State of the Yankees

Ever since I've started seriously following the Yankees, I've always felt as If I've been let down. There has always been a what could have happened feel. It's almost hard to put into words.

First learning about the Yankees, I was mesmerized. Why not? Twenty six world series wins, countless Hall of Fame players, Joe Torre, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, and a field full of countless memories. They were THE team. Not to mention our obvious advantage in our rivalry with Boston. The world as a Yankee fan was perfect.

But then, for nine years absolutely nothing. Zilch. Zip. Zero. Nada. What happened?

Was it boredom? Was it happiness? Was it possibly aging. Was it the acquisition of players that are low in character, cheaters, don't perform in clutch situations, demand insane amounts of money they don't deserve, are often injured, and usually distracted players?



To tell you the truth, It seems like a combination of all the afore-mentioned things and some others that we don't even know. You simply can't pinpoint one thing, and even five would be hard. However, since our last championship several things have changed.

We moved to a different stadium for one, although it is about the same size. Why abandon the place where all of our memories occured. The Great Bambino calling his shot, Lou Gehrig's "I'm the luckiest man alive" speech, and countless others.



Joe Torre went to the Dodgers, in one of my deepest nightmares. Love or hate Torre, you had to respect him and the job he did. His replacement, Joe Girardi, has at his best been "questionable" as a manager. What makes the fact even worse is Torre voicing his pleasure over being in Los Angeles in a State Farm commercial. Yes Joe we also agree it is great to drive, something most of us say when we get our license at sixteen or seventeen years old!

Some people would say none of this would matter If we played like we know we can. However, Jeter has been getting older and not as electric and exciting as he once was. Mariano is still his same great self, but age is catching up to him and his decline should start to happen. Have you seen him without a hat on these days? His hair looks like an eighty year old Senate member.



Whats next for Mariano, shooting his hunting partner by accident? But to top this off, the Yankees have been importing top talent that has greatly disappointed. That's right Mr. Clutch and Rocket I'm talking about you.



Although, It could also be the fact that we have begun to accept losing and have no fire. Derek Jeter is my favorite player, and I know that he has his clean-cut image, but there is a point where you show emotions to fire up the rest of your team. He is an absolute professional, but he can still be one while making statements and showing more emotion than Yao Ming. We are accepting losses that we wouldn't have during our championship years.

However, despite all these things we're number one in the AL East by three and a half(possibly four), Mariano is the saves leader, Texiera is playing well, our new stadium is pretty nice, our pitching has been rather good, and other than his 0-6 at bat Friday night(so far), including several at bats with the game on the line, Derek Jeter has been his usual clutch self. As for Alex Rodriguez, I've plain and simply lost all hope.