It's over folks. If you don't believe me, just ask the Skipper who said, "We have to win 2 out of 3 in this series," before the series started.
A seven-game deficit is just too much to overcome. If the Yanks were to come back it would have little to do with them and a whole lot to do with the Sox completely folding. It isn't going to happen.
It's easy to look at tonight's abortion of a game and point the finger at the pen. They did come into a 4-2 game and allow the Sox to tack on 7 runs, but it's not their fault. In the past five games the bullpen has racked up over 20 innings of work. When you abuse a pen like that, they break. It was bound to happen, and it will continue to happen until a couple of starters give the Yanks length. This game was very reminiscent of the last game in Anaheim, the bullpen was taxed then as well.
A-Rod was soundly booed last night, and rightly so, but he bounced back tonight. After Ponson dug a hole in the top of the first A-Rod plated a run with a two-out double. He'd add another double later.
Well, Yankee fans, the rest of the season will be about counting broken bats, looking forward, looking back and picking apart Joe Girardi. There are 30 games left for the Yankee front office to come to the same conclusion I have, Girardi must go.
Player of The Game: Pudge. He was 0/4, but only struck out one time. Representative game for the former roid head.
Team Record: 70-62
Damon: UNO!!!
Oh yeah, let's go Phils.
I don't understand how you can lay blame on Joe G. Look at whats around him. Kennedy is a bust, Hughes is close. 2/5ths of the rotation doesn't have a win. Jeter is showing that he isn't a leader, and Posada, the true leader has been down all year. It's also not Girardi's fault that Arod is completely insane. Sure, Joe G has made some questionable moves, but I still see him being wildly successful as the Yanks manager if the front office could put together a team for him that he could have some control over.
The one good thing to come out of this year is that it mirrors Boston 2006, and look how well they bounced back.
I said this in a long post before, but in a nutshell, if the Yanks were healthy a monkey should be able to manage them to a division title. The injuries they've suffered (which really aren't as bad as what Boston has gone through) mean he needed to manage a little to get into the playoffs. This team has the talent. He didn't motivate them, he didn't make the right moves at the right times, and he literally cost them games with horrible moves.
Granted, he doesn't pitch, he doesn't hit. He can't control an 0/5 from A-Rod or a series of 4 inning starts from the rotation. What he can do is put the team in a position to succeed. That's all managing comes down to. If your offense isn't clicking, you play small ball. You manufacture runs. When the bats are hot, you let them swing, you don't hit and run, etc. He doesn't have a feel for the team, he doesn't have a feel for situations. He also doesn't have the credibility in his own clubhouse to keep these guys motivated.