...that was awesome. That is all.

Not making the playoffs is the best thing that could have happened to the Yankees. They have been in decline since 2004 when they blew the 3-0 lead over Boston in the ALCS. In 2005, 2006 and 2007 they lost in the first round of the playoffs. This made management think they needed just to tinker, not overhaul. This lost season exposed the Yankees' lack of pitching, aging players and the decline in the quality of play. It gives them the reason for an overhaul.

As a New Yorker, I have grown tired of the Bombers, overpaid jerks who have been known more for their off the field hijinks than on...this is what happens when you have a bunch of spoiled millionaire players who become soft and arrogant to boot.

Haven't watched the game yet, but do know the final score. And glad of it. Got it on DVR, will be transferred to DVD. For posterity. For a historic several-hours moment.

King Kaufman: scoffing? really? scoffing?

I couldn't possibly apologize for feeling sad feelings that Yankee Stadium is going away. (Same for Mile High Stadium, no matter how nice the "new digs" are.)

Aaaarrrggghhh to reporting as if "no big deal" that Jeter could be finishing his career? You take that lightly? And on tonight of all nights?

Yay to Mariano Rivera. My all-time favorite closer. (And yes, I do forgive him for a big screw-up on one world series.)

Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?

Tonight, I was thinking of Lou Gehrig. My husband's father died of Lou Gehrig's disease. But what a guy he was, and what a guy was Lou Gehrig. A Yankee.

Geez, Kaufman, I like your column and I've grown attached from afar to those crazy-betting kids of yours.

Just don't diss the Yankees on the last night at a site where a whole lot of baseball was going on.

except in the context of the national schadenfreude for the Yankees?

Jeter is a very good player (and a likely Hall of Famer) but to use the term "any player so great" is going too far. Rivera meets that description but not Jeter. You've been surprisingly duped by the New York-Boston centric ESPN that dominates the way we think about sports.

You should be writing a column about Ichiro Suzuki who has achieved 200 hits for all eight of his seasons in MLB, matched by only one other player in MLB history. And Suzuki is a good bet to pass Pete Rose in total career hits if you include what he did in the Japanese Leagues.

How about that?

You're joking, right?

Jeter is maybe a slightly above average career fielder. He's not even close to someone like Omar Vizquel as a fielder, the key criteria for evaluating a shortstop (outside of historically atypical shortstops like Ernie Banks or Alex Rodriguez who both moved to other positions). He's a singles hitter. He's been surrounded in the line-up his whole career by the most talented hitters that money can buy. I'm not saying that he's wildly overrated - only overrated. Anyone who will get 3,000 career hits has to be respected but if you put Jeter on any team other than the Yankees or Red Sox, you would not get this ridiculous reverence for Jeter that someone as talented as Mr. Kaufman should be able to call out.

is a good word for how I feel watching the yanks flounder as everyone wallows in nostalgia for the last few games at the stadium. i drove by it on my way into NYC last weekend and i have to admit, it sure looked grand -- i'm sorry i never took in a game there. aside from that, it's good riddance to the yanks and i look forward to a rare postseason without them.

all irony aside, jeter is in decline, but the real issue seems to me to be a-rod. he looks like a loner out there and he's never quite clicked as a yankee. he may have a few years left as an elite player, but his enormous contract and inability to hit in the clutch will outweigh whatever cosmetic changes they're able to make in the meantime.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sarcasm

Check this link out. I believe King makes use of this tasty item in his article.

I believe the listed synonym applies also.

... yep, I'm another fan who is SOOOOO tired of the NY-centric view of the world held by most of the sports press (Bill Parcells would be just another Mike Shanahan instead of the *God of Football* if he'd coached only west of the Mississippi), especially the baseball press. They write as if any year without the Yankees in the W.S. is a national calamity.

IMHO the golden ages of baseball were 1963-1975 and 1982-1993. Lots of variety and not a single goddamn Yankee anywhere near the playoffs. The only bad part was that the NY-centric press spent much of those years writing about how the poor NYY fans had to endure year after year without winning anything.

Thank you, Devil Rays and Red Sox. Keep it up please.

Huh? Were Ted Williams, Ernie Banks, Yastrzemski, Killebrew, Sosa, Carew, or even Ty Cobb on a championship team? Can you say that Jeter is greater than all of the above and keep a straight face? I don't know how he plays as well as he does with all those lips attached so firmly to his ass every day.

Sheesh...does ANYONE on Salon's staff live in the Great Lakes region??? Here's the big baseball story of the weekend: THE CUBS ARE GOING TO BACK-TO-BACK POST-SEASON PLAY FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 100 YEARS! And to add agony to the ecstacy-they just might end up playing the White Sox in the World Series! (You know, the "other" Sox; the "other" Chi team; the Series winner of '05?)

And how about a shout-out to the long-suffering Rays and their fans as well?!

BTW I am a Yanks fan too, and I'm glad they said goodbye to their cathedral with a victory and a classy ceremony. Now if they could only somehow make the wild card and get to play the Cubs...)