“It’s designed to break your heart.  The game begins in spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone.” ~ Bart Giamatti.

Yankee fans watch their team get eliminated

And so on a cold, overcast day in the Bronx when the Yankees were eliminated from the postseason for the second year in a row for only the first time since 1992-1993 (when Buck Showalter was their manager) I watched the Yankees fall to the division winning Orioles managed by Showalter.

The Yankees started Shane Green (5-4  3.78) and the Orioles Bud Norris (15-8 3.65).  The Yankees scored in the bottom of the first when Mark “My kingdom for two good wrists” doubled home Chase Headley.  1-0 Yankees after one.

The Yankees scored again in the bottom of the second when Stephen Drew (of the .165 average) homered to right field.  Drew’s had seven hits all season. It seems they were all home runs.  2-0 Yankees after two.

The Yankees scored in the bottom of the third when Chase Headley homered to right.  3-0 Yankees after three.

Things were looking good at this point.  Green was in control and looking sharp.  But then the top of the fourth (“half-inning apocalypse”) happened.  Baltimore scored six times and never looked back.  Final score: Baltimore 9 Yankees 5.

And so I finish the year at 5-10.

Where to begin talking about this team?  Perhaps a report card is in order.

Joe Girardi:  B +

Given what he had to work with Girardi did a great job.  He kept a team that had no business even finishing above .500 in the wild card hunt until the final week.  I’ll say it again:  Girardi is a better manager than Joe Torre.  Torre just had better teams.

Brian Cashman B –

Cashman did his usual bad off season job of saddling the Yankees with multi–year contracts with aging superstars past their prime.  (I’m looking at you Carlos Beltran.)  However he also did his usual good job of improvising during the regular season.  Many of his trades helped the Yankees, particularly the Vidal Nunez trade to get Brandon McCarthy.  Chase Headley also did a good job for us and may be our starting third basemen next year.

As for the rest of the Yankees?

Mark Teixeira is only 34 and looks washed up.  Gone are the days when he was batting .292 with an OPS of .948 while hitting 39 home runs and driving 122 runs.  This year he batted .217 with an OPS of .713 with 21 home runs and 58 RBIs.  The Yankees have two more years on his contract.  If he doesn’t improve next year do the Yankees eat the remainder?

CC Sabathia also looks washed up at 34.  He missed the second half of the season with knee surgery and hasn’t been performing as a number one starter since 2011.

The Yankees will need a new shortstop.  Was Derek Jeter the greatest Yankee ever?  No.  But I’d put him in the top five.  But there are some guys named Ruth, Gehrig and DiMaggio ahead of him.  Jeter went 0-4 today as his farewell tour continued.  Here is some footage of him grounding out in his last at bat and the last time Manhattan Infidel will see him as a Yankee:

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Which brings us to AROD.  He’ll be 40 next year.  He’s missed the last two years.  He has three more years on his contract. Unless he decides to retire the Yankees have no choice but to play him.  If he can play in 120 games next year, hit around .260 and hit 25 home runs we could use him.  That’s still better than anything the Yankees had this year.

This is the first year in 20 years that the Yankees did not have one player reach 100 RBIs. No one was even close with Brian McCann leading the team with 75.

Who will play right field and center field for the Yankees next year?  Who will play shortstop? Martin Prado, at least, looks like he will be our second basemen.

I hope the Yankees sign Brandon McCarthy but I doubt they will.  CC and Ivan Nova will be coming back next year so someone will end up the odd man out.

And so I say goodbye to my Yankees for the year.  Bart Giamatti was correct.  As I write this it is dark and cold and rains are coming.  Soon the long dark night of a winter in post-constitutional America will be upon us.  And it will be really long, dark and cold.

So with baseball over for me I face the fall alone.

But on the bright side at least we did better than the Red Sox.  (Bahstahn sawks cack!)

Go Yankees!

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