Yankeetorial: It had to happen this way

Fate waits.
While you hurry
Or while you wait.

It's all the same to fate.
-- John Irving --

"Setting Free the Bears"

Now that it's done, it seems so simple, so clean, so obvious: The 2010 Yankees were always destined to disappoint. They had nothing in common with 2009 -- no banana creme walkoffs, no emerging footnote characters, no tarnished stars seeking redemption... no fate.

Other teams, even the Rays, died gasping and grasping, spitting vinegar. Our lone shining moment -- Game One -- resulted from Ranger pitchers who could not throw strikes. We lost four times without even mounting final challenges.

All season, John Sterling lamented the warning signs...

No name pitchers beat us.

We failed to move baserunners.

Once behind, we just started looking to tomorrow.

And now... there is none.

For four months, we were baseball's best team. Yet without deadline salary-dumps, we would have missed the playoffs.

For six months, we laughed as injuries decimated Boston. Yet in September, we just barely held them off.

Fate. It was always lurking.

We had no prodigal son, no mythic hero. Javier Vazquez was supposed to achieve redemption. Joba and Hughes were supposed to ascend into manhood. Jeet and Jorge were supposed to have one last October.

Alas, fate proved Yogi wrong.

It was over long ago. We just refused to see it.