Move On With Dignity

A GUEST POSTING BY BIG V:

The Yankees have lost and many feel sad. The fans would have loved for them to have gone all the way. But a close look reveals that this Yankees team was always playing to a survival mode. There is no doubt that every game in the Cleveland series reflected that truth.

The Yankees needed to lose this series to move on from the World Series Dynasty nostalgia of the late 1990's. No longer can they expect to use Andy Petite, Roger Clemens, and Mariano Rivera to dominate the new baseball league that is emerging in cities like Denver, Phoenix and Cleveland. A best-of-5 series favors the pitchers. And even when the Yankees had their pitching on track, they couldn't put together the hitting side of their game. Johnny Damon had a great series. He is the lead off guy, the one you look to get things started. Although when he caught on fire, no one else did. His four RBIs were the difference in game 3. No one else on the team was a difference maker in any other game. The last inning of the series we saw why this Yankee team is to be feared with Bobby Abreu hitting a home run and Jorge Posada almost finding the same spot Abreu did. But it was too little too late and the Yankees lost. Even nature was out to make sure that the Yankees faced reality (or did you forget those nasty bugs?).

George Steinbrenner doesn't realize that he can make a great show out of this defeat. He showed little class to Joe Torre by sending Torre a warning message through the media. He could have congratulated the great Yankee core that has been there for all these seasons and send off guys like Torre, Posada, Rivera, and Clemens with dignity. These guys brought home rings and they won the division time and time again. Even this year with such an odd team, they overcame and made it to the playoffs as the Wild Card. Now it's time for some of them to move on to other places as they leave behind a legacy and standard of greatness. Don Mattingly now knows what is expected of him because of Joe Torre...but is it fair for Mattingly to expect to win with Torre's team?

The Yankees have new blood in their pitching, a true ace in Wang, a true leader in Jeter and now they have a new stadium being built for a new era of Yankee baseball. The torch must be passed because the Yankees can no longer live in the past.