Image Courtesy of the AP
So the 2006 New York Yankees fielded the “Greatest Lineup Ever”? Does that mean that the 2006 Detroit Tigers featured the “Greatest Pitching Staff Ever”? I don’t think so. While I agree, that top to bottom the Yankees lineup was pretty fierce (notice I said “was”), a lot of the players are past their prime. Giambi, Sheffield, Damon and Matsui are just not as good as they used to be. If the claim was that this lineup featured all of these players in their prime, I could definitely go along with that, but it’s just not true. Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera might be great, but I just don’t know yet.

Image Courtesy of Getty Images

Now, onto the Tigers. They’re a good team with a solid rotation and a deep bench. It seems like their makeup is similar to last year’s Chicago White Sox. They’re a scrappy bunch led by an old school manager. Jim Leyland is as old baseball as you can get. But it seems like he’s also like everyone’s favorite uncle, or grandfather. Proven by the affection that his team showed when they hoisted him up on their shoulders after they conquered the “greatest lineup ever”.

Jeremy Bonderman pitched one hell of a game. He seemed in control from the outset. He was perfect through 5 innings and ended up going eight and third only giving up 5 hits and 2 runs. Jamie Walker came in and gave up a meaningless 2-run home run to Jorge Posada in mop up duty in the 9th.

Notice I haven’t talked about Jeter, or ARod, or the aged Yankees pitching staff. Even though Jeter had a nice series (he hit .500 in the series, and I still think he’s overrated), he couldn’t supply the Yankees with all of the offense necessary to win this series. I think that Steinbrenner’s philosophy of throwing money at aging superstars will continue to be proven ineffective. This team looks great on paper, and in the history books, but the truth of the matter is that they aren’t a good team. They are obviously great individual players, but as a team they’re just not there. Johnny Damon should know this better than all of his current pin-striped teammates. He was a part of a great team in Boston when they won the World Series in 2004.

Recent events such as the Ryder Cup, FIBA World Championship, and Italy’s World Cup victory show us that a teams win championships, and individuals win awards. So you can keep your ARods, and Jeters, I’ll take the young, hungry team. I can’t wait to see where the Tigers go in the playoffs. As the team of my childhood, I’m definitely rooting for them. I hope the Yankees enjoy the offseason, and New York fans, you’ve still got the Mets.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 7th, 2006 at 6:58 pm and is filed under Baseball, MLB. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.