MLB - Sports Rumors

Wed Sep 24, 2008 8:35 am EDT

It's over: Yanks playoff run ends at 13

By Joe Zedalis

Joe Girardi

Getty Images

To the end, Derek Jeter wouldn't give in. Even the other night, before what even he had to know was the last game at this Yankee Stadium, Jeter would only give valedictories about the place and about the New York Yankees, not the season, wrote New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica.

"We haven't been eliminated from anything yet," Jeter said, in the first season of his life that does not make it out of the month of September.

Tuesday night Jeter and the Yankees were eliminated from the postseason for the first time in a full season of baseball since 1993. They would have made the playoffs in '94 under Buck Showalter, and probably would have won the World Series that year. Then they won that wild card in 1995, put themselves back in October for the first time in 14 years, put Don Mattingly into baseball's October for the first and only time in his Yankee career.

Then along came Joe Torre, the one who must not be mentioned at Yankee Stadium, for the last Yankee dynasty, four World Series in five years and nearly five in six years until the bottom of the ninth in Game 7 in Phoenix, on a November Sunday night in 2001. And even when the Yankees couldn't get out of the first round for Torre, against the Angels and Tigers and Indians the last three years, the Yankees, the constant $200 million Yankees, with an economic advantage over the rest of the field that no team in sports has, were at least making the tournament, in what was an extraordinary run of regular-season excellence.

Until Tuesday night.

Until Jonathan Papelbon was closing out the Indians at Fenway Park, gassing Jhonny Peralta with fastballs and then coming after Victor Martinez and getting him to pop to short, make the out that put the Red Sox, defending champions of the sport, into the playoffs and eliminated the Yankees. It had to happen eventually and now it has, because this Yankee team, even wounded, did not measure up in so many ways.

"Obviously," Joe Girardi said on television, "this is not the way we wanted the season to end up."

Source: New York Daily NewsNew Window

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109 Comments

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  1. Shaun
    1. Posted by Shaun Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:17 pm EDT

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    hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    big f-ing deal!!!!
  2. captingary1
    2. Posted by captingary1 Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:17 pm EDT

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    The baseball season will end for me too on 9-30-08.
    Diehard Yankee Fan in Florida
  3. The Wolffman
    3. Posted by The Wolffman Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:49 pm EDT

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    Fire Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Arod, Jeter, Joba for Hardy and Parra......
  4. Fatso
    4. Posted by Fatso Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:38 pm EDT

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    This is GREAT news for the demolition crew!
    They can start tearing down Yankee Stadium NOW!
  5. yogaflame
    5. Posted by yogaflame Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:23 pm EDT

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    this article is instantly added to my favorites...burn in hell evil empire
  6. Benny
    6. Posted by Benny Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:57 pm EDT

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    13 in a row is a great run. It will probably never be done again.
  7. Baseball Fan
    7. Posted by Baseball Fan Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:47 pm EDT

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    Yankees better get used to sitting home in October if they continue to think they can buy post season activity. AL East will only get tougher. With the young talent on the big club and the talent in he minors, the Rays will be a thorn in everyone's side for a long time. Boston will be Boston. Toronto is only gonna get better if they keep those pitching stars.
    And that's only in the East. Look for White Sox and Minnesota to stay competitive and for Detroit and Cleveland to bounce back. The West has a long way to go, so Angels to win division for a long time.
    That means 8 teams will be competing for three playoff spots.
    So unless the Yankees follow the model set up by the Rays to develop young talent instead of trying to buy post season play, $300 million might not be enough.
  8. James G
    8. Posted by James G Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:26 pm EDT

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    The Evil Empire has finally crumbled. There is a God!
  9. Moe D
    9. Posted by Moe D Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:19 pm EDT

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    Relax folx chill!!!! guys relax the evil empire will rise again in it will all start in 2009 in the new stadium. new faces and young talent are coming up. in pitching and on the field and in the batters box!!! yankee fans are the best they are fans even when we are not in!!
    soxy's wait and see ur big popi is getting older lol.
  10. Cory Mohammed Lidle
    10. Posted by Cory Mohammed Lidle Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:02 pm EDT

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    I actually don't mind the Yankees. I just hate their whiny, spoiled fans. Also, Cory Lidle's family still needs to make a public apology for his actions and all the terror he inflicted upon the city of New York a couple years ago. They way I see it, he's no different than Osama.
  11. live 4 surf
    11. Posted by live 4 surf Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:56 pm EDT

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    real deal angels have a nice run going,and it will take a few more years for the al west teams to catch up. they might make 13.
  12. yogaflame
    12. Posted by yogaflame Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:23 pm EDT

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    according to the espn poll...73 percent of voters were happy that the yanks aren't making the playoffs...and over 37000 people voted...the only state that voted it wasn't happy with the yanks missing the playoffs was new york...by a 51-49 percent majority
  13. Benny
    13. Posted by Benny Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:57 pm EDT

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    Baseball Fan.
    I am hardly the one to be defending the Yankees but cmon. One outstanding season by the Rays and one sub-par year by the Yankees doesn't signal a sea change in the AL East. It is difficult to get to the top and even tougher to stay there when other teams are gunning for you. Kudos to the Rays for this season, but it is pure speculation to think they will continue to play at that level for many years.
  14. EMcClung
    14. Posted by EMcClung Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:37 pm EDT

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    The Yankees have been put together very poorly. Go buy some more overrated free agents in the offseason.
  15. Adam
    15. Posted by Adam Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:45 pm EDT

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    And concerning Toronto this year, I think it can honestly be said that there really wasn't a team in baseball that was more decimated by injuries than the Jays...with even so much as slightly better luck on that front, there's no telling how far they could have gone right now.
  16. Michael
    16. Posted by Michael Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:43 pm EDT

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    Listen to those Redsucks fans - their reaction can only be explained by decades if inferiority complex
  17. davfied
    17. Posted by davfied Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:37 pm EDT

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    Yoga,
    That 73% are the fans whose teams didn't get to the playoffs in those 13 years.
    Real you are right with # 14.
    Hey Surf,
    I don't think any other team will ever make it that long again.
  18. Adam
    18. Posted by Adam Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:45 pm EDT

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    Michael, just hit 'em with yer rings, and that'll keep 'em honest and stuff.
  19. live 4 surf
    19. Posted by live 4 surf Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:56 pm EDT

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    yankees revenue sharing check to the small revenue teams will be lower this year. rays will get less money. no tv market of 19 million people in the new york metro area unless the mets get in. baseball will be hurt in the pocket book.
  20. Mitzelplick
    20. Posted by Mitzelplick Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:01 pm EDT

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    davfied, wrong again... the braves had a 14-year run.
    do you research anything or just talk out of your a$$? my guess is the latter.
  21. jeffutlaw
    21. Posted by jeffutlaw Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:32 pm EDT

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    Not exactly true Michael, there are plenty of reasons to rejoice in the Yankees missing the playoffs.
    However, your post says a whole lot about your attitude towards them.
  22. Yanks/Giants
    22. Posted by Yanks/Giants Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:48 pm EDT

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    For the haters -realize as bad as they were -without the Wang injury they probably still make the playoffs. As a die hard life long Yanks fan I was more dissapointed at the lack of energy and hard nosed play. They didn't play good baseball and there was no was they could win in Oct with those pitchers (starters).
    On the flip side hats off to the Angels and Rays who played great all season-they deserved it. The Sox will probably get swept first round . Hopefully Angels -Rays will be good series.
  23. dotdoctor2002
    23. Posted by dotdoctor2002 Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:47 pm EDT

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    fire giardi and hire willie
  24. scott
    24. Posted by scott Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:32 pm EDT

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    Surf, I hope your right on the Angels. They are going to have to address the outfield. Mattews doesn't produce, Vlad is slowing down and GA is getting old.
  25. Mitzelplick
    25. Posted by Mitzelplick Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:01 pm EDT

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    Sh1tforbrains-fied,
    You phrased your post in a manner that led people to believe that what the Yankees did had never been done before - when in fact it had been bettered by the Braves. You never acknowleged the Braves greatness in any of your posts, so I was reminding you and your simple mind of that fact. I guess the Yanks just weren't good enough...
    Was that last sentence a question or a statement? Do you know the difference between a period and a question mark?
    Idiot.

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