"This Is It!" Moments Through the Years

It's amazing when you think about it - over the years, the Junkees have made a number of moves that made me so mad that I cursed and pouted and vowed to cancel my Direct TV baseball package. Am I glad I didn't. Four years, and no rings to show for all the moves. Let's review them:

2001 - When Chuck Knoblauch kept throwing the ball into the stands, they got him out of second base and put in the likes of Luis Sojo and Jose Vizcaino. And they still won it all! Then, when they decided that Soriano would start at second in 2001, I said uh-oh. The hot shot almost became a 40-40 guy, but couldn't hit a home run in the last seven games or so (thankfully), but it scared the heck out of me. Also, when they signed Mike Mussina, I got scared. David Cone was gone, and to put in the Moose with Pettitte and El Duque, I thought they'd win for sure. And as we all know, I was almost right. But they lost, thanks to Mariano Rivera's unraveling.

2002 - So then they got Jason Giambi, a season removed from being AL MVP with a .342 batting average and a ton of home runs, and I thought, okay, now they're going to win, no question about it. Then, when Enrique Wilson miplayed the fly ball against the Schmets, they went out and got Raul Mondesi. Not to mention David Wells screwing the Diamondbacks and going back to the Yankees. At the time, I was shivering. But come the 2002 ALDS I was thanking my lucky stars that they had Wells.

2003 - Now they go out and import Shemp Matsui. So now, left field, which had always been for the number nine hitters, the Ricky Ledees and Shane Spencers of the world (Spencer's strong September 1998 notwithstanding), my blood was boiling. Of course the late-season pickup of Aaron Boone frightened me, because Robin Ventura was an old man by then. But, Joe Snorre had the good sense to have Jeff Weaver pitch to Alex Gonzalez in the World Series, and the Junkees couldn't figure out Josh Beckett in Game 6, and so....

2004 - George pulls off the mother of all deals, acquiring Alex Rodriguez from the Rangers. Ask Manny how much I freaked out. And Sheffield. No way they could lose now. But, they did.

2005 - Randy Johnson. Carl Pavano. For some reason, I was still paranoid, and I thought, my goodness. This is the year they break their string of four no-ring years. On May 5, at 11 wins and 17 losses, my fretting may have been for naught.