(This post is out of place. It should appear right after "Alexander Again". But I wrote this before the Orioles post and now I can't put it in the right place! Oh well...)From the NY Times:
"They’ve got a fire, some kind of fire I’ve seen in their eyes,” Torii Hunter said, before the Angels lost the game. “It’s totally different.”
Fire is what it takes to win championships, in all the professional sports. No fire, no passion, no glory, because there's always going to be underdogs who play their best games when it matters most, and if you're a favorite, like the Yankees have been in the playoffs year after year, but haven't found that extra fire, you're still going to lose, no matter how talented your roster is.
The Yankees' experience over the last decade has taught them this very well. Year after year they've been beaten by teams with less talent but more intensity, drive, and fire. The Angels had it. Detroit had it. Boston had it in 2004.
Torii Hunter, though, might be on to something. It's impossible to define from where a team's spark comes, and how it's sustained. Youth sometimes brings it (Gardner, Cabrera, Cano, Pena, Cervelli, Swisher). Other times it can be a veteran star without a ring (CC, AJ, A-Rod, Teixeira), or a consistent winner who refuses to accept life without postseason glory (Pettitte, Jeter, Damon, Matsui, Posada).
But other times more powerful forces are at work. One thing today's Yankees don't have is guys who were castoffs or ignored in their first organizations, coming to the Yankees for redemption. Coming with something to prove. That was O'Neill's story, playing in Eric Davis's shadow. That was Tino's story, batting after Griffey, Edgar, A-Rod, even Jay Buhner in Seattle. That was Brosious, a curious pickup by the Yankees who suddenly became a rock at third base and one of their greatest clutch hitters. Even Bernie was never really considered a raw talent, but a physically gifted athlete to be molded into a ballplayer. Girardi, too, wasn't a franchise catcher but a hired gun. Mariano was an unsuccessful starting pitcher trying to find his way. Wells was talented but obviously troubled and possibly unstable. Pettitte was good but never blew anyone away. And finally Jeter, who needs no introduction and no extra motivation. Jeter was, has been, and always will be there for the team no matter what. That's Jeter.
Any group of players could have been assembled around this core and flourished. Nobody from that 1996-2001 core ever won an MVP or, besides Jeter, was ever considered especially talented. Only Bernie has ever won a batting title, and just one. It remains to be seen whether many of them will even be inducted into the hall of fame. But with this amazing core, bringing the extraordinarily deadly combination of expertise and a blazing collective fire, they became the greatest team in baseball history, an unbeatable force in the game unlike anything anyone has ever seen IN ANY SPORT, and maybe ever will see.
They were special. Today's Yankees draw few comparisons to them, and rightfully so. Many of the mid-90's Bombers came to NY as second-tier free agents and, once all together in one clubhouse, they played like superstars. Today's Yankees come to the team as stars already, every acquisition a splash, a vast improvement, a million dollar bonanza that further solidifies the Yankees' status as baseball's elite organization. All that talent and star power will get you wins but not postseason glory. Postseasons are different.
Torii Hunter seems to know about postseasons. He knows that to win you must have real fire, like those 1996-2001 Yankees. And if he sees it in today's Yankees, well then maybe we have some real hope.
Want to see some of the fire Torii was talking about?
AL East magic number: 12
Home field magic number: 13
Games remaining: 17
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