It's from a North Dakota paper which I'm not sure makes sense,
but..........
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Torre has Ortiz to blame for downfall
If Joe Torre gets bounced out of the New York Yankees dugout, only one
person is to blame.
Not George Steinbrenner, who will be doing the bouncing. Not Alex
Rodriguez. Not even Joe Torre himself.
Torre started losing his grip on the team due the antics of one man -
David Ortiz.
And that slide started in 2004.
The Yankees were up 3-0 on the hated Boston Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS,
and looked in control. That's when Ortiz single-handedly willed Boston
back from extinction.
Ortiz hit game-ending home runs in back-to-back games - one in the 12th
inning, the other in the 14th - to start Boston on the biggest comeback
in baseball history. Ortiz also homered in the first inning of Game 7 of
that same ALCSto help seal the deal.
That's when the cracks started forming in the foundation.
Since then, the Yankees have still been the same, highly-paid roster,
but they've gone soft. And Torre has lost control.
Since then, the Yankees haven't won a playoff series, losing in five
games to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in 2005, and the Detroit
Tigers this season.
In fairness, that 2005 Angels team had gone 14-2 in the final 16 games
of the season to run away with the West, but the Yankees won the first
game of the series.
The excuse of playing a sizzling team won't fly this year. The Tigers
had lost five games in a row to end the season - including a three-game
sweep at the hands of the juggernaut Kansas City Royals - to cap off the
collapse that cost them the division title.
Again, the Yankees won Game 1 and then took a nap.
Since that super Yankees squad got smoked by Ortiz and the Red Sox, they
have turned into a bunch of whiners, and they can't get along.
Team captain Derek Jeter was quick to come to Torre's defense when the
talk of the manager's firing started about 30 seconds after the Tigers
were spraying champagne on the Comerica Park fans.
But where was Jeter in backing Alex Rodriguez when the media was
crashing down around the third baseman?
They don't have to get along, but they should have each other's back -
like the Yankees of the late 1990s did when they were winning World
Series after World Series.
That togetherness and the killer instinct are gone from this team, and
somebody else has to bring it back, because it has slipped away from
Torre.
Who would've thought that when Ortiz was smacking those home runs deep
into the night in the wee hours of the morning that they would be so
meaningful two years later?
You can bet Torre didn't think so, and neither did Steinbrenner.
How is it the Red Sox can always get the last laugh on the Yankees
lately, even if the Beantowners don't even make the playoffs?

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DON !!!
GOING BASIC !!!
GO 200SEVEN BOSTON
RED SOX !!!