The Yankees Lose, Torre Might Get Fired, A-Rod Chokes Again!!! Oh Yeah, and the Indians Played Last Night Too

The Death Star (2.0) has exploded, the Empire has fallen. Goliath has fallen face first into the sand of the Valley of Elah with a stone in his forehead. The Spanish Armada has capsized in the stormy waters of the English Channel. Ok, enough with the pretentious historical metaphors. The Indians won last night, in what could possibly be the final death knell of the most current Yankee dynasty.

However, judging from the gigantic headlines across the Internet and newspaper's sports section, the Yankees are seemingly on the verge of imploding for no reason. Every story focuses on the struggles of Alex Rodriguez and the prospect of Torre getting canned. Don't even get me started on the possibility of Tony LaRussa managing the Yanks. He couldn't even handle the press in St. Louis. Anyway, the Yankees had a great season coming back from 14 down to get a spot in the playoffs despite being deeply flawed (more on that later).

I understand that the press prints what will sell and attract attention. Obviously, the Indians beating the Yankees is not at the top of that list. But it's the truth. The Indians proved that they are the better team in this series. They pitched, hit, and managed better than the Yankees. They made the big plays and knew what they had to do. And they deserve a little credit for their performance.

The one sequence that really sticks out happened in the top of the 9th during the Game 2. After Joba gave up the tying run with a wild pitch, which Chip Caray the etymologist explained was due to the bugs, Carmona came out in the same conditions and set the Yankees down. When Abreu stole second with 2 outs and with first base open, the Indians chose to pitch to Rodriguez with the game tied. This was a gutsy call on the Indians' part. And Carmona responded by throwing that filthy sinker for a swinging strikeout. The Indians made a statement right there challenging the Yankees and showing that they weren't scared.

In fact, the Yankees were the ones that seemed to play scared. They were tight at the plate and unsure on the mound. It didn't help that they Indians lineup was incredibly relentless in putting runners in scoring position and scoring with two outs. Their bullpen came out and shut the Yankees down when needed. Honestly, the Yankees were fortunate to come out of that series without being swept. But their offense was bound to explode at some point during the series (explaining game 3).

I know a lot of New York fans really preferred to see the Indians rather than the Angels due to the Yankees poor record against the Halos in the recent past. However, I think that Yankees fans should have counted their blessings that they made the playoffs in the first place.

Their starting pitching has been average at best and they have been injury plagued. Wang, who is their staff ace, would be a number 3 at best on any other contender, and possibly a number 2 on most other AL teams. If you think that is a bold statement, remember the Orioles and Rays (the AL East basement) have Bedard and Kazmir respectively. Their offense can feast on the bad pitching of the AL during the regular season, but, as apparent in this ALDS and last year's, cannot produce in tight situations against good pitching. Their bullpen is nothing without Joba and Mariano. Honestly, Joe Torre did what he could with what he had.

And the Indians proved that money alone cannot build a winner. It takes building from within, a sound team philosophy, and wise investing. So please, give credit where credit is due. The Indians beat the Yankees. Accept this. It makes it much easier.