@ MJ:
yes, i agree Hindsight is 20/20. That being said, there was so many questions with that team regarding the pitching…with the Unit having a bad year, going into the season with Chacon, Jaret Wright, a Moose that had been bad for 2 years prior and had question marks, and Wang going into his first full season. This was also the year where we needed Cory Lidle down the stretch. We had Farnsworth as our set up man. The problems of this year seem non-existent in comparison.

Randy Johnson tweaking his back towards the end of the season hurt. I remember him receiving an epidural before his start in game 3. Wang not coming back on short rest hurt too (I’d rather see him than Wright or Lidle), but I understand why he couldn’t go.

@ Corey:
@ MJ:

Definitely agree with you guys. This year’s team has that same feel, but after 2006 i’ll never fully feel that way again until we’re celebrating the final out of the World Series.

@ Corey:
Hindsight being 20/20, yeah, I feel better about this team too. But, back in the moment, I thought the ’06 team was the real deal.

@ MJ:
to be honest, i feel better about this team.

I agree. The 2006 team “felt” right to me, especially given how much adversity the team had overcome by losing Matsui and Sheffield within a few weeks of eachother, Melky’s game-saving catch off Manny’s shot in June, the Boston Massacre… I was stunned at the LDS result.

It’s a good lesson for us because this ’09 team feels just as great as that ’06 team felt.

@ YankCrank:
I agree Crank. After we won Game 1, I was already making plans for the 27th champ gear I was gonna order. That series has and probably will, curb all future enthusiasm until we make it back to the WS. 2004 didnt help matters either.

I truly, without a doubt felt that we were unstoppable in 2006. We rolled over everybody, including the Sox, and when I saw that all we had to go through in the playoffs were the Tigers and A’s to get to the series I really believed everything fell into place for us.

That 2006 team was so good. Seriously, no Sox in the playoffs, no Angels and eventually the Cardinals in the World Series. I think the first round loss in 2006 was the toughest of them all for me to handle. I was so sure that was our year.

Steve, I’m with you. It’s nice to be where we are but the post-season is where it’s at. And the prospect of facing BOS in the ACLS is anxiety provoking.

As Jeter always says, “We haven’t accomplished anything yet.”

This season has been exciting. I feel like I’m much more optimistic than I’ve been, probably since 2004. This is a different team than years past. This is not Mussina and Giambi’s teams. This is Teixeira and Sabathia. Things are different.