Why Yankees?

Great answer! [/sarcasm]

I think that's a correct answer, if not a very thorough one. It could be rephrased as "they weren't AS good as the Indians."

Pitching wins int he playoffs... Sabathia and Carmona vs Wang and Petitte (an aging one)

That's great Justin, but Wang was considered for the Cy Young award and you can't get more clutch in playoffs than Andy Pettitte. So your answer doesn't hold any water.

It takes more than one, Insan. He can't start them all.

Yea, Wang and Pettitte. That's two. What I want to know is why do they all of a sudden suck why their opponents steam roll through them.

I think JuT said it best. IMO, there are 2 things that a playoff team has to win a World Series: pitching, and clutch hitting/scoring runs when you need to. Remember all the walk-off homers that the Yankees had? Bernie Williams, Scott Brosius, Aaron Boone... those are all clutch hits that helped the Yankees win ballgames. Pitching is also a main factor. Look at the '05 White Sox. It was the first time in history where 4 starters pitched 8 or more innings of one game in a World Series (I think). They did really well, as they swept the Astros.

I expected a more intelligent answer coming from "the baseball guru"...

^^^^2 great starting pitchers OR 4 very good starting pitchers

It doesn't have to be homegrown, look at the 2001 Diamondbacks with Johnson and Schilling, or the 2004 Red Sox with Martinez, Schilling, Lowe, Foulke, and Timlin. It just has to be good, and the Yankees have not been able to acquire good enough pitchers.

I don't care whose money it is... you can't buy a championship...

"You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club won't be worth a dime." ~Babe Ruth

If they actually ARE in a slump, then they made it easier for us to remember. Think about it. The last time they won was in 2000. It's 2007 right now, so it's been 7 years since they've won...

Romi, first nice quote, second they won't win another WS until 2086

<crybaby voice> I want it to be 2087! </crybaby voice>

I think I might have an idea why. Everyone says starting pitching, but I don't think that's true. It all depends on how healthy the team is and how well the manager makes decisions, I guess. It also has to do with how clutch the players are in the offseason, something that AROD didn't do in the road games; didn't even get a hit. Derek Jeter had a batting average of under .200. Take a look at the batting stats of each Yankees team in the playoff series they were eliminated. '04: Jeter, AROD, Matsui, and Sheffield did jack, '05: they played the Angels (no explanation except the fact that they played them), '06: same thing, no clutch hits, no scoring against the Tigers' good pitching, '07: the Indians had better pitching, and did better as a team. You can tell me that a 12-3 victory is just lucky. The offense of the Indians was much better than the Yankees' and so was the pitching. Wang pitched in 2 of those games, and was probably the main cause of this. Pettite pitched very well in game 2, and I'm surprised Torre didn't use HIM in game 4. That's basically my overall reason: the fact that the team can't work together better than their opposing teams in the situations they're in.

It's not just having pitchers who put up regular season stats, it's having pitchers who are clutch in the playoffs. The Indians pen didn't give up a run until game 4, and Carmona was amazing in game 2.

Wang had a phenomenal regular season, but he blew in this series.

The Indians outpitched the Yankees. Nuf said.

So basically the management overstayed their welcome?

The answer is pretty decent, A LOT better than what everyone else wrote so far. But it still doesn't explain a lot of things. For example, Jeter aka Captain Clutch sucking and Wang getting demolished in Game 1.

I really hope a change in coaching is the answer because I don't see any logical reason for exactly why the Yankees suck it up in the playoffs year after year following an awesome regular season.

My above comment was for Romi... Raw, Wang did awesome last season in playoffs against the Tigers. It doesn't explain why he sucked this year.

That is a great comment right there, Raw. Yes, I definitely agree with you. It doesn't matter what you do in the regular season. Just to add something, Chien Ming Wang is OFF when he gets a loss... and I mean he does pretty bad, and unfortunately for the Yanks, he was OFF in the 2 games he pitched.

Like I said, Insan, it all comes down to the playoffs. If you have clutch pitching, you'll be able to get guys out. Bobby Abreu had a big homer in the 9th for example. Who else got on base in the 9th for the Yanks in Game 4? Nobody. They were down by 2, and were facing a young Todd Jones: someone who gives up a lot of runs.

CAPTAIN Clutch isn't Caption Clutch all the time. He was, I don't know if he has been since what? 2001?

Some people just have bad/good days. Maybe Chien Ming Wang isn't that great in the playoffs. Guys like Andy Pettite, John Smoltz, Josh Beckett, and Curt Schilling are. They like being in pressure situations and are able to get guys out because of it.

I don't know, I guess it's because of the design of the game. It requires some skill and some luck. I just finished listening to Mike and Mike in the Morning and they were talking about it. They pretty much said that the game is designed for teams to lose 3 or 4 straight. It's just when you lose those 3-4 games. Maybe we're just really unlucky, it's all very confusing to me...

Now, I'm just askind, what about '08? No faith?

Johan Santana in 09.

I see what you are saying... it makes sense to me at the least

an interesting analogy.