One of my favorite sports writers is Tom Verducci. He does the “Inside Baseball” column for Sports Illustrated and it provides a wealth of information. Mr Verducci provides insights on baseball that really helps in understanding some of the nuances of the game. So, I looked to Mr Verducci to give an ‘inside’ perspective on what happened with the New York Yankees. One does not have to be a Yankee fan to wonder what really happened, as the Yankees slowly and remarkably imploded.

And to Tom Verducci, who follows baseball for a living, it is baffling:

“…It simply doesn’t compute. Even a lousy hitter will run into a mistake once, the pitched ball arriving directly in the path of the hitter’s swing. A bloop falls in somewhere. A ball takes a bad hop. Something. Anything. How could it happen?”

link: What’s next?

On one hand, it is nice to see that the Yankee collapse also escapes explanation by the experts. It furthers the mystery. October still haunts Alex Rodriguez. But it was not just Alex Rodriguez; other Yankees had horrid performances. It defies explanation. It makes baseball a wonderful game. Sometimes, the statistics fly in the face of logic and remain a continuing October mystery. Even Tom Verducci is left wondering.

Catherine Forsythe

[tags]baseball, tom verducci, new york yankees, statistics[/tags]