myself to come out and have a good postseason. That didn't happen.

"I'm committed to being part of the solution here. I believe I am. I'm committed to come back next year and do it again."

At any rate, it would be impatient and imprudent to trade him now. The media pundits on the other hand just want it bad.
Joel Sherman
Filip Bondy
Jack Curry
Not very good.

My Other Team For The Post Season?
Billy Beane and the 'Moneyball' A's. Go get them guys!

UPDATE:
I found this cool article.

I have looked at probably 60, maybe even 70, stories and columns about the playoff collapse of the New York Yankees.

Within minutes of their third and final loss Saturday night to the Detroit Tigers, New York Times columnist George Vecsey weighed in on the paper's Web site: "As of now, the Yankees are officially the Atlanta Braves. They have a nice little season. They qualify for the playoffs. And then bad stuff happens to them."

I trolled the Web sites of all the New York papers (and some non-New York papers, too) to find the usual post-season recriminations, finger-pointing, calls for heads to roll, and rumors of trades, firings, etc. Let the off-season begin. In New York, it hardly matters that four other teams (one of them the New York Mets) are still playing for a championship.

After more than 50 seasons of following the Yankees, I find myself reading more and watching less — especially when playoff time arrives.

When I was a boy, I couldn't get enough of them. But they were rarely on TV, and when they did appear, the games were in black and white and hard to watch amid the constant snow of a UHF frequency. Night games could be pulled in from faraway radio stations, but the signal would fade at key moments.

Now, of course, every game is on cable, and all winter long the Yankee network (YES) replays Yankee victories. These "Yankee Classics" are safe games to watch — because they all end with the Yankees celebrating on the field. Hey, why not? You'd hardly expect a network owned by the Yankees to punish their fans with a replay of the Red Sox beating them in Game 7 of the 2004 American League Championship Series. On the other hand, no matter how many times I've seen Aaron Boone hit the walk-off pennant winning home run against the Red Sox in 2003 it never gets old. That's the very definition of "Yankee Classic."

But now that every game is just a click of the remote away, I almost prefer to read about them after they're played. I almost never watch a game all the way through. I can't stand watching them lose.

And I am pretty good at anticipating losses. There was no way — despite the team's official optimism — that 43-year-old Randy Johnson, with a herniated disc, was going to pitch effectively. I went shopping for a microwave with my wife on Friday night expecting to avoid the game, and saw more than I wanted to see on the appliance store TV — Johnson getting lit up in the second inning.

I never turned the TV on for Saturday's game. I could just feel the season slipping away.

I didn't want to subject myself to an anxiety attack for nine innings. I know — it's bizarre.

But I grew up at a time when children became fans for life based on where they lived, what teams they could hear on radio, the strength of their families' attachment to a particular team.

We could no more choose a team than we could choose a religion — and in both cases, the connection was for life.

So now I can only manage my obsession with the Yankees, not free myself of it.

Years ago, a friend caught me checking the box scores and with the same intonation reserved for, "You still smoke?" he said, "You still follow baseball?" I saved my dignity. "You mean you don't?" I said.

Now begins the dark season, the time without baseball. I am relieved, and pained.

But I will tune into "Yankee Classics," where defeat is not an option — and I need not avert my eyes.

It's gold, I tell you Jerry, Gold!