Sunday, October 06, 2002

The Fall of the House of Steinbrenner

Wow. Watching the the Yankees v. Angels game yesterday, it seemed the the Yankees had morphed into the Red Sox.

An organization that had never won a postseason series humiliated the Yankees. Yesterday, after losing Division Series Game 4, 9-5, to not just a scrappier, but better team, the Yanks appeared a club that needed radical change yet again due to decrepit pitching, defenseless fielding, a dubiety at the bottom of the lineup and a dearth of October steel.

"They wanted it more than us," Jorge Posada admitted (Sherman, NY Post).

Sound familiar?

Sure did look familiar. Botched plays. Guys not running hard. Inability to hold a lead.

I'm amazed, really. I was fairly certain the Yankees would absolutely clobber the Angels.

I'm sure hundreds of thousands of Red Sox fans are joyously celebrating the fall of the house of Steinbrenner this morning; however, if there is an ominous dark cloud associated with the Yankees ouster, it's this:

Asked over the phone by The Post's George King if he will re-evaluate this team, Steinbrenner said, "Very closely and very soon."

The Red Sox are going to have to fight the Yankees mano a mano over every possible off season acquisition. And you know how that goes.

It's going to be one hell of a hot stove season.