World Champion Marlins
Sunday, October 26 2003 @ 11:35 AM EST
Contributed by: Coach
Those lovable Fish are on top of the baseball world. They are as unlikely as the Angels last year, maybe more so: built on speed instead of walks and homers, managed by someone old enough to be my dad.
Mike Berardino of the Sun-Sentinel on the MVP:
When they make the video of this incredible Marlins postseason, they should call it, "Bend it Like Beckett."
Not just for his otherworldly curveball, which made the proud Yankees look more helpless than dangerous, but for the way he took our preconceived notions and bent them like a hot horseshoe to fit his will.
Clark Spencer of the Herald on Posada's play:
The ball arrived well before Gonzalez, but he twisted his body to elude Posada's swiping glove and grazed the back of the plate with his fingertips. Posada neglected to block the plate.
''When the catcher left the plate open, you've got to do something different,'' Gonzalez said. ``If he had blocked the plate, I would have been out.''
It was the first earned run the Marlins scored against Yankees starter Andy Pettitte in the Series. And it soon became a devastating one for George Steinbrenner's juggernaut.
Dan Le Batard of the Herald on the giddy champs:
And the Marlins got to celebrate at the center of New York's field, somehow quieting some of the loudest, most obnoxious fans in all of sports. There wasn't much being said at the center of the celebration, just a lot of shouting and laughing, an undulating release that was equal parts happiness and relief and pride. As the ashen-faced Yankees made their way to the losing clubhouse, quietly, heads down, single-file through a tight tunnel, the Marlins kept celebrating on the field for a full hour afterward.
Jack Curry of the Times (registration required) on why the Yankees lost:
The Yankees were 0 for 12 with runners on base last night and hit a brutal .169 with men on base for the series. There were chances for the Yankees sprinkled throughout every game, including having runners in scoring position five times off Beckett, but they never capitalized. If $180 million bought Steinbrenner anything this season, it should have bought him a couple of players who could have slapped two-out hits.
As the Yankees trudged around a quiet clubhouse like zombies, some of them believed they had lost to a team they should have stopped. The Marlins are deserving champions, a loose band of players who followed Manager Jack McKeon to the pinnacle of the sport and had fun every inch of the way. Jeter said the Marlins were "better than us in this series," stopping short of saying Florida was better than the Yankees. Saying that would have been too painful on a painful night.
I'm with Derek on that one. The Yankees made Brad Penny look great. Twice. They didn't hit, especially in the clutch. The better team this week won, but the Yankees aren't as bad as they looked. I wouldn't advise George to hire Whitey Herzog and rebuild his team on the Marlins model just yet.
William C. Rhoden of the Times (registration required) on sustaining a dynasty:
Maybe they should buy Pierre. Maybe they should buy Miguel Cabrera, the young Marlins infielder-outfielder. They should eventually bring Beckett to New York. While they're at it, why not buy Montreal right fielder Vladimir Guerrero?
Being the Yankees is like being king of the United States: a grand but incongruent distinction. The Yankees have sealed themselves in a lucrative but suffocating archive. The manager, the general manager and even the owner, for that matter, operate in the long shadow of history. They work in a museum filled with black-and-white photos of men wearing pinstripes from eras long past.
In the Post, there's a ghost-written column by Jim Leyritz that pulls no punches:
Heads will roll now.
I think you're going to see a pretty good housecleaning...
...I expect wholesale changes on Joe's coaching staff. Don Zimmer's at that age now where he's ready to say, "I don't need this pressure day in and day out." Mel Stottlemyre's going to be leaving because of his health issues. Rick Down's job has been rumored to be in jeopardy all year, and the way the Yankees hit in the Series won't help his cause. Lee Mazzilli and Willie Randolph are looking to manage somewhere. To get a younger coaching staff to motivate these guys may be a good idea.
I think Joe may get kicked upstairs to a front office position. Brian Cashman's job is in more jeopardy, because George needs to assign blame somewhere, and this roster was pretty weak for the money. Weaver and Hammond showed why they never pitch, White and Heredia are no better, and Enrique Wilson can do everything you want in a utility man except hit and field.
Cashman is very smart, and (hello, Mariners?) could build a winner on a lower budget with less interference from the owner. He didn't sign David Wells, who broke down in his critical Game 4 start. Because of the unique way the New York front office functions, we may never know whose idea it was to break the bank for Giambi or trade Ted Lilly for Jeff Weaver. Making that deal worse, they included a couple of prospects who would be prizes in their depleted farm system now, Jason Arnold and John-Ford Griffin.
Jays fans are naturally hoping for a Yankees collapse. Don't count on it. They will sign a Sosa or Guerrero, a big-name starter or two, and they might make a huge trade involving Soriano, who will not be in favour with the Boss about now but has enormous value if you don't mind adding payroll. They will completely renovate the bullpen by throwing money at it. There's a good chance they will be better.
The Red Sox aren't going anywhere, either. In another thread, Pistol suggested it might be tougher for Toronto to make the playoffs then to win the World Series. That's absolutely right. Had the 2003 Jays been in the AL Central, there's a good chance they would have won. For one thing, they wouldn't have traded Stewart in a pennant race. Then, with Doc in the Beckett role and Wells and Delgado hitting, anything is possible. It's harder to survive 162 games than to win eleven, and it's a damn shame to have to do it in the AL East, which I concede is no longer "baseball's best division." The Braves' regular season and the Marlins' title speak for themselves; the Phillies and Expos were almost as good as Florida.
There's lots of other reactions out there, but I'm running out of time to link to them. Please share the ones you find interesting.
No game today. Bummer.
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