The Yankees saw their season come to a very disappointing end on Saturday as the Tigers pounded New York by an 8-3 score. This win propelled Detroit to the ALCS. The 2:54 torture session made one thing clear, the 2006 New York Yankees will go down as one of the biggest underachievers in baseball history. In a game where the Yanks saw their season riding in the balance, they showed little desperation. The Tigers were the team that played like their year was on the line.
New York’s vaunted offense did nothing for the third straight day as Jeremy Bonderman pitched the game of his life. The righty gave up 2 runs on 5 hits in 8.1 innings. Those numbers do not do justice to Bonderman’s outing. The Yanks did not have a baserunner until the game was well out of hand. Unlike Kenny Rogers the night before, Bonderman pitched a legitimately brilliant game. There was no luck involved. The Yankees spent a load of money to create “the best lineup ever.” However, such a highly touted batting order is paid to beat great pitching in big games. In the final three games of the ALDS, New York’s bats produced 6 runs, and half of them came when the series was over for all intents and purposes. The Yanks saw their big guns fall apart in the pressure of the postseason. Derek Jeter, Bobby Abreu, and Jorge Posada can say that they did everything that they could. Nobody else can. Hideki Matsui, Robinson Cano, and Gary Sheffield were all off. Johnny Damon at least contributed in the first two games so he can get a bit of a pass. Jason Giambi and Alex Rodriguez were nothing short of brutal. Giambi can talk all he wants in Sports Illustrated about A-Rod’s mental state. He should be more concerned about his own because aside from his homer in Game 1, he brought nothing positive to the table.
Then there is A-Rod. Mr. Big Numbers had a third straight postseason meltdown, going 1 for 14 in the series and made an error in Game 4 that led to a run. Joe Torre has tried and tried to get through to him. He tried coddling A-Rod. He tried getting tough on him. He moved Alex around the batting order to try and light a fire under him. Nothing has worked. At this point, there need to be serious questions about whether A-Rod will ever be able to thrive when it matters most in New York. Three years after he was acquired, he still has not been able to relax and be himself. The brilliant postseason player Seattle once had is now a distant memory. Rodriguez gets his big stats during the regular season but fails when it comes to delivering when it matters most. That might cut it in Texas, but the Yankees are worried about one thing, winning the World Series. It doesn’t look like Alex will ever cut it at this point.
Not that it would have mattered, given how pathetic the offense looked, but New York’s pitching was just as bad on Saturday. Jaret Wright effectively ended the Yankees’ season by getting hammered for 4 runs in 2.2 innings. The Yanks needed a big time pitching outing to take some pressure off a struggling offense. Wright didn’t even come close to doing that. Jaret did a nice job filling in for Carl Pavano this year. He frequently kept the team in the game. However, he never went deep into games, which taxed the bullpen. Combine that with his failure in the biggest game of the year, and its clear that an upgrade is in order. The Yankees can buy Wright’s contract out, and there’s little reason to not do that. Cory Lidle came on in long relief and poured gasoline onto the fire that Wright started, giving up 3 runs in 1.1 innings. Joe Torre was very proactive, lifting Wright and Lidle as soon as they started getting hit, but the damage had been done. This just underscores the need for this team to get big time pitching over the winter.
It is going to be a long offseason for the Yankees. The Tigers deserve credit for staring down the Yanks and pulling off the upset. However, this never should have happened. New York was a much more talented team. This series should never have been in doubt. At the end of the day, most players on this roster should be ashamed. They have blown a golden chance to win championship number 27. It’s enough to make a fan sick.
