I've been asked a lot over the past few weeks about who I wanted the Yankees to face in the playoffs -- the Texas Rangers or the Minnesota Twins. My standard answer was that I stopped making such wishes after I wanted the Yanks to face the Detroit Tigers in the 2006 playoffs, and the Bombers got humiliated by the team, especially the hated Kenny Rogers. The series culminated, if you can call it that, with Joe Torre batting A-Rod eighth in Game 4, and Jaret Wright starting, and failing, for the Yanks.
Anyhow, it occurred to me this morning, though, that this year's Yankee team could be the next 2006 Tigers. And that might not be such a terrible thing, given the postseason. Look at the stats:
* Both finished 95-67.
* Both were in first place for much of the year, including until the Saturday before the end of the season
* Both should have won the division, but stumbled down the stretch. Both the 2006 Tigers and 2010 Yankees went 12-15 in September. In October, the Tigers went 0-1, while the Yankees went 1-2.
* In the first half of the season, the 2006 Tigers went 59-29, while the Yanks went 56-32. In the second half, the Tigers went 36-38, while the Yankees went 39-35.
* Curtis Granderson is on both teams.
Yet despite their awful finish, the Tigers still managed to make it to the World Series.The Minnesota Twins, the team that beat out the Tigers for the AL Central title that year, got swept by the Oakland Athletics. And the Tigers, after beating the Yanks, ended up beating Oakland in the ALCS. Granted, the Tigers did lose the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals, a team that should never have been there in the first place, but beat the Mets in 7 games in the NLCS. (Incidentally, I'm still bitter about Mets players chanting that whole "party in Queens, entierro in the Bronx" thing in 2006, after the Yankees lost. The shoe's on the the other foot this year, guys!)
Anyhow, after this disappointing finish, let's hope that the Yankees treat the 2010 Twins like the 2006 Tigers mauled the Yankees back then.
What do you think? Tell us about it!
Let's hope the '10 Yankees follow that pattern all the way up to Game 4 of the ALCS, when, oh, I don't know, Robinson Cano follows Magglio Ordonez (not to mention Bobby Thomson '51, Hank Aaron '57, Chris Chambliss '76 and Aaron Boone '03) in hitting Pennant-clinching homers. (Rick Monday in '81, Jack Clark in '85 and, heh heh, Yadier Molina in '06 also did it, but on the road in the top of the 9th.)
ReplyDeleteAfter that, though, the Yankees need to drop the pattern, because the Tigers spent the next 5 games dropping the ball and dropping the World Series to Yadier and the Cardinals.