DAMN YANKEES DISAPPOINT AGAIN THIS YEAR!!!

Once again, I really wanted to blog about my rip-off trip to Cancun, Mexico today, but last night's Yankees Game 5 loss to the Tigers really pissed me off! For the past week, I was living it up in Cancun missing the majority of the baseball post season because of the lack of Internet accessibility. Well, we made it home to see a 'do-or-die' Game 5, which I was pretty excited about. I thought that the Yankees had this one in the bag. Their rookie pitching sensation Ivan Nova pitching against the Tiger's Doug Fister, and the Yankees coming off of a 10-1 Game 4 onslaught in Detroit? The stage was set for a huge Yankee win. It was a familiar feeling as I sat down in front of the TV to watch the game. Unfortunately, that familiar feeling that I had was of the same old Yankees in the playoffs; from getting runners on base and not driving them in to not delivering the big hit in an elimination game atmosphere. The last time we actually saw that was Aaron Boone's walk-off home run in Game 7 against the Red Sox in 2003.

The Yankees got into trouble early in the first inning when Ivan Nova gave up back to back home runs to Don Kelly and Delmon Young, but as most Yankee fans know, a two-run lead is not nearly enough to hold this potent Yankee offense down, but when Tigers pitcher Doug Fister decided that he wanted to pitch like Tiger ace Justin Verlander on this night, two runs WAS more than enough. Yankee manager Joe Girardi pulled Ivan Nova in the second inning due to a muscle tightening, forcing Girardi to go to the bullpen early, but did he really have to treat it like a little league team where he tried to put in every pitcher that he had in the bullpen? I guess at the end of the day, Girardi's bullpen was not the problem, as they were lights out. It was the Yankees offense that killed them! I mean, the Yankees had bases loaded twice in this game with one out, and they could not drive in the big runs. How can their high paid slugger, Alex Rodriguez, strike out with bases loaded? I'll tell you how! Besides A-Rod's history in the post season going 0 for baseball every year, the guy missed half of the season due to injuries. How about keeping him off of the post season roster this year and go with what got you there? Maybe using Eduardo Nunez or Eric Chavez at third? I bet they would've helped out offensively better than a gimpy A-Rod!

Then there was Nick Swisher, who also struck out with the bases loaded, and hit only .211 in this post season. That's probably the best he's hit in the playoffs since becoming a Yankee. The Yankees offense was absolutely horrendous, and I knew after three innings that this Yankees team was not winning this game. When I was on facebook last night, many of my fellow Yankees fans were trying to stay optimistic saying things like, "don't worry, they'll rally back!" or "the umps were making some bad balls and strikes calls." The bottom line is that the Yankees as a team were not getting good swings against this Tigers pitching staff. You can tell right away, there would be no rally in the future, and there might have been some blown balls and strikes calls, but there were also a lot of pitches right down the middle that weren't even swung at. You have to swing the bat to get the hits! The almost 'sigh of relief' came when Captain Clutch, Derek Jeter came up in the eighth inning and almost hit a two-run homer to put the Yankees ahead by a run, but that ball came up short of the wall to end the inning! Oh, where were you Jeffrey Maier when we needed you? Once again, our Yankees have let us down!

Big changes are coming, but what are they? Is Brian Cashman stepping down? Did Yankee lifer, Jorge Posada play his last game in pinstripes? Will CC Sabathia opt out of his contract and play elsewhere? What will this team look like next year? I really thought we would see a Yankees and Phillies rematch, the way the two teams had been playing all year. All I have to say is, "Let's Go Cardinals!"