Well, we lost, and that always sucks.
We had opportunities and didn't cash in on them. At various points in this series, our pitching, defense and high powered offense all failed us.
And yeah, we had our share of bad calls too. (What the FUCK was Larry West making that call on Cano for from almost the ON DECK CIRCLE?!?!?)
But, I am not upset. Hell, I've been downright calm since this ended.
Why? How? Do you no longer LOVE the Yankees Potch? Are you a bandwagon jumper, Potch?
It's simple.
We had NO BUSINESS even MAKING the playoffs, let alone taking the division. This is a very good thing, and I'm thankful for it.
The hated Red Sox, played like shit almost all year long, and let us hang around when they should have walked away with the dividion. For this I'm also thankful.
We lost 80% of our starting pitching rotation, yet still managed this. VERY thankful.
Our opening day second baseman had an OBP below .300, but we had a kid in the minors, a veritable diamond in the rough named Robbie Cano, who looks like a favorite for the Rookie of the Year award. SO thankful!
We discovered the wonders of a 25 year old Oriental kind named Wang who literally carried our pitching staff for two months while Randy Johnson was hunting for his arm slot. Thankful!
A-Rod, despite sucking so badly last night, carried this team on his shoulders at times this year, and no matter what anyone may say today, MORE than earned his pinstripes. Thankful.
Joe Torre, who's been accused of not knowing how to manage a bullpen, did arguably the best managing of his Yankee career this year, finding SOME way of winning 95 games with a bullpen that short of Gor-Mo, couldn't hold a child, let alone a lead. THIS is impressive to say the least, and I'm thankful.
Mel has given us one last year, and it may be time for him to go, but you have to give him some credit for the job he did with the healthy guys he was handed. I mean, Small, Wang, Chacon? Thankful.
Brian Cashman, running the team without a contract for next year, finally took the reins and implemented the idea of holding onto our blue chip prospects instead of trading them for filler. Instead, he worked the waiver wire and made minor moves, all of which helped to varying degrees. Thankful.
Basically, there's nothing at ALL to be ashamed about this year. We played out assed off the last month and a half, and fought for every damned thing we got. Did we come up short? Yeah. Did we get our heads handed to us? Not at all. We held down Figgins AND Vlad, we knocked their bullpen around a little, we decimated their starters (except Lackey). Both teams were evenly matched and it was more a case of last man standing than getting beat.
BOSTON got BEAT. BADLY. BOSTON has a TERRIBLE season. They lost one starter for half a year and their closer, and played worse than the Yankees who were 4 starters short at one point, and 3 starter short for 60-75% of the year. The Sox SHOULD have ran away with the division, but they didn't because... Well, they just aren't that good. (Think they would have liked to have Pedro and even Lowe back against the ChiSox?)
Now, we're done playing, but I am now rooting for two teams, the ChiSox and the Astros. This would be a great series, and one of ENOURMOUS regrets for Steinbrenner and his talking heads in Tampa. Imagine a series with Clemens facing Contreras and Pettitte facing El Duque? George would plotz.
So what now?
Now I go back to playing World of Warcaft, and plan on participating in NaNoWriMo. (National Novel Writing Month)
And maybe later, I'll post what I think is gonna happen this offseason.
bitchy
amused