Can the Yankees Lose the World Series?

The theory that anybody can win a short series has been tested severely in recent years by the New York Yankees. The New Yorkers have continually, improbably dominated their opposition in the offseason over the last half decade. Now, for the second time in five seasons, they are down two games to none in the World Series. The question on everybody's mind is whether the Yankees can once again come back and defy the laws of logic and probability.

It's certainly true that the Yankees may enjoy advantages in the postseason that do not show up in the regular season. Postseason strategy is a different beast than its regular season version. Depth clearly does have the same significance it has during the first 162 seasons. Scouting can play a role in long postseason series that it can't when you switch opponents every 3 days.

None of that really is a satisfactory explanation of the Yankees' astounding success the last few years. With the expanded postseason, it is much harder than it was in olden days for any team to dominate baseball's postseasons. The Yankees, however, have seemingly laughed in the face of that increasing difficulty, mixing up crushing, one-sided dominating performances with breathtaking come from behind victories in series which had appeared to be lost.

Now the Yankees are behind 2 games to nothing in the 2001 World Series, and they will have to beat the odds once again to come back and beat the Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks came into this series with one major strength - the best 2 pitchers in the major leagues this year in Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling - and that strength is what has lead the Diamondbacks to their early lead in this series.

Johnson and Schilling were basically unhittable in their starts, but the Yankees will have a much better shot to win a game tomorrow night when Roger Clemens faces Brian Anderson. The insertion of Anderson into the Diamondbacks rotation is a rather bizarre move, for Anderson has not pitched effectively at all this year. Diamondbacks' manager Bob Brenly is hoping that the left hander will neutralize the Yankees' predominantly left-handed offensive attack, and certainly Anderson is effective against left-handed hitting, but no one will be surprised if the Yankees right-handed hitters and switch-hitters batter Anderson around. And Roger Clemens has had time to recover from the recent injuries which clearly limited his ability to locate pitches in the first two rounds of this postseason.

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