Looking Back and Looking Forward

It certainly had the feel that it was going to be one of “those” games from very early on. You would think that if the probable American League Cy Young award winner left the game in the 2^nd inning you would feel pretty good about your chances of wining the game. But this is baseball. And this is October baseball. And as the promos say, you can’t script this stuff. It was as if the deck was stacked in one direction and everything that could go wrong was going to go wrong.

It began in the second inning, when the New York Yankees truly lost Game 5 of the American League Division Series to the Los Angeles Angels. They had the game in hand when rookie pitcher Ervin Santana entered the game for the injured Bartolo Colon and proceeded to issue three walks and hit a man in his first inning of work. What did the Yankees get out of it? A single by Bubba Crosby and a sacrifice fly for just 2 runs. And so Santana was let off the hook and no one needed a crystal ball to figure out that he was going to settle down and go on to shut down the “mighty” Yankee offense. It’s just the way these things work. When you have a pitcher on the ropes, you have to go for the jugular. Instead, the Yankees made Santana a hero.

And by the bottom of the same inning, the game was over. The Angels cut it to 2-1 on a Garret Anderson homerun and that old “coulda and probably shoulda” been caught fly ball changed the game for good. After Gary Sheffield and Crosby collided in right-center field to help Adam Kennedy to a 2-RBI go-ahead triple, there was no doubt the Yankees were in deep trouble.

Still, as close as the scoreboard said it was throughout the game, it just seemed like things weren’t going to fall in the Yankees favor. The signs were there. Take Robinson Cano’s strikeout that got away from catcher Benjie Molina and then was thrown away down the first base line, but then ruled and out because half of Cano’s body was in fair territory when the throw hit him. Instead of having the bases loaded with Bernie Williams at the plate, the inning was over. Or take the fact that not one Yankee fan can honestly say that when Jason Giambi’s ball went off the top of the wall in right-center field they still had confidence the Yankees would get the run in. A few feet higher and it’s 5-4 and a new game. Instead, the Yankees floundered again and put one more nail in their coffin when the Angels maintained the 5-3 lead. And then there was the 9^th inning, when Mr. “MVP” comes to the plate as the tying run and proceeds to ground into a double play. Isn’t that where he’s supposed to hit a homerun?

The loss actually had little to do with Mike Mussina as he didn’t do a terrible job (most of the runs and hits were balls that found open infield or bloops that fell in) and Randy Johnson actually came in on relief to pitch the type of game he was supposed to pitch in Game 3 (actually without even great stuff). It actually was the Yankee offense that cost them a third consecutive trip to the American League Championship Series. It was the combination of Alex Rodriguez, Sheffield (despite 3 hits last night), and Hideki Matsui (who alone left 7 runners on base in Game 5) that hurt the Yankees. They batted a combined .206 with 3 HR and 1 RBI. There’s only one word to describe that – PATHETIC. How is it that Giambi (.421, 0 HR, 2 RBI) is the only one who remembered how to perform under pressure? And I’ll give you Derek Jeter, too. But even he came up short in a lot of big spots.

I'm not even going to waste my breath on the Fox broadcast. But it was nice to know that Joe “give a compliment then undermine it with criticism” Buck still hates the Yankees and that none of Tim McCarver’s absolutions ever prove to be right (i.e. the comment “Joe Torre would never hit and run with Bernie Williams” moments before a botched attempt at that very same play). And don’t even get me started on the coverage of the game itself – I could see more of it by watching highlights the next day on Sportscenter.

So now the Yankees have four months to stare into the winter abyss and wonder what next year will bring. Who will be there? Who won’t? Who’ll manage the team? Who will read all about their individual failures through next Spring Training? What do they do differently in 2006? Those are questions only George Steinbrenner can answer and don’t you have any doubt that some major changes are in store. Joe Torre might have saved his job with his performance over the last month of the season, but don’t forget that Lou Piniella is on the market and Steinbrenner has a soft spot for him. Torre actually didn’t manage TOO terribly this postseason, but it may just simply be time to shake things up. Torre is one of the best EVER in clubhouse and team management, but the Yankees are looking back at a 4-5 year period where a better ON-FIELD manager could have made a dramatic difference. It may be time for them to go to a great X’s and O’s guy who can do his best with the other stuff.

This off-season the Yankees will look for a center fielder. They will look for middle relief. And they will take a long look at their rotation possibilities for 2006. A few thoughts about what we can all expect to see as we put to rest the 2005 season and begin the water cooler chatter about what we can hope for in 2006:

1) Sign Johnny Damon (if he’s healthy). The guy is a legitimate, pain-in-the-ass leadoff hitter. He can hit for power at times, too. He’s clutch, he’s been there before, he’s fast, and he would make a great 1-2 punch with Jeter. Sure, he’s from Boston and he’s got a little quirkiness to him, but the Yankees can use a little character, too.

2) Bring Al Leiter back as a lefty specialist. Despite his performance down the stretch, he proved he can still be valuable in big spots. He is one of the few reasons the Yankees even made it to Game 5 this year. He’s got the heart, the grit, and the experience. The question is whether or not he would want to come back in that role.

3) Trade Jaret Wright for middle relief. Yes, he’s got a big contract, but the Yankees could eat a lot of that and get something in return for him. They don’t need his bum shoulder in the rotation next year and he was never, EVER that great to begin with. Carl Pavano’s shoulder is going to be enough headaches in ’06 as it is.

4) Make your rotation Johnson, Mussina, Pavano, Shawn Chacon, and Chien-Ming Wang. Put Aaron Small in the bullpen as middle relief. Your rotation is strong enough as it is and if you know baseball, you know that those 5 aren’t all starting 35 games. You’ll need an emergency starter at some point.

5) Bring Lou Piniella in to manage. See aforementioned argument.

To finally bring closure to this season, just remember the ride that was the September pennant race and remember that the Red Sox fans have been sitting home without baseball for almost a week now. We had another postseason shot and just came up empty again. Hopefully, a patented Steinbrenner shakeup can bring great things for the next couple of years. If not, there are always those episodes of “Tale of Triumph” on the YES network to keep us entertained.