Write On Sports LLC - "No-Torre-ous Yankees" by Neeks Araco

No-Torre-ous Yankees

2007-10-12 18:25:38 | By: Neeks Araco

What would the Yanks be like without Torre? They'd be a lot different. Mariano Rivera is weighing his decision of whether to return on whether or not Torre does. Joe Torre's been the Yanks' skipper for 12 years now. He's won 4 championships as a Yankee. 4 current players won those 4 rings with Torre, including the 2 free agents: Posada and Rivera. Posada may also wait and see what happens to Joe before deciding where to reside in 2008.

Let's remember something. Steinbrenner did the exact same thing last season around this time. All of the players started sticking up for Torre and then Steinbrenner realized that it may not be Torre's fault. Every year, Torre does a good job of getting the Yankees to the Post Season. These last 3 or 4 years, people keeping saying at the end of every season, "Oh, this year's been Torre's best job managing. He's gone through so many injuries and still managed to get above 90 wins." But each season, more injuries seem to plague the Yankees. And Joe and the Yanks continue to make the playoffs, and lose in the first or 2nd round.

How about instead of blaming it on Torre, you look at how good he did for what he had to work with. They spent millions upon millions of dollars to pick up a 45 year old pitcher who averages about 5 innings-pitched per game. His ERA was not where he liked it, he struggled with his hamstring all season long, and finished with a 6-6 record. The lefty bats struggled for the entire first half of the season, and sent the Yankees to a start of 21-29. Then they got things under control. They handed Torre a guy named Carl Pavano and expected him to finally start, but the usual happened and he was again... injured.

The Yankees rallied back from 14 1/2 games back in the AL East to come within 2 games of Boston and win the AL Wild Card. Steinbrenner's sending out a threat to Torre because they lost the ALDS, 3-1. Unfortunately, the Yankees could only win 1 game out of the 4. That was a bad time to go into a slump. It was just unfortunate. Unfortunate is the word.

It's not Torre's fault. Everybody was a little at fault. Just as they say, everyone was part of the reason why you win a game. Players did not perform too well. The middle of the Yankees order produced barely any runs the entire series. The Yanks suddenly could not hit when a player got on base. The bullpen and starters played horrific, besides Andy Pettite in Game 2. Still lost that game because of the bugs, in extra- innings. Chien-Ming was expected to pitch well. He lost 2 games in 1 series. Why fire Torre because Wang didn't perform? Why fire Torre because Joba and Vizcaino couldn't pitch through the gnats crawling all over their faces in Cleveland? It's the circumstances they were under in this series, and the situation.

8 teams make the post-season every year. The Yankees have been one of those 8 teams, every year. Jeter and Posada called him the best coach there is. I can't disagree. Joe Torre is the best coach. Tell me another coach, in the league, now, who's gotten their team to the playoffs for 10 straight years? How about 5 straight? Nobody. Joe Torre has.

The Yankees without Torre, wouldn't do bad with the great offense they have. The Yankees without Torre, may be the Yankees without Posada or the Yankees without Rivera. The Yankees without Torre would still be a good team. But, if Steinbrenner wants another ring, his best bet is Joe Torre.

Comments

Ashley C. commented,
Hey dude, this is a good article! Have you ever thought about becoming a sports reporter? Cause you have a great writing style in this particular topic. Go Yankees!
October 28, 2007 2:21 p.m.

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