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.
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Damn straight! We bought another championship! We couldn’t win it with our “Homegrowns,” so we went out and BOUGHT the players we needed!!! We ARE awesome! Nobody buys like us, nobody!
Why try to win with what ya got, or are bringing up through the farm, when ya can just buy it? Thats the true sign of a champion!
I just don’t understand why people don’t respect the Yankees
“Just buy it, Baby!”
Al Steinbrenner Davis
Yankee III…get a grip. That’s how the game is played today. NOBODY and I mean NOBODY has a team of home grown players. The Redsox, Mets, Dodgers, Phillies, Angels, Braves, etc. etc…they all play the same free agent game the Yankees do so why hate the Yankees for it? They didn’t create this system. Blame baseball and the players union but don’t hate the Yankees for it. Too many owners in baseball won’t do what it takes to win…they’d rather line their pockets and bitch about how the Yankees have an “economic advantage”. Well, if that’s the case…the owners should change it since they should be the majority. So why don’t they? Because they’re making a shit load of money and don’t want to share it with the players. In order to create a cap, they’d have to open their books to the union and that’s the last thing owners want.
So until then, I’m going to go get another bottle of champagne for another celebration tonight for the 27 world championship of the greatest franchise in sports history, bar none!!!
T-Bone 27,
Judging by the spin you put on this, I take it that you’re a Lib, too!
“How the game is played today,” as opposed to when? Face it, as a Yankee fan, the last thing you WANT, is a cap, because then you’d have to play on the same terms as everybody else, and you wouldn’t have that unfair advantage! Weather or not the other teams put their money back onto the field, I do not know, but, I do know they don’t have the same size bank account Steinbrenner has.
The Yankee fan can not ever imagine playing with the same means as everybody else in the league, and thats a fact.
Spin away………
I could care less…salary cap or no salary cap. It doesn’t work in football so why bother in baseball? It gives the appearance in football that everyone is on an even playing field but there are cheap teams and teams like the Yankees that are willing to do what it takes to win. But if they adapt a cap, so be it…i’d welcome it so the rest of the fans, especially the dillusional fans up in Boston can stop bitching about an unfair economic advantage when the yankees kick their asses anwyay.
And as far as the lib comment goes, wanting a free market league makes me a liberal? Crying that you don’t have what they rich big boys have and wanting a hand out…that’s as liberal as it gets.
T Bone is right…….The fact is the Yankee’s won and they won within the rules of Baseball.
So tired of the crying…Get over it people, they just waited 9 years for this, do you not see that money doesn’t buy everything yet?
T-Bone 27,
How did you type “I’d welcome it” with your fingers crossed?
The cap does work in football, teams like the Arizona, no fan base, Cardinals actually make it to the Superbowl….
Who’s asking for handouts? This is a sport, not Wall St.!
Yankee II…..You’ve all been crying for 9 years because you haven’t got what you think is an entitlement!
Frauds!
Yankee III:
I couldn’t have said it better myself!