Jeter is a loser ...

... four years in a row.

(Speaking of Jeter, he shouldn't be calling out his current teammates when he only hit .200 for the series. When the Captain gets credit for wins, he should share the blame for the losses. But he's got the winner rep, so that's impossible.)

Anyway, on to the article at hand ...

"Paul O'Neill's Yankees wouldn't have ever blown a three-game lead in a best-of-7 series to anybody, much less the Boston Red Sox. Neither would Tino Martinez's Yankees. "


For one thing, Scott Miller wasn't running his trap after this "configuration of the Yankees" came back to beat the Twins. Also, I'll bet he was nowhere to be found when this "confguration of the Yankees" won the AL East and took a 3-0 lead on the Red Sox in the ALCS.

Secondly, I saw nothing ... not one thing ... zilch ... on the field or off the field ... that made me question this team's character. Kevin Brown punched a wall in the clubhouse, but that was just "competitive intensity" if it's Paul O'Neill attacking a water cooler.

Thirdly, one has to ask, if Scott Miller truly believes so much in the importance of Character, why couldn't Tino Martinez's Cardinals even make the playoffs? Now, as soon as they get rid of Tino Martinez, the Cardinals find themselves one win away from the World Series.

Why obscure the issue? Why are we missing the point of baseball? Why are we talking so much about character, chemistry, magic, mystique, curses, and ghosts?

It's so obvious why the Yankees lost. Pitiful back of the rotation, inability to hit Boston's bullpen, and poor RISP down the stretch.


It broke my heart, but Johnny Damon hitting the BP fastball by Gopher Ball Javy is a strangely beautiful thing. It's Truth and Justice. The ghost of Babe Ruth can't help you if you stink. It's not a matter of Character (though Javy is no doubt a sissy), it's always a matter of Execution.

A man like Javy Vazquez can't choke because he doesn't have enough skill. He can't pitch in pressure situations, he can't pitch in non-pressure situations. He can't pitch in big games, he can't pitch in small games. He can't pitch against good teams, he can't pitch against bad teams.

It's a freakin' Dr. Seuss of Gopher Balls. "He gives up hrs to White Sox, Red Sox, Live Sox, Dead Sox. He gives up hrs to Righties, Lefties, Smallies, Hefties."


The 2004 Yankees never quit, they never took anything for granted, they just got beat fair and square.

You win as a team and you lose as a team. If winning the WS is the binary measure of success, and if Jeter and his True Torre Yankees (Posada, Bernie, etc.) were "winners" when they got 4 in 5 years, then they're "losers" when they lose four in a row.

You know what else? So were O'Neill and Tino in 1997 and 2001, and the majority of their careers.

Winning the World Series is tough. Beating the 2004 Red Sox is tough, just like beating the 2001 Diamondbacks was tough. It's not solely a matter of will.

Nobody ever stops trying or spontaneously loses their character, they just sometimes get beat fair and square.