Yanked again: All over and the crying

What was once thought to be an open door to the World Series for the New York Yankoffs was slammed rudely by an upstart team from Detroit that had no business competing with a team whose payroll is well over 220-million dollars.

The Tigers, who hadn't been in a playoff series in 19 years and were swept by the Kansas City Royals at the end of the season that cost them the AL Central title, won 3 strait over New York with key pitching and timely hitting, two things the Yankoffs haven't had since 2001. Tigers pitcher Kenny Rogers treated the line up like a bunch of local cameramen, pitching the finest game of his career against a line up that just a day earlier was being called "Murderer's Row and Cano." The 6-0 win and 2-1 series lead for the Tigers was followed up by a 8-3 thrashing that put an end to the Yankoffs' season and may be the low point of what has turned into a continuing act of futility.

The most satisfying part of the Tigers series win was the continued failures of one Alex Rodriguez. A-Fraud was once again K-Rod and Double Play-Rod as the former MVP was again the LVP contributing only one hit, a single in game 1. He was shuffled up and down the line up from 6th to 4th to 8th but nothing worked. Since Game 3 of the 2004 ALCS, the purple-lipped show ponny has 3 hits in 13 games and may be someone else's problem next season.

Now the New York press is pointing at the firing of Joe Torre for the next move by the Yankoffs, while everybody has Lou Pinella as the returning skipper. Keep in mind Torre has 7 million left in his contract and Georgie Steinbrenner may set his sites on Brian Cashman instead.

Amazingly some are actually blaming Derek Jeter for the collapse. Wasn't this the same guy who will most likely win the AL MVP this season? Forget this talk about he didn't welcome A-Fraud, how would you like it if your job brought in a prick who gets paid more and has put you down in the press and plays your position? Gimme a break, if anything Jeter (and maybe Rivera) are the only things that hold the Yankoffs together and keep them from being the crappy 80s teams that had the big payroll but didn't even make the playoffs. ESPN.com's Page 2 even suggested the Yanoffs trade Jeter rather than A-Fraud...

The biggest head scratcher for UB in the series was the play of Gary Sheffield at 1st base. He looked awful out there. Wouldn't it be better for the shakey E-Rod to have a familiar face at 1st? Did they really need a big bat in this lineup? Why not sacrifice it for some defense? Sheffield was 1 for 12 in 3 games with 1 RBI and 4 strike outs. The bigger question is will the Yankoffs pick up his option for next season or will he be in another line up...like the Red Sox?

So congratulations to the Tigers for their 1st series win since the 1984 World Series, but to their fans, kiss Teabag's ass. UB's boy Teabag has been following the Tigers since he was a child growing up in Boston and has been with them through thick and thin. Watching the game with TB Friday night was the most excited Ubsey's ever seen his friend before. However, Ubsey couldn't help notice that the finally full Comerica Park was going crazy as well, but how many of those Detroiters spent 5 minutes in the last 19 years following the Tigers? Not many. But for those who were real fans like TB, Ubsey says congrads...But save that champagne because there could be bigger and better things in the Tigers future...