[I'm working on something big. I have been since yesterday evening and I haven't the slightest idea when I'll be done. So if the posts these next couple of days are spotty, this is why. I think, though, should I finish in the manner I want--and it is doable once I figure out how--it will be well worth it.]

There are a lot of reasons you can say that the Yankees had a successful 2009.

They pitched well.

They hit the baseball.

They played solid fundamentals when other teams did not.

So on and so forth.

There is, however, in my mind one thing that stands out, one crucial difference between the success of 2009 and the failure of 2008 and it is thus: With a few exceptions, this was a team that managed to stay healthy all year.

That’s a pretty significant feet.

Let’s compare.

In 2008, the Yankees lost Jorge Posada and Hideki Matsui for more or less the entire season, lost Chien Ming Wang halfway through, lost Johnny Damon for a few weeks, lost Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy, lost Brian Bruney…on and on you can go, and I know I’m missing people. Even Andy Pettitte pitched the second half with an injured shoulder.

In 2009, the Yankees lost Xavier Nady for the season, Wang for the majority of the season with a brief June interlude, Alex Rodriguez for a month, Brett Gardner for a month, and their catchers for a couple of weeks.

The difference, however, is that in 2009, with the exception of Nady and Wang, all of the injured players made a full recovery. Rodriguez, Molina and Posada were all hurt early in the season, but returned early. Posada returned before Molina and Molina’s replacement, Francisco Cervelli, performed much better than many of us had hoped.

With the exception of Wang, the starting rotation stayed healthy–Sabathia, Burnett, Pettitte and Joba made nearly all of their starts–without question more production than the ‘08 Opening Day rotation of Mussina, Pettitte, Wang, Hughes and Kennedy.

If 2007 and 2008 were the years where everything went wrong, 2009 was the year where everything went right.

Now that the World Series has been one, I no longer need worry about mentioning the team’s good health becoming a jinx.

Unless, of course, someone decides to play an off-season pickup basketball game…