Yankees could provide lesson to 2005 White Sox

[southsider2k5]

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...tesox-headlines

 

When the White Sox's losing streak had reached seven games and their AL Central lead was down to 8 1/2 games, they found an empathetic foe.

 

The Yankees had been there and done that. In fact, the Yankees had been in a much worse position than seeing their lead slip away in August.

 

The year was 2000, and the Yankees held a nine-game lead over the Red Sox on Sept. 13. New York lost 15 of its final 18 games, including six in a row. The Yanks won just one of seven games to end the season.

 

But the story had a happy ending for those looking for bright spots in the White Sox's recent slide. The Yankees beat the Red Sox by 2 1/2 games and rampaged through the playoffs, winning the World Series over the Mets.

 

"Panic-stricken," manager Joe Torre remembers of that September. "In fact, I had a meeting in Baltimore saying, 'Guys, we're going to drink the champagne before the game.' It was just to try to relax them. That didn't work. They laughed, but it didn't work."

 

Actually, the Yankees did clinch in Baltimore, but it was after a loss. As players filed into the locker room, they walked right past the champagne. Torre admonished them to drink up.

 

"He told us to celebrate for the entire season, not for a week or a month," Derek Jeter said.

 

So the skid the Sox ended Sunday with their 6-2 victory over the Yankees was nothing compared with what the Yankees went through in 2000. Not yet.

 

"[Ours] was at the end of the year, and we were backing our way into the division," Torre said. "[The Sox] are a little early for that.

 

"I don't care how good a team you are, this game depends on just the good feelings you have about yourself. It's such a fragile thing. Right now [with the Sox], there may be a little hesitation, where they didn't have that before. But it's normal. It's what all clubs go through, I don't care how good you are."

 

Said Yankees first baseman Tino Martinez: "We were getting our butts kicked every day. We had our doubts, but we knew things were going to turn around. Then once you get back in the postseason, it's back to 0-0."

 

Luis Sojo, a Yankees player then and a coach now, said: "It was like we couldn't do anything right. It was a concern because we weren't hitting. It would be a lie to say we weren't concerned. But we knew the playoffs were a different story.

 

"[The Sox] have played good all year. But I don't care how good you are, you're going to go through things like they have been."

 

Said Torre: "When you go through something like [the Sox have], you have to look at the big picture and not live in the last week or so. That's the most important thing. It's the psychological part."

 

Two things the White Sox can take from the 2000 Yankees:

 

A big lead built early in the year allows a team to survive a late-season swoon.

 

Hobbling into the playoffs is no guarantee a World Series can't be won.

 

"We went into the playoffs really ragged," said Paul O'Neill, one of the veterans on that Yankees team and now a broadcaster. "It can wear on you, but it's funny how you go into the playoffs and you turn the page. In September we had our doubts we were a good team. But once the postseason starts, you get one win and everything changes."

[Jordan4life_2007]

I remember that very well. The Yankees were flat out playing horrible going into the playoffs. They were on a 100 win pace. They ended up with I believe 85.