Don't Kiss the Ring Yet

I first have to admit that I am not a Yankee fan.  I hate the Yankees.  Part of being a pathetic Met fan is rooting for whoever the Yankees play in the playoffs.  I do this because my own team is never in the playoffs.  The only reason I pay attention to post season baseball is to root for the Yankees to lose.  And yes I did root for the Phillies last year in the World Series.  I don't care that they are division rivals of the Mets.  I would never root for the Yankees.  I would root for Al Qaeda if they played the Yankees.

Despite my dislike, I can be very objective about the Yankees.  I understand the greatness of their franchise.  My hatred only comes from jealousy.  The Yankees are the defending champs and have been one of the two best teams in baseball this year.  Withstanding a Met-like collapse, they are a lock to make the post season, and will be the favorites to win the World Series.  Those are all facts which can not be denied, even from a jealous and bitter Met fan.  One fact I can argue is the Yankees are not a lock to win the World Series.  I do not even think they are a lock to win the American league.  Teams in the American League have got much better.  Tampa, Boston, Minnesota, Chicago, and Texas are all very capable of not only competing with the Yankees, but defeating them in post season series.  Aside from Minnesota, those teams have very good pitching staffs.  Pitching staffs that are just as good as the Yankees and possibly better.

On route to their World Series title last season, the Yankees were barely challenged by their American league competition.  They swept Minnesota and defeated Los Angeles in 6 games.  So what is different about this year?  First, like I stated before, the other teams have gotten better.  The bigger factor preventing the Yankees from a repeat is the questions in their pitching staff.  C.C Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, and A.J Burnett all pitched great in the post season last year.  They also got unexpected great performances by relief pitchers David Robertson and Demaso Marte.  Their offense will always be good.  They have a stacked line-up, but everyone knows playoff baseball is all about pitching.  If you have paid attention lately, the Yankee pitching staff has been very vulnerable.

C.C Sabathia is an absolute beast.  He has proven to be a true ace and Yankee fans should be fully confident that will continue.  He is the one sure bet in the starting rotation.  The only other lock they have in their pitching staff is closer Mariano Rivera.  We all know about Rivera's historic post season career.  He is the closest thing to having a lock down closer.  If you pay attention to baseball playoffs and closers, there is Mariano Rivera, and then there is everyone else.  Rivera gets the job done almost all the time.  Most of these other closers choke in the big spot. 

After those two, the rest of the staff is a big question mark.  A.J Burnett defines inconsistency.  For every great game he pitches, he has 2 that are awful.  Burnett is such a front runner too.  When things go his way, he is unhittable.  The minute he faces any adversity, he totally collapses and gets destroyed.  He is so gutless. I am so sick of hearing about how 'he has such great stuff'.  Go look at his career record and you will see he is a mediocre pitcher.

Andy Pettitte is a warrior and I respect everything he has done.  For the most part, he has always come up big in the post season.  He was having a great season, but age and the injury bug caught up with him.  He has been on the disabled list for over a month and felt discomfort the last time he threw.  I suspect that eventually he will be back, but he is no given anymore coming off an injury.  If he doesn't come back, the Yankees are in extreme trouble and would be lucky to get past the first round.

Phil Hughes had a great first half and is one of the best young pitchers in baseball, but he has been terrible lately.  He has never pitched this deep into the regular season as a starter and looks to be slowing down.  He has not made it past the 6th inning in his past 7 starts.  The Yankees used him as a reliever last year and have discussed doing it again this post season.  However, with all their question marks, I do not see how they can put him in the bullpen.

The biggest reason Hughes can not go to the bullpen is because of the second failed tenure of Javier Vasquez.  It is amazing how Vasquez went from being one of the best pitchers in the National League to a guy who looks like he barely belongs in the major leagues.  He has been so bad lately that Joe Girardi put him in the bullpen.  We saw how Vasquez looked in the bullpen in 2003.  I know Yankee fans all remember the Johnny Damon grand slam in game 7.  At this point I can't see him starting a game in the post season.  It looks like it will be a second post season of Vasquez pitching in the bullpen for the Yankees.  I hope for similar results.

Dustin Moseley and Ivan Nova, come on.  Let's be real.  I would be shocked if either guy got a start in the post season so I won't even waste my time discussing it.  That is really it. They have no where else to go and will have to rely on the guys who got them there last year.  I am not saying they can't get the job done.  I just want to point out its no guarantee.  They have more question marks this year than last, especially with the Pettitte injury.  I would feel much more comfortable about the starting staff if I knew Pettitte would be 100% healthy for the post season.  At this point, there is no proof to that.

Their bullpen aside from Mariano Rivera is shaky.  Joba has been awful this year.  So much for him being the next Rivera and the whole Joba sensation.  Yankee fans built this guy up more than anyone else I have ever seen.  They almost sounded like Met fans.  He has been terrible and there is no way a Yankee fan could have any confidence in him.  Robertson and Marte have not been good either.  Robertson has been better lately and Marte was great last post season, but I would not call them locks to get big outs.  Kerry Wood was once a great pitcher around 10 years ago as a Cub.   So many question marks for a team with a 250 million dollar pay roll.  It does make it more interesting though.  The post season will be more enjoyable knowing that the Yankees can actually be beat.  I know Yankee fans have a hard time dealing with that considering they are the most spoiled fans in the history of sports.  Wah, we only won one world series in 9 years, shut up.  America is built on competition.  You do not always have to have the best team and all the best players.  It is ok to give other teams an opportunity.  Those other teams will have a legitimate shot to remove the Yankees from their throne.