This via TMZ (yes, that tmz):

The New York Yankees better clear out some space in their jewelry boxes — TMZ has learned the team will be getting their World Series rings on April 13th … when they play the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

We’re told the design of the ring is being kept a secret — but we can only imagine they’ll be even more ridiculous than the 2000 rings, which included 22 major diamonds.

Do yourself a favor, Yankee fan: if you click the link, scroll past the comments.

Also, if you wanna talk bling, I’m still waiting for someone to top this:

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Over at River Ave Blues, our friends have come up with a series outlining the Yankees’ 10 best pitching performances and hits of the 2009 regular season.

Since I lack a single original bone in body body, I thought I’d come up with a similar list–except, of course, for the postseason, and one that combines hits, pitches and all-out instincts.  See if you agree or disagree–comments are always welcome!

10: Jeterian:  In the grand scheme of things, Derek Jeter’s ALDS game one game-tying home run may go unnoticed.  In a game the Yankees ended up winning by a comfortable margin, Jeter’s hit came relatively early, thus it perhaps lacks the drama of some of the later moments.

Still, until that hit, the Yankees were trailing the Twins, and the feeling of “oh no, not again…” was rampant–after all, these were Yankees that still hadn’t won a playoff series since 2004.

9: Pettitte Pizazz With his team down 3-0 in game three of a deadlocked World Series, the Yankees were in serious danger of going down in the World Series two games to one while on the road.  The Yankees, however, got help from an unlikely source–Pettitte himself, who blooped a single off of Cole Hamels that scored the game tying run.  The Yankees never looked back, taking a lead in the game (and in the series) that they would not relinquish.

8: Fundamentals 2, Angels 0 It’s one thing to win on a walk-off, another to win because of the other team’s miscues, and still yet another to do both of these in an ALCS game.  Helped by an unseasonably cold and wet night, Jerry Hairston Jr. helped the Yankees do just that–scoring after the Angels’ second baseman botched what could have been a double play ball–and the Yankees took a commanding two games-to-none series lead.

7: Halloween Hijinks Pettitte’s game-tying hit in Game Three of the World Series would have gone for naught had it not been for what happened almost immediately beforehand.  Alex Rodriguez (who else?) hit a long fly ball that looked, on first glance, as though it bounced off of the top of the wall in right field for a long double.  His teammates, however, saw differently:  the ball actually hit a camera that was hanging over the fence, and would have likely gone into the stand otherwise.  After a brief protest, the umpires conferred, watched the first-ever World Series replay, and issued their ruling:  two-run home run.

6: David Robertson, Miracle Worker Although A-Rod’s game-tying home run in Game 2 of the ALDS (see below) may have been the biggest moment at the New Yankee Stadium at that point, the home run did, alas, only tie the game.  Thus, as the Yankees proceeded to extra innings and Girardi burned reliever after reliever, he was eventually left to call upon David Robertson to come in and do the impossible:  get out of a two men on, no one out situation without giving up a run.

Robertson did not help his own cause at first–allowing a base hit–but the ball was hit so hard that Minnesota could not score, and instead was left with the bases loaded (and still no one out).  Let the miracle begin:  a line-out to Teixeira, a ground ball hit hard enough for Teixeira to make the out at home, and a lazy fly ball to center field.  The Yankees won the game in the bottom of the same inning.

5:  CC, completely in control Heading into the postseason, one of the biggest question marks the Yankees had was the ability of Sabathia to pitch on rest as short as three days–he had done so in Milwaukee, but done so so often in September that there was nothing in the tank in October.

Yankee fans, however, needn’t have worried.  Sabathia excelled on short rest–and perhaps not more so than in game four of the ALCS, which the Yankees would win 10-1.  Sabathia allowed just five hits over eight innings, and the not-so-hidden benefit of his dominant performance was that the Yankees were able to employ a ready and rested bullpen in the wake of a poor performance from AJ Burnett in Game Five.

4:  Matsui go Boom–The only thought going into Game Six of the World Series for Yankee fans (and one presumes the Yankees) was simple:  don’t go to Game Seven.  No one, it seems, heeded that call more than designated hitter Hideki Matsui, who got to work quickly, with a two run home run, two run single and two run double.  The six RBI night was enough to crown Matsui World Series MVP in a series with no clear-cut winner–and as far away as crowded bars in Manhattan, you could hear the chants of MVP! MVP! reverberating just as Matsui’s double (and RBI 5 and 6) landed, missing being a second home run by only a little.  Godzilla, indeed.

3:  Johnny Damon takes the 2-1 special: Keith Olbermann called this the smartest play in World Series history, and while you may debate this, the fact is that this play illustrates why sabermetrics, though important, cannot be the be all and end all–that an acute awareness for one’s surroundings can be as, if not more, important.

In the ninth inning of a tie game on the road, with two out and Phil Coke (!) warming in the bullpen, Johnny Damon worked a miracle at-bat against Brad Lidge, finally singling after what seemed to be an eternity.  Then, with Teixeira at bat, the Phillies over-shifted–something of perhaps little consequence in a regular season game, but made all the difference in this situation.  After stealing second base, Damon noticed that no one was covering third base–so he took it.  The decision, which had to be made in hundredths of a second, meant that if successful, Damon could score as easily on a passed ball or wild pitch as on a base hit.

2:  AJ and an Empire State of Mind AJ’s postseason can be explained very simply:  when he pitched at home he was great; when he pitched on the road he was awful.  Fortunately for the Yankees, his most important pitching performance came at home–Game Two of the World Series.  After having being beat soundly by Cliff Lee in Game One of the Series (which many Yankee fans will tell you did not feel like Game One of the World Series), the Yankees were at risk of going down two games to none, and then having to go to Philadelphia to try to salvage the series.

Philadelphia’s surprising Game Two starter–Pedro Martinez–pitched better than most expected, but it was Burnett who had the endurance to outlast him.  Burnett went seven innings, allowing just one run on four hits–and impressively (for Burnett) walked just two.  In a game that the Yankees won by a low score of 3-1, Burnett’s performance was nothing short of exactly what the Yankees needed.

1:  It’s an A-bomb, from A-Rod You might disagree about where this home run is placed, but after having seen it in person, I admit I am biased.

It’s not just that A-Rod’s home run was a bottom of the ninth, game-tying blast, or that it happened in the postseason, or that it happened after the Yankees’ vaunted set-up and closer duo of Phil Hughes and Mariano Rivera faltered, just a bit but enough to give Minnesota a 3-1 lead, or that A-Rod had long been the scapegoat for Yankee postseason woes, or that the entire 2009 season seemed to be about A-Rod’s redemption after admitting he used steroids, or that the way the season started and ended for him–first and last pitch home runs was an incredible story, if not a bizarre coincidence–

–It was the fact that A-Rod’s home run was an aggregate of all of those, coming in a game that itself was incredibly close and well-played.

It’s not often that you can say one hit changes everything–but this time, you can.

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Ah, Fordham University.

If I could do a good Michael Kay impression, now is when I would do so.

However, since I can’t (not even a little), I’ll just leave you with this instead:

Yankees World Championship Trophy Pays Visit To Fordham University Rose Hill Campus This Sat., Jan., 23

***27th World Series Hardware treks up the Deegan to be displayed at Fordham Athletics Hall of Fame ceremonies, and during Rams vs. Temple Men’s Basketball Game***

New York, January 21, 2010 — The New York Yankees 2009 World Championship Trophy will depart from Yankee Stadium, travel north on the Major Deegan Expressway, across Fordham Road, and arrive at another venerable Bronx institution – Fordham University –  this Saturday, January 23, from 11:30 am to 4:00 pm for a special visit to the Rose Hill Campus.

Fordham will play host to the World Series hardware – the Bronx Bombers 27th championship trophy – will be on display during Fordham Athletics’ Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in the McGinley Center , and later at the Rams vs. Temple men’s basketball game at the Rose Hill Gymnasium. The public is welcomed (tickets for the Hall of Fame brunch are priced at $50 adults/$25 students and children, while game tickets are priced at $10 for adults and $5 for children).

An astounding number of Fordham connections helped the visit the visit to materialize. Recent Fordham/WFUV alum Ryan Ruocco (’08) tipped off executive athletic director Frank McLaughlin (‘69) with the brainchild. The idea was hatched because Michael Kay (’82), YES Network’s Yankees play by play voice and 1050 ESPN Radio host is Master of Ceremonies for the Hall of Fame proceedings. Ruocco works with Kay at both YES and ESPN. McLaughlin went into action, contacting a pair of Fordham grads now with the Yankees, Assistant Director of Corporate/Community Relations Rocky Halsey (’98) and Director of Stadium Tours Tony Morante (’79), who will escort the trophy to his alma mater.

Men’s swimming record holder Akira Kosugi (CBA ’96), football Patriot League champions   and 2004 graduates Kirwin Watson (FCRH), wide receiver Javarus Dudley (CBA) and quarterback Kevin Eakin (FCRH), Ioana Dragan (CBA ’02, Women’s Tennis), and Sophie Namy (FCRH ’00 Rowing) – champions all – will be inducted into the hallowed Fordham halls, where they join the likes of Frankie Frisch, Vince Lombardi, Wellington Mara and Vin Scully in the Fordham pantheon, with the Yankees championship trophy present and accounted for.

Now, as a Syracuse graduate, I have to say that most of the time I am completley unaware that Fordham even has a basketball team, but my favorite memory from my time at Fordham?

Walking the long way from FMH to McGinley, past the baseball fields in the fall and spring, listening to the ping of baseballs off of the aluminum bats…

…(Yes, I’m overly sentimental, so what?)

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Is it too early for this? I think not.

Here are my top ten Yankee moments from 2000-2010–feel free to leave a comment with any you think I missed!

10. Subway Series A lot of you might argue that this is too far down on the list, but the 2000 Yankees team was perhaps better lucky than good. If the most remembered moment of that series involves Roger Clemens throwing the barrel of a bat at Mike Piazza, then, well, it’s probably not a very good World Series.

09. Jobamania Not since, perhaps, the coming of Derek Jeter had a Yankee rookie been so heralded. In one year Joba Chamberlain had risen from the lowest levels of the minors to becoming one of the most recognizable names in New York, and perhaps most of all, along with Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy, signalling the first ripened fruits of a reborn Yankee farm system.

08. Boston Massacre(s) A rare regular-season five game series in Boston in 2006 that saw the Yankees sweep will always bring smiles to the faces of Yankee fans. As nice as it was, however, the four game sweep in August 2009 may have been even more meaningful–the law of averages coming full bore after an 0-8 start and a sweep that included perhaps the best regular season game all year–a 15 inning scoreless affair ended with an Alex Rodriguez home run.

07. Jeter Flies into the Stands (h/t Matt Lorenzo): This one moment perhaps sums up what Derek Jeter means to the Yankees. During a regular season game in 2004, Derek Jeter attempted to catch a foul ball, and in doing so ended up diving into the stands along the third base line. He emerged bruised and bloody but never the worse for wear; the Yankees went on to win the game in extra innings.

06. Aaron Boone Plays a Pick Up Basketball Game At some point between the 2003 and 2004 seasons, Aaron Boone played a pick up game of basketball and tore his ACL, and the Yankees needed a third baseman. Enter Alex Rodriguez. Fans love him or hate him, but his mark on the team this decade–from playoff goat to playoff hero, from HAH! to Cynthia to Madonna to Kate, from hip surgery to 500 home runs, his mark on the team is indelible.

05. Mariano’s 500th save…and first RBI It might be this moment, much more than the 2000 World Series and even more than the Luis Castillo dropped pop up that best exemplifies the differences between the Yankees and the Mets. More importantly, it exemplifies just how much Rivera has meant for the Yankees–whatever the fault with the save statistic, only one other pitcher in MLB history has that many, and unlike Rivera, he does not have a stellar postseason record. Every year this decade Yankee fans appreciated Mo just a little more and in 2009, he was the only closer not to blow a lead in the postseason. It’s not a coincidence.

04. Babe, Bucky, Boone, any Questions? One swing on an October night in 2003 summed up everything it meant to be a Yankee, and everything that, until 2004, it meant to be a Red Sox. Eighty-four years, summed up in ball that sailed over the left field fence. Never mind the ultimate consequences, that one moment, those few minutes–if one ever asks you why you are a Yankee fan, just find a video of that swing.

03. Nine Innings From Ground Zero. Nevermind the ultimate result of the 2001 World Series–what matters is that in October 2001, the Yankees played. They fell behind Oakland two games to none and then won three straight, partially due to perhaps the greatest play of Derek Jeter’s defensive career; they beat the 116-win Mariners in a five game ALCS (remember the No-game-six chants?), and then, most remarkably of all, they managed to perform the same feat in back-to-back World Series games: Tying each game with a two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Even today, so many years later, no one in New York will be surprised at all when you tell them that it was Tino Martinez and Scott Brosius that hit those home runs. The most chilling moment, however, may not have been the home runs, but instead when, in game five, the entirety of the Stadium started chanting Paul O’Neill’s name, a moving send off to one of the Yankees’ most beloved right fielders.

02. Goodbye, Hello I must confess, if you had told me as recently as 2005 or 2006 that the Yankees would ever leave the old Stadium, I would not have believed you. Still, despite the flaws, they pulled it off as well as such things can be pulled off–the farewell ceremonies were done while the Yankees were still in the playoff hunt, they got the glory of one more All Star game in New York City, Mariano Rivera threw the last pitch, and then, when they moved across the street, they won it all in year one. The old Stadium was not baseballl’s cathedral because of its aesthetics; it was baseball’s cathedral because of everything that happened on the field. If 2009 is any portent, the ghosts moved across the street, and the Yankees wasted no time in Christening their new digs.

01. 27 This isn’t much of any debate. The Yankees won two World Series titles in the decade, and they actually won more games when they missed the playoffs in 2008 than they won in the 2000 season. In 2009 the Yankees were the best team in baseball, played like it, and had a postseason to remember. Whether it was Alex Rodriguez carrying the line up on his back through the ALDS and ALCS, Matsui’s rampage in the clincher or Mariano Rivera simply playing G-d, the 2009 World Series may very well be the most satisfying World Series for Yankees fans since the 1996 team upset the defending Atlanta Braves.

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Well, baseball awards week is upon us.

In the spirit of award-giving, I’d like to offer the following awards to members of the Yankee team:

Best Cook: AJ Burnett and his pie á la towel dessert.

Most Eager Rocker: Mark Teixeira

Best Eyes: In an upset, Francisco Cervelli defeats long time winner Andy Pettitte.

Best Roll Call Response: Nick Swisher and the Swisher Salute™.

Best Reason to make Scrambled Eggs: Melky Cabrera’s line after hitting for the cycle–picked up by YES cameras and Spanish-speaking lipreaders nationwide.

Best Reason to Cut My Hair So I Don’t Rip It Out: Robinson Canó coming to bat with runners in scoring position and two out.

The Nails Krzyzewski Award for Grit: Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez

It’s All About the Karma Award: Eric Hinske, for his third consecutive World Series appearance.

Best Reason to Learn the Japanese Word for “Daddy”: Hideki Matsui. Game Six. ‘Nuff said.

Self-proclaimed Idiot with the Single Smartest Play in the World Series: Johnny Damon and the Double Steal of Doom.

Allergic to Pie Award: Derek Jeter. And you, get your mind out of there!

The Fiery Clubhouse Leader Award: Jorge Posada

The I-am-God Award: Mariano Rivera.

All awards are non-transferrable and non-redeemable for other hardware such as MVP, Cy Young, etc. Winners receive all the honors associated with such awards.

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So I have planned a very nice follow up to yesterday’s post, which I was hoping to share with you all some time today, but the fact is that working non-stop three days straight has left me sick as a dog. The big, bad follow up post of doom will have to wait a day or two.

Okay, okay, so it probably has more to do with the excessive World Series celebrations, but that’s not the point.

To keep you occupied for today, I’ll leave you with this gem from AP/Youtube:

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When you’re the defending World Champions, life is usually pretty good in the offseason; the decisions you need to make to improve your team fairly minimal.

Right now, it looks like the Yankees may want to sign another starter–not a one or a two, but an insurance policy if Hughes or even Kennedy struggle, but nothing requiring CC or AJ money.

They may want to improve their bench, maybe. Hairston and Peña do a nice job of filling the “utility” part of a utility man, and Francisco Cervelli will more than likely be an adequate back-up. You could keep Hinske for karma alone. So maybe you look for a better bat, but I’d be okay if the Yankees, for the moment, left it as is.

The only really hard decision the Yankees have to make, then, the only one that’s going to make you tear your hair out, is whether or not the Yankees should bring back Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, both, or neither.

Here’s the arguments both for and against bringing them back:

Johnny Damon

BRING HIM BACK: Unlike Matsui, Damon can play the field and still has speed on the bases. This is by far the biggest argument in his favor, but don’t discount his offense–his 24 homer runs in 2009, perhaps a product of the New Yankee Stadium, tie a career high, he OPS’d .854, and his 36 doubles were his most in 10 years. Oh, and that part where he stole two bases in Game Four of the World Series? He still plays smart baseball.

LET HIM GO: There are arguments as to just how beneficial it is for the Yankees to have Damon playing in left field. His 12 stolen bases are actually the lowest number since his rookie year, again giving lie to how much value his speed is really worth.

View all of Damon’s stats here. Click on “splits” to see his marks for 2009.

Hideki Matsui

BRING HIM BACK: The reigning World Series MVP, Matsui has long been under-appreciated for his consistent offensive stats. We all know he can go deep, but we forget how often he does it. Even with his bum knees and the week he took off while the Yankees were in NL parks, he still cranked 28 home runs and OPS’d .876. He’s a fan favorite that has been nothing but class since his tenure here, and perhaps most importantly, check out what ‘Sui’s done in the postseason.

LET HIM GO: The biggest issue with Matsui is that he cannot play in the field. Bringing him back as a full time DH means that those are DH ABs that get taken away from an aging Jorge Posada–although Posada should be able to play most games at catcher, barring injury, he’ll still need more days off in 2010 than he had in 2009. Matsui’s also a slave to his knees, which he has to get drained at regular intervals, and isn’t really any sort of stolen base threat. His 28 home runs are only actually four more than Damon, and his batting average was actually lower than Damon’s. If you compare the two’s slash stats, you find that Damon had the higher average, and Matsui the higher OPS, but the differences are much narrower than you’d imagine. For instance, one OBP is .367, the other is .365.

So what to do?

Many argue that the Yankees should simply let both of them go and dip into the free agent market to sign either Jason Bay or Matt Holliday.

Me?

I’m of the opinion that just because the free agent market exists, it doesn’t mean you have to go dive right in if there are not free agents to your liking.

Bay and Holliday are good, not great, players whose–especially Bay’s–defense is questionable, and both of whom are likely going to attempt to command money they might not actually deserve based on their stats, simply because they’re the best in their class.

What I would do, then, is bring back both Damon and Matsui on one year deals–overpay if I have to, it’s just one year–though if the cost is low enough, I’ll give Damon a team option for a second year. I don’t with Matsui because by 2011 it’s likely Posada will need more ABs as a DH than a C, and since he’s already under contract, finding him a place to play is momentarily more important.

In the 2010-2011 offseason, the outfield free agent pool includes Yankee fan favorite Carl Crawford as well as Jayson Werth, who can flat-out mash. I wouldn’t count out this guy either; there’s always room for a guy that can OPS .903.

If needed, you can supplant Damon’s late-inning defense by playing Hairston or perhaps even Peña; and days off for Matsui, as we’ve seen in 2009, seem to work all sorts of wonders, so giving him a couple days off for Posada to DH might actually be a good thing.

There are, of course, other factors that go into the decision–how do the players feel, how much do the Yankees want to spend, and so on–things that we as fans can’t possibly know just yet.

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[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…

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At some point we knew.

Knew the Yankees were going to go all the way.  Knew that 2009 was our year.

I can’t remember the date, but I remember walking to the subway to go to a Yankee game, getting stopped by an older man who asked if I was a Yankee fan and how far the team was going.

“They’re going all the way,” I had said, but that was more happenstance, trying to say the right thing at the right time.

When did I know the Yankees had a special team this season, beyond just being a good, playoff-bound team and into a season I would be telling my kids (someday in the very distant future) about?  When did you know?

For me, ask much as I loved the walk-offs, as much fun as the walk-off wins made this season, as much as it was just like watching a group of kids having fun playing a game, the moment for me came in August, when the Yankees swept the Red Sox in four games.

Four games on otherwise ordinary August nights that, without question, felt like the middle of October.

For the first time, really, the Stadium got loud, and all four games the Yankees found various ways to win–slugfests, pitcher’s duels, the long ball–four games where everything went right for the Yankees and everything else went wrong for the Red Sox.

It’s not all that hard to be a good baseball team if you have good baseball players and good fundamentals, but among the x-factors that seperate good from great, among the things such as health and as clubhouse chemistry that may or may not be a factor, there’s also luck.

To have the luck the Yankees have had this season, though–and the luck they had in that sweep–that can’t be blind fate.  That’s luck created by the Yankees and for the Yankees.

That four game sweep?

That’s when I knew that the Yankees in 2009 were a team so good that they could create their own luck.

When you create your own luck, it’s hard to fail.

***

So what about you?  When did you know that this would be a special year?  Was it when the Yankees beat the Red Sox to clinch the AL East?  When Teixeira and the Yanks walked off against the Twins?  When David Robertson got out of that bases loaded, no one out jam?  When the final out was tossed from Canó to Teixeira?

At some point, you knew.

You had to.

This team was simply too good.

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