We Deserved To Lose
The inability to advance or score runners was Yankees downfall

First of all I want to congratulate the Florida Marlins on their improbable journey to win the 2003 World Series. The Fish deserve all the accolades a champion can receive. As much as the Marlins deserved to win the Fall Classic, the Yankees deserved to lose.

Almost everything for Game 6 was in place for the Yankees to win. The pro-Yankees crowd was loud and proud. The pitching was there as Andy Pettitte did all he could do to insure a Yankees victory. The one thing that forgot to show up was the offense. What do 12, 21, 10, 14, 13 and 21 have in common? In descending order that is the number of runners left on base by the New York Yankees offense in this series. That is 91 potential runs left twisting in the wind.

Time and again the Yankees failed to put hits together. Tonight was no different. Florida Marlins pitcher Josh Beckett, working on just three days rest, pitched a complete game shutout. Beckett willed his body and his team to victory. He scattered 5 hits, while striking out 9 men and walking two. It was apropos that Beckett recorded the last out of the World Series as he tagged out Jorge Posada, who was running by him toward first base.

Joe Torre said, after the game, his team left everything on the field when interviewed by Kevin Kennedy of FOX Sports. I have to disagree with Torre on this one. I think his team left it all on the field back on October 16th when Aaron Boone hit Tim Wakefield’s knuckleball over the left field wall to beat the Boston Red Sox in the 11th inning of Game 7. That blow propelled the Yankees into the World Series. Yeah, the Yankees were in the 99th World Series, but mentally I think they felt they had already won their World Series by eliminating their oldest and fiercest rival. Emotionally, the Yankees never recovered from that grueling ALCS.

This was a painful series to watch as a Yankees’ fan. Too few memorable moments compared with the heartbreakers. I will never forget Roger Clemens walking off the mound after striking out Luis Castillo in the 7th inning of Game 4. It was a perfect ending to an illustrious career. Who could forget Ruben Sierra’s game tying triple in the top of the 9th inning of Game 4 to send the game into extra-innings? There was the exceptional pitching by Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina. However, these are pretty meager memories to hold onto.

The heartbreakers were the seemingly countless times there were leadoff hits and no one could advance or score a runner. The offense could not seem to put two hits back-to-back. There were the endless strikeouts by Yankees’ batters, Nick Johnson getting picked off at third base, Jeff Weaver giving up the game winning home run to light hitting Alex Gonzalez, the errors, the lack of emotion, the quiet Yankees crowd in Games 1 and 2. I felt like I was being led down the aisle by my team only to be jilted and left at the altar. So much expectation and so little delivery. Like I said, a painful series to watch.

Now comes the off-season. I have a feeling the team we saw leaving the field tonight is infinitely different than the one we’ll see Opening Day in 2004. George Steinbrenner hates to lose. He will look for scapegoats. He will look for villains. His brand of justice will be swift, but not too merciful. It has been three years since his team has climbed the mountain. There will be retribution.

Again, congratulations to the Florida Marlins on their hard earned victory on the field. But to paraphrase the infamous cyborg played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator, “We’ll be back.”

PLAY BALL! ……… But we’ll have to wait until 2004.


(c) 2003 Yankees Talk Shop @ ezboard.com

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