The Yankees Just Don't Lose

Wednesday 9/9/09 - Len

The New York Yankees won their 90th game of the season last night, a walk-off win against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Red Sox are 80-58 and are 9 games out of the division lead. The Yanks are clearly in a class of their own.

Last night the Yankees hit their 13th walk-off of the season, this one coming off the bat of Nick Swisher. Although the past weeks have been focusing on Jeter and his record, the Yanks still win games. It seems like nothing can break them, and rightfully so.

I mean, if you looked on paper when this season started, they were the best team in baseball. Posada, Teixeira, Cano, Rodriguez, and Jeter in the infield, Damon, Melky, and Nady in the outfield. As we all know, Nady was soon replaced by Nick Swisher after he went down with an injury- and Swisher is having one of the best seasons of his career. The rotation was led by the highest-paid 1-2 punch in the game with CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett, followed immediately by Andy Pettitte and Joba Chamberlain. Wang was a bust but Mitre and others provided relief. hey put Hughes in the 'pen and he was great. And then of course, there was Mariano.

So should we really be surprised? ABSOLUTELY

This team also had numerous questions- was Alex Rodriguez going to recover both mentally and physically from his hip problem and steroid issues? Was AJ Burnett going to stay on the field? How was Joba going to adjust to the rotation? With Joba out of the bullpen, how strong is that bullpen going to be from innings 6 to 8? Can Andy Pettitte still pitch effectively? How long is Joe Girardi's leash? And finally, how was a team that had played in 13 consecutive postseasons before 2008 rebound the next season after not making it?

I think that most of these questions are answered. A-Rod is A-Rod, simply said (that is from May to September). AJ stayed on the field, and for the most part has had some good stuff. Joba adjusted fine, although I personally feel this new pitch-count thing with him is a little whacky. Phil Hughes has emerged to become the new Joba. Andy Pettitte is having a great year to ride off into the sunset with. There has been no angst between Girardi and the higher-ups. And finally, these Yankees haven't missed a beat. They are 90-50 with 22 games left to play. They are on pace for 105 wins, which we the best Yankee team since 1998- which won the World Series.

There are some negatives with being so high up for so long. For starters, you begin to put the breaks on. I guarantee you that in these final three weeks you will see Sergio Mitre or Chad Gaudin in there instead of CC. Why? Because CC has a reputation of flaming out in the playoffs. AJ Burnett may skip a start- and this will also be his first real crack at the postseason (in 2003 with FLA he was hurt, Yankee fans remember that one). Other than Alex Rodriguez, I see the starters consistently playing until the end- but you never know.

Personally, although the World Champs are a lock for October baseball, I feel that this World Series is the Yankees to lose. As of now, it looks like they will be matchup up against Detroit- that is unless the Rangers catch the Sox. If that happens, they will face the Rangers, and the Angels and Tigers will have to beat up on each other.

The bottom line is that they cannot be lax these last 22 games. If they play .500 baseball and get in with the best record at 101-61, that would be fantastic. If they then proceed to get kicked in the teeth by Detroit- a team I think is much overlooked in the AL- they finished just as well as their NY counterparts. Because when it comes down to it, if you're not hoisting the Commisioner's Trophy in November, you might as well have been golfing since October 1st.