Yankee's Game 6 Victory Indicitive to Season of Dominance

Let me start by saying this will not be a Yankee-bashing entry. In fact, I would like to congratulate the New York Yankees on winning their 27th World Series. They out-paid everyone in the offseaon. (I, unlike most Yankee haters, will not point to that as a reason for their success. The Mets have the second-highest payroll and they are miserable). They outplayed their competitors all season long. And they outlasted the Twins, Red Sox, Cardinals, Rockies, Angels, Dodgers and Phillies to a championship.

But that is a cheesy paragraph and last night was not the season finale of Survivor. It was--as hard as it was to watch--the perfect metaphor for the Yankees' season. Oh, you don't believe me? What's that? You want me to explain? Well only if you insist...

...The New York Yankees won Game 6 by the score of 7-3. A difference of four runs. In blowout wins (wins decided by five or more runs) the Yankees were 32-19. Now I know last night's game was a difference of four runs, but the game was already well in-hand by the time Howard hit his 2-run homer. So for all intensive purposes the Yankees won by 5. The Yankees have dominated teams all year long. Much credit goes to the daunting Yankee lineup; from head-to-toe there was no hole in their starting nine. When your number 9 hitter (Melky Cabrera) drives in damn-near 70 runs, and your lead off hitter goes by the name of Derek Jeter there's not a lot of space to throw strikes.

Not only did the Yankees win decisively, they also won late too. They outscored their opponents by 110 runs from the seventh inning on. That amazing statistic is due in large part to Alex Rodriguez. In late and close situations (from the 7th inning on and within three runs) Rodriguez was an uncharacteristic stud. In 78 appearances here's what A-Rod accomplished: .310 AVG, .741 SLG%, 1.222 OPS, 8 HR, and 21 RBI. And A-Rod was a critical part of this championship run--if for nothing else but his clutch hits in the 7th inning on; something that has haunted the slugger throughout his career.

But it wasn't just their offense that carried them. The Yankees added three new starters to their rotation (Sabathia, Burnett, Pettitte) in the off-season. Those three starters started every game in the postseason. The three-headed monster of the pitching staff carried a suffering bullpen from being over-exposed. Of the possible 143 innings played by the Yankees in the postseason, the starters pitched 94.1 of them. That's two-thirds of the postseason that either Sabathia, Burnett and Pettitte were in the ball game. Talk about quality starting pitching. And last night Pettitte moved to 4-0 in the postseason after pitching two-thirds of the game for the Yanks.

And then there's the maturation of manager Joe Girardi. He was a fiery drill-sargent for the young guys on the Marlins. Then he seemed overwhelmed in his first year, leading his $200 million Yankees to 87 wins and a third-place AL East finish. But this year he seemed to have settled in; hardly ever overreacting, keep his cool throughout the harsh storms that is the New York media.

As a Red Sox fan I tip my cap to the New York Yankees. And on behalf of the Improper Sportsonian, I am officially inserting foot in to mouth. I started this blog in the beginning of the calendar year. And to make a big splash in the blogosphere I wrote an article entitled "Why the Yankees Will Never Win Another World Series". Here is an excerpt from that article so that you can get a jist of where I was coming from.

"I call it the Curse of Giambino. Kinda catchy, right?

After the tough loss in seven games to the Arizona Diamonbacks in the 2001 World Series, the Yankees were looking to revamp; give their team the extra punch it was missing at first base (sorry Tino Martinez and Nick Johnson but I guess ya just didn't cut it). Meet Jason Giambi. Fresh off two strong seasons in which he finished first and second in the AL MVP voting, the Yankees salivated at the chance to get him to use some of the power at Yankee Stadium, known for its "short porch" in right field. They signed Giambi to a seven year $ 120 million deal to play in pinstripes.

Most agreed that Giambi sold his soul when he put on those pinstripes and lost the long hair and beard, but did the Yankees sell their soul as well? Since the Giambi signing the Yankees have continually followed the path of paying (perhaps overpaying) for the the best players in league, looking for the next big marketable player in New York. Feeling the pressure of New York mounting, owner George Steinbrenner began puppeteering GM Brian Cashman to sell their farm system and sign players--whom he thought--would help the Yankees win now. Not down the road."

Well it appears that I only jinxed myself. This is a theory I have been toying with for years, but couldn't put it into words because of the lack of time. I figured eight years was enough of a sample to solidify my theory. Instead it just fueled the fire for the Yankees. Like 2Pac, I ain't mad atcha. I just wish I had waited a few more years to make that profound of a statement.