The door has closed on the 2007 regular season, as a new door awaits to be opened...the 2007 MLB Playoffs. Not a lot of people thought that the Yankees would make it, but if you talked to anyone on the Yanks and anyone around them, they'd tell you to just "take it one day at a time." Sure enough, here we are..October baseball is set to be played once again, and the Yankees are the favorite to take it all.
The 2007 Yankees saw it all get ugly before it got better. Lowlights of the season:
-Yanks used 10 different starting pitchers used in the first 30 games.
-2 starts from Carl Pavano.
-Kei Igawa waste his 46 million in the minors.
-Swept by the Colorado Rockies (who saw them as a threat earlier in the year?)
-Injuries to Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon, Chein Ming Wang, and Bobby Abreu within the first 2 months lead to inconsistent play, which in turn reflected in the Yankees play and their position in the standings.
-Mariano Rivera had only 11 saves at the All-Star break.
-Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte called out fellow teammates by saying certain players weren't trying.
-George Steinbrenner put GM Brian Cashman on a big hook in June.
-The YES Network was even reportly up for sale.
-Jason Giambi had to meet with Comissioner Bud Selig and Congress steroid investigator George Mitchell on "stuff" he did.
-Alex Rodriguez allegedly cheating on his wife in Toronto and getting front page exposure for it and back page fame for yelling "HA!" while running from 2nd to 3rd.
-On May 29th, stood 21-29 and 14.5 games out of first.
These were just some of the things the Yankee had to endure this season...but ultimately things turned around, and not EVERYTHING was bad. Here's some higlights:
-A-Rod hits a game winning walk-off grand slam against the Orioles in the bottom of the 9th to win a game and 11 days later hits another game winning walk-off homerun against the Indians. He hit a go ahead homerun back in June against the Red Sox' Jonathan Papelbon to give the Yanks another victory. In August he hit his 500th career homerun.
-In May Cashman made a call to Texas to try and talk Roger Clemens out of retirement...well it worked. A pro-rated 28 million dollar contract got Roger up and ready to go. He was suppose to be the savior but we all know now who the real savior of the team was.
-The Yankees went on a 9-game winning streak, their longest since May of 2005.
-Joba Chamberlain and his "Joba Rules" made it clear who Yankee fans took to being the savior of the 2007 season. That may be a bit of an overstatement of hey, he helped alot. He was, and continues to be dominant in his role out of the bullpen.
-A September series against the Red Sox at Fenway made for things in the AL East to get a little more interesting. The Yanks took 2 of 3..one game coming back from a 7-2 deficit in the 8th inning against Boston's best relivers and another win came from the bat of Captain Clutch himself Derek Jeter, hit a go ahead 3-run homerun against Curt Schilling to propel the Yanks to a series win.
-Contributions from youngsters Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera, Robinson Cano, Chamberlain, Shelley Duncan, Edwar Ramirez and Ian Kennedy brought new life to the team and infected it with energy and hunger.
-Posada had the best season of his career. posting an average of .338 with 20 homeruns and 90 RBI's.
-The bench was resolified during the second half leading to a stronger overall roster that manager Joe Torre could rely on.
-Pettitte recorded his 200th career win.
-Played at a winning percentage above .600 for the second half, which lead to their surge into the playoffs.
The surge in the second half went almost according to the formula I laid out during the All-Star break in my post "The Bronx is Burning... 2007?"
The Yanks came as close as 1.5 games behind the Red Sox, but didn't quite get over the hump. They ended up with winning the Wild Card, nothing to be ashamed of, especially after the first three months of the season. Cashman and the Yankees organization did something that is very difficult to do..they dveloped their future, and remoded their bench all while still competing for a playoff spot. No team was hotter in the second half than the Bronx Bombers. This was Torre's toughest season at the helm and if the team keeps playing the way they did in the second half, then he and Yankee fans everywhere will be rewarded with a 27th championship.
"Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen." - Michael Jordan
The time is now. October baseball is upon us and it's time to end the championship drought. All the pieces seem to be in place. Only one thing missing...the championship trophy. Without that, this season and this article means nothing! Bring one home for New York and bring one back for the Scooter! "Holy Cow! The Yankees are World Series champs." New York awaits the final verdict on 2007.
The 2007 Yankees saw it all get ugly before it got better. Lowlights of the season:-Yanks used 10 different starting pitchers used in the first 30 games.
-2 starts from Carl Pavano.
-Kei Igawa waste his 46 million in the minors.
-Swept by the Colorado Rockies (who saw them as a threat earlier in the year?)
-Injuries to Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon, Chein Ming Wang, and Bobby Abreu within the first 2 months lead to inconsistent play, which in turn reflected in the Yankees play and their position in the standings.
-Mariano Rivera had only 11 saves at the All-Star break.
-Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte called out fellow teammates by saying certain players weren't trying.
-George Steinbrenner put GM Brian Cashman on a big hook in June.
-The YES Network was even reportly up for sale.
-Jason Giambi had to meet with Comissioner Bud Selig and Congress steroid investigator George Mitchell on "stuff" he did.
-Alex Rodriguez allegedly cheating on his wife in Toronto and getting front page exposure for it and back page fame for yelling "HA!" while running from 2nd to 3rd.
-On May 29th, stood 21-29 and 14.5 games out of first.
These were just some of the things the Yankee had to endure this season...but ultimately things turned around, and not EVERYTHING was bad. Here's some higlights:-A-Rod hits a game winning walk-off grand slam against the Orioles in the bottom of the 9th to win a game and 11 days later hits another game winning walk-off homerun against the Indians. He hit a go ahead homerun back in June against the Red Sox' Jonathan Papelbon to give the Yanks another victory. In August he hit his 500th career homerun.
-In May Cashman made a call to Texas to try and talk Roger Clemens out of retirement...well it worked. A pro-rated 28 million dollar contract got Roger up and ready to go. He was suppose to be the savior but we all know now who the real savior of the team was.
-The Yankees went on a 9-game winning streak, their longest since May of 2005.
-Joba Chamberlain and his "Joba Rules" made it clear who Yankee fans took to being the savior of the 2007 season. That may be a bit of an overstatement of hey, he helped alot. He was, and continues to be dominant in his role out of the bullpen.
-A September series against the Red Sox at Fenway made for things in the AL East to get a little more interesting. The Yanks took 2 of 3..one game coming back from a 7-2 deficit in the 8th inning against Boston's best relivers and another win came from the bat of Captain Clutch himself Derek Jeter, hit a go ahead 3-run homerun against Curt Schilling to propel the Yanks to a series win.
-Contributions from youngsters Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera, Robinson Cano, Chamberlain, Shelley Duncan, Edwar Ramirez and Ian Kennedy brought new life to the team and infected it with energy and hunger.-Posada had the best season of his career. posting an average of .338 with 20 homeruns and 90 RBI's.
-The bench was resolified during the second half leading to a stronger overall roster that manager Joe Torre could rely on.
-Pettitte recorded his 200th career win.
-Played at a winning percentage above .600 for the second half, which lead to their surge into the playoffs.
The surge in the second half went almost according to the formula I laid out during the All-Star break in my post "The Bronx is Burning... 2007?"
The Yanks came as close as 1.5 games behind the Red Sox, but didn't quite get over the hump. They ended up with winning the Wild Card, nothing to be ashamed of, especially after the first three months of the season. Cashman and the Yankees organization did something that is very difficult to do..they dveloped their future, and remoded their bench all while still competing for a playoff spot. No team was hotter in the second half than the Bronx Bombers. This was Torre's toughest season at the helm and if the team keeps playing the way they did in the second half, then he and Yankee fans everywhere will be rewarded with a 27th championship."Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen." - Michael Jordan
The time is now. October baseball is upon us and it's time to end the championship drought. All the pieces seem to be in place. Only one thing missing...the championship trophy. Without that, this season and this article means nothing! Bring one home for New York and bring one back for the Scooter! "Holy Cow! The Yankees are World Series champs." New York awaits the final verdict on 2007.
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