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...It just lays down and loses four straight games to its biggest rivals. In the span of four days, the Yankees managed to lose four games to become the first team in baseball post season history to be up three games to none and lose a seven game series. Gotta give credit where credit is due, the Red Sox have guts and they pulled off a miraculous series of wins. The biggest comeback and the biggest collapse in baseball history. You have to wonder though, where did the Yankees vaunted comeback ability go? Where did Mr. Everything/Mr. Clutch/Mr. Captain Derek Jeter go? He hit .200 with one extra base hit. Nothing quite like a lead off man who doesn't set the table.
The Red Sox started last night's game with offense from the start. A two-run home run by series MVP David Ortiz in the 1st off Kevin Brown and a grand slam in the 2nd by Johnny Damon. Damon's slam was all the Red Sox would need; he finished 3-6 with 6 RBI and 2 home runs. Brown didn't even make it out of the 2nd inning. For the Red Sox, Derek Lowe pitched with ice in his veins. Over six innings, he allowed only one run and one hit. For some inexplicable reason, Lowe was pulled after six and replaced by Pedro Martinez. Lucky for Terry Francona, that move didn't fully backfire. In one inning, Martinez gave up 2 runs, temporarily reviving the crowd at Yankee Stadium.
It didn't last long as Mark Bellhorn hit a home run in the top of the 8th, deflating the New York crowd and giving the Red Sox more than enough runs for their eventual 10-3 victory. The Red Sox now have a chance to reverse "The Curse" and they took a huge step towards that last night. Not only are they in the World Series, but they defeated their biggest rival to do that. Could this be the year?
What's next for the Yankees? George Steinbrenner must be furious with his team and their performance. Will he add more payroll to get some pitching or more offense because that's what puts butts in seats? The departure of Andy Pettitte, the "retirement" of Roger Clemens, the trade for Alex Rodriguez, signing Gary Sheffield? What could have been done differently and who's head will roll for the results of this post season.
The 2004 Yankees will be remembered as a team with a record payroll and nothing to show for it. Good job Yankees, good job.
Photo by the AP
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"Srike"?
"looses"?
Somebody was up too late last night....
ha, that i was. this series being over means i can finally go to sleep at a normal time.
Alien Loves Predator's take on it...
Red Sox fans! It's obvious. You are only being set up for the GREATEST LETDOWN EVER! I can't wait to see how this one plays out.
Even the mighty New York Yankees ... only pawns in God's ultimate plan. MWAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!!!!
Yanks = greatest losers of all time
I bet the Boss shoots his wad on Beltran and doesn't have enough cash to get the pitching he needs.
I'm so giddy. I've been doing my combination cabbage patch/running man dance followed by a very gratifying "In your face, New York!" vocal accompaniment. Not going over too well in my Manhattan office, but I can't stop. Ha! In your face!
"Yankees=greatest losers of all time?"
I don't think so. Greatest chokers, yes. (although even there, the greatest one game choke ever still remains Game 6 of 1986).
But the greatest losers? Um, no, not after 26 World Championships and 39 Pennants. It doesn;t mean anything right now, of course.
There's no magical explanation for the collapse. They weren't over confident, they just stopped hitting. If that happens and the other team is incredibly clutch, you're gonna lose.
Torre did made a few bad moves and non-moves, and you had two of the biggest Yankee busts of all time (Brown and Vazquez) blow the final game.
The culprits, in order:
1 - A-Rod/Sheffield/Posada --a total and utter collapse of clutch hitting. They each could of won it about 10 times in the last 4 games and failed miserably. YOU LET EDERK LOWE ONE HIT YOU ON TWO DAYS REST. ENOUGH SAID
2 - Brown/Vazquez/Gordon. Total lack of heart and guts during the last game and Gordon was awful. I never want to see his pathetic ass again.
3 - Torre/Quantrill. Torre made terrible decisions and Quantrill's last good game was in July. He started the downfall with the Ortiz homerun in Game 4.
4 - Clark. Not really his fault but he was totally overmtatched and blew his last chance to be a hero. Have fun on the fucking Devil Rays or wherevre you end up. Super nice guy, which is great if I wanted him to be a little league coach.
5 - Lieber/Mariano Liber spit the bit in Game 6 and Mo didn;t dominate in Game 4. I don't blame him for Game 6 though
6- Matsui/Jeter- Matsui was unconcious until he fell apart in Game 4-6. Jeter, despite his bad average, walked and scored important runs and got the only big hits in Game 6 and 7. He did his best on ythe field but failed as the Captain. There's no other way to look at it.
The only with zero blame is....Cairo. Hhe was amazing. Too bad he was left on second base about 15 times in the last three games.
Guys I never want to see in Pinstripes again:
Vazquez, Brown, Gordon, Quantrill, Sheffield, Posada, Clark, Olerud, Wilson, A-Rod, and Torre.
And Cashman.
It's not going over too well here, either.
Sox last beat the Yanks for a pennant in 1904. Enjoy your once-a-century freak occurance!
darren, great comment/analysis. that's a mightly long list of people you don't want to see again.
no love for olerud? or torre? or cashman? not even posada?
Typical late-season, fair-weather fan, Jen.
"The 2004 Yankees will be remembered as a team with a record payroll and nothing to show for it. Good job Yankees, good job."
In most cities, getting to the playoffs is a huge victory in itself.
So please, do your fair-weathering somewhere else.
um, bob, you might want to check who wrote the entry before you start commenting.
and welcome to new york bob. making the playoffs is not enough. it's about winning them here.
Ummm...hello? Being the first team to ever lose a 3-0 lead in a seven game series + losing that game 22-0 earlier in the year(worst shutout defeat ever in MLB history), all with a $180 million payroll = greatest losers of ALL TIME.
Welcome to baggageville.
I love it how yankees fans can from one minute "Sheffield:MVP" to the next, "Sheffield Sucks". Although I'm sure people in Boston were equally going "Damon(Bellhorn):Sucks" to "Damon(Bellhorn):saviour".
Also missing from Gothamist's ALCS coverage: which baseball players are cute. I remember Jen's commentary about Aaron Boone. What about this year? Would Pokey Reese make a good porn star stage name? And what about Dave Roberts being half japanese?
I want all the Yankees beside Jeter out next season. Since that's not realistic, I can see Beltran and Nomar getting signed by the Yanks. Normar at 2B and Betran at center...WHO's YOUR DADDY?!?!
Tien,
TORRE: There may not be anyone better than Torre out there, but that doesn't mean he hasn't gotten complacent and lost his touch. His calm demeanor may have worked with a group of tough minded veterans like Tino, Broscious, Chili Davis and even Clemens, but consider the folowing:
1-How does he not get kicked out of Game 6 during the A-Rod first base fiasco, if only to halt the obvious downward spiral of momentum? It doesn't matter if A-Rod was wrong, Torre has to get kicked out, he just has to.
2-How does he not order Jeter and others to bunt against Schilling to test the ankle? And to take a better approach agaisnt Lowe??
3- How does he not pinch run for Sierra with Bubba Crosby, when Sierra is on first as the TYING RUN IN THE BOTTOM OF THE NINTH in Game 6?
4- Why continue to go to Gordon in Game 4, 5, 6 and 7 when he obviously is a post season failure and basically blew it all for them?
5- He lost his magic touch, plain and simple. It's over Johnny. It's over.
POSADA: His last big hit was in Game 7 last year. And it was a dink double. Granted, one of the better moments of my life, but that was a long long time ago. Posada is an old catcher, he clogs up the bases and is a rally killer of the first order with his nonstop double play grounders to second.
OLERUD was an ok pickup but there's a reason the last place Mariners released him. He's old and has a huge hole in his swing (although not as big as Clark's). Whatever. Travis Lee with Tino backing him up at first next year (while Giambi languishes in his post steroid abyss).
CASHMAN I can deal with although he obviously gravely miscalculated with his Brown and Vazquez pickups (and worse, letting Pettitte go).
Listen, you Boston fans have every right to give it to us right now, but dont diminish your win by talking about payroll when yours is $120mm, ok? You're not the Twins and when it comes to big market bullyin... you're right there with the Evil Empire.
Oh yeah, why in hell was Mariano in the game last night? There is not a reason on earth why you would embarass him like that. Pathetic.
no one here ever said "damon (bellhorn) sucks". welcome to the concept of being a fan - you love them win or lose.
new york is such a shitty club. no one on that team ever looks like they are having fun.
i'll take damnon, millar, cabrera any day. those guys are loving what they do. and thank god a-rod isn't one of us - we'd never take his bullshit in our city.
google "Bellhorn sucks" (I believe these are redsox fans). I think we had the same point - those yankees fans turned on sheffield in an instant. I've seen it with mariano too ("he sucks"), the guy who was one of the reason they one all those world series.
How about this for contrast - boston's coach putting his arm around schilling after he came out in game one vs. torre's "get the f*k out of my sight" yank of Brown in game 7.
selective memory... bellhorn was being booed relentlessly by the boston fans for his continual strikeouts and double play balls. as for having fun on the red sox, you obviously dont remember the jimmy williams and joe kerrigan days when the sox were the most dysfunctional baseball team in the majors (remember carl everett headbutting the homeplate ump?) and it wasnt till grady little that they had some semblance of order and respect in the clubhouse. just like anyone else, the yankees have plenty of fun when theyre winning. you didnt see any laughter and smiles when the sox got their asses whipped in game 3 did you?
No matter what, Red Sox fans are like 45 year-old virgins. Even if you lose your virginity in spectacular fashion to a hot supermodel, you can never get back the years and years of pain, humiliation, defeat and lack of p***y. You are scarred forever by it and can never be normal.
Yankee fans have had great banging for years and years, and occasionallyt a girl cheats on us ('76, '80, '81, '95, & '01 to name a few recent times). This time, the love of our life broke our heart, but we'll survive.