[Reagan Man]

I doubt they were throwing the game.

I think they played like a team, who simply wasn't hungey enough, to want to win. After all, Mondesi said this past week, he will be retiring after making $13 million in 2003. That doesn't sound like something Paul O'Neil would say. Now does it?

Just my opinion, but Jeff Weaver seems like he could care less what's happening. Injuries to Rivera, Clemens and Pettite really hurt the pitching staff. And Karsay is a bum.

Bottom line. There are not many Yanks, who have the killer instinct and that desire to win. Aside from Jeter, whose a leader on the Yankees? Berine? No. Soriano? No. Posada? No. White? No. I already said Giambi, Mondesi and Ventura aren't leaders either. Think about it. And pitchers aren't usually looked at for team leadership. Inspiration and field domination, yes. But leadership, not really.

[NYCVirago]

Good points -- I didn't really think they were throwing the game, but they sure played like it! At the risk of using a really lame analogy, it's like Rocky in Rocky III -- they didn't have the "eye of the tiger" that the Angels did. As for leadership, I think Giambi was a leader in Oakland, but it's too soon for him to be a leader in New York. And for all the whining this season about the Yanks getting Mondesi and Weaver, they didn't make a dime's worth of difference this season.