CONGRATULATIONS TO THE AL EAST CHAMPS!

Congratulations to the New York Yankees. You guys have done it again. Six-time AL Eastern Division Champions. That is quite a feat. The only thing left to fight for now is home field advantage. Otherwise, you can start resting your players and get them ready to face the Minnesota Twins.

It has been a very up-and-down year for the Yankees. They started off at a blistering pace, going 23-6 before coming back to earth. The starters went 16-0 before losing a game. It seemed that the Yankees were even better than the pre-season hype. But Joe Torre knew better. He told us all not to get too wrapped up in how well the Yankees were doing. Sooner or later his team would play like mortals again. Sure enough the Yankees who were 23-6 on May 2nd got kicked around by the just about every team they played. By June 3rd the Yankees record had fallen to 33-25. There were a lot of reasons for that. During that stretch the Yankees lost Bernie Williams (knee), Nick Johnson (broken thumb) and Derek Jeter (shoulder separation) for considerable times. Jason Giambi had an eye infection that lasted two months and the Bombers had a bullpen that was leakier than the Titantic.

Still, Joe Torre did, what I consider, his best work as the manager of the New York Yankees. He had an owner who questioned his decisions and questioned his coaches abilities to get the best out of the players. For the first time Joe and the Boss feuded in public. Joe said that managing this year "wasn't fun." But through it all he kept this team going and they are on the brink of having the best season record in the American League for the 2nd year in a row. Congratulations Joe. However, the treacherous part of the season is ahead.

Last year, the Yankees came rolling into the playoffs after winning 103 games. They were matched against the Anaheim Angels, who on paper, were no match for the vaunted Yankees and their corps of all-star pitchers. What happened over the next 4 games was something that only a writer of horror stories could imagine. After barely beating the Angels in Game 1 at Yankee Stadium, the Angels came back to beat the Yankees 3 straight times to send the most storied franchise in sports home for the winter. The 2002 playoffs were suddenly without the Yankees, who made their earliest exit since 1995 when the Seattle Mariners knocked them out of the ALDS. Many observers considered losing to the AL "wildcard" team a tremendous and humiliating defeat. Those 103 wins now meant nothing. A lot of questions were raised. The biggest question was "how could this happen?"

Over the winter, George Steinbrenner vowed to make all the moves necessary to put the Yankees in a position to make it back to the World Series. Nothing less than a berth in the Series would do. According to the Boss, he gave Torre "everything he's asked for." Now it's up to Joe and those maligned coaches to get the team to the big show. The stage is now set. If the Yankees don't make it to the World Series this could be Joe Torre's swan song. If not Joe, then it will definitely be Don Zimmer's, Rick Down's and Mel Stottlemyre's swan song.

The difference between this year and last is the Yankees look more determined. As a team they are peaking at the right time. The bullpen has even joined in the act. After being the whipping boys for the New York news media all year long the bullpen has started to put in better performances. The lone exception right now is Jeff Weaver who seems to have worn his welcome out in the Bronx. If anyone was watching Monday night's game against the White Sox the look Joe Torre gave Weaver after Weaver gave up a game losing, walk off, 3-run home run to Magglio Ordonez in the bottom of the 10th inning said it all. If looks could kill..... The line up seems to be getting it together also. There again, the only sore thumb standing out is Bernie Williams, who after starting the year white hot, got injured and never got his stroke back. Hopefully, when the Yankees turn on "the switch" Bernie will get electrified and start pounding the ball. There's still a lot of questions and we all hope the Bombers have the answers.

So once again, congratulations champs. Now go out and get it done.

PLAY BALL!