What a difference a year makes.

This time last year, the New York Yankees were at home on their couches watching as their 2009 World Series counterparts, the Philadelphia Phillies, defeated the Tampa Bay Rays to become world champions.

One of the big reasons the Bronx Bombers were at home during the Fall Classic and not participating in it was because their pitching wasn’t good enough. That’s why GM Brian Cashman opened George Steinbrenner’s fat checkbook to sign starting pitchers CC Sabathia (7-years, $161 million) and A.J. Burnett (five-year, $82.5 million). And just to make sure he had enough offense, Cashman also inked the top bat on the free agent market, Mark Teixeira, to an eight-year, $180 million deal.

The end result is that the Yankees got what they paid for.

With their 7-3 victory over the Phillies in Game 6 of the World Series, the Bombers won their 27th championship in club history. Hideki Matsui (who was later named Series MVP) went 3-for-4 with six RBI and a run scored, while Derek Jeter finished 3-for-5 with two runs scored. Long-time veteran Andy Pettitte earned the victory, yielding three runs on four hits over 5.2 innings of work.

The Yankees are clearly at an advantage because they’re willing to spend. But at least they spend their money the right way unlike clubs like the Mets, who spend widely only to miss the postseason every year. The Yankees want to win and they knew last year that they’re pitching wasn’t good enough to match their offensive firepower. So yes, they spent and spent big. But they spent to win and they accomplished their one and only goal: To win a World Series.

It’s easy to get caught up in how much the Yankees spent on free agents last winter, but let’s not overlook how homegrown players like Jeter, Pettitte (even though this is his second stint in the Big Apple), Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera continue to produce in pressure situations.

Stat geniuses love to boast about how Jeter is overrated defensively and how his numbers continue to drop offensively, but this guy continues to shine when it matters most. He continues to be the backbone of the Yankees’ offense and provided the top of the lineup with a spark night in and night out during the postseason. There’s a reason why so many Yankee fans love him: He produces when everything is on the line. And these idiots with all their numbers and calculations continue to miss what he does for his club in the postseason.

I imagine this will be a bitter night for a lot of baseball fans that hate to see the Yankees win. Personally, it’s hard night to root for guys like Jeter, Posada and Rivera. Guys who play the right way and who are natural winners. So congratulations, Yankees.

Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada each homered on Sunday as the Yankees defeated the Twins 4-1 to complete a three-game sweep in the ALDS. New York will now face the Angels in the ALCS.

“People can say whatever they want about home runs and big hits,” Rodriguez said. “If you don’t pitch and you don’t defend, you are not going to win. The story of this has been CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte, and all three of them were fantastic.”

“I think we played the same way we have been playing the whole regular season,” Posada said. “I think pitching is just so important when it comes to a series like this. Once you see it, you understand why pitching is so important now.”
Pavano frustrated the Yankees for four years of an injury-marred signing, and for six innings, he did it in a different way.

Setting a new Twins postseason record with a nine-strikeout performance, Pavano saw his cruise turn sour in the seventh as A-Rod continued his monster ALDS.

The reborn slugger crushed a game-tying line-drive home run that struck the top row of the football bleachers in right field. It was the second homer of the series from Rodriguez, who belted a game-tying shot late in Game 2 at Yankee Stadium and finished the series with a .455 batting average and six RBIs.

The Yankees have a long way to go before they’re hoisting a World Series trophy, but they have to be encouraged from what they saw vs. the Twins. A-Rod is actually hitting in the playoffs and their biggest concern over the past couple of years (their pitching) is coming through as well.

That said, it’s imperative that CC Sabathia pitches well to help set the tone for the ALCS. The Angels have one of the top offenses in baseball and will certainly test the Yankees’ resolve. This should be a great series.

And at the conclusion of the interview, you could slowly see Clemens turning into Pete Rose. Both determined to bully the public into believing their innocence, with the hopes of clearing their name and reputation.

After being banished from baseball in the summer of 1989, Rose would go on various interview shows to vehemently deny the allegations brought against him. He would laugh at the suggestion that a meeting took place between outgoing baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth, incoming commissioner Bart Giamatti, and himself to discuss his gambling habits. That was his story and he stuck to it until 2004, when Rose took the money and wrote a tell-all book about his baseball gambling exploits. He wanted to beat baseball executives on their playing field, but it wasn’t game to them.

Clemens hired a media marketing firm that assists high-profile clients through PR crises, and they suggested getting his side of the story out to the press. Bad move. He said that it would be suicidal for him to take steroids with his family history of heart trouble. Clemens said that heart disease took the life of his stepdad and older brother. Hey, wait a minute! How can you inherit a genetic trait from your stepfather?

Clemens brought attention to a book that otherwise wouldn’t have received any media attention. Unfortunately, he sees this as a competition and challenges anyone to prove him guilty of steroid usage. Last year, Clemens told major league baseball to effectively “kiss his ass” following the release of the Mitchell Report. McNamee offers syringes with his DNA as evidence of steroid usage, and Clemens in turn files a defamation of character lawsuit against him. His competitive personality will eventually do him in.

A person is presumed innocent until proven guilty, but just like Barry Bonds, the general public has convicted Clemens of using performance-enhancing drugs. And if he follows Rose’s script, the Rocket will eventually admit to his usage in a book deal a few years down the road. Assuming he needs the money, of course.

In one of his recent articles, New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica hammered Roger Clemens about what the former pitcher said on the “Mike & Mike in the Morning Show” for ESPN Raido.

McNamee is making it up. And Andy Pettitte is still “misremembering” a conversation he and Clemens once had about HGH. And of course the four reporters from the Daily News who have written the book “American Icon” about Clemens – Teri Thompson, Mike O’Keeffe, Christian Red and Nate Vinton – must be making it up for 428 pages, plus footnotes.

Then, referring to “American Icon,” Clemens said, “I’ve seen excerpts from the book and they’re completely false.”

He didn’t say which false excerpts he’d read. But then once you get Clemens off his talking points, almost everything becomes a brain buster.

He even suggested Tuesday that “common sense” had to tell you he wouldn’t take steroids, because of a history of heart trouble in his family. One of the people he cited was a stepfather who died of a heart attack. As if somehow they weren’t just related by marriage, but by blood as well.

So Clemens does add a new wrinkle, that he was worried about what steroids might do to his heart. You wonder how they could ever do as much damage as Clemens has done to himself over the last year and a half. Somehow he still wants that to be everybody else’s fault. The media’s most of all.

He is a little bit like Barry Bonds now, though Bonds does a much better job of keeping his mouth shut, probably because he has much better lawyers than Clemens, starting with Rusty the Lawyer down there in Houston. Bonds is as good as retired. So is Clemens. Bonds can’t hit home runs to change the subject, Clemens can’t strike people out.

What’s absolutely ridiculous about what Clemens said about his family’s history of heart conditions (besides the idiot comment he made about having heart issues because of his stepfather), is that this is his first mention of anything like that. He has never said that it would be “suicidal” of him to use steroids because of his family history – that was the first time since the steroid allegations came out that he referred to any kind of family heart history. Did he actually think that the American public was going to buy that? That’s what he and his crisis coach came up with over the past year?

Lupica’s right – Clemens should take a page out of Bonds’ playbook and just stay out of the public. Clemens does more damage to himself when he opens his mouth.

While appearing on “Mike & Mike in the Morning” on ESPN Radio on Tuesday, Roger Clemens bashed the new book “American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America’s Pastime,” written by four New York Daily News reporters, and once again denied being injected with HGH by former trainer Brian McNamee.

When asked about the physical evidence reportedly handed over by McNamee to federal investigators and whether it had his DNA on it, Clemens said “Impossible, because he’s never given me any [performance-enhancing drugs], it’s as simple as that. He’s never given me HGH or any kind of performance-enhancing drug, so it’s impossible.”

Later in the interview, he said McNamee “… never injected me with HGH or steroids.” Pointing out that his family has a history of heart conditions, Clemens said “It would be suicidal for me to even think about taking any of these dangerous drugs.”

Asked about Pettitte’s testimony that Clemens had told him he used HGH, Clemens repeated a line that he uttered during his congressional testimony: “Andy misremembers.” He said he’d only talked to Pettitte a few times since then because of the legal issues.

“I still consider Andy a friend,” Clemens said.

One of the biggest crocks in Clemens’ testimony is his claim that ‘Andy misremembered.’ I find it incredibly hard to believe that Andy Pettitte (or anyone for that matter) would have a conversation about HGH and not remember that one of his friends and teammates told him that he had taken the drug.

If I was having a beer with a buddy of mine and he confessed that he was taking HGH, had cheated on his girlfriend, had stabbed a panda, had stolen a car or whatever, I would remember the pertinent details. It’s not like that kind of information would go in one ear and out the other, you know?

Clemens is going to get his in the end, because McNamee has cooperated with investigators this entire time. Whether or not Clemens eventually gets busted for lying depends on the evidence, however.

Some pitching statistics are not very complimentary, most of all the gopher ball line….that is, for pitchers who have a penchant for throwing that big fat pitch that a hitter tends to crush over the fence. Here is a list of the active pitchers who lead the majors in this category, and only includes players who are currently on a major league roster:

1. Jamie Moyer, Philadelphia Phillies (474)—Okay, so he’s been pitching since 1986 and throws mostly slow junk, but Moyer has given up double digits in gopher balls 16 times, including FORTY FOUR in 2004 while with Seattle, the fifth highest total for a single season in baseball history. And he is only 31 behind all-time leader Robin Roberts, who gave up 505 long balls. Way to go, Jamie.

2. Randy Johnson, San Francisco Giants (399)—We can pretty much give the Big Unit a pass, because he’s struck out 4,819 batters and is closing in on 300 wins.

3. Tim Wakefield, Boston Red Sox (363)—All you can say is that sometimes the knuckleball is completely baffling, and sometimes it looks like a soccer ball to the hitter.

4. Tom Glavine, Atlanta Braves (356)—As good as Glavine is and has been throughout his illustrious career, he has always had the penchant for giving up the long ball.

5. Javier Vasquez, Atlanta Braves (304)—Since breaking into the big leagues in 1998, Vasquez has AVERAGED 29 homers given up per season…he’s been as low as 20, and as high as 35. Batter up!

6. Livan Hernandez, New York Mets (301)—I read recently where Livan’s pitches were clocking in the 62 mph range…..are you kidding me? Yet, he’s still getting hitters out with regularity.

6. Jeff Suppan, Milwaukee Brewers (301)—Jeff Suppan has always had decent control, averaging 68 walks per season since breaking in with the Red Sox in 1995. But he’s also given up an average of 27 homers per season. Sometimes control means you leave it out over the plate.

8. John Smoltz, Boston Red Sox (277)—Smoltz has only averaged 16 homers given up per season, including a few years as the Braves’ closer, but still—you pitch since 1988, your numbers are going to add up.

9. Bartolo Colon, Chicago White Sox (245)—In 2004, Bartolo won 18 games but gave up 38 homers. Somebody must have inspired or bribed him with cheeseburgers the next year when he went 21-8 and won the AL Cy Young.

10. Andy Pettitte, New York Yankees (235)—For all those years with the short porch in right field in the old Yankee Stadium, Pettitte gave up a career high 27 homers while pitching for the Astros in 2006.

Source: Baseball Reference

The deal, sources told Olney, could be done as soon as Monday afternoon. It would pay Pettitte nearly $6 million, with incentives that could make it worth as much as $12 million.

Pettitte was 14-14 for the Yankees last season with a 4.54 ERA. He started 33 games. Pitching with a sore shoulder, he was 2-7 with a 6.23 ERA in his final 11 starts and missed his last turn of the season.
It was his second season back in New York after three seasons with the Houston Astros.

Pettitte began his career with the Yankees, pitching his first nine big league seasons in pinstripes. After last season, indications were that Pettitte and the Yankees wanted to make a deal, but were unable to come to terms on a dollar figure — until talks heated up this weekend.

Pettitte earned $16 million last season.

If he signs, Pettitte would join a projected starting rotation featuring CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Chien-Ming Wang and Joba Chamberlain.

So a $10 million, one-year contact wasn’t good enough for Pettitte two weeks ago, but an incentive-laden one-year contract is good enough now? I don’t get it.

Pettitte’s greed cost him $4 million in guaranteed money. He thought he was worth more and could get more than what the Yankees were offering, but he must have realized that pitchers who go 14-14 with a 4.54 ERA (on a great offensive team by the way) don’t earn a lot on the open market.

The Yankees won this battle if Pettitte signs.