Enough Already: The Yankees win the pennant again Photo: Associated Press
It was the bottom of the eighth in Sunday night’s closeout game of the ALCS and the Yankees were tacking on some extra runs on the way to another World Series appearance.
With Mariano Rivera coming back out to shut down the Angels in the ninth and preserve the victory, I was coming to the realization that my dream would not come true – that the Angels would actually take Game 6 and I would be able to say, "The Yankees lose … The Yankees lose … Theeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Yankees lose." No such luck.
The great American pastime, the World Series, begins Wednesday night, and I’ll be watching every pitch like every year. And you guessed it, I’ll be rooting for the Phillies. Sorry.
See, I hate the Yankees. But I don’t want to be predictable about it (OK, yes, I am an Orioles fan whose hometown club hasn’t had a winning season in 12 years). I also don’t want to be trite and petty. I love the great game of baseball too much for that -- a dyed-in-the-wool fan who really does believe that everybody has a chance to win the pennant at the start of spring training.
Only the Yankees have won 7 of the last 14 American League pennants and make their way to their 40th World Series against the Phils.
My ill will toward the Yankees began long ago. It probably started first watching the 1958 classic film "Damn Yankees" as a teenager -- when Joe Hardy had to sell his soul to Mr. Applegate just so the Washington Senators could beat the Yankees for the pennant. Gosh, just to beat the Yankees you have to make a pact with the devil.
Then growing up in Baltimore, I realized that Babe Ruth was a native of my city who went on to become baseball’s most legendary figure, of course, with the Yankees, no less.
There was having Reggie Jackson play a wonderful season in Baltimore in '76 before unceremoniously bolting to the Yankees for money and fame. There was the Jeffrey Maier game in the 1996 ALCS between the Orioles and the Yankees, in which the Yankees prevailed in the series after 12-year-old Maier’s "dastardly" deed. Then there was losing our best pitcher since Jim Palmer, Mike Mussina, to Yankees’ free agency in 2001. (For Orioles fans, what if Mussina makes the Hall of Fame and goes in as a Yankee?)
All in all, I am OK with Yankee fans. There are plenty of them here in Baltimore and Washington. True baseball fans do respect Baltimore's winning tradition with Frank and Brooks, Eddie and Cal and Palmer, McNally and Cuellar. I lived once in New York City, and I do love New York. It has to be the greatest city in the world in my view.
And I do admit to love Yankee history and lore. Who can argue with the Babe, Lou Gehrig, DiMaggio and the magical season that was Mantle and Maris in 1961. And my favorites like Whitey Ford, Elston Howard, Thurman Munson, Billy Martin and Guidry, Mattingly and Bernie Williams.
So no problem with Yankee fans or the city. It is a big place up there with lots to satisfy. I understand Wall Street, big money, celebrity, endorsements and market size. I know what it means to be in New York.
Still I just hate the Yankees – but also all the other "payroll" teams of current day baseball.
In the run up to the 2009 World Series, I am reminded that I feel a similar way about the Dodgers, Red Sox or Angels, too. The Dodgers and their money still lost with Thome, Pierre and Hudson as bench players. Bench players, mind you. Boston for all its payroll was swept by the Angels after spending the season beating up on rookie teams like the Orioles. The Angels plucked Torii Hunter from free agency a couple of years ago, sending (former Oriole) Gary Matthews Jr. and his millions to the bench. That's baseball today.
When the Yankees signed C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, A.J. Burnett and Nick Swisher to start the 2009 season, I figured you could just spot them the pennant -- not much unlike in a courtroom when you stipulate to a set of facts and move on with the testimony. You could have played the World Series in April between the Yankees and Phillies/Dodgers and let the rest of us (Orioles, Pirates, Indians, Nationals, etc.) just play out the season against one another.
In a post game interview to conclude the ALCS, Yankee captain Derek Jeter said, "It's not easy to get to this point of the season." Well, with the big payroll, Derek, it really is. Put your roster up against the Orioles or Pirates (who have won World Series before). It really is easy in 2009 to get to this point as Yankees when you buy everybody’s players.
This is not to say the Yankees don't do a good job of developing players. There is Jeter, Rivera, Posada, Cano, etc. They all came through the system, but the big money gets them over the hump. And you might say the Phillies would not be where they are had it not been for adding Cliff Lee and Pedro Martinez at mid-season. But adding a piece or two to get over the hump is a time-honored baseball tradition.
I also cringe when I hear Joe Girardi interviews about his 2009 Yankees team. And, as beloved as he is for baseball, Joe Torre was the same way. They talk as if winning with the teams they have (compared with everybody else) is hard -- almost as if what they are doing is professorial, thoughtful and born of greatness. Dudes, your franchises bought the best players. You didn’t grow them like the great teams of the past.
I like to think I am a modern man who understands the era we are in today. But I loved baseball when, for the most part, you won pennants by developing and retaining players.
The Yankees are in another World Series. But for me, Alex Rodriquez will always be a Mariner, Sabathia an Indian, Teixeira a Ranger, Swisher an A, Burnett a Marlin and Johnny Damon a Royal.
Editor's Note: For readers of this blog, sorry for the ranting. I usually don't write in first person. But when you "hate" the Yankees, what is a Baltimore Orioles fan supposed to do.
