Yankees Still Suck!

Last night completed yet another marvelous Gothamfreude doubleheader as the New York Yankees suffered yet another postseason meltdown, this time losing to the Cleveland Indians in four games. Joe Torre made the most boneheaded managing decision this side of Grady Little when he decided to start Chien-Ming Wang on three days rest even though he had a fresh Mike Mussina on the bench. One inning and later, the Yanks were left to climb out of a 4-0 hole. Meanwhile, Indians manager Eric Wedge smartly resisted the calls to start his ace, C.C. Sabathia, on short rest, opting to stick with the four-man rotation by throwing Paul Byrd, as scheduled. Unlike the Yankees, the Indians would have one more game if they lost Game 4, and besides, why screw with a formula that left you tied for the best regular-season record in baseball?

Once the Indians had taken their lead, all they needed to do was buckle down and keep the Yankees from coming back. And the Yanks were all to happy to comply. Alex Rodriguez finally broke out of his years-long postseason slump when he hit a homer in the seventh, but it was quite possibly the most useless home run of the series, since there was nobody on base and it shaved the deficit from four to three and the following batters didn't do a damn thing to follow it up. Meanwhile, Derek Jeter assumed A-Rod's traditional choker role by hitting into an inning-ending double play in the 6th with one out and runners on the corners. It was a meltdown for the ages, and to make it even more sweet, it transpired in front of 56,000 speechless members of the Yankees faithful.

Some claim that if the Red Sox do end up winning the World Series, it won't be quite as sweet since we didn't go through the Yankees to do it. I find that sentiment to be a bunch of crap. A World Series is a World Series, and besides, we exorcised those Yankee demons in 2004. I'd much rather play Cleveland, avoiding an opponent we know so well (and the inevitable hyperbole that accompanies their so-called superstars) in favor of an up-and-coming young team. Cleveland will be a tough test, don't get me wrong, especially from a pitching perspective, but I appreciate the opportunity to craft a whole new storyline starting on Friday.