There Is Only One Expectation…..Win It All

Travis Lee signing adds last piece of puzzle
for Yankees heading into 2004 season




By: Russ Rose
Special to Yankees Talk Shop
February 25, 2004

Welcome to the 2004 edition of the New York Yankees. It has been an extremely busy off-season for George Steinbrenner’s wallet and Brian Cashman’s telephone. This year’s edition of the Bronx Bombers is very different than the version that left spring training a year ago. Gone are David Wells, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Raul Mondesi, Alfonso Soriano, Nick Johnson, Bubba Trammell, Sterling Hitchcock, Chris Hammond and Jeff Weaver. Newly arrived are Jon Lieber, Kevin Brown, Gary Sheffield, Kenny Lofton, Javier Vasquez, Tom Gordon, Paul Quantrill, Travis Lee and, of course, the crowning acquisition of the hot stove season, Alex Rodriguez.

That’s a lot of talent out the door and a lot of talent walking back through the door. Two completely different teams. However, the one constant, the one common denominator both of these teams share is [b]expectation.[/b]

The New York Yankees are expected every year to win the World Series championship. Anything less is considered a failed season by everyone from owner George Steinbrenner, to the fans, to the players and to the media. If the Bombers don’t win it all, then it doesn’t matter if the team won 100 games during the regular season. The season is still a failure.

Twenty-six times in their 100-year history the Yankees have climbed the mountain of major league baseball and planted their flag on the peak. The Yankees have played in the World Series a total of thirty-nine times. So in the minds of the Yankees that’s 13 years of failure. For any other team thirty-nine trips to the fall classic would be an incredible accomplishment. However, in Yankee Land it’s only incredible when they win.

Take the 2001 World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Was there ever a more agonizing loss? It took Mariano Rivera nearly two years to shake off the stigma of giving up the Game 7, game-winning single to Luis Gonzalez. That might never have happened had third baseman Scott Brosius stepped on third base and then thrown to first for a inning ending double play. He stepped on third, but never looked at first base. It was a costly mental lapse and the rest was history. In 2002 the Yankees had the best record in baseball with 103 wins during the regular season. The team was dumped in the first round by the eventual World Series champion Anaheim Angels. Failure! Last year, everyone was practically giving the World Series trophy to the Yankees. Who were these upstart Florida Marlins anyway? Well, six games later the Yankees and the world found out who they were. Again, failure.

It has now been four years since the Yankees last planted their flag on the peak. Yes, they’ve been to the World Series two other times, but as I said they lost. They underachieved. There are a lot of new players on this new team and all are “expected” to win it all. In no other city are the expectations that high year-in-and-year-out. There is no rebuilding period. There is only retooling for the next campaign. These guys will soon learn that in the world of New York Yankees baseball second place is the first loser. Nowhere on any wall will you see anything that suggests failing, underachieving or losing. It’s all about winning, and winning equates to collecting World Series rings.

Mystique and Aura will, again, be appearing nightly at Yankee Stadium. The 2004 team will get to meet them up close and personal. With the donning of Yankee pinstripes comes the responsibility of winning, and that means winning it all. So I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this year’s team stays strong and healthy. No rotator cuff injuries, no separated shoulders, no tears in knees, no anything that will keep this team from fulfilling it’s expected destiny. That is a date on October 23rd in the Fall Classic and later a ride down the “Canyon of Heroes,” riding on a few floats and holding onto that big, golden trophy with minature flags affixed all around it. Nothing less will do.


PLAY BALL!



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