Goodbye to a classy foe

I’ll address the ALCS in another post, but first I want to say something about the ongoing drama of Joe Torre’s status as Yankee manager. Although there had been persistent rumors earlier this summer that George Steinbrenner was suffering from extreme senile dementia, it appears that rumors of Steinbrenner’s demise were greatly exaggerated. And if that’s the case, it’s a terrible shame. If Steinbrenner is indeed still in charge, and his words to the Bergen Record are true, Steinbrenner is going to make sure that Torre is made to pay the consequences.

Joe Torre will walk the plank because George Steinbrenner is still the same shortsighted, arrogant prick he always was. By now, everyone knows the story. Torre, a former MVP and 9-time all star, took a Yankee team that had only sniffed the playoffs once in 14 years and led them to 12 consecutive playoff appearances, 9 American League championships and 4 World Series titles.

After all those years, amassing the 2nd best record in the history of Yankee skippers, I think 2007 was far and away his best job. This year’s Yankee team was dead and buried after the first two months. Their rotation was in tatters, the bullpen exhausted. The lineup looked old and creaky. And they made it to the post-season anyway. He had a bullpen of worthless nobodies, and a starting rotation held together with stickum and sunflower seeds. The Yankees managed to hold off the Tigers and Mariners and win the wild card. In the first series they went up against the Indians, who were tied for the best record in the league. They ran out of gas against the Indians, but they never would have appeared in Jacobs Field in October if Torre hadn’t gotten them there.

Joe Torre didn’t sign Roger Clemens, Brian Cashman did. Joe Torre didn’t force Jason Giambi to take steroids and ruin his career. Against the Indians, Joe Torre didn’t cause the Yankees to strike out 35 times and force Jeter, Posada, and Matsui to combine for a only 11 hits in the division series. The players lost the series. The Yankees were out-pitched, out-hit and outclassed by a vastly better team. Clemens was old and hurt. Mussina was just plain old. Alex Rodriguez was barely better than worthless.

And very possibly the classiest man to ever wear the uniform will be unceremoniously dumped. As a Red Sox fan I’m thrilled. The Yankees are going to SUCK for the next few years. ARod is gone. Posada, Rivera, Giambi, Clemens, Mussina, all will be history over the winter, many of them jumping ship in part because their leader will have been dumped. This will be great for the Red Sox, but as a baseball fan, I’m nauseated.

Farewell, Mr. Torre. You were always a class act, and you’ll be missed.