New York, New York

I really don't hate the Yankees. Really. At least not all of them. Joe Torre is a class act. I've never been a huge Jeter fan, but I can appreciate his talent. I respect Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams, and I've admired Mariano Rivera for years. Johnny Damon may be duplicitous, but I can't hate the guy because he wanted more money. Robinson Cano is a terrific young talent. Their coaching staff includes Ron Guidry, Don Mattingly and Tony Pena, all of whom I admired as players, as well as Joe Kerrigan, who was Boston's very successful pitching coach for several years (before a misadventure at the front of the dugout that we won't get into).

Even George Steinbrenner -- with his reputation as a blustering, obnoxious, unspeakably wealthy boor -- is less well known for being immeasuably generous towards worthy causes (including the Jimmy Fund) and supporting players in need.

The Yankees won in the 90's (1996, 1998-2000), with this core group of players and a good portion of home-grown talent, augmented by additional players from other organizations to complete the puzzle. Then they started to get bloated, even by their standards. Mike Mussina. Jason Giambi. Hideki Matsui. Jaret Wright. Gary Sheffield. Carl Pavano. And, of course, Alex Rodriguez. Generally, moderately-talented or, at best, above-average players who were acquired for obscene amounts of money and all of whom have yet to deliver another ring to the Bronx. It's really easy to root against the majority of the Yanks' roster. Hating the Yankees because they have lots of money and a successful history is one thing; hating them because their roster is full of unlikable players that are largely past their prime is another.

When the Yankees pounced on A-Rod in early 2004, I had a theory that was largely half-baked but is beginning to make sense -- the Red Sox had pursued A-Rod not so much to acquire him, but to bait the Yankees into pulling the trigger, which they did, but at the expense of not acquiring the pitching help they needed. Murderer's Row or otherwise, the Yankees have only won when they've had strong pitching. Now they don't, and Detroit made that obvious.