Is it time for Joe to go?

George Steinbrenner should fire Joe Torre after this latest meltdown. He should not be fired because of this one series, but rather because of his whole body of work since the 2001 season. Since leading the Yankees to three world series in his first four seasons, he has gone the last six years without winning a World Series. Despite appearing twice in the World Series, Torre has bowed out in the playoffs to less talented teams every one of those years minus the 2001 World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Yankees overacheived in that series losing in the ninth inning of game 7.
In 2002 the Yankees were beaten and out pitched by the wild card Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Despite winning 103 games in the regular season, and finishing 8-2 down the stretch, the Yankees could not figure out the Angels. In the four game series which Anaheim won 3-1 the Yankees pitching let up 31 runs. Although Anaheim was not dominant on the mound, their offense carried them to the victory, and would wind up winning the world series.
In 2003 the Yankees were beaten by the National League wild card Florida Marlins who were led by ace Josh Beckett. In game 6, with the Yankees best on the mound at home, Andy Pettitte was outdueled by the Marlins youngster 2-0. Beckett was sensational in the series, but the Marlins were not the most talented team in the series. It was a pitching dominated series with the Yankees averaging just under 3 runs against per game, while Florida let up 3.5 runs per game.
In 2004 the Yankees won the AL East and would take on the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS. This was one of the biggest blown opportunities as the Yankees went up 3 games to none in the best of seven series. In the third game, the Yankees dominated Boston pitching winning the game 19-8. However the Yankees would lose the next three games, all pretty close to send the series to a seventh game. In game 7 Kevin Brown was sent to the mound, and was absolutely awful. The Yankees ended up losing the game 10-3.
In 2005 the Yankees faced their biggest nemesis of the Torre era the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and were beaten in five games. The Yankees were down 2-1 in the series after winning the first game in Anaheim. With the Yankees on the brink of elimination the team was able to come back from a 2-0 defecit winning the game 3-2. In the decisive game though, Torre's Yankees would once again fall short 5-3 in the game.
In 2006 the Yankees for the second straight year would fall short of advancing past the divisional round. This year they would face the Detroit Tigers who had not appeared in the playoffs since the 1987 season. The Yankees won the first game 8-4. However over the next three games the Yankees would struggle to score over the next three games. In the second game the Yankees took a 3-1 lead in the fourth inning, before falling 4-3 in the game. Game 3 the Yankees would be shutout by Kenny Rogers losing the game 6-0. The Yankees collapse was completed in the fourth game where they fell behind 8-0 in the sixth inning. The Yankees would snap their streak of 17 innings without a run scored in the seventh inning. The Yankees would lose the game 8-3.
This year the Yankees beat the Indians in all 6 meetings during the regular season, but are unable to win more then one game in the series. The Indians lose the first two games at Cleveland 12-3 and 2-1. In the third game, the Yankees survive off the bat of Johnny Damon and the huge relief effort of Phil Hughes after Clemens leaves the game early. With the Yankees given a second life, Wang would surrender that to Grady Sizemore as the first batter of the game. The Yankees fell 6-4 after Wang let up 4 runs over one plus innings.
With three straight lackluster performances by Torre's teams in the playoffs, maybe it is not the players as much as it is the manager. With the Yankees having quite a bit of young pitching talent, and Torre having a reputation of over using pitchers, maybe now is the time that the manager gets changed. My top choice would be to see Joe Girardi as manager. How can you pass up on a manager who led the Florida Marlins last season late in to the playoffs race. I expect though that the job will be handed to Joe Torre's bench coach Don Mattingly. As a big fan of Donnie Baseball, I would hate to see him fail if it is him who takes over the reins.

Paul Blackborow