Padres spanked by yanks

October 28, 1998
Originally published by The State Hornet (Sacramento State)

Eating crow is not a specialty of mine.

It is not something I do very easily.

Sadly, I was forced to last week when that precision machine called the New York Yankees swept San Diego out of the World Series, four games to none.

The boys in pinstripes have now won their 24th World Series title (in 35 appearances) convincingly. San Diego also wears pinstripes--but we all know there is only one team that makes them famous. The Bronx Bombers.

It wasn't even competitive. Simply put, the Yankees out-executed, out-managed, and outplayed the Padres. In three of the four games, the Padres held a lead, only to watch it go up in smoke.

Which is what the swinging friars got. Smoked.

The Yankees proved beyond a shadow of a doubt they were the best team in baseball this year. Obviously they know how to win, because they didn't win 114 games in the regular season for nothing.

In fact, if it hadn't been for those pesky Cleveland Indians in 1997, the Yankees would probably have been looking at a three-peat this year.

They now have two world titles in the last three years, and only Atlanta and Cleveland have appeared in the postseason more often in the 1990s.

I don't necessarily think the '98 Yankees are the best team of all time. Let's see if they can add a few more rings in the next few years to pass judgment on that.

You could certainly make a case for the powerhouse Oakland and Cincinnati teams of the '70s, the Baltimore Orioles of the late '60s, the '27 Yankees, the '06 Cubs.

But the Yankees were so dominant this year because they had the best team, not the best individuals.

That's what set them apart. No superstars. No gimmicks. No catchy slogans or nicknames. Just a confidence that every time they set foot inside a ballpark, they expected to win.

In other words, Paul O'Neill, Bernie Williams, Chuck Knoblauch, Derek Jeter, David Cone and David Wells hardly match up to the mystique of fellows like Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson and Don Mattingly, but that's beside the point.

San Diego and their fans were shaken up as this train wreck of a Series came to a conclusion, but the truth was that they were fortunate just to be there in the first place.

The Padres got past two teams who should have beaten them, Randy Johnson-led Houston and the always tough Braves. They were lucky enough to get momentum at just the right time.

It might be good enough to convince the city to build a new ballpark to keep baseball in San Diego. Anybody who says San Diego can't support baseball is nuts.

Hey, Ted Williams is a native San Diegan, for Chrissakes!

Along with a dilemma facing the future of baseball in San Diego, the majors also have to be concerned with the plight of small-market teams being suffocated.

Those that have--the New Yorks, Clevelands, and Atlantas--are steadily getting more. The Oaklands, Pittsburghs, Montreals and Kansas Citys are all starving to death. It is next to impossible for a small-market team to even be competitive these days.

Thus saved by Big Mac and Sosa, plus the spellbinding battle for the playoff seats, and the emergence of a powerhouse, baseball is off the respirator. Now we can enter the 21st century.