Because Boston was going to sign Teix but because of a few million dollars, he wound up going to the Yankees and look what happened. They won the World Series.

Because Boston was going to sign Teix but because of a few million dollars, he wound up going to the Yankees and look what happened. They won the World Series. [/quote]

well i dont think its right comparing it to the curse of the babe...

True, they may have the "best team money can buy," but let's not forget that the 4 key contributors to this World Series, were the 4 home grown "core" players: Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, and Jorge Posdada.

Because Boston was going to sign Teix but because of a few million dollars, he wound up going to the Yankees and look what happened. They won the World Series. [/quote]

well i dont think its right comparing it to the curse of the babe... [/quote]

Only time will tell I suppose

So, since the World Series is over, here are some articles I read over the past month that I found interesting:

Bill Reynolds: It’s win it all or else for Yankees

01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, September 29, 2009

By BILL REYNOLDS Journal Sports Writer

On the front page of Monday’s New York Daily News was a huge picture of a joyous Derek Jeter, blue cap turned backward, awash in champagne.

UNCORKED, the headline read. “Yanks sweep Boston to clinch AL East.”

There was a similar full-length picture on the back page, one of A-Rod being doused over his head by unidentified hands.

Am I missing something here?

Did the Yankees just win their 27the world championship?

Did A-Rod finally win a title?

Did Joe Girardi just exorcise the ghost of Joe Torre and save his job in the process?

Did general manager Brian Cashman get redeemed?

Did the Yankees finally slay the Red Sox, the franchise that used to their whipping boy, but now has won two world titles since the Yanks last won in 2000?

Am I missing something here?

For these weren’t the Texas Rangers celebrating a trip to the playoffs here, not the Kansas City Royals, or the Pirates, or the hapless Orioles, or any of the other franchises that probably have a better chance of going to the moon than they do of ever going to the playoffs in the foreseeable future.

These are the Yankees, with all their storied history and all their great tradition. These are the Yankees with all their money and all their clout, and their state-of-the-art new stadium, and they are celebrating about winning the American League East?

Am I missing something here?

For this is not big news that the Yankees have won the AL East and are in the playoffs. It was big news last year when they weren’t in the playoffs. When you have the largest payroll in the game, you are supposed to be in the postseason. When you went out in the off-season and got CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira, you are supposed to be in the postseason. Anything else is failure.

This is the standard in New York, the price the Yankees pay for their payroll and the huge expectations that come with it.

So why all the champagne and all the celebration, which on the surface, anyway, seems like much ado about nothing?

Good question.

Part of it is no doubt tradition, a leftover remnant from the days that teams won the pennant and celebrated on the field, and dumped champagne all over themselves in the clubhouse afterward because they were going to the World Series, the game’s Holy Grail. That was as much baseball then as twi-night doubleheaders and cheap beer, back before the wild card changed everything, and took much of the importance away from winning the division, especially in the American League East, where it almost seems etched in stone that two teams are going to the postseason.

But now it all seems like the major league equivalent of a kids’ tournament, where everyone gets a trophy.

For what exactly were the Yankees celebrating Sunday?

Winning the A.L East?

Getting the home-field advantage in the postseason?

What?

So let’s not kid ourselves here.

If the Yankees flame out in the postseason, those two huge pictures in the Daily News yesterday are going to haunt them, postscripts to another disappointing season, another season that ends in finger pointing and blame. That’s just the way it is.

Girardi began the season at the end of the plank, courtesy of last year’s disaster and the fact he follows in Torre’s enormous wake. He has no margin of error, not in a city where the tabloids all but come delivered with fangs every morning, and in an organization that views every season that doesn’t end with a parade through the canyon of heroes as a failure. It’s no sure thing he’s back in pinstripes next year if the Yankees don’t win everything.

And what about Cashman, who has seen Theo Epstein essentially put two World Series banners in Fenway Park, while he has thrown the Steinbrenner money at too many aging pitchers who didn’t deliver? He, too, needs to deliver a 27th banner. He, too, can’t sleep too soundly until the Yankees win the whole thing, not just an A.L. East title.

Then there’s A-Rod, who can have all the gaudy stats he wants, and move through a bevy of Hollywood stars, and seemingly make enough money to buy Staten Island, but until he carries a team through the postseason his career will always come with an unwritten asterisk.

In a sense, he mirrors the Yankees, full of too many guys who are high-priced, high profile, no rings.

Matsui, Sabathia, Teixeira, Burnett, Cano, Cabrera, Damon in pinstripes.

All have to win if they ever are going to be accepted into the pantheon of true Yankees, the ones that have world champion on their resumé.

This is a team that has to win it all, fair or not, or else suffer the consequences. They have to win it all, or there will be endless finger-pointing to all the reasons why they didn’t, the blame pie cut into a lot of pieces.

That is the pressure that’s still on the Yankees, even with those pictures of the Yankees spraying champagne on each other as if they had just won their 27th banner. That is the pressure that’s still on the Yankees, regardless of the fact they just won the A.L. East and had champagne afterward, the same champagne that’s going to feel like oil in their throats if they don’t win in October.

And if they don’t win?

Those pictures in Monday’ New York Daily News are going to seem like accusers.

Source: Providence Journal

Yeah, I'm also upgrading to a Jeter jersey. I'm always hesitant to get contemporary jerseys because I have a habit of picking players who end up leaving a team (hence why I have a Gehrig jersey) but in this case, I think I'm pretty safe.

Yeah, I suspect so. I know what you mean. I have a few of the players shirts (name and number on the back with NY on the front right chest) of Johnny Damon, Jason Giambi and Randy Johnson. It's cheaper than buying the jersey (the shirts are only $20).

Yeah, I have a Jeter one and am in the process of acquiring a Sabathia and Teixiera as well.

Incidentally, I must recommend sportsk.com, it's where I usually get all of my MLB apparel. I like that you can customize jerseys without getting into trouble for retired numbers, which MLB.com will not allow you to use.

Oh, and another good read:

Jimmy Rollins says Phillies are still "the better team."

Really, Jimmy?

Behind the Scoreboard: Goliath wins

By Sky Andrecheck, Hardballtimes.com

2009 was a victory for the New York Yankees, solidifying them as the team of the decade, not to mention the team of the millennium, and the team of all of baseball history. But one could also argue that the 2009 playoffs were a victory for Major League Baseball.

The Yankees, by all serious accounts, were baseball's best team regardless of the outcome of the playoffs. MLB may say that it craves parity, but what they really mean is parity in the regular season. The playoffs, by consistently producing upset after upset, have gained a reputation as a crap-shoot, in which luck rather than talent rules the day. With the team with the best regular-season record winning just two World Series in the last 18 years, fans can hardly be blamed for regarding the postseason as a roll of the dice, rather than a system of determining the game's best team. Additionally, the expanded playoffs have produced several champions and league champions which could not credibly be considered worthy of their title (I count four World Series champions, and an additional three World Series participants -- I'll leave it to you to pick out which teams I'm thinking of). The crisis has led to reactionary calls to punish wild-card teams by taking away their home field advantage or add a second wild-card team to make it tougher for an inferior team to win. (Ironically, implementing the latter would actually make it easier for an inferior team to win.)

In any case, it's not good for any sport when fans believe that luck, not skill, is the main determinant of who wins the championship. The regular season becomes a drag when fans believe that no matter how good their team is, it matters little when it comes to the playoffs. Just ask Atlanta Braves fans. In general, sports fans enjoy an upset, but when upsets become routine it disturbs the balance of sport.

Luckily for MLB, 2009 shocked the sport back into equilibrium. Teams that were supposed to win won. In six out of the seven series, the team with the better record won the series. Most of all, the consensus best team in baseball won it all. New York's victory, even if you personally detest the Yankees, is good for baseball and the fans because it restores some credibility to the playoffs. A loss by the Yankees, especially an early one, would have further diminished the value of both the regular season and the playoffs, by making fans lose faith in the way MLB determines its champion. If the best team loses year after year, why watch?

Part of the appeal of sport is the possibility of a David over Goliath victory. But in order to keep those moments fresh, Goliath has to win sometimes too. For MLB, Goliath's long losing streak had begun to erode the sport's credibility. 2009 went a long way toward restoring the balance of the game.

Source: Fan Nation

All the right moves pay off for Yanks
Free-agent windfall of CC, A.J., Tex set up Series victory

By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com

11/05/09 5:33 PM EST

NEW YORK -- Brian Cashman had no way to know this was all going to work out some 11 months ago, as he paced nervously around a suite at the posh Bellagio hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. His mind was spinning with possibilities as quickly as the roulette wheels downstairs.

There was a point, as Cashman later recounted, that he wondered if this would all blow up in his face. CC Sabathia seemed like he wanted to stay closer to his northern California roots. A.J. Burnett was hot and heavy with the Braves. Ownership wasn't convinced it needed to go get a big bat like Mark Teixeira's.

What if the Yankees had not doled out $423.5 million in checks? Would they have still been standing at the center of the new Yankee Stadium, piling in a pinstriped crush, without chasing down the top three free agents -- not to mention sweet-talking Andy Pettitte, who wound up winning all three clinching games in the postseason?

Money may not be able to buy you happiness, but it certainly put the Yankees in a better position to get there. Not only did Cashman's three big free agents all sign on the Steinbrenner dotted line, but they had wonderful seasons in helping the Yankees get to the promised land with their 27th World Series title.

"You throw a bunch of talent together, and some years the talent mixes together where it's combustible, where it creates chemistry and love and fight," Cashman said. "This team had all that. To beat the Phillies, you're going to need all that. It's been a tremendous year."

Having made it to the previous two postseasons with the Indians and Brewers, the third time was the charm for Sabathia, who went 19-8 with a 3.37 ERA in 34 starts for the Yankees after signing a seven-year, $161 million contract.

There was trepidation in leaving the comforts of the Bay Area for Sabathia, as Cashman tried to woo the left-hander in Las Vegas before jetting off undetected for a house call.

The caveat that the Yankees agreed to was this -- if Sabathia didn't like New York, he could opt out after the third year of the contract and try free agency all over again.

But Sabathia put down roots in the clubhouse and is building his dream home in Alpine, N.J., a short ride over the George Washington Bridge from Yankee Stadium.

"To be able to do it in the first year of this house, it feels great," Sabathia said. "From the first day of Spring Training, everyone came in and got along."

As he cradled his son on his shoulders in the wet celebration after Game 6 on Wednesday, one thing appeared clear -- Sabathia wasn't planning on being anywhere but with the Yankees.

"It's hard to do, but I can't say I didn't expect us to be here in this situation with all of these great players and experience that we have," Sabathia said. "It just feels good to get it done. This is a great feeling. This is what you play the game for. This is what, as a 3-year-old kid, you dream about."

Burnett was the next chip that fell into line for the Yankees, and while talks did progress with Atlanta, the allure of sliding in as the No. 2 starter behind Sabathia gave Burnett a comfortable feeling -- a lot like he enjoyed in Toronto, when Roy Halladay shouldered the load and let Burnett slip by.

After 244 career starts without one in the postseason, Burnett finally got his taste with the Yankees, following a season that saw him go 13-9 with a 4.04 ERA in 33 starts after signing a five-year, $82.5 million deal.

He was also the clubhouse prankster, giving birth to the tradition of delivering whipped cream pies to the player responsible for walk-off victories -- in the Yankees' case, an event that happened 15 times during the regular season.

After the Yankees' Game 6 victory, Burnett followed through on a season-long promise to get Girardi with the ultimate pie.

"I got him when it counts," Burnett said. "Any time you think it couldn't get any better, this place gets better. This is the best place to play."

The Yankees had prioritized pitching, but Teixeira was the biggest wild card -- the item on the shopping list that no one had written in, but the impulse purchase near the checkout line.

Cashman's trade with the White Sox in November for Nick Swisher had given the Yankees a decent option at first base, and as they would find out with his season, there was a lot to like offensively about Swisher.

But Teixeira was a premier offensive player, an impact switch-hitter and a Gold Glove-caliber defender who could change the Yankees' lineup for years to come -- and he appeared on the verge of going to the Red Sox, where he would torment New York for years to come.

Though he said earlier in the day that the Yankees weren't interested, Hal Steinbrenner reversed course and authorized what would be an eight-year, $180 million commitment to Teixeira in December.

Christmas came early for the Yankees and for Teixeira, who hit .292 with an American League-leading 39 homers and 122 RBIs while contributing eye-popping defense before celebrating the first World Series title.

"This is why I came here," Teixeira said. "All the hard work, all the ups and downs, this is why I came. ... Every season, you put up good numbers, and if you're not a champion, you feel bad. This is the first year in my career I can go home after the season is over and be completely happy and completely satisfied."

As Cashman walked through the concrete tunnels of Yankee Stadium in the early morning hours on Thursday, his slim grin was one of fulfillment. He wore a backward New York Giants cap and cradled his young son, Teddy, already barefoot and asleep in his arms.

"Some years, it works out. Most years, it doesn't; but some years, it does," Cashman said. "Thankfully this is a year that we were able to do something for the city and the Boss. The whole year was a remarkable year."

The biggest gambles had paid off, and for that, Cashman would rest well -- for a night. The work will begin again all too soon.

Source: Yankees

In all honesty, this has probably been the best World Series since 2001. Two great teams, going at it back-and-forth.

What I want to know DJ is, where's all of our anti-Yankee fans? Paging fathersson, Don Andrew, and ronnierocketAGO. WHERE ARE YOU?

Congrats to all the BB Yankee fans. I am happy for ya. What I want to know is how come George wasn't there last night to bask in all the glory?

BTW I'm not anti-Yanks or anti-Phillies. I just didn't care who won.

I am here. I stil hate the Yankees. but I know they have to win a World Series every few years so we can point at them and say they are the reason why sports have turned into business and entertainment. they have to play their role of hateful millionaires, or baseball is not the same.

The Tex Curse doesn't make any sense, unless you're a Yankee fan and you talk about "a few million dollars" as if it was change. but the "Mike Mussina Curse" was a bad one. tbat guy was a Yankee from 2001-2008. he must have second thoughts about this championship.

I know I was busy.

I didn't think much of it, and thought even less when Ken Rosenthal and a female ESPN reporter, who were present, said it was all said as a joke, but stories take on a life of their own.

Hamels had a disappointing season by his standards. His comment about waiting for the season to end was prefaced by him saying he definitely wanted to take the mound in Game 6. He's only 25, so I think his best seasons are ahead of him.

Myers is a free agent, and by most accounts the Phillies are going to part ways. He's an odd duck with a tremendous curve ball at times. Someone will sign him to a multi-year contract.

Keep in mind that the Yankees didn't invent this "curse."

It was Red Sox owner John Henry, in a ridiculous post from July 11th.

It seems like it backfired on him and his Sox. Remember, Teixiera and Boras met with the Red Sox and were by and large reported to have a deal in place. Boras told them that he had other offers, and that the Red Sox's weren't "competitive enough." Turns out, he wasn't bluffing.

11 days later, Mark Teixiera was a Yankee, all because the Red Sox refused to cough up another $10,000,000 - chump change for either team.

I picked up on that too. For many years now mlb teams have been evaluating talent by this stat over BA.

That's the impression I got. Hamels sounded like he was just mentally drained from a long, relatively sub-par season, not that he "quit" on his team.

I'm with you. The home field determination is especially silly because there are two different sets of rules, based on NL and AL locations. The DH changes the dynamic as NL teams can not usually carry a prototypical DH on its roster. Look at the difference between the Yankee lineup in Games 5 and 6.

I was thinking earlier today that the Phillies have never played in a Game 7 in my life. Playoffs were best of 5 and the 5 world series I have seen them in went 6,5,6,5 and 6.

Oh, and sorry, Blibble, that I'm late answering your question.

I was always a Notre Dame fan and my brother was a Penn State fan. I went to a division III college without a football team, so I still rooted for ND. I was actually accepted into Notre Dame for law school, but decided on Boston College. I forget what the reason was.

Personally, I think that the team with the better record each round should get home field advantage. It can't be that complicated, can it?

I take back my congratulations. Comments like this are absurd to me. What do the Red Sox have to do with the Yankees winning the world series? Why celebrate in hatred? Are you the guy who goes to games and tells Pedro the color of his underwear?

It's gotta be purple silk, right?

BINGO!

You're kidding me, right?

This was one of the most BORING World Series I've ever witnessed! If I wasn't a fan of BOTH teams, I'd've been bored to DEATH!

A-Rod showing some life in the post-season was nice, and welcomed. But otherwise, booooooring! All the other big-hitters did NOTHING, on either side. Pitching was okay, but the fucking umps were PATHETIC. A fucking disgrace if you ask me. How can you call this a "great" World Series besides the fact that we finally won???