Yankees and Giants Both Slip Up Down the Stretch

[NYYankees]

New York, NY (AP) -- So far it has been a pretty rough October for the Cavin Sports Group, and its two teams, the New York Yankees and the San Fransisco Giants. The Yanks led the AL East for nearly the entire 1989 season, but went on a skid in September and October that allowed the hated Boston Red Sox back into the picture. The final blow came when the Bronx Bombers and the Beantown teams met up for 3 games to finish up the season. The Yanks dropped 2 out of three games and found themselves in 2nd place to finish out the season. Despite losing the division, the pinstripers will go on to the post season, but will have to take the road team approach as the AL Wild Card. The poor finish to the regular season should put a slight damper on things for Yankee fans, but there are some positives that they can look to as well. The Yankees are the only team from the 1988 AL playoffs to come back in 1989, giving them an edge in experience, especially against first round opponent Seattle. Also the team has the longest playoff streak currently from both leagues, with this offseason marking the team's 5th consecutive trip to the post season. Nevertheless, the Yankees will need some luck, and mainly some good pitching to get by the Mariners and advance to the ALCS for the third consecutive year. The team will rely heavily on young ace Jimmy Key, and aging starters Tony Brizzolara and Lamar Hoyt, to get the to where they want to go. The team has seemed to age quite a bit this season, and with a what looks to be a weak crop of free agents in the off season the club needs to win now. Out west the Yankees sister club, the San Fransisco Giants also slipped up down the stetch, mainly in their last two games. All the team had to do was win one of its last two games to secure the NL Wild Card spot for the 2nd straight year, and instead got shut out in both games and gave the NL Wild Card away to Atlanta. In the bay area team ownership is being heavily scrutinized for some of their moves back in the July trading period. The main cause for this was the trading away of starting pitcher Steve Crawford, who was leading the starters in wins at the time of the move. In return the team got a couple of prospects that have yet to crack the major league squad. If they would have had the extra arm down the stretch they would have been in a better position to pull things together. Unfortunately what is done is done, and the team of course had their reasons for the move, number one was cutting salaries. The team lost a little less than $3 million this season, after losing $500,000 last year when they made the playoffs. In order for the Giants to be able to spend any more money they are going to have to get some better fan support. The future there looks bright though, with a loaded farm system and a lot of young talent in the majors. The Giants will most likely look to build from within for the 1990 campaign.