Afternoon Baseball

Of all the ways that the Yankees would lose this year's Division Series, lack of hitting would have been listed as the least likely. Yet, that's exactly what happened.

So where is the appropriate blame? Did the Yanks even deserve to win? Did they fix the problems from last year? Where do they go from here?
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1. Who's to blame?
A-Rod, for sure, for his defense as well as his lack of hitting. Tim Keown has the best perspective on the enigma that is Playoff-Yankee A-Rod. But he's not alone. Hideki Matsui, usually a stellar playoff performer, was amazing for his ineptitude yesterday. Gary Sheffield, again, the most dangerous hitter they have, was reduced to a singles hitter again -- mediocrity being a playoff habit for him. Bernie, sadly, didn't choke -- he's just got nothing left.
It comes back to Randy Johnson, though. Stellar September aside, he never fully cast aside doubts about age affecting him or his big-game talent when not facing the Yankees.
Mike Mussina? Yeah, he sucked, but it's surprising that he was really able to pitch at all. Besides, the Moose gets out of whack easily. Just as when Torre goofed by bringing him to Japan two years ago, leaving Moose in Anaheim for close to a week with nothing to do surely didn't help. Fragile psyche? Sure. But considering he's been the one constant in playoff games in the post-championship era, last night's ineffectiveness can't be held against him.

Is Torre to blame? Surprisingly, no. He managed this series fairly well. His players failed, miserably, save for Jeter and Posada and also Giambi. And Rivera, of course.

2. Did the Yanks deserve to win?
No. Well, it's not a tragedy, at least.
Weak bullpen, a defense where oft-criticized Jeter and Posada were clearly better than anyone else, a smattering of retreads and unprovens at starter (replacing overpaid, overrated and past-their-prime starters) and too many guys offensively declining, unable to field their position, or both. The Angels, on the other hand, had lots of injuries, some underachievers offensively, but had the starting pitching, the best AL bullpen, and guys who could play defense at multiple positions. And they won without Vlad driving in a single run.
The Yanks deserved to win the AL East, but nothing else. Now, if they had won last night, would they have been undeserving? No, again. It's simply that this team didn't underachieve. They were just not that great to begin with.

3. Did the Yanks fix the problems from last year?
In my A-Rod trade reflection post and in my post-ALCS thoughts last year, the problems of the Yanks seemed to be the following:

• Kevin Brown
• Destroying Vasquez' psyche and then giving away too much for Johnson
• Lieber's impending free agency
• Quantrill's knee
• The bullpen in general, but especially lefties
  
• Mel Stottlemyre
• Center field
• Starting pitching under 35
• Giambi
  
• Having to plug in scrap heap guys (then, El Duque, Tony Clark, John Olerud, Miguel Cairo, Ruben Sierra)

Did the Yanks fix those problems? A. Kevin Brown got hurt most of the year, which is the best thing that could have happened. Check. B. Johnson did better than Vasquez would have done, but then again, he should have. That's a split. C. The Yanks balked at Lieber's salary, I believe. Which is absurd. Now, sure he only pitched 2 1/2 great months for the Phils. But he went 17-13. What did Jaret Wright or Carl Pavano do? D. Quantrill's knee was never left to get healthy, and he was dumped halfway through, where he went on to pitch well with San Diego. Go figure. E. The bullpen was still a mess. F. Stottlemyre actually did a good job this year. Kudos. G. Center field is still in terrible shape, although Beltran is not the player he was with Houston. Not a problem that looks like it will be solved soon. H. They only got starters under 35 because they had no choice. The important thing now is keeping those guys and hoping they still have the magic in 2006. I. Plugging in guys? Well, Cano worked out better than anyone could have hoped, but Womack was an indefensible signing, Tino was great for 2 weeks in May, Sierra never recovered from the hamstring injury, and Flaherty was nothing but a clubhouse divider over being RJ's "personal catcher."

So overall, the Yanks failed to solve many of their problems. And if last year's team wasn't good enough, then it's tough to have expected this year's team to be any better.

4. Where do they go from here?Try to retain Cashman. Don't, in any way, blame Jeter. Hope against hope that Girardi stays instead of taking a managerial job. Re-sign Matsui, Small, Chacon. Don't re-sign Tino, Ruben, or Bernie. Think about finding a Gordon replacement, just in case. Think of maybe biting the bullet and putting Bubba Crosby in center full-time, if only for a year. In other words, don't sign Damon. Don't be tempted to extend Sheffield's contract. Hope Giambi didn't have some sort of bizarre one-year post-steroids boost. Focus on the farm system. Find a backup catcher who might eventually take over. Take the chance with young, maybe crappy relievers over veteran, assuredly crappy relievers. Don't panic. Don't panic. Don't panic.

Finally, either fix A-Rod's head, or accept that this is the type of star he is, only worse -- far from unemotional, he can't control his emotions when he needs to:

Alex Rodriguez? The most ordinary and underwhelming superstar ever seen. His season wasn't even so disappointing because it never appeared as if he was playing anything less than what he can play. This is who he is--an unemotional player (who comes off extremely calculating in all he does--he's like Kobe without the crime...yet) who delivers only when the games don't matter (his MVP campaign was constructed entirely after June when the Rangers were comfortably in last) or when no one is on-base. I give him credit for moving to third base, but I can't believe how little awe he inspires, in person and on television.

Labels: A-Rod