Afternoon Baseball

And that's the Yankees' 2004-07 postseason woes, in general. Sure, lots of hitters have, at times, stunk it up, but at best, the Yankees have had #2 pitchers.'

In 2004, the team was actually five #3 starters (Jon Lieber, Javier Vasquez, Mike Mussina, Kevin Brown and El Duque).
In 2005, it was Randy Johnson, who was an ace in September but not in October.
In 2006 and 2007, there was Chien-Ming Wang, and this year, Andy Pettitte.

The Red Sox had Curt Schilling and Pedro Martinez in '04. The Angels had Colon in '05 (a bad example because the Yanks crush him, but still). The Tigers had Kenny Rogers and Justin Verlander, and the Indians had Sabathia and Carmona. All aces, or at least better than what the Yanks brought.

Without an ace, the Yankees must out-hit everyone (or hope for a one-dimensional team a la the Twins), something they fail at by situation and by personal failings. The playoffs are not the time for rampant offense, most years, and many Yankees have compounded that through underwhelming performances.

The next step? The Boss wants Torre gone. Others say fire Cashman. Torre, the Captain and the "ace" get blame for their failings, as well.

I'm with the thinking of eventually forgetting all this mess and thinking of the good things that came out of a disastrous start this year.