It's been nearly 24 hours since the mighty New York Yankees were knocked from their playoff perch, yet there is still a lingering stench of disbelief. How could a team with all that money and all that talent and all that mystique suddenly come to pieces and look more like a team from, let's say Houston? I have the reason, but I want to talk about the Yankees first. After all... them losing is a much bigger story than the Tigers winning. Sorry Detroit. I'm going to play the media-bias game for a minute.
Let's go back before the big collapse - the playoff collapse against Detroit. At one point in late summer, New York had a six to seven game lead over the closest two teams trailing them in the American League East, the Baltimore Orioles and the Tampa Bay Rays. But the month of September was not kind to the Bombers and they found themselves clinging to a one game advantage over Baltimore. They seemed to bite the bullet however, and fight off Buck Showalter's pesky bunch to win the division crown.
Derek Jeter continued to defy Father Time, Ichiro Suzuki seemed to have found a comfort zone in his new pressurized pinstriped uniform and C.C. Sabathia had found a little something extra down the stretch and began to dominate again. The Yankees seemed poised for their annual run at the World Series. Yet if not for a few magical moments by a rented Yankee named Raul Ibanez, this article would be about Jim Leyland's heavily favored Tiger squad fighting off Buck's pesky bunch... not the Yankees going down in flames.
The majority of us are standing with our mouths wide open at New York's sudden impotency at the plate. It wasn't that sudden really... nor could it be classified as impotency. Baltimore, the Yankees' first playoff opponent, held them to only nine runs the last four games of the series, discounting Game 1 when the Yanks scored 7. The Orioles pitching was pretty darn effective keeping big game hitters like Robinson Cano, Mark Texeria and Curtis Granderson from causing major damage the rest of the way. On the flip-side, New York's pitching was doing the exact same thing to Baltimore's potent line-up so they were able to cash in on their playoff experience and send those kids packing.
Detroit, however, has been around for a few years. They not only have baseball's Triple Crown King and probable league MVP in Miguel Cabrera, but a dangerous Prince Fielder and an unheralded Delmon Young in their arsenal. Oh... did I forget someone? Justin Verlander... of course! Last season's MVP. Now I think you're ready to hear the real reason the Yankees suddenly could not hit their way out of a wet paper bag. Their opponent's pitching.
Pitching, as they say, wins championships, and I for one will never believe differently. The big money goes to those certain few can't-miss aces, but the rest of a team's rotation is usually made up of a couple of second-tier guys, a few cast-off-type-comeback stories, and guy or two out of nowhere. Mostly, it's lightning in a bottle, but if you can get your hands on a case or two if it, you'll go along way.
The Yankees had Sabathia. After that, a still inconsistent Phil Hughes, a strong, but wearing down Hideki Kuroda and after that... well, no one. Their bullpen was adequate even without Mariano Rivera, but sans CC, they couldn't go deep enough into the games to keep the pen dominating fresh. And in yesterday's Game 4, once the Tigers began to maul Sabathia, it was over.
We can all begin our Yankee bashing and start running A-rod out of town, or screaming that the Yanks must clean house, but the fact of the matter is, New York dominated the regular season again. Any other professional club would go searching for the few missing pieces to carry them all the way instead of taking the dynamite to the roster. They should start with pitching. Pitching keeps you going even after the blank glare of forgetting how to hit comes over your faces. Because looking back, that's exactly what happened to New York. They got beat facing solid pitching. They didn't just forget how to hit a baseball. The frustrated, seemingly exhausted at times facial expressions weren't because of old age or disinterest or Australian bikini models in the stands, they were because of dominating pitching. Dominating pitching on the other team. Eventually, if offensively, you are not built to make adjustments and manufacture runs - or even a single run - then that helpless look of not being able to win will seep into your dugout. That's what happened to the Yankees and that's why we're all stunned that they suddenly forgot how to hit. It's called great pitching.
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