"Off with your head."
And so it is that much to the chagrin of the New York sporting apparatus (the media, fans, et al) that baseball season has once again come to an unseasonable early terminus, with the vaunted Bronx Bombers turning a best-of-five into over-and-out against the Cleveland Indians, a team the Yanks swept 6-0 during the regular campaign. Chien-Ming Wang, brought back on short rest following a disastrous game 1 outing at Jacobs Field (8 ER), gave up a home run to Indians' lead-off man Grady Sizemore and never looked back, on the hook for 4 eventual runs before being yanked (Yank-ed?) in the 2nd inning for long-man Mike Mussina. Moose kept the Yanks in the game, but they were never able to do quite enough damage at the plate to make up difference, getting a two-out RBI from Jeter and three solo homers to keep it respectable.
Victory may have a thousand fathers; defeat, in this instance, is of multipartite parentage as well. First of all, tip your hat to Cleveland: their hitters batted to an above-.300 average for the series, and almost always seemed to come up with the huge hit (the Tribe scored an astonishing 15 two-out runs in four games). Their pitching was equal to the task: C.C. Sabathia and Paul Byrd pitched solidly and to the score, getting the game to the bullpen with a nice cushion in tact; Fausto Carmona, he of the 1-10 record in 2006 (and the 19-7 record in 2007), turned in a performance for the ages in game 2, outdueling Andy Pettitte with 1 ER over 9 innings. The bullpen held up their end as well, giving up only 2 ER during the series (both last night) and completely shutting the door on the Yankees' modern-day murderers' row.
To be sure, the Yanks did themselves no favors: their starting pitching, which had held out across the team's miraculous 2nd half renaissance, imploded in the Division Series. Wang was atrocious in games 1 and 4, and Roger Clemens lasted a mere 2 1/3 innings before succumbing to Father Time in game 3. Their bullpen was a mixed bag: in games 3 and 4 they got the job done, highlighted by strong outings by Phil Hughes and Mike Mussina; Joba Chamberlain flubbed it in game 2 while pitching under extreme insectile duress; and Joe Torre seemed to throw in the towel early on game 1, bringing in rookie Russ Ohlendorf, who promptly turned a 7-3 game into an 11-3 score. The hitting was even worse, with Derek "El Capitan" Jeter (three double play balls in the series, including a rally-killer last night) and Jorge Posada (2-for-15, 0 RBI) stinking the joint out. A-Rod ho-hummed his way through the series, making several big outs with men on base, but playing just well enough to keep out of trouble with the fans. With exception of game 3, the Yankees' bats simply never managed to get on a roll, stranding runners left and right and failing to deliver in the clutch.
So, now that it's settled that the Bombers' epic World Series drought will extend to a seventh consecutive season (how these people made it between 1978 and 1996 I'll never figure out), the focus shifts to the new drama du jour - when will the ax fall on Joe Torre? George Steinbrenner, Mr. Nurturing-and-Supportive himself, managed to break out of seclusion (and probable dementia) long enough to deliver an ultimatum with the Yankees in an 0-2 hole: win the series or you "probably" won't be brought back. This "backs to the wall" order seemed to work for one game, but evidently even pure terror wasn't enough to motivate the team to rip off three straight wins and save the manager's job.
Now, Steinbrenner has flirted with canning Torre before, most famously after last season's Division Series flameout against the Detroit Tigers. The difference between then and now (and 2005, when the team lost to Anaheim in the first round) is that Torre was still under contract, and it was clear that no matter how much The Boss wished to get rid of him, he didn't relish the though of paying Joe $7 million a year to sit on the couch, or worse yet, manage another club. Now Torre has no contract, and it's difficult to believe that the organization is going to offer him a new deal in the aftermath of yet another early exit. The death watch, so fraught with drama in '06, is being handled as more of a fait accompli this time around: the salutatory chants of "Jo-oe Tor-re!" from the Yankee faithful as the manager walked off the mound following a pitching change in the 8th, the elegiac tenor of Torre's post-game press conference, Suzyn Waldman's teary report from the clubhouse. After 12 years, Torre's number appears to have finally come up.
And what a 12 years. In each season of Torre's tenure, the Yankees have found their way into the playoffs, winning 10 A.L. East titles (9 consecutively) and 2 Wild Card berths (1997 and this season). During that run, the Yanks amassed six American League pennants (the last in 2003) and four World Series rings ('96, '98, '99 & '00). If anything, Torre appears to be a victim of his own success, convincing both the Yankees' fans and ownership that championships are both a birthright (something you most certainly didn't hear in, say, 1988) and easy to come by.
Looking at his resume, you might think that the Yankees would be insane not to bring Torre back; then again, you aren't the guy spending $200 million a year to field the team. George Steinbrenner is. And for that kind of money, the expectation is that the Yankees aren't going to fold when faced with teams put together with a third of the payroll. The sad part of this is that Joe Torre has always been a stand-up guy and a class act, something that even I, an avid Yankee-hater, am forced to admit. He doesn't deserve to be branded a failure. But that's the thing about unreasonably high expectations: they're virtually impossible to meet.
Victory may have a thousand fathers; defeat, in this instance, is of multipartite parentage as well. First of all, tip your hat to Cleveland: their hitters batted to an above-.300 average for the series, and almost always seemed to come up with the huge hit (the Tribe scored an astonishing 15 two-out runs in four games). Their pitching was equal to the task: C.C. Sabathia and Paul Byrd pitched solidly and to the score, getting the game to the bullpen with a nice cushion in tact; Fausto Carmona, he of the 1-10 record in 2006 (and the 19-7 record in 2007), turned in a performance for the ages in game 2, outdueling Andy Pettitte with 1 ER over 9 innings. The bullpen held up their end as well, giving up only 2 ER during the series (both last night) and completely shutting the door on the Yankees' modern-day murderers' row.
To be sure, the Yanks did themselves no favors: their starting pitching, which had held out across the team's miraculous 2nd half renaissance, imploded in the Division Series. Wang was atrocious in games 1 and 4, and Roger Clemens lasted a mere 2 1/3 innings before succumbing to Father Time in game 3. Their bullpen was a mixed bag: in games 3 and 4 they got the job done, highlighted by strong outings by Phil Hughes and Mike Mussina; Joba Chamberlain flubbed it in game 2 while pitching under extreme insectile duress; and Joe Torre seemed to throw in the towel early on game 1, bringing in rookie Russ Ohlendorf, who promptly turned a 7-3 game into an 11-3 score. The hitting was even worse, with Derek "El Capitan" Jeter (three double play balls in the series, including a rally-killer last night) and Jorge Posada (2-for-15, 0 RBI) stinking the joint out. A-Rod ho-hummed his way through the series, making several big outs with men on base, but playing just well enough to keep out of trouble with the fans. With exception of game 3, the Yankees' bats simply never managed to get on a roll, stranding runners left and right and failing to deliver in the clutch.
So, now that it's settled that the Bombers' epic World Series drought will extend to a seventh consecutive season (how these people made it between 1978 and 1996 I'll never figure out), the focus shifts to the new drama du jour - when will the ax fall on Joe Torre? George Steinbrenner, Mr. Nurturing-and-Supportive himself, managed to break out of seclusion (and probable dementia) long enough to deliver an ultimatum with the Yankees in an 0-2 hole: win the series or you "probably" won't be brought back. This "backs to the wall" order seemed to work for one game, but evidently even pure terror wasn't enough to motivate the team to rip off three straight wins and save the manager's job.
Now, Steinbrenner has flirted with canning Torre before, most famously after last season's Division Series flameout against the Detroit Tigers. The difference between then and now (and 2005, when the team lost to Anaheim in the first round) is that Torre was still under contract, and it was clear that no matter how much The Boss wished to get rid of him, he didn't relish the though of paying Joe $7 million a year to sit on the couch, or worse yet, manage another club. Now Torre has no contract, and it's difficult to believe that the organization is going to offer him a new deal in the aftermath of yet another early exit. The death watch, so fraught with drama in '06, is being handled as more of a fait accompli this time around: the salutatory chants of "Jo-oe Tor-re!" from the Yankee faithful as the manager walked off the mound following a pitching change in the 8th, the elegiac tenor of Torre's post-game press conference, Suzyn Waldman's teary report from the clubhouse. After 12 years, Torre's number appears to have finally come up.
And what a 12 years. In each season of Torre's tenure, the Yankees have found their way into the playoffs, winning 10 A.L. East titles (9 consecutively) and 2 Wild Card berths (1997 and this season). During that run, the Yanks amassed six American League pennants (the last in 2003) and four World Series rings ('96, '98, '99 & '00). If anything, Torre appears to be a victim of his own success, convincing both the Yankees' fans and ownership that championships are both a birthright (something you most certainly didn't hear in, say, 1988) and easy to come by.
Looking at his resume, you might think that the Yankees would be insane not to bring Torre back; then again, you aren't the guy spending $200 million a year to field the team. George Steinbrenner is. And for that kind of money, the expectation is that the Yankees aren't going to fold when faced with teams put together with a third of the payroll. The sad part of this is that Joe Torre has always been a stand-up guy and a class act, something that even I, an avid Yankee-hater, am forced to admit. He doesn't deserve to be branded a failure. But that's the thing about unreasonably high expectations: they're virtually impossible to meet.
