Jeter broke his ankle and would be out for the remainder of the 2012 postseason... but it didn't matter. The games from that point on were a mere formality. As sure as I was we were going to win the World Series when Ibanez homered, I was equally sure we'd get swept four games to none when Jeter was carried off.Unfortunately I was right.
In my 35 years on this planet, the Yanks have won the World Series a whopping seven times - which means they've been eliminated, one way or another, 28 times. Of those 28 times, the 2004 loss to the Boston Red Sox obviously stands-out as the most famous (since it resulted in a trivia question: "What is the only team in MLB history to lose a 7-game series after starting 3-0?"); but I'm ready to argue that from a fan's standpoint, the Yankees' loss in this 2012 series was worse. Here are five reasons why:
1. The 2012 Yankees were a much better team than the 2004 Yankees. Think about it: Mark Texeira vs. John Olerud? Robinson Cano vs. Miguel Cairo? CC Sabathia vs. Jon Lieber? David Robertson vs. Esteban f'n Loaiza? Yes, that team had Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada - but on the whole, the 2012 team was and is significantly better than the 2004 team.
2. The 2004 Red Sox were significantly better than the 2012 Tigers. Again with the match-ups: David Ortiz vs. Delmon Young, Manny Ramirez vs. Andy Dirks, Orlando Cabrera vs. Jhonny Peralta... and while I admit Justin Verlander is comparable to Pedro Martinez, the rest of the 2012 Tigers' pitching doesn't hold a candle to Curt Schilling, Derek Lowe or Keith Foulke.
3. The 2012 Yankees wasted the one thing the 2004 Yankees never had: good postseason pitching. Every manager knows that regardless of how you got into the postseason, the key to winning the postseason is pitching - pure and simple. All season long this Yankee team has had question marks around its rotation and its bullpen. We trade for Michael Pineda and he goes out for the season. We have the best closer in baseball history in Mariano Rivera and he goes down for the season. "Big Game" Andy Pettitte spends most of the second half of the season pitching simulated games... and even our ace Sabathia has two stints on the DL. Our hitting carried us into the playoffs, but everyone wondered what would happen on the mound... and our guys responded with one of the most impressive postseason pitching performances I've ever seen (for a group of guys with so much uncertainty). The Yanks lost the 2004 ALCS because Kevin Brown sucked. So did Lieber, Mussina, Javy Vazquez and (God help us) Tom Gordon. It was awful pitching and they deserved to lose. But this year, CC, Kuroda, Pettitte, Hughes, Soriano, Robertson and the others pitched their hearts out... and lost.
4. The 2012 Yankees' offensive had what can only be described as a monumental collapse.There are actually few words I can use to explain what happened to the Yankee bats. Its as if the wood was magically cursed by some evil sprite to gradually stop working after the 162nd game of the season. (Seriously: that's about as plausible as any other explanation out there.) I really have never seen anything like it. In 2004, the Yanks averages 12 hits a game in the ALCS. In 2012? 5.5! Five and a half hits per game from a team that's known for its offensive prowess. It was as if everyone (with the exception of Ichiro) simply shut down. A-Rod (1 for 9) gets the most negative press, but what about the others: Cano (1 for 18), Martin (2 for 14), Texeira (3 for 15) and the granddaddy of them all Curtis Granderson (a whopping 0 for 11 with 7 strikeouts). How many times were Yankee fans looking at a runner on third base with less than two outs saying "a fly ball... just hit a fly ball" - only to have the next two batters either pop-up to the catcher or dribble one right into the first baseman's glove? It was sad... and pathetic.
5. The 2012 Yankees lost their leader... and with him, their heart. I could certainly make the argument that had Cano and Texeira done their job in the bottom of the 11th inning, Jeter never would have had to go out in the field to play the top of the 12th. But he did, he got hurt and it was over. From where we were sitting in Section 233, it was obvious something was wrong the minute he hit the ground; what we weren't prepared for, though, was the worst. If the Stadium felt like a rock concert when Ibanez homered, it felt like a funeral parlor after Jeter was helped off the field. In an instant the aura had changed - from the grandstand to the men's room, it was obvious that the game, the series and the season were over. It wasn't that us fans gave up... it was simply that our hearts were broken.
The counter-argument to all of this, of course, is that losing to the Detroit Tigers can never possibly be as bad as losing to the Boston Red Sox. Such reasoning, however, is falsely predicated on the notion that Yankee Universe hates Red Sox Nation with the same passion for which Red Sox Nation hates Yankee Universe. The whole "Curse of the Bambino" thing was always a bigger deal for Boston than it was for New York; and while losing that 2004 ALCS was by no means the highlight of my career in Yankee (fan) pinstripes, it was a lot easier to swallow than this year's debacle.
Dump A-Rod, dump Granderson, dump Swisher. Pitchers and catchers report in 119 days... I can't wait!
