2010, postseason, Yankees

ALCS DONE: Why Did the Yankees Lose to the Rangers?

The Texas Rangers easily finished off the New York Yankees in Game 6 of the 2010 ALCS. And so ends the 2010 Yankees season. So why did the Yankees lose?

2010 yankees

Rest in Peace 2010 Yankees

1- Nolan Ryan’s New Rangers. The Stat Heads laughed at Nolan Ryan last year when he demanded that every Texas starting pitcher in the minors and majors throw one more inning than usual. The mainstream MEDIA ate it up, but the experts laughed. Yet Nolan Ryan’s proclamation, coupled with the outstanding pitching coach Mike Maddux has transformed the Texas Rangers pitching from the worst in the league to a team that shut down the Tampa Bay Rays and NY Yankees in the post-season, and were steady all season long. It wasn’t just Cliff Lee, folks.

2- But it helped to have Cliff Lee. Not only as someone who was the best post-season pitcher of 2009 and 2010, but also as someone whose very presence could demoralize a team. Cliff Lee looming for the mythical Game 7 was as equally haunting to the Yankees as Mike Scott was to the Mets in 1986′s NLCS.

3- Yankees starting pitching and the long rest. All year the Yankees organization- led by Joe Girardi- tried their best to not overwork the starters, and not screw up their routines. Phil Hughes was on an innings limit, and CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, and A.J. Burnett were never allowed to eat innings or run up pitch counts all year in preparation for the post-season. So what happens? The Yankees swept the Twins in 3 games, and then waited a long time. Whatever workouts CC, Hughes, and Burnett (who didn’t even pitch in the ALDS) had were ineffective. Phil Hughes was totally over limit and in uncharted territory; none of his pitches had anything on them for both ALCS games, and CC wasn’t the CC of 2009. This is a major snafu for the Yankees organization. Andy Pettitte was the only one who himself.

4- Total bullpen collapse. Mariano Rivera was perfect again, but Dave Robertson and company did not. Heck Dustin Moseley showed more consistency than Joba Chamberlain, Boone Logan, and Kerry Wood in the ALCS.

5- Rangers were clutch. The Rangers hitters were on. Rangers pitching was on. Rangers were not just “hot”, they were like this most of the year except in September, when Josh Hamilton was out.

6- Yankees hitters choked. There were some highlights (Robinson Cano, Lance Berkman, and others) but for the most part the Yanks had nothing in their bats. The sad part is, it’s been like that since the beginning of September. Who’s fault is that? Can anyone truly be blamed for that? Maybe…Bottom line is that when push comes to shove the Yanks’ bats in RISP could have made this series interesting even if the pitchers failed.

7- Ron Washington > Joe Girardi. After Game 1′s devastating loss, the Rangers could have very easily given up. Instead they came back strong and never looked back. The Yankees were totally outclassed in every way after Game 1. Meanwhile, Girardi’s questionable moves finally blew up and killed everyone when he brought in Dave Robertson in the 5th inning of Game 6 instead of Kerry Wood (The Book choice), Mariano Rivera (Stat Head choice), CC Sabathia (Joe SAID he would use him in any situation!) or Dustin Moseley (instinct choice). And, if I give credit to Ron Washington for never giving up and keeping his team focused, I have to rip Girardi for not keeping his team competitive.

Anyway, as my wife Yahoo’ed me tonight- at least the Yanks made it far, and there’s always next year.

Before the season started, I questioned Brian Cashman’s purging of clutch players, and his acquisition of the most unclutch players of Javier Vazquez, Nick Johnson (DL) and Randy Winn (LaME). The bottom line is that although they may not have had superior seasons with other teams in 2010, Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon, and Melky Cabrera were clutch in 2009 and were great for team chemistry. Heck, I missed Phil Coke- he was the only lefty we had besides Mr. DL Damaso Marte. It’s hard to play What If? due to so many factors, but…I’m just sayin’.

R.I.P. 2010 Yankees…you were never as good as ’09′s version, even though Cashman thought he put together a better team. My family and I were not buying then, and we unfortunately were correct. We had faith because we don’t switch sides or quit on the team no matter what.

The truth is the Yankees had the best team on paper, but something happened in September that made them too human. With Phil Hughes hitting his wall at the All-Star Break and A.J. Burnett being one of the worst pitchers in baseball, the Yanks only had two starters. The bullpen had no cheat characters like last year when Marte and Robinson were super under pressure. But perhaps the biggest weakness was lack of the big hits and clutch at-bats that the 2010 Yankees were capable of. Yes, the Rangers pitching was good, but not that good.

Let’s see how Cashman mucks up this offseason. He’s going to HAVE to try and get Cliff Lee now for at least 5 years to keep him out of the hands of other contenders. I have no issues with this due to the money and time he gave A.J. Plus it’s not my money.

Good night.

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  2 comments for “ALCS DONE: Why Did the Yankees Lose to the Rangers?”

  1. EnglishMetsFan
    April 22, 2011 at 10:25 AM

    Ron Washington would start him……every day.

  2. carlinrulez666
    April 7, 2011 at 6:17 AM

    Would somebody please pay attention to me I’m so lonely and so miserable, I spend all my time masturbating to pictures of Nolan Ryan and posting shit all over YouTube because I’m a low life degenerate douchebag who has never been laid and never will be because I’m too fucking ugly and nobody likes pencil-dick Asian bitches……….I need HELP.

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