A Remarkable Achievement

Sometimes the best surprises are the least expected. The Yankees winning their 27th World Series championship qualifies as a surprise. Honestly, I found the 2009 team under whelming. This team played like a juggernaut, but their accomplishment was due to parity, not overwhelming talent. Their regular season record of 103 wins and 59 losses was a remarkable achievement for a team with noticeable flaws.

The 2009 Yankees had holes in their pitching staff and batting order.

Sabathia and Burnett were free agent imports brought in to bolster a weak pitching staff. The Yankees needed starters with strikeout capability that could routinely pitch seven innings per game – assets the Yankees have not had in the last six years.

Sabathia was the ace of the staff – as expected, but he was the only starter on the team with more than 15 wins – a remarkable achievement for a team that won 103 games in the regular season.

Burnett displayed flashes of brilliance in 2009, but he was prone to erratic outings. The number two starter on the team had 13 wins, 9 losses, pitched 207 innings and had a 4.04 ERA. By comparison, the Yankees fifth starter in 1998, Hideki Irabu, won 13 games, lost 9, pitched 173 innings and had a 4.09 ERA.

Pettitte signed an incentive laden contract late in the off-season. He was slated to return as the fourth starter.

Wang was supposed to be the third starter on the pitching staff. He was injured in 2008. The Yankees were hoping Wang would return to form as a two time 19 game winner, but he was ineffective, then suffered a season ending injury.

Pettitte became the third starter by default.

Chamberlain was slated as the fifth starter, but his innings pitched were going to be monitored. He was coddled in August and September, making him an ineffective starter, and the coddling eliminated Chamberlain as a starter in the post season.

The Yankees used Chad Gaudin, obtained in a trade with from San Diego, and Sergio Mitre, injured throughout 2008, as their fourth and fifth starters after Chamberlain’s workload was deliberately reduced.

Yankee prospect Phil Hughes was pitching in relief when Wang got hurt. Yankee management treated Hughes cautiously. Hughes short major league career has been marred by injuries. Management decided to keep Hughes in the bullpen, reasoning he could become susceptible to an arm injury if he became a starter during the midseason.

The Yankees navigated a 162 game season, and had the best record in baseball with three viable starting pitchers.

The 2009 Yankees had the best record in the American league, and with it the privilege of allowing the Yankees to pick the post-season schedule. They selected the schedule with the most days off, thus allowing the Yankees to use only three starters.

The only way the Yankees could have won their 27th championship was with all those off days in the post season. A compressed schedule would have exposed the Yankees thin starting pitching staff.

The 2009 team hit their way to the pennant, hitting a team record 244 home runs. Seven players hit over 20 home runs.

The Yankees built a bullpen that kept the games close through the late innings, thus giving the offense the opportunity to rally and win.

This team demonstrated remarkable resiliency winning 51 come from behind games, and winning 15 games in their final at bat.

Behind the gaudy offensive numbers was a batting order with holes that was not exploited because of the shortage of quality pitching in baseball.

You will never see pitching staffs like the 1971 Baltimore Orioles, 1972 – 1974 Oakland A’s, 1986 New York Mets, and Atlanta Braves of the 1990’s. Teams cannot afford to keep deep pitching staffs together. To win a championship, teams must develop young pitchers, and hope a group can reach the Major Leagues together, like the 1969 New York Mets.

The Yankees beat up a lot of weak pitching staffs. Even the Philadelphia Phillies, the National League champions, had a weak pitching staff. Their number one starter, Cliff Lee, joined the team on July 30, 2009. Their number two starter, Pedro Martinez, was out of baseball until August. You can argue the Phillies would not have made it to the World Series with the pitching staff they had in April.

A strong pitching staff could shut this team down. The problem is that there are no strong pitching staffs in baseball.

The post season proved the Yankee offense was vulnerable. Teixeira, Cano and Swisher were offensive liabilities. Posada’s post-season average was lower than his regular season average.

Molina’s playing time increased in the post-season because he was Burnett’s preferred catcher. The lineup was diluted when Molina played.

In game five of the World Series, the Yankees used a junior varsity batting order against Phillies ace Cliff Lee. The batting order after Rodriguez was Swisher, Cano, Gardner, Molina, and Burnett.

Damon’s late surge salvaged an otherwise forgettable post-season.

Jeter, Rodriguez and Matsui carried the Yankees to the championship.

The Yankees are not a deep team. Fortunately they were not exposed in the World Series, but they could have been. Cabrera got hurt in game four. Gardner replaced Cabrera. Damon got hurt in game six. Hairston replaced Damon.

Hairston in left field, Gardner in center, and Swisher in right field would have been the starting outfield in the seventh game of the World Series, against Cliff Lee, had the Phillies won game six.

The Yankees record after Rodriguez returned from the disabled list was an unbelievable 78 wins and 36 losses. They were resilient and competed relentlessly. The Yankees should be congratulated for having the best record in baseball during the regular season because it allowed the Yankees to pace themselves during the post-season.

The Yankees rode on the backs of three starting pitchers and won a championship using a favorable schedule. This is a unique accomplishment that will be hard for any team to duplicate.

As a Yankee fan, I am not ungrateful the 2009 team won the World Series, but my enthusiasm is tempered by a diluted baseball product that has not been able to figure out how to keep good or great teams together.