Hindsight and Foresight: Yankee Review September 17 to September 30th

With this blog the one post I've always made time for is this one and this happens to be the last one this year. I've used the "Hindsight and Foresight" posts as a method for me to keep up with the team, take a close look at what's been happening, and to comment on it. While I consider myself a dedicated Yankee fan, I don't catch all the games, read all the articles, and so forth, but throughout this season this was my refuge to say what I needed to say about the team.

Yes, it now looks like the Yankees are set to make the playoffs--and that's the first time I'm saying it because it looks like they're in this one. Throughout the season I was a skeptic--I have some proof below of what I said. Now I'll probably be a skeptic in the playoffs. There's no one way to describe the season other than it was one that started ugly and looked a hell of a lot better towards the end. I don't know what this will mean for the playoffs, it's still in the air who will play who in the AL, but assuming the Yankees have a solid last week of the regular season, they will get some good looks as contenders to go to the World Series.

Hindsight: Birth of Post to Today

I looked back at some things I wrote in previous "Hindsight and Foresights" and even going into the beginning of this month I offered lots of skepticism with a dash of hope at times.

In one of the first of these posts I said, "Last year, I predicted (wrongly), that the Yankees would not make the playoffs. I seem to be a year off with that prediction. " (5/28)

Shortly after I stated, "I was trying to think of what the positives for the Yankees are this season and honestly I can't think of any." (6/4)

When the Yankees started winning a lot right after the All-Star break I menioned, "But I've seen how this Yankee season has gone so if trends continue, this current streak is just another blip on the radar." (7/24)

And the beginning of this month I continued, "It's hard to say if the Yankees will make the playoffs after last week's performance. The great part was the sweep of the Red Sox at home. The worst part was watching them get beat out by the Devil Rays immediately afterwards." (9/3)

But I offered hope and advice during the year as well:

In May I made a very general comment, "The only advice I can give the Yankees today is to play better, with more intensity and work together as a team."

I continually said they need to beat the teams they need to beat, "But looking at it, the Yankees schedule could favor them if, as I keep saying over and over again, they beat the teams they can and need to beat." (7/12)

You can't pin the Yankees huge comeback on one factor or even two. I'll pin it to seven factors:

1. A-Rod's amazing season
2. Underperformers (esp Cano, Matsui, Abreau) finding faith in hitting
3. Solid pitching by Wang and Pettitte down the stretch
4. The Youngsters: Chamberlain, Cabrera, Hughes, Cano, Kennedy
5. Sticking with Cashman's Rebuilding plan
6. Overcoming distractions (Giambi steroid talk, injuries, A-Rod's contract)
7. Steinbrenner not panicing

When 2007 is over and done with, I'll discuss and give my big picture assessment. That won't be until November or so. But with that, for the final time in 2007 the weekly stats:

Weekly Stats

W-L: 5-1
RS/RA: 45/27
Offensive number (BA/OBP/SLG): .311/.407/.425
Pitching Line (ERA/Whip/K per 9/BAA/SLG): 3.92/1.32/7.39/.266/.371
Who's Hot: Mike Mussina, 1.93 ERA, 14 IP, 11 Ks, 2-0 just in time!
Who's Not: Jason Giambi, .100/.400/.100 and his foot's bothering him again.
My Yankee of the Week: The entire team, they've pulled it together and made me look like some crack pipe blog writer. Great season boys.

Foresight: September 24th to September 30th

This is it. The Yanks wrap up Toronto, head to Tampa Bay and then to Baltimore. And I get to take a vacation to California for 10 days. I will try to write some more--like the Cy Young Speculation post before I leave, but after Thursday you won't hear from me much until I get back. Thanks for reading these posts, your comments, and keep reading. I'll bring back Hindsight and Foresight next year.