Kuzul

Area 51 in Nevada. JFK in Dallas. And now…Dave Eiland in the Bronx.

The conspiracy theorists are out in full force this week following New York’s surprise announcement that Eiland has been let go as pitching coach after a career in the organization.

Every good conspiracy theory is born out the idea that an authority figure is being less that forthcoming. This neatly segues into the “Those bastards are hiding something!” leap in logic.

Enter Yankee GM Brian Cashman, who refused to go into specifics about Eiland’s departure, saying only that it was a “private” decision.

Here we go…

There is a section of Yankee Universe, let’s call it a “generous swath,” that is completely insane. The majority of the e-mails I receive as a result of writing this blog confirms this.

So I’m sure you can guess I had some interesting theories about Eiland’s demise thrown my way.

Here are a few:

“eiland got into fist fight with girardi.”

I’m guessing this started when Eiland accidentally spilled coffee on Joe’s beloved binder.

“eiland is on drugs.”

This would explain why Dwight Gooden was hanging outside the Stadium on Opening Day.

“you heard Eiland got Fired for Beating the Shit out AJ Burnett during the season because AJ snitched to management that Dave was an alcoholic???”

This would explain…wow, that’s incredible! Definitely my favorite, because if you’re a die-hard fan, you should be able to put together all the moving parts in play here.

It goes like this: The “drinking problem” was the reason for Eiland’s unexplained hiatus shortly before the All-Star break. The black eye Burnett sported in September was the result of a scuffle incited when Burnett “snitched” to Cashman about Eiland’s love of grandpa’s cough medicine. Burnett’s sharp decline in 2010 was directly tied to the souring of his relationship with the pitching coach.

(In crazed Halloween mad scientist tone) It…all…makes…too much…SENSE!!!

I can’t vouch for any of the theories above, but I can imagine Cashman thought long and hard about how he was going to present this to the public. The easiest route would’ve been simply to say it was based on performance. After the Yankees‘ struggles in the ALCS, this likely would’ve been accepted at face value.

But the fact that Cashman went out of his way to say it wasn’t based on the pitching meltdown last week tells you there’s something else at play here. He knew saying it was private would raise eyebrows, but he didn’t want baseball people around the league to think Eiland was bad at his job, either. Cash, probably out of respect to Eiland, took the lesser of two evils.

As for my theory? Eiland was fully aware Burnett was completely dependent on him to keep his mechanics from going to hell. With his contract up and in need of leverage, Eiland came up with the genius plan to take a leave of absence for “personal reasons,” watch with glee as Burnett inevitably went down in flames without him, then return to rescue the $82 million pitcher, thus proving his invaluable nature to the organization. With new contract in hand, he would finally buy that awesome grill he always walks by at Home Depot.

It was a perfect plan, almost too perfect. Only Eiland was gone for too long, and Burnett’s suckiness became too strong, too powerful, for even Eiland to control. His master plan foiled, he was vulnerable. That vulnerability led to his dismissal.

Like I said, some Yankee fans are completely insane.

Dan Hanzus writes the Yankees blog River & Sunset and can be reached at dhanzus@gmail.com. Follow Dan on Twitter @danhanzus.

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By Eric Marmon

When Joe Girardi shuffled his starting rotation between the New York Yankees ALDS against the Twins and the ALCS against Texas, everyone in NYC assumed it was a strategic maneuver to get Andy Pettitte in position to pitch a potential Game 7. The move was noticeable, but the reaction was mostly ho-hum.

Well, not anymore. Yankees manager Joe Girardi admitted this week that Pettitte’s back and injured hamstring were in such bad shape following his impressive seven-inning, two-run Game 2 victory in the ALDS that he would have been unable to throw in Game 5 of that series. Girardi also revealed that the rotation shuffle in the ALCS was a means of getting the Yankee-lifer as much rest as possible, as there was a chance he could miss the ALCS altogether.

“We thought it was in his best interest if we could give him another couple of days, he might be able to get through the series,” Girardi said on Monday.

This certainly won’t help curtail the “Yankees are too old” conversation…but it all becomes moot if Andy opts to retire anyway. It also highlights the already obvious need for more starting pitching. Cliff Lee, anyone? Oh wait, no. Y’all spat on his wife.

Perhaps the only thing in sports more beloved by the fans than winning is coming back on your shield. Kirk Gibson’s home run, Curt Schilling’s bloody sock, the unquestionable effort being put on display despite the very obvious physical pain being caused… this is what we love. While the revelation that he was playing hurt matters little now, the fact that he played through pain is just another remarkable footnote in the memorable career of Andy Pettitte.

And it gives true Yankees fans just another reason to love the guy.

This article originally appeared on The NY Sports Digest. If it’s offbeat and it’s about the Mets, Yankees, Knicks, Giants, Jets, Islanders or Rangers, then The Digest is the spot to get it. Stop with the mega-sites and get a feel for the true pulse of New York at www.NYSportsDigest.com

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• Yankees Rangers Game 6: The Champs Are Done
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Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

It’s been a few days since the Bronx Bombers dropped Game 6 of the ALCS in Texas. And while the healing-process was undoubtedly delayed by Cooper’s drunken rants against all things Yankee and the decade-old ramblings from an endangered species called “Orioles Fans,” the fact that the Knicks are set to start the most exciting season in nearly a decade is enough to get us out of bed in the morning.

However, in the next couple days we’ll take a look at what went wrong, what went right and what needs to change for the 2010 New York Yankees.

By Anthony Strait

The New York Yankees headed into their American League Championship Series matchup with so much on their side. They were coming off a three-game demolition of the Minnesota Twins which allowed them some rest. The starting pitching was coming together after a rough September and looked poised to power the team much like in 2009. An added bonus was that the Texas Rangers needed all five games to eliminate the Tampa Bay Rays, meaning that Cliff Lee would not start till Game 3.

Yet so much went wrong for the Yankees that many will make the argument that they could have easily been swept if not for a bullpen meltdown by the Rangers in Game 1. The Yankees ALCS loss in the end became a microcosm of the problems that plagued them over the last month of the season and in the end left them short of their ultimate goal: repeating.

You can start with the Yankees bats, which many felt would be the strength that would carry them back to the fall classic. In the regular season, New York led the majors with 859 runs—72 more runs than the Rangers. Yet outside of Robinson Cano and an eighth-inning comeback in Game 1, the Yankees bats were punchless.

The team batting average in the regular season was .267; in the LCS they batted .201 with a .300 on-base percentage. New York was just 5-for-47 with runners in scoring position in Games 2 through 6. A more sobering realization for the Yanks was that Cliff Lee pitched once in the series—meaning they couldn’t hit the other Rangers pitchers either. Losing Mark Teixeira didn’t help matters but he didn’t have a hit in the series (0-14). All in all, the Yankees scored just 19 runs in the series.

“We’re capable of anything at any time on offense,” said GM Brian Cashman after the Game 6 loss. “But outside of the one inning [eighth inning of Game 1] and the one game in New York [Game 5], we didn’t do anything.”

The Yankees offense vanished while the starting pitching was pretty much beaten up throughout the series. CC Sabathia was roughed up in Game 1 and Phil Hughes followed that up by allowing seven runs in four innings in Game 2. The starting pitching, a question mark at the end of the regular season; pitched well in the Minnesota series. Against Texas however the ERA through the six games was 6.58. Andy Pettitte pitched well in Game 3 while the decision to start AJ Burnett was questioned. Yet Burnett pitched well up until the sixth inning of Game 4. The starting rotation struggled down the stretch and was really roughed up by an aggressive Texas team that ran the bases and forced the issue.

Another key under the microscope and one that will be during the offseason will be manager Joe Girardi’s decisions during the series. The decision to start Phil Hughes in Game 2 over Pettitte raised eyebrows. Many viewed starting Sabathia and Pettitte back to back would have given the Yanks a chance at trying to steal two games on the road before facing Lee.

Game 4 saw Girardi going with the numbers game in leaving Burnett in one inning too long. It led to an intentional walk of David Murphy followed by Benji Molina’s three-run home run that gave the Rangers the lead for good.

The final nail was bringing in David Robertson after Hughes was knocked out of Game 6. He immediately served up a two-run homer to Nelson Cruz.

A series that saw the Yankees get outplayed, and to an extent out-managed, has now left them with an offseason full of questions to answer. The future of the core four (Jorge Posada, Pettitte, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera) is up in the air, along with adding or subtracting personnel.

Heading into the playoffs the Yankees looked like a shell of the team that won it all a year ago. The Rangers made them look old through six games and now it will be up to Cashman to retool for 2011. Perhaps he can look at the last week to address the team’s needs; considering they will have the winter to reflect on a series where everything did go wrong.

This article originally appeared on The NY Sports Digest. If it’s offbeat and it’s about the Mets, Yankees, Knicks, Giants, Jets, Islanders or Rangers, than The Digest is the spot to get it. Stop with the mega-sites and get a feel for the true pulse of New York at www.NYSportsDigest.com

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Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has started making changes. The Yankees were pushed from the playoffs by the Texas Rangers last week. Many decisions will need to be made as New York tries to regroup for next season.

The first decision was made yesterday when the Yankees announced pitching coach Dave Eiland would not be returning. This move is a surprise because of the history Eiland has with the organization.

One can only speculate as to the reasoning as Cashman would not give a reason other than to say it was “private” and “personal.”

Cashman also said the decision had nothing to do with the pitching staffs performance in the ALCS. Eiland missed a month of the season due to personal issues and there has been some speculation that may be part of the reasoning.

The team will begin looking for Eiland’s replacement once the negotiations with Girardi are complete. This will be an important position on the Yankees staff. Eiland had built a relationship with young pitchers like Phil Hughes.

So, Eiland, who pitched for the Yankees and became their pitching coach in 2008, will not return. Who else will not be returning?

Find out as you continue reading this article at Double G Sports.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Former Yankees manager Casey Stengel was photographed holding a baseball and gazing at it, as if it were a crystal ball, right after he was hired in 1949. Many Yankee staffers winced when they saw the pictures, but whatever he saw, it must have been good, because not only did he win the World Series his first year on the job, but he won the next four after that.

Stengel would win a total of seven World Series titles in his 12 years with the Yankees.

If it worked for Stengel then it could work for Brian Cashman now, who is about to embark upon what could be the most tumultuous offseason he has ever experienced. Three of the core four Yankees have expiring contracts, and Cashman must decide for how long and how much he is going to bring them back for, while keeping in mind that all three of them growing older by the day. He also has a manager to re-sign.

After the in-house duties are done, he must turn his attention to improving his team in the free agent and trade market, where Cy Young award winners Cliff Lee and Zack Greinke both await, along with Carl Crawford, Adam Dunn, Adrain Beltre and Jayson Werth.

After all of that, he has some more tough decisions to make regarding the starting catching job, with Jorge Posada, Francisco Cervelli and Jesus Montero all viable candidates.

He certainly has a lot on his plate and after gazing into a crystal ball, this is what he should see happen in the coming months.

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“I get no respect, I tell ya.” – Rodney Dangerfield

In the aftermath of his team’s loss in the American League Championship Series, it wouldn’t be shocking to discover these are the words that sum up the feelings of New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi.

And who can fault him?

Not surprisingly, even before the obituary had been written on the Yankees’ season, the blame game in the Big Apple was already in full swing. But unlike the popular reality television series Survivor, no one was receiving immunity from having a finger pointed in their direction.

However, what is especially interesting to note is the growing contingent of fans who are placing all of the blame for New York’s shortened postseason squarely on Joe Girardi’s shoulders. This throng is also comprised of the same critics who do not want to see Girardi return as the Yankees’ manager next year.

When Alex Rodriguez struck out looking in Game 6 of the ALCS, the 46-year-old Girardi officially completed the final year of a three-year, $7.5 million contract with New York.

During this brief period, Girardi won a total of 287 regular season games, placing him fourth on the list of former Yankee players who became the manager of the team. In addition, Girardi guided New York to two playoff appearances (2009, 2010), an American League East Division Title (2009), an AL pennant (2009) and a World Series Championship (2009). 

By any standard, this would be considered a successful three-year run for any manager in Major League Baseball.

Bobby Cox managed the Atlanta Braves for a quarter of a century (1978-1981, 1990-2010). This span saw the Braves win 2,149 games, 14 division titles and five National League pennants.

But in twenty-five years, Cox won as many World Series Championships as Girardi has in three seasons with the Yankees. Yet Cox was a beloved figure in Atlanta when he retired and the outcry for his replacement was never as loud as it is for Girardi’s despite winning equally as many championships in twenty-two more seasons.

After fifteen seasons as the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, Tony LaRussa added 1,318 victories, seven division titles and two NL pennants to his impressive résumé.

Nevertheless, in only two seasons in the role of New York’s skipper, Girardi won as many rings as LaRussa has during his entire reign in the “Show-Me State”.

In spite of the lack of championship hardware, LaRussa was asked to return to the Cardinals for a 16th season, an offer he gladly accepted.

Meanwhile, Girardi is left to wonder whether the Yankees will place an offer on the table for his return commensurate with the success he had managing the ball club.

Bearing this in mind, it certainly appears Girardi will continue to be subjected to tremendous criticism from New York fans due to the Yankees’ failure to win back-to-back World Series Championships.

Therefore, it can only be inferred that averaging 96 victories per season and winning a World Series Championship over a three-year period isn’t enough as manager of the Bronx Bombers.

Another inference that can be made is Yankees fans have become so drunk with success that any year ending without a World Series Championship is sufficient justification for heads to roll.

Either way, the bottom line is Girardi has done more than enough to warrant another contract with New York, at a higher salary, and Yankees’ fans need to come to the stark realization that Girardi is one of the major reasons a nearly decade-long championship drought came to an end last year.

Truthfully, the operative question going into the offseason shouldn’t be whether New York wants Joe Girardi back, but whether Girardi wants to come back to the Yankees. 

Click here to read the original article on Examiner.com, which includes relevant links and a light moment featuring the usually stoic Joe Girardi.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The Yankees 2010 season is now officially over.

There will be no ticker-tape parade down the Canyon of Heroes in November. There will be no celebrating the 28th World Series Championship at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

After the Rangers defeated the Yankees 6-1 in Game Six of the ALCS, all the Yankees have in the winter is a bitter defeat by a team that outplayed them in the series and a lot of questions surrounding their team.

But first, to be fair and a good sport, I must congratulate the Texas Rangers for advancing to their first ever World Series. They outplayed the Yankees in five of the six games and were the better team, no other way to describe it.

For a guy like Vladimir Guerrero, who has been one of the best players in the game for years without a chance to play in the Fall Classic, it’s nice to see. And for a guy like Josh Hamilton, who overcame drug and alcohol addictions to be the ALCS MVP (and possibly the American League MVP as well), it was also nice to see.

Now, with that being said, it is time to try and figure out the burning question, what the hell went wrong with the Yankees in that series?

1. The starting pitching.

In 2009, CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte went a combined 8-2 in the postseason, which was crucial to them winning the World Series.

In 2010, Sabathia, Burnett, Pettitte and Phil Hughes went a combined 3-4 in the postseason, which didn’t get it done.

Sabathia wasn’t as dominant like he was last year, but he still pitched well enough to keep the Yankees in every game he was in.

Burnett was AWFUL in 2010, going 10-15 with an ERA over 5-plus. He was even skipping starts because of his inconsistency.

Pettitte might have been the best pitcher in the playoffs for the Yankees, and in Game Three, battled Cliff Lee as best as he could, allowing just two runs in seven innings. The offense didn’t give him an ounce of support.

Hughes was dreadful. After pitching lights out against Minnesota, he simply did not pitch well in Game Two and Six and the Rangers made him pay for all his mistakes.

With Burnett being too inconsistent, Pettitte’s uncertainty of pitching in 2011 and Javier Vazquez being banished from the roster, the Yankees are all but certain to go hard after Cliff Lee in the offseason, and it’s already been said that Lee’s best friend Sabathia, will recruit him to the Bronx.

2. The offense was shut down.

Lee, Colby Lewis, C.J. Wilson and Derek Holland did a very good job of making the Yankees offense look really bad. Tommy Hunter was the only starter who was ineffective. Wilson pitched poorly in Game Five, but did pitch well in Game One.

Alex Rodriguez only hit .219, Nick Swisher only hit .176, Marcus Thames only hit .174 and Brett Gardner only hit .185. That type of hitting will not beat anyone in the postseason.

Derek Jeter only hit .250 and Jorge Posada only hit .267, which isn’t good, but not terrible like the others.

Curtis Granderson did a terrific job hitting .357, Robinson Cano still played like an MVP hitting .343, and Lance Berkman actually was productive, hitting .313.

Now, some actually do wonder if the Yankees make a hard press for someone like Jayson Werth or Carl Crawford in the winter? I still say no, but I could be wrong.

3. Mark Teixeira’s injury.

Teixeira wasn’t hitting in the series, but still having him out there as a Gold Glove first basemen was a tough loss for the Yankees.

His presence in the lineup makes the Yankees lineup a deeper one. He still has the capability of hitting the huge home run when needed, like in Game One against the Twins. By putting both Berkman and Thames in the lineup, it shortened the Yankees bench and lineup.

It’s not like Teixeira doesn’t take care of himself, he’s in tip top shape and is always very durable during the season. It was just a freakish injury that happened at the wrong time.

When he went down with the hamstring injury trying to get on base in Game Four, it was as if representing the Yankees in the series, having one of their legs go out from underneath them and playing short-handed.

4. Joe Girardi

I don’t know if Girardi got complacent after winning the World Series in 2009, because he certainly wasn’t managing with a killer instinct like he was during the championship year.

He made a lot of questionable calls during the season and at times, over-managed which cost the Yankees some tough games.

But, when he decided to only “play for a playoff spot” and not go all out for the A.L. East, it was like he was accepting mediocrity for his team.

You do not go into the playoffs backing in. Luckily for the Yankees, they got the Twins in the first round, because if they played anyone else, like an older Angels team, the Yankees would have been sent home, like they were in 2005-2007 by the Angels, Tigers and Indians.

I know some questioned Joe Torre in the past and his methods, but Torre at least was aggressive every season in trying to win and make the postseason. Torre didn’t let his team hold up, he always went for the kill, and this year, Girardi did the total opposite, which I bet if George Steinbrenner were still around, would have earned himself a loud phone call or a trip up to his office for a pep talk.

Girardi managed as if he were scared, or even, trying to get out of New York and maybe to Chicago. Girardi can’t get the Cubs job now even if he wanted it, so he has to hope the Yankees will want him back next season with his contract expiring.

5. The off-season now begins early

Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Joe Girardi are all free agents once the World Series is over. Many expect Jeter to re-sign, and as long as they want to play, many expect Pettitte and Rivera to re-sign.

The only question is, how much does Jeter sign for? He did have a down season in 2010 hitting .270, but Jeter is the equivalent to what Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio were to the Yankees in their era’s. The Yankees will likely give Jeter whatever he wants because of what he has meant to the team.

Pettitte is probably 50-50 on retiring. Many felt if the Yankees won in 2010, he would hang them up. He doesn’t want to pitch when he’s 40, so if he comes back in 2011, he’ll be 39 and it would likely be his last season, that is if he doesn’t want to retire after this season. He got to win one more championship with the Yankees, which is why he came back after the 2006 season, so it will be a waiting process for Andy.

As long as Mariano wants to pitch, the Yankees will hand him anything he wants. Rivera can still pitch at a high level, and was one of the few relievers who did well for the Yankees in the 2010 playoffs, so as long as Mariano wants to come back, I expect Rivera back.

Girardi may have no other choice but to go back to the Yankees, as the Cubs job was filled. Many expected Girardi to flee from the Bronx to Chicago, but now that can’t happen, and with not too many jobs out there, Girardi may be staying put.

Joe Torre is out there, as he has stepped down from the Dodgers, but many really wonder if he would really go back to the Yankees for one last run, especially after Torre was booted out of the Yankees manager spot when they were eliminated in the 2007 playoffs.

The Yankees off-season now begins. It begins a little early, but like the cliche goes, there is always next year.

It wasn’t a terrible year, they did make the playoffs, while some of their rivals (Red Sox, Mets) sat at home watching the game and playing golf, so the 2010 season wasn’t a total failure.

And honestly, the Yankees did win the World Series in 2009, and while the 2010 ending did sting, them winning last season takes a little bit of the sting off, because at least they aren’t in a 10 year championship drought as opposed to the nine-year drought they were in before the 2009 World Series.

What will the future hold for the 2011 Yankees? Guess we have to all wait and see.

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It’s been three years since the Joe Girardi era began in New York. Three seasons and one World Series ring later, I still hate the guy.

The New York Yankees faced elimination last night in Texas as “Mr. MVP” Josh Hamilton and the Texas Rangers were staring their first World Series appearance in the face. The Rangers finished the job, they beat not just one, but two of the best teams in baseball. They are going to the World Series.

The Yankees will now go sit at home and watch how the rest of this plays out. Can the unstoppable Phillies get beaten by “The Freak” and the Giants? I know I should be more interested, I know I should want to watch this fantastic series and watch who ends up holding that trophy when the World Series is over, but after watching one of the longest Yankee seasons of my life, I can’t help but not watch another game until April.

Going into last year’s offseason, the Bombers were looking like a team that could be a dynasty. They had three top-of-the-line rotation starters, and a lineup where anybody could launch a home run. Their team was fun to watch and they had a GM who had an unlimited supply of money to go make the team better. They had a team that was very good, indicated by the championship rings that were on their fingers from the previous season. But like any team, they now had a few holes.

Hideki Matsui, the man that literally won them Game 6 of the 2009 World Series, was now a free agent. This team needed a DH. This team seriously lacked a bench and with a team that was aging rapidly, that wasn’t good. Andy Pettitte, who was one of the three top rotation starters, (and if you don’t believe me on that go look at his postseason numbers from that year) wasn’t even sure if he was coming back or not. Brett Gardner was going to be the starting left fielder—his batting average two years ago was .228. We had Austin Jackson, an unproven rookie starting in center field. Jackson had been labeled the next best thing by Yankee scouts, but we have all heard that before (see Joba Chamberlain, Melky Cabrera).

Enter Mr. Brian Cashman, who apparently was told that he needed to keep the budget down. Apparently Hal Steinbrenner realized the team had a $200 million payroll, and spending any more money would make baseball unfair I guess. Cashman decided it would be best to go out and get another starter, so CC, AJ and Pettitte wouldn’t have to throw out their arms to win another World Series.

But instead of asking for a little extra money and signing a veteran like John Lackey, we went out and traded the only good bench player we had in Melky Cabrera for Javy Vazquez. I thought that we had already seen Vazquez fail trying to pitch in New York, but I guess Cashman forgot. “That’s okay,” they must have thought, “maybe this time he can pitch better in the toughest city in the world.”

I figured they would now go out and either re-sign Matsui or a proven DH. Once again Cashman made another genius move, he dealt for Nick Johnson. Anybody else remember when Johnson was shipped out of town when the Bombers signed Jason Giambi? Johnson was a decent player at best, with very limited power and had a track record of not being able to stay healthy.

But who else was available? Nobody, right? I mean, the only guy that was available until about a week before the season started was Vladimir Guerrero. You might have heard of him, he hit .300 with 29 home runs and 115 RBI this season on the team that eliminated the Yanks last night.

Then it wouldn’t be a Yankee offseason without dealing for an All-Star, right?

The genius Brian Cashman went out and dealt one of our blue chip prospects in Austin Jackson (who was going to be the starting center fielder), and got Curtis Granderson.  Apparently the Grandy-man was a proven star out in Detroit—I didn’t know superstars hit .249, but I guess the Cash-man did his homework.

The Yankees have done this for as long as I can remember, dealing young promising talent for “superstars” to fill their ego. If there is anything I have always hated about New York, it’s that.

Add outfielder Marcus Thames and we were ready for the 2010 season. We added a DH who has shown he can’t stay healthy, an unproven pitcher in New York (and in the American League in general) and a “superstar” that hit .249 the previous season. Not bad I guess. And about that whole “not raising the payroll too much,” Granderson and Vazquez made a combined $17 million last season.

The thing that I have always hated about the Girardi/Cashman combination is that they are all about numbers. You watch Girardi in the dug out and he’s constantly looking at matchups and numbers. That’s what he does, so let’s look at the numbers.

The numbers said that Nick Johnson had a great on-base percentage. The numbers said that Curtis Granderson hit 30 home runs last season and that the short porch would be great for him. The numbers said that Vazquez won 15 games and had a 2.47 ERA in Atlanta last year. Cashman and Girardi must have missed a few stats though. Nick Johnson hadn’t played more that 98 games in the last four seasons, Granderson hit .249 along with his 30 home runs with the Tigers and the last time Vazquez pitched in New York, his ERA was almost five.

Then we started going, and it was a typical Yankee season. They had a slow start, but they picked it up. They started hitting, CC Sabathia started dealing and winning games.

The new Yankees struggled as a lot of people thought they would. Vazquez struggled early and often, he finished the season with a 10-10 record, and a 5.32 ERA. You didn’t even see him the second half of the year. Nick Johnson played 24 games for the Yankees this year, before going down with an injury that was supposed to sideline him up to six months. You didn’t see him again for the rest of the year (he hit .167 in the 24 games). Curtis Granderson missed a lot of the season with an injury, and while he played very well at the end of the year, he still finished with a .247 batting average.

But then some things started happening that I don’t think anyone expected. AJ Burnett had a mental breakdown—he won one game in the last 85 days of the season. Burnett finished the season with a 10-15 record along with a 5.26 ERA. Derek Jeter stopped hitting and that was one of the most painful things I have ever watched. The soon-to-be 37-year-old watched his batting average drop from about .310 to .270 over the last two months of the year. Jeter has always been clutch in the postseason—he had 10 hits in 40 postseason at-bats this year.

The worst part about this season was the trade deadline. Nick Johnson was done for the year, Javy Vazquez couldn’t wait to move out of New York by the time, the Yankees bullpen had been getting constantly beat up and they needed to make a move to make up for the terrible offseason they had. Who was available?

First you had pitcher Cliff Lee. The un-hittable machine was available from the Seattle Mariners for a good young prospect. Lee had shutdown the Yankees in the World Series last season when he was in a Phillies uniform—Cashman should have looked at those numbers. They had a deal in place for him, to trade another blue chip prospect in Jesus Montero for Lee.

The deal was just about done when the Rangers jumped in and some how pulled off a deal to get the All-Star pitcher. The way a lot of Yankee fans looked at it at the time was, “At least he didn’t go to the Rays or the Red Sox. It won’t come back to haunt us at least.” We were wrong again.

Then you had the power hitter Adam Dunn. Dunn had put up monster numbers for the Nationals in the first half of the season and with an expiring contract it seemed Dunn was destined to part ways with his organization. He was rumored to go to the Rays, which I guess got the Yankees involved. In the end, he stayed in Washington DC, he’ll be a free agent this offseason.

Instead the genius Brian Cashman went out and dealt for 34-year-old Lance Berkman. The former All-Star had hit .245 in Houston the first half of the season, but I guess Cashman or Girardi saw a stat where Berkman would fare better in New York. I’d like to see that stat, because he hit .248 the second half of the year for the Yankees. Then they dealt for reliever Kerry Wood, who actually turned out to be pretty good in pinstripes. If I had to pick one trade I have liked over the last year, this was it.

I think the hardest thing for a Yankee fan is that nothing good came out of this year. We enter next season with several old players that just got a year older—Jeter is the most interesting one. Jeter is going to be 37, and he is going to ask for at least $100 million in what will probably be his last contract. Mariano Rivera is a year older and that guy named Joba that was supposed to replace him can barely get out of the bullpen now. A-Rod is going to be 36 years old next year. This team is old and nothing is going to change that.

So what happened to the New York Yankees? Can we really blame Brian Cashman for what happened to this team? I do. He had chances to go out and get hitters like Adam Dunn and Vlad. Cliff Lee might not leave Texas at the end of the season to become a free agent if they win the World Series this season.

There are more question marks than there are good things for the Yankees right now. Joe Girardi doesn’t have a contract for next season, neither do busts Javy Vazquez or Lance Berkman. Does Andy Pettitte come back? Does Mariano Rivera come back next year, because he doesn’t have a contract either? There are conversations of the Yanks going after Royals ace Zach Grienke, but I have read he doesn’t want to pitch for a big-market team. The biggest question mark of all will be the captain Derek Jeter and how much he will want and for how long.

When it comes to this offseason, I think it will be very interesting. However one thing is clear: If the Yankees don’t start making better moves with more common sense and they continue to ignore the age of their players it’s going to come back to haunt them eventually.

That’s a stat that Cashman should look at.

As for the overall view of this season, it was a failure. They made mistakes in the trade department, and the signing department. It is for these reasons that I would like to thank Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi, because they just did something I thought was impossible for them to do even if they made the wrong moves. They just ruined a dynasty.

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Let me start by saying congratulations to the Texas Rangers.

The Rangers are the ALCS Champions and well deserve to be just that after winning Game 6 against the New York Yankees, 6-1.

It is a first World Series appearance for the Texas Rangers organization. Texas will face either the Philadelphia Phillies or the San Francisco Giants, who are still battling it out in the NLCS.

After dominating the Minnesota Twins in the ALDS, the Yankees had eight days off till the ALCS started down in Texas.

The Yankees could have won this series, but you have to play baseball in order to win.

Let’s look at the three factors, hitting, pitching and managing for the Yankees in the postseason to figure out what happened:

1) Hitting, a word that became unfamiliar to the Yankee batters. If you do not score runs, you will not win ball games. Maybe if a team had Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, The Freak or CC Sabathia in the same rotation, you could afford not to hit, but even that Cy Young foursome would lose a game or two.

A-Rod continued his horrible 2010 postseason, coming into Game 6 with three hits in 17 at-bats, with a .176 batting average. Last year, A-Rod hit six home runs, batting a .365 over 15 postseason games. His slump was a HUGE problem and reason the Yankees struggled so much.

It’s not as if the rest of the Yankees were much help anyway. Swisher’s batting average was .194 and Teixeira (pre-injury) was even worse, hitting .148 in the postseason. Both regular season sluggers lost their swagger completely for the second postseason in a row.

2) Shockingly, the pitching was second to the hitting, because if you can’t score runs, the game is over no matter who is on the mound. Otherwise, the pitching was almost as terrible as the batting, following the ALDS where the pitching was phenomenal.

Sabathia got the job done winning both his ALCS starts, even though he grinded in both games against Texas. CC is an ace and that is why he gets the title. Sabathia had an ERA of 5.63 over 16 innings and struck-out 15 batters. The Yankees won all three games CC started, which is the only stat that matters in the post season.

As usual, Pettitte came through enormously posting a 2.57 ERA over 14 innings, striking out nine and only allowing one walk in his two postseason starts. He was 1-1 because Cliff Lee beat him in Game 4, but once again, the Yankees didn’t hit and back-up Pettitte’s performance.

The bullpen of Kerry Wood, Mariano Rivera and Joba Chamberlain all did a solid job. Robertson and Mitre were a mess, shocker. Robertson is usually a go-to-middle reliever because he has been so successful the last two years, but Mitre should never be allowed in Yankee Stadium again.

Girardi needs to go see a shrink in the offseason for the separation issues he seems to have with Mitre, who he coached as a Florida Marlin. Whatever it is, nobody wants to ever see Mitre on the mound again.

The starting pitching in the ALCS was not as dominate as the ALDS at all. Blame it on the eight days off between games or maybe Joe Girardi’s managing calls, but the starters looked rattled. Sometimes it got painful to watch as a fan because you know how good they can be or usually are.

Pitching posted a record of 5-4, with a 5.01 ERA, giving up 44 earned runs, 32 walks and 63 strikeouts during the 2010 postseason. Those numbers will not get you though the postseason, Yankees or not.

3) Skipper Joe Girardi had New York fans questioning—excuse me, criticizing—his every move over the last two weeks. When any sports team loses, the manager or coach always gets blamed, but in all essence, Girardi is a good manager. The Yankees won the World Series in 2009 and made it to the ALCS this season.

The only move Girardi made that made absolutely no sense happened in Game 6 of the ALCS. Hughes was the starter, and though it was not the smoothest performance, he had held the Rangers to one earned run through the fourth inning. He walked Josh Hamilton for the second time, which I would have done too.

Vladimir Guerrero was up next and the aging DH is still a risk but not even close in comparison to Hamilton. Vald knocked the ball over Granderson’s head for a double and two runs score. I hoped Girardi would let Hughes get the last out to finish the fifth inning, but knew that was a pipe dream when it comes to Girardi.  

Guerrero’s hit only made the score 3-1, which is still manageable. Hughes had been throwing a lot of pitches, but he held the Rangers and that is his job. The bigger mistake was when he replaced Hughes with Dave Robertson instead of Kerry Wood.

Robertson had struggled all postseason, and it would seem only logical to put your best reliever out there to hold the score. Instead. by the time Robertson got the one out needed to end the inning. he had allowed a home run and three earned runs, leaving the score 6-1 entering the sixth inning. It drove me nuts that Girardi pulled Hughes, but to put in Robertson was irrational and just plain out stupid.

Well, now the Yankees and their fans will watch another team be crowned World Champions. It sucks to lose, but a true Champion would come back ready to win even more in 2011.

Overall, great season once again for my New York Yankees and can’t wait for next season.

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It’s almost trite to ask what people initially think about when they ponder the New York Yankees and the postseason.

Some will say a team resting on the ink of a paycheck, while others will say an indelible mark on baseball’s identity.

But when you clear the air on a seemingly endless argument, you’re left with the only topic that is forward focus: The 2010 ALCS.

This matchup was almost written in the realm of possibilities a long time ago. Many fans began to realize the Rangers were not only running away with their division late in the summer but also that they were more legit than they have been in some 10 years.

The Yankees, on the other hand, were steeped in a divisional battle all year long with a Tampa Bay team that was considered one of only two teams that could actually beat the Rangers.

The Yankees were the second; the Rays failed.

And with that, we saw tonight why people believe the Yankees can, in fact, beat this high-powered Rangers team. They overcame last night’s drubbing and a collection of losses that, to some, were unexpected and rose above adversity with the injury to their power first baseman Mark Teixeira.

But in the dark lurks the Texas Ranger.

The Yankees are a well-oiled machine and a well-coached team. With that said, you have to believe that Girardi and company are now feeling the pressure of the torrent bats of Texas and their overpowering pitching staff.

Across the diamond, Texas manager Ron Washington is burning an indelible worry into the crawls of the Yankees coaching staff, as if to say: We aren’t going to go away; we’re just as good as you are!

But the Yankees have a stigma of their own: Just try and beat us!

And that, folks, is the new stage setting for Game 6!

All things considered, it doesn’t matter whether you are a Yankees fan or a Rangers fan because either side of the coin has to admit they couldn’t have asked for a better, more exhilarating series as we have on our hands right now.

The Yankees may be the perennial favorite, but the Rangers are that one history-making underdog that often gets underestimated.

The bottom line is: Is it another year of the inevitable for the Yankees, or has fate found a new friend in Texas?

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