Thus endeth the season…

Antonelli/NY Daily News

 

The Yankees were outplayed and outpitched by an
inferior Texas Rangers squad and it was very disappointing to watch.  The truth is these Yankees have looked very
subpar since August.  Their ALDS victory
over the Minnesota Twins was most likely a fluke given their dominance of the
Twins in recent years.  The Yankee bats
were silent during the ALCS with the most visible being Alex Rodriguez.  But I really think, as many do, the primary
problem was the lack of consistent and quality pitching. 

Antonelli/NY Daily News

 

CC Sabathia had a few starts where he looked like
an ace, but he had more starts that looked very average.  Unlike last year, there wasn’t a sense of
invincibility when CC took the mound…at least not like when Cliff Lee takes the
hill for the Rangers or Tim Lincecum for the San Francisco Giants or Roy
Halladay for the Philadelphia Phillies. 

 

A.J. Burnett was an absolute disaster this
year.  I am not sure what happened.  He pitched so great for the Yankees in 2009
and for the Toronto Blue Jays the year before. 
But this year, he was clearly gasoline on the fire.  He needs to re-dedicate himself to his craft
this off-season to see if he can dig deep to re-find his talent. 

 

I thought Andy Pettitte did a very good job this
year, but there was obviously much down time with the injury that put him on
the DL.  At his age, there is no doubt
that we’ve seen the best of Andy.  If
Andy doesn’t decide to retire in the off-season and returns to the Yankees next
year, I’d prefer they make him the #4 or #5 starter and accept whatever you can
get from him. 

 

Phil Hughes is a primary key for future
success.  He is another guy that needs to
find a way to take his talent to the next level.  He has the stuff so he needs to find a way to
become the pitcher he is capable of becoming. 
An 18-game winner, it’s been said that he was probably a 12-13 game
winner on any other team.  That’s
probably true.  As the pitcher who took
the loss that sent the Yankees home for the season, I hope that he is able to
harness the frustration into a desire to come back stronger than ever next
year. 

 

The trade for Javier Vazquez was clearly a
mistake.  As much as I wanted Javy to
succeed in the Bronx, I was fearful when I first heard the Yankees had
re-acquired him.  Those fears turned out
to be justified.  A free agent, there is
no way the Yankees will attempt to bring him back. 

 

I am not quite sure what the future holds, but the
Yankees need to find a way to improve the pitching staff.  The obvious target is Rangers ace Cliff Lee,
a free agent at the end of the season. 
However, the Rangers will be making a very hard run at him after the
World Series and of course he will have a sentimental attachment to being part
of a World Series club.  So, I’d have to
believe, at this point, that the Rangers have the advantage over the Yankees in
signing Lee.

Antonelli/NY Daily News

 

Another potential target is Kansas City Royals
starter Zach Greinke, who the Royals intend to move.  Any way you slice it, GM Brian Cashman has his
work cut out for him this off-season if he intends to bring the Yankees back to
a championship-caliber club.  Age is not
the Yankees friend and they cannot win again if they remain status quo.

 

As for the World Series, I still think the
Philadelphia Phillies are the favorite. 
I realize they are down 3 games to 2 to the San Francisco Giants, a
situation the Yankees failed to overcome. 
But the difference is the Phillies pitching staff and the fact that the
remaining games are in Philly.  Don’t get
me wrong, I’d love to see the San Francisco Giants close out the series and
advance.  I live in the Bay Area and many
of my friends are Giants fans.  I am also
a fan of Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti and would like to see him working
with the Giants pitching staff in the World Series.  So, I’ll be cheering for the Giants but I am
fully aware the NLCS is far from over.

Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle

 

Congratulations to the Texas Rangers for reaching
their first World Series.  I lived in
Dallas for 14 years and it was clearly a town dominated by the Cowboys.  The Rangers were never successful during my
years there and the fans didn’t have the passion for the team that I saw
watching the ALCS this year.  So, it is
clear that the baseball fans in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex are starving
for a winner and now they have their chance. 
I never became fond of the Rangers while living there, perhaps because I
always went to the games when the Yankees were in town so I was constantly
rooting against them.  However, my son is
a Rangers fan so he’s excited.  When he
was about 2 or 3 years old, we were in a restaurant near the ballpark in
Arlington, Texas after a Rangers game. 
Nolan Ryan was pitching for the Rangers at the time, and he happened to
be in the same restaurant with his family. 
There weren’t too many people in the restaurant and my son was wearing a
Rangers cap we had bought at the game.  My
son walked over to Nolan and asked for his autograph.  Nolan took my son’s hat and signed his name
on the bill.  He still has that hat today
and it has been a prized possession.  It
solidified the Rangers as my son’s team of choice despite my numerous attempts
to make him a Yankees fan. 

Antonelli/NY Daily News

 

Well, now that baseball is over for me, I’ll have
to look to my other teams for hope. 
However, the prospects do not look good at this point.  The Minnesota Vikings are struggling at 2-3
and have to play the Green Bay Packers and New England Patriots in the next two
weeks.  Brett Favre has not been healthy
and is starting to look like a 41-year-old quarterback, not to mention the
recent text messages that have been a distraction.  As for the San Jose Sharks, the season is
early but they just won their first game in the United States after a few
consecutive losses following the opening game victory in Stockholm.  I think they’ll be there at the end but the
competition in the West is tough this year. 
I always have the Los Angeles Lakers but they’ll have their share of
challenges this year too. 

 

So, when do the baseball winter meetings start?…

 

–Scott