When Jorge Posada looks around the clubhouse here in Tampa, he channels something from the spring of 1998, after the awful disappointment of losing the '97 Division Series at Cleveland."Hopefully, we have the same attitude we had in '98,'' Posada said. "Just go out there, and don't take anything for granted, get together as a group...and just get on a roll right from the get-go.''
... Coming off a third-place finish, these Yankees should have a chip on their shoulder, just like the O'Neill-Jeter-Posada-Cone-Etcetera Yankees had coming off '97.Yes they should.
No one burns about such lost opportunities quite as hot as Posada, and he sees that only one every day player (Mark Teixeira) has been added to the regular group that finished last year. They ought to burn about being the reigning third-place club in the AL East, in Posada's mind.Does anyone remember the 1998 Yankeeography?
There's a clip from spring training and all the players were saying that they were clearly the team to beat and basically acting like nobody else had a chance. They were so confident it was actually surprising. Sure enough, that confidence mixed with the disappointment of '97 led to 125 wins, and arguably, the greatest team ever. I wish I saw that same kind of confidence from this team.
That '98 team had the moxie it did because of the players on that roster. This team is going to need people to step up and be those kind of leaders.
7 Comments:
I hope it does.
I know the exact part you're talking about. I couldn't believe how cocky they were. It was awesome.
Since 2001 this team hasn't been the same, maybe guys like CC and Teixeira will change that.
I think part of the confidence of that team had to do with the rest of the league. There were no teams as dynamic as the Red Sox and the Rays back then. Teams either had a good lineup and a crappy rotation or vice versa.
Rob, that may have been part of it, I don't think the 2009 Rays or Red Sox would scare those Yankees at all. I think they'd have the same attitude in today's AL East and they did back then.
It was just a mentality that team had. I don't think they cared who they were playing, and who was on the other team. They had a certain swagger - they knew they could and would beat anyone.
They had a lot more swagger because they had just won the world series two years prior, and felt that Cleveland only got lucky against them in 07.
The current team has suffered one brutal blow after the next, every single year since 2001. You can't have the same swagger after 8 straight seasons of losing in the playoffs. I just don't see how you could.
If the 08 team was coming off of 8 straight seasons making the playoffs and not winning a World Series, and then 07 not even making the playoffs, do you think they would have been walking around all cocky and confident? Not a chance.
Meant to say "if the 98 team" in that last paragraph
Anon,
Players can be confident and walk with a swagger if they feel they're on a team that has a chance to compete.
One of the players who was interviewed in spring training in '98 was Chuck Knoblauch, and he wasn't on the '96 team. It was his first year with the teams.
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