I was attending a networking event at a conference last night so fortunately I didn't have to sit through the nightmare that was Game 4 of the American League Championship Series. I don't blame CC Sabathia for the sweep at the hands of the Detroit Tigers. He did everything he could to carry the Yankees to victory this postseason. Save for last night's game, he and his fellow Yankee starting pitchers were terrific, but their efforts were wasted by a non-existent offense. Alex Rodriguez will get the lion's share of the blame, but he has plenty of company, namely Curtis Granderson and Nick Swisher. It is finally time to say good-bye to some of these guys (more on who I think should go later), especially if they are so bothered by loud booing.
Truthfully, I knew the Yankees were done as soon as I saw Derek Jeter crumple to the ground in Game 1. It wasn't just the horrifying image of the tough-as-nails captain unable to get back on his feet as he usually does. It was the knowledge that the one regular in the Yankees lineup who was actually hitting was obviously done for the baseball postseason and that no one else in that lineup has the will to put the team on his back the way Jeter did this season.
Without Jeter, the Yankees simply had no fight in them. It's high time the Yankees organization returned to the philosophy that won them so many championships in the late 1990s: building a team of solid, but not superstar players who have the heart and soul to will themselves to victory. Can you imagine Paul O'Neill or Scott Brosius taking it on the chin from the Tigers or anyone else? Of course not, because it wouldn't happen. They may have lost, but they would never go down without a fight. The current Yankees went out with barely a whimper and they should be embarrassed.
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