The Yankees' farewell summer tour has been more Spinal Tap than ceremony.
This was supposed to be a year to remember for the New York Yankees. One of the great cathedrals of baseball, Yankee Stadium, was saying farewell as the team prepares to move across to street into the 'House That George Built'. The Joe Torre era had ended as Joe Girardi came down from the broadcast booth, and with the emergence of some fine young arms from the farm system - Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy - it appeared that they were poised to continue a string of 13-straight post-season appearances, longest in the majors.
But a funny thing has happened en route to October baseball, viewed as a rite of passage in the Bronx: age and injury, the great equalizers in all pro sports.
Now, several things have conspired to bring the 26-time World Champions back down to earth, most notably injuries. Jorge Posada entered 2008 coming off the best all-round season (.338 AVG, 20 HR, 90 RBI) of his career a year before. This season, he missed the entire month of May due to right shoulder problems and was finally shut down for good following surgery in late July. Limited to just 51 games this season - only 30 of which he was actually behind the plate - Posada drove in a mere 22 runs. His replacements, Jose Molina, Chad Moeller, Chris Stewart and, now, 'Pudge' Rodriguez, have not even come close to filling the offensive void left. On this date last season, Posada had 16 home runs and 73 RBI to go with a .332 average. The other Yankee catchers this season pale in comparison: .224 AVG, 3 HR, 22 RBI. And when you factor the knee problems that kept Hideki Matsui from late June until the beginning of this week's series at Rogers Centre, the Yankees once formidable line-up was suddenly easier to navigate through. Instead of All-Stars one through nine, the likes of Brett Gardner, Wilson Betemit and Richie Sexson were getting starts. No knees were knocking on the opposition mounds anymore.
The offence wasn't being helped either by the flat-lining of young stars Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera, especially Cabrera who General Manager Brian Cashman wasn't willing to part with along with young arms like Hughes or Kennedy to land perennial Cy Young award contender Johan Santana from the Twins. With Bernie Williams strumming his guitar in retirement and the deteriorating defensive skills of Johnny Damon no longer pushing Cabrera, he started to act like centre field was his birth right. Batting .242 with a mere 36 RBI in 117 games, Cabrera can now style all he wants in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre where he was sent a week ago.
Holes in the rotation have also done the Yankees in this season. Ace Chien-Ming Wang was on his way to another fine season, going 8-2 over his first 15 starts before spraining his right foot and tearing a tendon running the bases during an interleague game in June. Ace-in-waiting Chamberlain finally joined the rotation in early June, but now finds himself, too, on the D.L. rotator cuff tendinitis. These two injuries have meant Darrell Rasner and 'Sir' Sidney Ponson, whose weight often mirrors his opponents average, have been given the ball on a regular basis. Without the contributions of aging warriors Mike Mussina (16-7) and Andy Pettitte (13-9), the Yankees would be battling the Orioles to be the doormats of the division.
For the first time in recent memory, money hasn't changed everything and filled this team's gaping holes. Prospects have been shuttled off to bring Xavier Nady from the Pirates and an aging Ivan Rodriguez from the Tigers. Girardi has been forced to piece together a bullpen to get the ball to closer Mariano Rivera.
This was not supposed to be the way that the Yankees final season in Yankee Stadium was supposed to go down. Can they make the playoffs? Maybe. But unlikely, although any team that has Alex Rodriguez in the prime of his Hall-of-Fame career has a shot until mathematically eliminated. Too bad George Steinbrenner, who's failing health has kept him quiet and away from the team for the majority of this season, can't rise and inspire the troops like the days of yore. He's actually a perfect representation of his once-great franchise.
Too old and too ill. It will get you every time.
