2004 ALDS, Game Two: Twins @ Yankees 

It wasn’t “the Yankee curse” yet. If it was like 2009… then I’d agree

@@fralf4381 I'd say at the time it was an overall playoff curse. Yes, they'd lost the previous year's division series to the Yankees as well, but that year they literally felt fortunate just to win the first game--they'd gone 0-7 against them in the season series. It was like they proved they could win a game against them, and then they lay down and died. '04 was different. They had a legitimate shot to beat them in the series and Gardenhire blew it, sacrificing all the momentum they'd built up. That started a curse, there's no other way to explain 18 straight playoff losses. Call it the Yankee curse or the post-season curse, whichever you will, but that game was the first of 18. It's been partially exorcised now by winning a post-season series, but I don't believe it will be fully exorcised until they beat the Yankees in a playoff series

lukerbom12 2004 Yankees were overrated and lucky to be up 3-0. They almost blew a 7-0 lead in game 1 of the ALCS as well. The pitching staff was just terrible, I get why they didn’t re-sign those guys because they were in decline, especially Clemens and Wells (who also shot his way out of town), but not paying Pettite was a cardinal sin that bringing him back to win in 2009 does not right. It was basically betraying a franchise player by lowballing him, forcing him to retire to get out of town and be able to get his worth. Steinbrenner was pissed at the Yankees offense being shut down by Beckett in the 2003 World Series, so his idea wasn’t to re-bolster his own pitching staff but instead to get better hitters. Hence the Yankees got A-Rod, Sheffield, Kenny Lofton, and a whole bunch of other guys they didn’t need instead of the pitching they did need. Their pitching was barely enough to beat an inferior Red Sox team in 03, it wasn’t even close to good enough to beat Boston’s far superior 04 roster. The moves also robbed the Yankees of their team speed and saddled the lineup with power hitting meatheads. The Yankees couldn’t play small ball in game 6 against schilling which is why Torre didn’t even try. Look how disastrously playing small ball worked for Torre the night before, when he had Jeter sac bunt Cairo to third to bring up A-Rod needing just a sac-fly for what would have been the winning run. And only needing to put it in play somewhere, A-Rod predictably struck out. At the end of the day, a hobbled Schilling, an older Pedro who was routinely garbage after the 100 pitch mark, and an underachieving Derek Lowe who was not even in the rotation at the start of the ALCS, were still far superior options to anyone on the Yankees staff besides Mussina, who himself wasn’t really a true ace and was better suited to be a #2. The Yankees tried to make Lieber into Pettite-At-A-Discount, and while he was decent he was never quite in that next level, which showed in game 6 where Lieber watched schilling dominate on one leg while he was out there serving up a 3 run homer to a guy had become the butt of all jokes in Boston at that point, Mark Bellhorn. And trading for 39-year old overpaid headcase Kevin Brown was one of the dumbest moves ever made by the Yankee franchise. Their overall pitching culture also sucked around this time, recall the Yankees paying an outrageous sum for Jose Contreras after the Red Sox had rented out an entire hotel to prevent the Yankees from signing him, but he was absolutely terrible for the Yankees so they flipped him to the White Sox for Esteban Loaiza who had recently started the All Star Game, and Loaiza immediately starts pitching like garbage and wasn’t even in the Yankees rotation, while Contreras blossomed into an unbelievably good pitcher in Chicago. Yet another glaring weakness in the pitching staff was the lack of left-handed specialists in the bullpen. The Yankees only lefty reliever was Felix Heredia, who they didn’t trust at all as he couldn’t stop plunking and/or walking people. Aka he couldn’t throw a strike. And that’s just their pitching issues, that’s not even considering the possibility of a hitting slump like the one the Yankees got in during latter half of the ALCS. These are really the reasons why the Red Sox were the favorites going into the postseason and going into the ALCS, the Yankees were lucky to escape the Twins.

​@@TheLocalLt Yeah, I know a lot of fans who really regret the fact that Andy Pettitte was not on the '04 team...however, it's not like the Red Sox couldn't ever hit those guys. In both series the Yankees were up 3-2, Jon Lieber actually pitched better than Pettitte did in Game 6 2003, the difference was Schilling.. The Yankees had pretty decent starts, including from an older El Duque. It was really just Kevin Brown who was awful.

@@TheLocalLt Obviously I know the Yankees had better pitching in 2003 than in 2004, I just don't think that should take away from what the Red Sox accomplished since the Yankees tried as hard as they did to make their team better after that offseason, and had a more dangerous offense overall.

lukerbom12 I just wrote a lengthy rebuttal and it disappeared into thin air but I will write it again when I wake up tomorrow. Lol youtube

Or maybe I won’t I’m too pissed off right now the wording was absolutely perfect. Basically short version is you’re wrong the Yankees starts in the 04 ALCS were mediocre el Duque and Mussina were not good enough in either game Yankees were lucky to be leading late both times, both pitchers also saddled the exhausted and flawed bullpen with huge workloads each night to get to Rivera, but I also felt it was unfair to Moose to ask him to be a #1 when he was never that. But bottom line Yanks needed at least 7 or more innings with around 3 R and 5-6 hits. I thought at the one moose was that guy but he wasn’t, however in hindsight it was an unfair position to put him in. But bottom line Yankees needed 7+ strong innings and had nobody capable

Bob Heck they damn well did have a chance, and very well might have if Gardenhire had gotten Nathan the hell out of there. Closers are not supposed to be asked to pitch 3 innings, they're not wired that way. They had their shot and Gardenhire blew it, and after that you're right they had no chance because they lost all the momentum they should have had by winning the first two on the road.

@@ADEAL918 except mariano.

Francis ONeill I think even he as a rule wasn't asked to pitch three innings. He'd go two more often than most closers, yes. But I'm pretty sure Nathan had never gone three innings as a closer all that season, and with two good setup men in the bullpen whom Gardenhire still hadn't used yet in this game, there's no excuse for his pulling that stunt with Nathan here. The Twins had a real chance here and Gardenhire blew it with his idiocy.

Bob Heck they may have possibly had a chance, this Yankees team was as hollow a 100 win team as there has ever been

And if the Twins do hold the lead in Games 2 and 4, the epic ALCS never happens. And would the Red Sox have won, knowing they would face Johan Santana twice in a short series? It's one of many what ifs in baseball history.

Not to mention the fact that Nathan absolutely should not have been asked to pitch a third inning. Closers are not wired to go that long. Letting him even START that inning was questionable. STILL leaving him in to pitch to A-Rod after the two walks was certifiable insanity, literally feeding him to the wolves. There was NO WAY IN HELL he was getting A-Rod out in that situation. He had nothing left. And EVERYONE in that park (and everyone watching at home) knew that EXCEPT the ONE person who needed to know that. The one who thought he was competing in a Grady Little manage-alike contest instead of an ALDS

Derek Ruff agreed. Just rewatched for the first time. Why why why was Nathan sent out for a third inning?!?

Thats because y'all soft as hell.

2009 game 2 and 3 is pretty bad.

@@adrianselbst6777 not to me

@@jacobrichardson1952 Interesting. I guess being 2 outs away from being up 2-0 going back home is a pretty big blow. But then again these yankees did have the holy spirit about them for 8 or 9 years. Just remember 2009 so much more vividly and how close Nathan was to splitting the series and then the twins loading the bases in extras and not scoring, only to get walked off dramatically. Then Pavano blowing Game 3 and Punto getting nailed trying to score in the 8th... in the last game ever at the metrodome.... I had a minnesota friend tell me that was just the worst to see the yansk go on to win the WS after that.

then you weren't paying attention to what he did in 2009

Everybody wins when the Yankees lose.

@@thomasd.maybank272 I guess everybody is going to lose this year, huh?

@@etchedinstone7562 You're never making it past Houston.

Joe DeBaun the whole diatribe about not being impressed by jeter’s home run came off as whiny