Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
MARC TOPKINTwo-year drought too long by Steinbrenner's standards, and pressure is on to end it now.
MIAMI - It wasn't much of a hit really, a soft single over shortstop by Arizona's Luis Gonzalez that knocked in the winning run in the final inning of the final game in the 2001 World Series.
But the Yankees have yet to recover.
After getting knocked out in the first round of the 2002 playoffs, they got into the World Series this season and got even going into Game 3 tonight at Pro Player Stadium.
But to satisfy themselves, to satisfy their fans and, most important, to satisfy a certain blazer-wearing, orders-barking Tampa resident named George M. Steinbrenner III, they have to win it.
And they know it.
"I think what's happened before us, when you talk about the Babe Ruths and the DiMaggios, the Yogi Berras, Reggie, Whitey Ford, all those players, we've won the most championships of any professional team, and when you work for George Steinbrenner, there's no room for second place," Yankees manager Joe Torre said Monday.
"If a Game 7 one-run lead in the ninth inning doesn't hold up, it's a failure."
Since Gonzalez's ball dropped in and Jay Bell raced home, Steinbrenner has become more involved and, some say, more obsessed with winning again. So much for the idea he floated this season about retiring.
The money Steinbrenner spends on his team, with a payroll in excess of $180-million this season, is one indication. So are the comments, criticisms and carping, which have been more public than ever, enough for Torre to admit concern it would affect the team and acknowledge he hasn't had as much fun.
General manager Brian Cashman said he hears repeatedly from Steinbrenner, probably repeatedly every day, about how important it is that they win again.
"I think you guys have heard it, too," Cashman said. "One thing no one questions is his desire to win. If you could say it's to a fault, he wants to win that much. It's unbelievable.
"You'd never be able to measure his desire to win. He just reaches levels that I think aren't humanly possible in his thirst to win. He's got a mentality that I think is almost impossible to duplicate with people in society. It's amazing. ... It's not just baseball. He wakes up every day wanting to win everything he's involved in on a daily basis."
Steinbrenner has been keeping a low profile during the World Series. He has stayed out of the view of the Fox network cameras and offered mostly mundane and innocuous quotes to the reporters who regularly wait for him after games, some assigned only to that task.
He instead has taken to issuing statements through a New York PR firm. When the Yankees eliminated the Twins to move into the ALCS, his statement, stealing from Gen. Douglas MacArthur, read, "For us, winning isn't the only thing. It's second to breathing. As MacArthur said, "Victory is essential.' " When the Yankees beat the Red Sox, Steinbrenner said they "played like true champions. They were battlers with class."
Because Steinbrenner's demand to win is so great, the disappointment of failing to do so is worse. It doesn't matter how close they come, even a ninth-inning bloop single away. It seems as if when they don't win a championship, as they did four times in a five-year span, everything else they accomplished doesn't matter.
"We try internally to prevent that from seeping in because it adds so much more pressure," Cashman said. "Last year we got knocked out in the first round, and we want to make sure people understand the postseason is indeed a real haphazard situation. We were extremely disappointed but we didn't want that to take away from the best record in baseball.
"But at the end of the day, you can't help but realize the disappointment. And we would have been disappointed if we were not sitting here today. The focus has always been the World Series and anything short, even though you might have an AL East title or a best record, you can point to those things as a positive but it still doesn't take away that you failed at your ultimate goal."
Think of it this way: If the Marlins lose the Series, they'll be a little disappointed but will still consider it a tremendous season. If the Yankees lose, they will be devastated, and Steinbrenner likely will make drastic changes.
"I think when you have the highest payroll, the ability to get big-name free agents, even when you're a big team that goes to the playoffs every year, I think the expectation is definitely high," said Florida's Mike Lowell, a former Yankee. "I think if they don't win the World Series, it's somewhat of a disappointment because they're expected to do it every year. They actually made it seem so easy, winning three in a row in, I guess, four out of five years, that they kind of raised the bar themselves."
And with Roger Clemens retiring, Andy Pettitte headed to free agency and David Wells possibly being let go, along with uncertain job security for Torre and Cashman, the time to win would appear to be now.
"There's going to be some changes," Game 3 starter Mike Mussina said. "We're hoping that we can make this group a winner again."
For the sake of many, it would be a good idea.