No title means no happiness in Bronx
No title means no happiness in Bronx
By The Associated Press
Saturday, March 31, 2007 11:36 PM EDT
NEW YORK - Six years, no championships. They haven't even won the AL pennant since 2003.
This is not the Yankees way. George Steinbrenner doesn't spend $200 million a year for a measly AL East title.
They can go 162-0 during the regular season, and it won't matter unless they add 11 victories in October. Since that 2001 night when they blew a ninth-inning lead at Arizona in Game 7 of the World Series, baseball's most famous franchise has been in decline.
“We can't look back. It's now time to look forward,” Jorge Posada said. “It's now time to accomplish a lot of things as a group.”
In many ways, the New York Yankees resemble an empire past its prime, with memories of triumphs but no new ones to add. Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Posada are the only remainders from the glory days, with Bernie Williams the latest hero jettisoned for getting old.
Following last October's first-round debacle in Detroit, Randy Johnson, Gary Sheffield and Jaret Wright were traded. Pettitte returned after three years in Houston, and Kei Igawa and Doug Mientkiewicz signed up.
After wavering for a few days, Steinbrenner decided to let Joe Torre stay for his 11th season as manager. General manager Brian Cashman asserted his authority, saying the team had to get younger, more athletic - and as a byproduct, less expensive. Steinbrenner appeared to recede from all player decisions.
Alex Rodriguez, coming off another poor postseason that sticks to him as much as his record contract, arrived at spring training and finally admitted he's no longer best buddies with Jeter. Mike Mussina said Carl Pavano had to prove to teammates that he's not a malingerer.
They still dominate the tabloids, but they no longer control the postseason. Rivera and Posada are entering the final years of their contracts, Rodriguez can opt out of his $252 million deal following the World Series and become a free agent, and Bobby Abreu could be cut loose. Even now, it already appears the 2008 team will be much different.
“I think we've got a bunch of professionals that have a job to do,” Torre said. “I have a sense that we're going to be pretty serious about getting it done.”
For Chicago Cubs fans, not winning the World Series since 1908 feels like an eternity. For Yankees fans, not winning every year is unacceptable.
“When we go to spring training every year, we talk about getting to the World Series. We don't talk about having a good year, let's have a good record and all that stuff, it's getting to the World Series,” Torre said after last fall's failure. “So you know going in what the requirements are.”
Despite raising the price of their box seats closest to the field by $40 to $150, the Yankees have sold 3,475,000 tickets, 205,000 ahead of last year's pace. They've sold the equivalent of 35,000 season tickets.
“In my opinion, we really have to perform well for the fans,” Steinbrenner said through spokesman Howard Rubenstein. “We're selling more tickets than ever before. We're more popular than ever before, and we really have to win.”
The starting pitching still seems shaky.
No. 1 starter Chien-Ming Wang, coming off a 19-6 season, is out until at least the end of April because of a strained right hamstring. That left the opening-day start to Pavano, who hasn't pitched in the major leagues since June 27, 2005, because of injuries to his - let's count - shoulder, back, buttocks, elbow and ribs. His first test will come Monday against Tampa Bay before 55,000 not-too-patient fans.
“Not everything goes as planned,” said Pavano, thus far a Bronx bust after signing a $39.95 million, four-year contract. “You're going to have times of adversity. You're going to have times that challenge you. It's how you rise to those occasions.”
A-Rod has come to wearing controversy as naturally as the gold-tinged hair on his head. He's 4-for-41 (.098) without an RBI in his last 12 playoff games dating to 2004.
“Winning is the only thing that matters,” he said. “I can go out and hit .350 and do all these individual things. If we don't win, nobody cares, and neither do I. I've already done everything personally in the game that there is to do. The only thing that's left is winning a world championship, and that's why I'm in New York. I'm pretty obsessed with it.”
The Citizen Copyright © 2007
A division of Lee Publications, Inc.
25 Dill Street
Auburn, NY 13021
By The Associated Press
Saturday, March 31, 2007 11:36 PM EDT
NEW YORK - Six years, no championships. They haven't even won the AL pennant since 2003.
This is not the Yankees way. George Steinbrenner doesn't spend $200 million a year for a measly AL East title.
They can go 162-0 during the regular season, and it won't matter unless they add 11 victories in October. Since that 2001 night when they blew a ninth-inning lead at Arizona in Game 7 of the World Series, baseball's most famous franchise has been in decline.
“We can't look back. It's now time to look forward,” Jorge Posada said. “It's now time to accomplish a lot of things as a group.”
In many ways, the New York Yankees resemble an empire past its prime, with memories of triumphs but no new ones to add. Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Posada are the only remainders from the glory days, with Bernie Williams the latest hero jettisoned for getting old.
Following last October's first-round debacle in Detroit, Randy Johnson, Gary Sheffield and Jaret Wright were traded. Pettitte returned after three years in Houston, and Kei Igawa and Doug Mientkiewicz signed up.
After wavering for a few days, Steinbrenner decided to let Joe Torre stay for his 11th season as manager. General manager Brian Cashman asserted his authority, saying the team had to get younger, more athletic - and as a byproduct, less expensive. Steinbrenner appeared to recede from all player decisions.
Alex Rodriguez, coming off another poor postseason that sticks to him as much as his record contract, arrived at spring training and finally admitted he's no longer best buddies with Jeter. Mike Mussina said Carl Pavano had to prove to teammates that he's not a malingerer.
They still dominate the tabloids, but they no longer control the postseason. Rivera and Posada are entering the final years of their contracts, Rodriguez can opt out of his $252 million deal following the World Series and become a free agent, and Bobby Abreu could be cut loose. Even now, it already appears the 2008 team will be much different.
“I think we've got a bunch of professionals that have a job to do,” Torre said. “I have a sense that we're going to be pretty serious about getting it done.”
For Chicago Cubs fans, not winning the World Series since 1908 feels like an eternity. For Yankees fans, not winning every year is unacceptable.
“When we go to spring training every year, we talk about getting to the World Series. We don't talk about having a good year, let's have a good record and all that stuff, it's getting to the World Series,” Torre said after last fall's failure. “So you know going in what the requirements are.”
Despite raising the price of their box seats closest to the field by $40 to $150, the Yankees have sold 3,475,000 tickets, 205,000 ahead of last year's pace. They've sold the equivalent of 35,000 season tickets.
“In my opinion, we really have to perform well for the fans,” Steinbrenner said through spokesman Howard Rubenstein. “We're selling more tickets than ever before. We're more popular than ever before, and we really have to win.”
The starting pitching still seems shaky.
No. 1 starter Chien-Ming Wang, coming off a 19-6 season, is out until at least the end of April because of a strained right hamstring. That left the opening-day start to Pavano, who hasn't pitched in the major leagues since June 27, 2005, because of injuries to his - let's count - shoulder, back, buttocks, elbow and ribs. His first test will come Monday against Tampa Bay before 55,000 not-too-patient fans.
“Not everything goes as planned,” said Pavano, thus far a Bronx bust after signing a $39.95 million, four-year contract. “You're going to have times of adversity. You're going to have times that challenge you. It's how you rise to those occasions.”
A-Rod has come to wearing controversy as naturally as the gold-tinged hair on his head. He's 4-for-41 (.098) without an RBI in his last 12 playoff games dating to 2004.
“Winning is the only thing that matters,” he said. “I can go out and hit .350 and do all these individual things. If we don't win, nobody cares, and neither do I. I've already done everything personally in the game that there is to do. The only thing that's left is winning a world championship, and that's why I'm in New York. I'm pretty obsessed with it.”
The Citizen Copyright © 2007
A division of Lee Publications, Inc.
25 Dill Street
Auburn, NY 13021
posted by Walking Contradiction at 10:41 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home