PaulKatcher.com

A Great Day to Be a (Real) Yankees Fan

One of my most vivid memories of the 2007 Yankees season came when leaving the Stadium after only the second game. Walking to the subway, dejected after a close loss in which Alex Rodriguez made a late-inning out in a clutch spot, I heard a female voice chanting, "Fuck you, A-Rod! Fuck you, A-Rod!" She was joined by a fellow Skankee, forming a vile mixture of pink and rhinestone that debunks any idea of the New York metro area being an altogether ahead-of-the-curve set.

A game earlier, in the opener, A-Rod helped cement a victory with an eighth-inning home run. Through two games, A-Rod was hitting .300 with 1 HR, 3 RBIs and 1 SB. At the time, he was on pace for an even better season than the incredible one he will finish up with this week. Yet, two trashy whores were crucifying him in an ignorant pile-on.

They weren't Yankees fans. Couldn't have been. A few days earlier, I had written a post titled, "Real Yankees Fans Will Cheer This Man in 2007," outlining how no person with any sense of logic and a genuine interest in Yankees success would boo the most talented and productive Yankee since Mickey Mantle.

To me, this season was for the real Yankees fans. Those short-sighted Skankees aren't invited to this postseason party, and if they celebrated our playoff berth last night they should be ashamed.

I make these charges even though I thought the Yankees were cooked this year. Even after righting the ship a bit, the Tigers and Mariners surged, and I thought, "We're done." That doesn't mean I handed in my loyalty card. It means I understand math and probability.

What the Yankees did — drive to the postseason despite 50 starts from rookie pitchers — some of whom you may not remember (Chase Wright) and at least one you want to forget (Kei Igawa) — with a modest-at-best 6-6 record from hired gun Roger Clemens, was improbable and, at least to me, borderline impossible.

Michael Kay had a great line at the end of Wednesday's playoff-clinching victory. Let's not pretend this is the Little Engine That Could, he said. That is true. But what this team did was validate that it really is fun being a Yankees fan. Remember when the haters couldn't grasp that concept, when he were advancing to six World Series in eight years from 1996-2001?

It's fun. The real fans know it. Watching the 2007 club celebrate was fun. The new generation that we hope to see for a decade to come, mixed with old faces who, to my chagrin, are looking their (and my) age. And lest we forget the annual Joe Torre Blubber-Fest. Whoever gets tired of that?

The first time we were a wild-card team: 1995. A most electric time to be a Yankees fan. Here's hoping this postseason is filled with an equal amount of passion, with a more extended run, till we once again walk the Canyon of Heroes.

2007 Yankees: The Most Ass-Kicking Team Ever (I Think)

(Update: Steve at WasWatching.com followed up with an accurate list of teams with the most wins by 5+ runs in a season. The 2007 Yankees trail only the 1936 Yankees, who posted 47 blowout wins. Yankees dominate the list, as you can imagine.)

A few months ago, I wrote about an odd trend concerning the 2007 Yankees. While they were atrocious in one-run games and sported a mediocre overall record, they were winning an inordinate number of games by 5+ runs.

I am pleased to report that, thanks to Tuesday's 12-0 victory over the Orioles, the 2007 Yankees have now won more games by 5+ runs in a single season than any team in baseball history.

Perhaps.

This is based on unscientific research of mine, just combing through baseball-reference.com pages of all-time great teams that come to mind. Here is the chart I posted in June, updated to reflect the Yankees' current standing.

TEAM 			BLOWOUT WINS	OVERALL RECORD
2007 Yankees		44		 93-69 (proj.)
1927 Yankees *		43		110-44
1998 Yankees		42		114-48
1939 Yankees *		41		106-45
1975 Reds		35		108-64
2001 Mariners		34		116-46
1942 Cardinals *	34		106-48
1906 Cubs *		33		116-36
1931 A's *		31		107-45
1984 Tigers		30		104-58
1986 Mets		27		108-64
1961 Yankees		26		109-53
1970 Orioles		25		108-54

(Teams marked with an * played a 154-game schedule, so assume they would have won a blowout or two more over 162 games.)

Surely there are other 90-something teams that deserve mention on this list, and I just didn't bother to look them up. In fact, the 2007 Red Sux — slowly becoming one of my favorite teams of all-time — have posted 34 wins by 5+ runs this season.

Perhaps a Bombers fan out there has access to a more formal database to ensure our historical ass-kickingness.

If You're a Collector of Fine Foot Sweat...

... have we got an item for you.

Time is running out to bid on a truly unique piece of basketball history: Michael's Jordan foot cast from the 1985-86 season, his second in the league.

Despite being on the block since Aug. 24, the cast hasn't attracted the minimum bid of $5,000. Must have something to do with the fact that casts smell like Dom DeLuise's taint after only a couple of weeks, and this thing's been germinating for 22 years.

But we're talking Michael Jordan here. The man was a legend. He threw a ball through a hoop, sold us overpriced sneakers and taught our children the merits of fast food. Who wouldn't want a piece of that legacy?

Why Alex Rodriguez Will Stay a Yankee (For Sure)

With Alex Rodriguez on the cusp of winning his second AL MVP in four New York seasons, Yankees fans are sick over the thought of losing the greatest player to ever bat eighth in a playoff game.

Relax, people, he's coming back next year.

But not under his current contract, which he will assuredly opt out of to become a free agent, if only to increase his bargaining leverage with New York. The Yankees will lose the financial assistance they get from the Rangers, but they're better at signing high-priced free agents than, say, Nick Hogan is at driving cars.

That Rodriguez-in-pinstripes is a lock for 2008 boils down to three simple points:

1. A-Rod's legacy is up for grabs. No team owns it yet, and the Yankees are one signature away from doing it.

2. The Yankees want to own that legacy as he challenges all-time records over the next decade. The Giants paid a hefty salary to keep an aging and DH-perfect Barry Bonds through No. 755, but I doubt they regret it.

3. A-Rod wants his legacy to be owned by the Yankees. He's aware of his status as an all-time great worthy of mention with Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio and Mantle. He's aware of who the Yankees are in the grand scheme of baseball history. In short, A-Rod is not an idiot; he'll be back. And No. 13 will eventually sit retired in Monument Park.

Other reasons why A-Rod will sign a new deal with the Yankees:

• George Steinbrenner's eery silence this season leads me to believe he's very ill. My best guess is that he is not in cost-cutting mode. In 1973, Steinbrenner bought a brand for $10 million, and he elevated that brand with a marriage of nostalgia and marquee star power. Reggie, Clemens, A-Rod ... rest assured they were among his favorites. He wants the biggest name is baseball to help open the new Yankee Stadium in 2009.

• I don't know if you've heard, but the Yankees have hella money. The Stadium is hosting 50,000+ crowds every night, the YES network is uber-successful, and the new park is expected to net the Bombers tens of millions of dollars more per year. Whatever A-Rod costs, we can still afford it more easily than anyone else.

• Whether or not he was comfortable in New York before, he's sure found a home in 2007. He's putting up, as WasWatching.com notes, the greatest season for either a third baseman or a right-handed hitting Yankee in more than 50 years. He's receiving deserved respect from local fans and media alike, and only a gargantuan personal playoff collapse would disrupt that. Why would he want to start over somewhere else, have less of a chance to win the World Series, and have to answer persistent questions about his self-abbreviated Yankees tenure?

The legacy part is most important. But those other reasons give us this result:

Yankees + A-Rod = Perfect Sense For Both