Pride of the Yankees

Even the most optimistic of Yankees fans (read: me) understood what Wednesday's 11-3 drubbing by the Red Sox meant, the second loss in as many games to the arch-rival Wild Card leaders. Simply put, it was all over.

No following the other races to see who the Yanks would match up with in the division series, no features on whether this was the year A-Rod would come up big when it counted, no pull-out sections in the Post and Daily News to pour over come Oct. 1. Yankee Stadium, for the first time since 1993, will be dark when the postseason begins. Turns out me and my Dad were at the final playoff game ever at The House That Ruth Built, a 6-4 loss to Paul Byrd and the Indians in Game 4 of the '07 ALDS. Lucky us.

The players accepted the season's lost nature as well on Wednesday night, even if Joe Girardi's hollow rheteroic said otherwise (how annoying is this guy sometimes?). "We have to be professionals now," is how Johnny Damon put it. The Yankees entered Thursday losers of 18 of their last 30 games, turning a three-game deficit to the Rays to 11 and one-game distance from the Sox to seven. You couldn't have been surprised if Boston had finished off the funeral of the Bombers with a sweep in Thursday's matinee finale.

But here's the thing about these Yankees, particularly the veterans. They may not be the same players they used to be, but they still have their pride. And you have to respect the fight they put up in Thursday's 3-2 win in what is in all likelihood the final game these two great rivals will ever play against each other in this park.

Jason Giambi was the hero, launching the game-tying two-run homer with two outs in the seventh. Pinch-hitting for Jose Molina, the 'Stache lined an 0-1 pitch from Hideki Okajima off the facing of the black in left-center to finally get the Yankees on the board. When he came to the plate again with the bases loaded and no one out in the ninth, he stroked the walk-off single to center off douche closer Jonathan Papelbon. Who says people don't get work done on half-days?

Giambi is about to begin his final month in what has been a long, strange and ultimately unfulfilling journey as a Yankee. Always a fan favorite despite the steroid scandal that will forever blight his career, Giambi has always had a knack for the big hit in his seven-year pinstripe run. His skills have eroded greatly as an offensive player, but he's given this team everything he's had left this season, playing more first base then anyone could've imagined while being a good run producer and on-base man in spurts. He will be useful somewhere as a DH next season and he will be cheered loudly when he steps into the box as a visitor at the new Stadium.

These next 29 games will have a lot of that feel. Saying goodbye will be the big theme. Saying goodbye to some mainstays on the roster and saying goodbye in the place the club has called home since 1923. Let's hope Thursday was a sign that this team will send the cathedral out with the respect -- if not the results -- it deserves.

Around The Horn: New York finished 484-285-4 in the regular season at Yankee Stadium against the Red Sox. New York has beaten Boston in six of 10 postseason games in the Bronx. ... Alex Rodriguez went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts on Thursday, finishing the biggest series of the season at 2-for-13 with five strikeouts and one RBI. The crowd let him have it again, hopefully Madonna can hold him in her veiny arms as he sobs uncontrollably. ... The Red Sox lead the season series against the Yanks, 8-7, with three games to play Sept. 26-28 at Fenway. ... New York is six games back of Boston in the AL wild-card race with 29 to play. ... Mike Mussina is now 0-for-2 in tries at win No. 17 despite a solid seven-inning outing against the Sox. The Moose will have six more starts to get four more wins. I sincerely hope Stanford's son does it. ... Pete Abe reported today that Joba threw 45 pitches in the bullpen on Thursday. His next step will be throwing batting practice on Saturday before the game against the Jays. ESPN reported Thursday night that the Yanks are hoping to have Hoss in the bullpen sometime next week. Of course, they really need him as a starter, but I suppose beggers cannot be choosers. Another helping of Sidney Ponson? It's beefy!

Understanding the mystery of A-Rod

If you managed to make it through all nine innings of Tuesday's excruciating blood-letting in the Bronx, you couldn't miss the singular emotion oozing from the Stadium. Anger.

Anger that Andy Pettitte came up small against the big rival again. Anger that the offense refused to accept multiple Boston invitations to get back into the game. Anger that a promising season had gone so wrong. But must of all, anger toward A-Rod.

We need to be fair here, because there's a good chance talk radio and the papers won't be. The Yankees didn't lose this crucial series opener solely because of A-Rod's brutal 0-for-5, two DP, one error showing. In reality, Johnny Damon may be the only Yankee without blood on his hands. But Tuesday was a perfect microcosm of everything that makes A-Rod what he is. More to the point, Tuesday perfectly displayed everything A-Rod isn't.

He has the most physical gifts. He puts up the biggest numbers. He has the highest salary. But he'll never be your savior. The Yankees can win a World Series with Rodriguez on the roster, but they won't ever win title No. 27 because A-Rod is on the roster. It's a head-scratching reality that even the most ardent A-Rod apologists are now starting to understand. He's not the Alpha Dog the Yankees thought they were getting when they traded for him prior to the 2004 season. He proves this time and time again, but for some reason Yankees fans refuse to accept it. Each failure just adds more fuel to the fire. Tuesday became an inferno that stands among the darker days in a Hall of Fame career.

The cautionary tales of the '04 ALCS and subsequent ALDS losses didn't stop the Yankees from bestowing upon their superstar a lavish 10-year deal prior to this season. The contract did more than ensure A-Rod would hit homer No. 763 in a Yankee uniform. It also announced Rodriguez as the new face of the Yankees. Perhaps if the team had taken a closer look at A-Rod's makeup and track record, they would have called his bluff and let him walk when he opted out of his deal in October. Maybe he would have hit his 50th homer of the season on Tuesday for another team with deep pockets and a spotlight that didn't shine so bright. But ultimately, the club made the same mistake that I and countless other fans were guilty of. Blinded by what seemed so obvious, the Yankees assumed there was no way that talent wouldn't translate to titles.

But what the Yankees may ultimately have is a damaged soul, a player who probably never was cut out to be in New York in the first place. The error he made in the seventh inning was a direct result of the boos raining down on him. He was rattled by the rejection of his home crowd and he acted accordingly. The special professional athletes have the ability to block out distractions. Roger Clemens famously said he heard nothing when he stood on the mound. Silence. Imagine that? A-Rod can't. A-Rod can't tune out the criticism. It consumes him. And that thin skin is what ultimately makes a great talent very human.

Human was the very definition of A-Rod's performance on Tuesday. Problem is, human is not what the Yankees paid for, and it isn't what their fans will ever accept.

First things first against Sox

It's hard to imagine the Yankees actually catching a break this season, but Josh Beckett's absence from this week's series against the Red Sox certainly qualifies as that.

Tim Wakefield will be Beckett's replacement. Fresh off the disabled list, Aaron Boone's best friend hasn't pitched for Boston since Aug. 6 and his recent history against the Yankees portends to a big day for the Bombers bats. The 42-year-old knuckleballer is 9-17 with a 5.18 ERA in his career against New York. The Yanks knocked Wakefield around in their last matchup, touching him up for six runs over 5 1/3 innings in July.

The Yankees will counter with Andy Pettitte, one of two dependable pitchers on the staff. The road to the postseason will be nearly impossible unless a pitcher in the rotation not named Pettitte or Mussina steps up in a big way, but for now the two vets must be at the top of their games. If either pitcher is injured or falls into a slump, this season is done.

All that said, the series-opening Pettitte-Wakefield matchup is an essential game for the Yankees. The last time Pettitte opened a series against the Red Sox, he crapped the bed. If you know anything about No. 46, he hasn't forgotten that 7-0 loss on July 3. Pettitte and the Yanks need to take advantage of this matchup. Urgency my friends. URGENCY!

Sidney Ponson will face Paul Byrd in the middle game, a contest with potential to become a battle of the bullpens. It will be interesting to see how Ponson bounces back from his atrocious start in Toronto. Unfortunately, his history against the Red Sox as a Yankee isn't very promising. Ponson's introduction to the rivalry was a pounding in the series finale at Fenway Park on July 27. The hope here is that Ponson can gut through five or six innings without giving this thing away.

Mike Mussina will then take the ball in the finale, a matinée game at the Stadium. Jon Lester will make the start for the Sox. Like Ponson, Lester was beat up by the Blue Jays in his last start. The left-hander allowed seven runs on eight hits in just 2 1/3 innings, the shortest outing of his career as a starter. As evidenced by his track record, Lester is a tough dude, so I look for a competitive performance from him. Moose, just four wins from 20, will have to keep pace.

One X-factor to keep in mind as we approach Tuesday's opener. For the first time since 1999, this rivalry will be without the ultimate Yankee Killer, Manny Ramirez. This has been lost in the shuffle with all of the last-trip-into-the-Stadium-for-Sox stuff, but it cannot be understated. Jason Bay has been a very capable replacement in left field, but I stand by the fact that Boston made a big mistake in letting Manny's latest spat blow up into a trade. This is a weaker Red Sox team than the Yanks saw the last time these two teams met. Even the most ardent Sox fan blowhard would have a hard time disagreeing with that.

And yet, they probably would. This, my friends, is why Boston sucks.

Walking The Wire in Baltimore

To get back into this playoff race in earnest, the Yanks are in need of an extended winning run. Today's 8-7 marathon win over the Orioles completed a three-game sweep at Camden Yards. That's three straight. And that's a start.

But Sunday's game also illustrated how difficult it will be to put together the necessary run with the starting rotation being what it is. This will put the spotlight back on an offense that will get one last chance to re-write the story of its season as anything other than a bust. They will need to produce when those Ponson-Pavano-Rasner turns come up. If the Yanks swing the bats -- as they did all weekend in Baltimore -- it's certainly possible to win eight of 10 or 15 of 20. But we must remember that we're talking about a team on pace to score the fewest number of runs in a season since the Bush Sr. administration. It's unclear if they are capable of being consistently productive anymore.

Darrell Rasner is terrible. Just God awful. He's had more chances than Robert Downey Jr., and while I'd love to make a cute pun here saying that the Razz is more Tin Man than Iron Man, I won't, because the fact is Darrell Rasner is all heart. Unfortunately, that's all he is. If Wang didn't get hurt and Kennedy didn't implode and Joba didn't point to his shoulder, Rasner would have been at best, in long relief and, at worst, sitting on his couch drinking Budweiser. Instead, he's still here, still pitching poorly and there's not really a thing the Yanks can do about it other than hand him the ball in six days against the Blue Jays. That's just the way things are in '08. Stupendous.

What we saw this weekend is what we expected from this team all season. The Yanks took it to a last-place team with an offensive attack that was too much to handle for middle-of-the-road starters and weak middle relief. So strong was the lineup that the team overcame Carl Pavano and Rasner only collecting 25 outs in their starts.

The offense couldn't have done it alone. The bullpen seems back on it feet after The Road Trip That Shall Not Be Named. Mariano Rivera is back in form, collecting saves in all three O's games to give him 31 for the season. It was also nice to see Damaso Marte excel Sunday with three strikeouts over 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Joe Girardi lied -- yes, flatly lied -- to the media prior to the game, saying the reason the left-hander hadn't pitched much in the past 10 days came down to the right situation not presenting itself. Marte let the cat out of the bag later, saying his elbow had been bothering him, likely the product of a 42-pitch outing on Aug. 4 against the Rangers. Me thinks Girardi still has some things to learn about dealing with the New York press. If you lie, you will be exposed, and when you get exposed, you look like a dick. Understand this and adapt.

The Yanks have been excellent in close games this season. Sunday was the 38th come-from-behind win of the year, tied with the Tigers for the most in baseball. Eleven of the Yanks' last 13 wins have been come-from-behind victories. These are numbers that are either telling me the bullpen is way better than I give it credit for or this season has been very close to being embarrassingly bad. I suppose it's both.

And just like that, the Red Sox re-enter the picture. Three games at the Stadium starting on Tuesday, with New York trailing Boston by five games in the Wild Card chase. In the words of Mike Francesa, this is huuuuuuuuuuge. The Yanks need this series in the worst way, and while it may be asking too much to ask for a sweep, the Bombers need to be thinking that way. The Yanks caught a break on Saturday when the Sox announced that Josh Beckett will miss his next turn with arm issues. In his place will be Tim Wakefield, fresh off the disabled list and hopefully ready for another shit show in the Bronx. To keep this momentum going, the Yanks need to win this series. This may be their last chance to make noise.

Around The Horn: The Yankees swept the Orioles at Camden Yards for the first time since 2004. New York leads the season series, 8-7, with three more games to be played in the Bronx Sept. 19-21. That series finale could be the final game ever at the Stadium. Good luck getting tickets to that. ... I like Pudge Rodriguez. I like the way he plays. He's a gamer. But he's not showing much game for the Yankees. He has one RBI since joining the team. This is not the walk-year that agents dream about. ... The Yankees' punishment of Daniel Cabrera on Sunday was an anomoly of sorts. The big-righthander had been 3-0 with a 3.15 ERA in three previous starts against the Yanks in '08. Cabrera's velocity has seriously dipped (his fastball was maxing at 89-90), which makes you think he has to be hurt. Why do the O's keeping running him out? ... I watched the Orioles telecast of the game on Sunday. That Jim Palmer sure is a whiny bitch. He was all over the umpires, highlighted by his near conniption when Rivera fanned Nick Markakis to end the game. Like many announcers across baseball, Palmer seems to put waaaay too much faith in those silly pitch-tracker boxes. "They're embarrassing themselves," Palmer said of the umps, seemingly unaware of the irony that he was a tighty-whities model in the late-80s. ... I'm going to say it. This team will be so better off without Jason Giambi next season. Sure, he's a fun guy, but you take out that hot stretch in June and he's been a shadow of the shadow of his former great self. ... Phil Hughes got bombed in his Triple-A start on Saturday, his second consecutive poor start down there. Suddenly, a Sept. 1 call-up isn't a sure thing. Phil Franchise? Certainly not this year. Meanwhile, I haven't heard if Ian Kennedy getting married again this ALDS? Prospects are suspects.

Well, that's a start ...

I've gotten past the point this season where one win will set my mind in motion on a Yankees return to greatness. Like the girl who was stood up on prom night, I've been hurt before and now I'm just kind of on guard about everything.

But being the eternal optimist I am, yesterday's 9-4 win over the Orioles at Camden Yards was certainly nice to see. They haven't quit yet, something I thought was a real possibility after Thursday's debacle in Toronto. It would have been nice for Moose to get win No. 17 (he probably has six more starts to get to 20), but at this point we can't exactly be picky about how the Yankees win games. Such is life when your favorite team has to play five weeks of .700 ball to make the playoffs.

Six games out of the Wild Card with 34 to go, the odds are against this team. That said, it's still premature to write this team off mathematically, which was the rage on the 'net after Thursday's drubbing. I'll concede the American League East, of course. But are the Yanks really finished in the Wild Card chase?

Oh geez. Here I go again.

What if, per chance, the Yankees were to win eight of the next 10 games while the Red Sox and Twins/White Sox went 5-5 in that same stretch? Is that a completely impossible thought? I don't think so. That would put the Yanks three games back on Sept. 2. Everyone would be going apeshit saying the Yanks were back, including those who went tumbling off the bandwagon in the past month.

Doubters have plenty of ammunition to shoot down that possibility. The Yanks still have no pitching depth, the offense still kind of sucks and with the schedule being as it is (lots of road games, lots of quality opponents), a betting man would probably mark this as an 83-win team and move on.

That's certainly fair. But let's see how the rest of this month plays out before we put the finishing touches on that headstone. You get to play a last-place team the next two days before coming home for six games -- three of which are against those Red Sox whose tail lights are in the distance. Now's the time for that 8-2 run. Tonight I'm counting on Carl Pavano to get the momentum going, and shockingly, I don't even feel that apprehensive about it.

Okay. I'm fucking nuts.

Lost in the Great White North

There's a helpless feeling being a Yankees fan right now, a ping in your gut that didn't usually show up until the late innings of their last three ALDS ousters.

For the first time, you can truly sense that the end is near. This is officially unchartered territory for teams in the Jeter Era. Sputtering without direction, well back in the standings, and no light at the end of the tunnel.

I wrote in this space prior to Thursday's game that the series finale against the Blue Jays would serve as a serious gut check for the Yankees. The matchup (Halladay vs. Ponson) certainly wasn't promising, but the Yanks had looked good on Wednesday and I had a feeling they were ready to put up a good fight.

I couldn't have been more wrong. Ponson threw an absolute stinker and the offense looked intimidated and then apathetic in Halladay's presence. It was 13-0 after four innings. Are you freaking kidding me?

In the first half of the season, I was frustrated by the feeling that I was watching a great team that was underachieving. I don't believe that anymore. This is not a great team. This isn't even a good team. Injuries destroyed the pitching staff. Age consumed the lineup. It makes you wonder if this team has even 85 wins in it. Would you be shocked if they finished under .500?

One more observation on a truly revealing night in Toronto. After Billy Traber -- who's terrible by the way -- surrendered a three-run double to Matt Stairs to extend Toronto's lead to 10 runs in the third, the Yankees came to bat in the top of the fourth and showed absolutely no desire to be on the field. Xavier Nady, Hideki Matsui and Robinson Cano saw a combined five pitches in the frame. Halladay was cruising to another complete game without breaking a sweat. Did that ever happen under Torre?

They quit. And they didn't even try to hide it. The Yankees had a chance to make a statement on Thursday and instead they embarrassed themselves. Six games out of the Wild Card with just 35 games to play. Math says their alive, commonsense may not agree.

Another "must-win" for Yankees

The Yankees got back on their feet yesterday at Rogers Centre, bouncing back from Tuesday's brutal Johnny Damon-led loss with a workmanlike 5-1 win over the Blue Jays.

Fitting that it was the old guard that came through in a big game, as Andy Pettitte tossed seven excellent innings for his 13th win while the resurgent Derek Jeter had three hits including a game-breaking two-run homer. The Captain has 16 hits in his last 28 at-bats, raising his average to .298. He's also having sex with the hot brunette from Friday Night Lights. There may or may not be a correlation there.

With the series knotted at a game a piece, the Yankees face a huge uphill challenge tonight with Yankee Destroyah Roy Halladay squaring up against the man who loves crabs, Mr. Sidney Ponson. Though hardly a promising matchup for the Yanks, Ponson has been a good pickup by Brian Cashman, giving the Yankees a chance to win in almost every start he's made for the team. New York has won six of Ponson's nine starts since the big drinker was signed off the street in June.

You've probably heard the term "must-win" thrown around a lot of late. This was widely considered to be the case in the third game of the Texas series, the finale of the Angels series, all three games of the Royals series as well as yesterday against Toronto. "Must-win" is a flawed term, of course, seeing as its mathematically incorrect. But I will say this ... it is a very important game for a team desperately in need of momentum.

The Yankees have been very consistent this season in losing games they're supposed to lose. It seems whenever they have an unfavorable pitching matchup, the game is basically decided prior to first pitch. This team needs to buck that trend in the worst way tonight. Take it to Halladay. Put up some crooked numbers early. You are still the Yankees, right? It's not impossible to think you can get the better of a star pitcher ... is it?

Actually, I don't even need you to knock around Halladay. This offense has shown me this year that I can no longer ask for things I got as recently as a year ago. Give me four runs in seven innings. Take some freaking pitches. Get the dude out of the game. If Ponson can hold down an inept Toronto offense (not a sure thing at all, but it could happen) then they have a shot. Give me a tie game in eighth inning. Then get the job done. Figure out a way. This isn't a must-win, but it's sure as hell important for a team running out of days in August.

The Yankees must understand that fact and play accordingly. Not sure what kind of heart this team possesses yet? We could have a much better idea by 10:15 tonight.