In any event, if the Yankees do win, the debate will begin around “The Team of the Decade 2000-2009″ – with the Yankees and Red Sox each waiving their two rings (from this decade) in the air.

Shoot, even if the unimaginable happens, and the Yankees lose – leaving the Red Sox and Phillies as the only teams with two rings this decade – many will want to claim the Yankees as “The Team of the Decade” given all their wins from 2000-09 and their number of first place finishes.

And, that leads to today’s wild thought: Say the Yankees do lose this World Series. But, nonetheless, you still want to say they’re still the team of the decade due to finishing first so many times in the last 10 years. Then, does that mean the Atlanta Braves were “The Team of the Decade 1990-1999″ even though the Yankees had three rings during that span? After all, didn’t the Braves have twice as many first place finishes as the Yankees from 1990 through 1999?

If you’re a Yankees fan, I doubt you’d want to say the Braves were “The Team of the Decade 1990-1999.” So, then, if the Yankees lose this World Series, how could they have any claim as to being the “The Team of the Decade 2000-2009″?

Now, Phil is as big a Yankees fan as can be found. And, he really wanted to see the ALCS game – but, there was no way he could skip the wedding. So, he decided to play the weather game – hoping that there would be a rain-out last Saturday, the day of Game Two, where they would call the game and then play “Game Two” on Sunday (the next day). This way, he could go to the wedding and then go to the game the following day.

But, they didn’t call the game last Saturday. And, on the following Monday, I asked Phil if he ended up selling his tickets at the last minute.

Much to my surprise, he said that he ended up eating the tickets. According to Phil, he offered the tickets to several people on Saturday morning, once he realized that the game was not going to be called in advance, and could find no takers. In fact, he said that he couldn’t even give them away – despite telling all that the seats were under cover and safe from the rain, etc., should it happen.

Related, just last night, someone who I work with told me that their friend went to the game last Saturday. She told that her friend went on to StubHub the morning of the game and found tons of seats available for sale – at discount prices – probably because people didn’t want to deal with the cold and rain, etc.

So, this all leads to today’s wild thought: Have Yankees fans become “fair weather” fans? If not, how can you explain people having to dump tickets at discount prices for an ALCS game – or not even being able to give great tickets to an ALCS game for free?

And, this leads to today’s wild thought. Would a Phillies-Yankees World Series this year be a Mets fan’s worst nightmare? And, as Yankees fans, would that fact, if true, make such a World Series match-up somewhat sweeter – knowing that it would twist in the back of Mets fans, etc.?

Me? To be honest, as a Yankees fan, the Phillies scare me in the World Series. They’ve been there before and will not be like a deer in the headlights, etc. Plus, they can hit. And, Cliff Lee might be able to go toe-to-toe with Sabathia…

Then again, if the other option is to play Joe Torre, and have to listen to the media play that up, maybe the Phils are the better option?

In any event, back to the point, anyone else thinking about, and/or potentially enjoying, the impact of a Phillies/Yankees World Series on Mets Nation?

Why was I not as bothered as I expected to be bothered? Perhaps the Yankees circa 2004-2008 have conditioned me to expect nothing and be prepared for anything and that’s why I wasn’t bothered as much as I was? But, in any event, it is still bothersome that I was not as bothered as normally bothered, at least to me.

So, that’s today’s wild thought – which is more a question, in reality. Were you bothered by the Yankees loss in Game 3? Were you bothered as much as you typically would be bothered by such a loss? And, if not, do you find it bothersome that you were not as bothered as you would normally be bothered?

What will happen if A-Rod, even with all the great things he’s done, already, this post-season, has a “Fred Snodgrass 1912 World Series” moment…in the World Series this year for the Yankees?

Personally, right now, I think it could become a Bill Buckner type thing for Alex…if it happens.

Some will want him run out of town whereas others will feel sorry for him…getting blame for losing a series when it’s not proper, in their belief, to blame one person for overall defeat in a series of games played by a team.

What do you think will happen, if this does occur? Or, do you have to wait and see what happens before you could make a call on it?

Next, here are A-Rod’s stats from the 2005 and 2006 ALDS – where he was terrible:

Lastly, here are A-Rod’s stats where he had a so-so post-season…one ALDS as a Mariner in a win over the White Sox…and two losing series as a member of the Yankees:

Yeah, I know his numbers above in the 2004 ALCS look good…but we all know how he did offensively in the last four games of that series.

Looking all this over, is it correct to say the only two post-season series where Alex Rodriguez batted like a superstar, and where his team won, were the two ALDS match-ups against the Minnesota Twins? Anywho, that’s today’s wild thought. What do you think…looking at these stats? Should A-Rod wish for more post-seasons against the Twins?

Do the Yankees have to go on and win the World Series for this season to be considered “great”? Or, would it be enough just to reach the World Series – and the outcome of the Fall Classic doesn’t matter?

Or, do the Yankees even have to win the ALCS for this season to be considered “great”? What if it’s a hard fought ALCS that goes six or seven games, and, in the end, the Yankees lose – but do it in a manner that’s not embarrassing (and they just get beat by a team who played better)? Is that “enough” for you, as a Yankees fan, to say this season was a success?

Me? I want to say “As long as they play hard, and don’t give away the ALCS, I can live with that.” But, deep down, inside, I want them to reach the World Series – at a minimum. And, if they get there, I’m probably not going to be “O.K.” with it if they lose.

I wasn’t “O.K.” with it in 1976, 1981, 2001 or 2003. So, I doubt I’ll be fine with it now. Yet, sincerely, again, I want to say that a good showing in the ALCS, win or lose, should be enough to say “Hey, being the second best team in the league, and just missing by a whisker of being the best, is nothing to be ashamed about, etc.” It’s just that I don’t think I’m capable of pulling that off…for whatever reason.

How about you?

And, do you think, it’s possible, we’ll be asking the same questions about Robinson Cano in 2016?

Anywho, that’s today’s wild thought…

Maybe this is just a gut feeling thing, and totally subjective, and somewhat off-base, but, I always felt that off-days and rain-outs have worked against the Yankees in the last four post-season series that they have played over the last five years. I recall, after the 2004 ALCS and 2006 ALDS, lamenting, in retrospect, about how things might have been different if certain games had not been rained-out. And, I want to say there was at least one other ALDS – 2005? – where it seemed like a break in the series sort of stopped some momentum or enabled the other team to bring back a better pitcher…but, this could just be me, as Roger Clemens likes to say, misremembering it.

In any event, how do you feel about all these off-days for the Yankees in this ALDS? Sure, it enables them to skip starting Joba Chamberlain. But, does it also allow the Twins or Tigers to somewhat recover from their play-in game tomorrow as well – allowing them to start a pitcher in Game 2 that maybe might not have been available if Games One and Two were on back-to-back days? Or, maybe it helps them come back in Game Three with a better pitcher? Maybe both?

All these off-days, whether planned or due to weather, just seem to mess with the flow of the series…or, is that just me? What do you think?

And, this leads to today’s wild thought: What if Carl Pavano ends up throwing a five-hitter and beats the Yankees in that fifth game, to advance the Twins to the ALCS?

What would you do if this happened?

Me? Well, I potentially have tickets to that game. So, if it goes down like that, my first reaction would be to throw myself off the Macombs Dam Bridge immediately following the game. But, I know that would then deprive those who like to bellyache about my blogging. So, I would probably count to ten and come up with another plan to relieve my pain. But, oh, boy, what a pain that would be…how about for you?