Say it ain't so Joe..Torre. I'm sorry but even as a die hard Red Sox fan I find myself pitying the lack of class the Yankees have shown to one of their own. Joe Torre has had his job threatened more then a few times by the unstable and illogical owner of the Yankees, George Steinbrenner. I know the Yanks have the highest payroll year in and year out and should be expected to compete with that kind of payroll commitment. But they did. Joe Torre led New York to 10 American League East titles in his 12 years. Twelve out of twelve years found the Yankees under Joe, in the coveted post-season (something most teams do once every twelve years on average).

The problem with being the Yankees though is that any season without a  world championship is a train wreck. It doesn't matter that there are twenty-nine other teams also trying for the same goal. It doesn't matter that Joe Torre won the championship once every three years. The dominant performance of the Yankees throughout the last 2,000 or so regular season games (1,167 wins and 767 losses .605) under Torre counts for squat. What matters is the best-of- five series the Yanks have lost in each of the past three years in the first round. What sticks out like a sore thumb is the record choke of all time when the baseball dynasty New York Yankees gave up a three game lead and lost to the hated AL East rivals the Boston Red Sox who went on to win the 2004 World Series.

OK, sure. These things happened on Torre's watch but name two things he failed to do or something he did do to cause the collapse of success the last few years. I tried and couldn't come up with anything like the cringing Red Sox lore such as; Macnamara not pulling Buckner for defensive purposes in Game 6 of the '86 World Series against the Mets or Johnson putting rookie pitcher Jim Burton in the uber pressured situation of Game 7 in the 75' World Series to face and lose to the 'Big Red' Machine in Cincinnati. The fact is Mr. Steinbrenner is spoiled with the successful run the Yankees gave him when Torre began his tenure. Four out of five  world championship rings to start was never realistically going to be seen again no matter how much George spent. The Marlins, Twins and Tigers have proved that money doesn't mean automatic championships. Luck, talent are part of it, fate has a hand in it but there is no escaping the decision making of the manager as a crucial element.
 
The Yankee organization has a poor case against Mr. Torre, who by the way, just finished in my opinion, one of his greatest seasons. Yeah so the Yanks were eliminated by the Cleveland Indians who will face the Sox in just over two hours from now in Game 6 of the 2007 ALCS. The fact remains that the Yankees (who suck) came up with one of the gutsiest performances in recent memory, rising from the dead and breathing down the red Sox' back to end the season down just two games after being down as many as 15 1/2. I think Joe Torre had quite a bit to do with that surge which did have Red Sox nation and anyone else in the playoffs sweating it out. Maybe Joe Torre's best managerial decision ever was to say "No", to the Yankees yesterday.
Well, look on the bright side, it will be a bit easier to hate the Yankees without one of the classiest guys to have ever graced the diamond on their bench.