It's over.

Chien-Ming came back on three day's rest and was god-awful, the Indians continued to drive in runs with two outs and Paul Byrd weaved in and out of trouble as Cleveland upended the Yanks 6-4 to take the best of five series, 3 games to 1. 

This was a series of missed opportunities for the Bombers.  The Yanks had numerous chances to break things open or get back into games during the series and they rarely capitalized.  Meanwhile, Cleveland took advantage of every scoring opportunity and wound up scoring 15 runs with two outs over the four games.  Frankly, the Indians resembled the way the Yankees used to play in their heyday -- serviceable starting pitching, strong bullpen relief and timely hitting.  It's a recipe that's hard to master and difficult to overcome. 

This will be the final roundup of 2007 and I'm tired and cranky.  Let's finish this.

The Good:

Robinson Cano.  Cano blasted his second homer of the series in the sixth to pull the Yanks to within 6-2.  I'll give the "good" section to Robbie because he finished with the highest average for a starting Yankee in the series -- .333 over the four games.  Canu finished 2 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI.

The Bad:

Chien-Ming Wang.  The Yanks needed a big performance from Wang on Monday night and didn't get it.  The Wanger gave up a homer to Grady Sizemore to leadoff the ballgame and never recovered.  His pitches were up and The Tribe worked the count against him during his brief stint.  It was a horrendous game for Wang and it capped off a terrible series for the Yankees 19-game winner.  Wang's Monday nightmare went like this: 1+ IP, 5 H, 4 R, 0 BB, 0 K, 1 HR.  The Wanger finished the series at 0-2 with an appalling 19.06 ERA.  Unacceptable numbers for the ace of the staff.

The Ugly:

Poor umpiring.  These calls weren't the reason the Yanks lost, but the boys in blue did a crappy job on Monday night.  In the second inning, home plate umpire Fieldin Culbreth ruled that backup catcher Kelly Shoppach was hit by a pitch on a bunt attempt, but the replay clearly showed that the ball hit the bat.  Actually, it looked like it hit the bat in real speed with the naked eye.  Torre complained, but Shoppach was awarded first to load the bases with no outs.  In the bottom of the second, Shoppach should have been called for catcher's interference when Matsui's swing hit the back of his glove.  Matsui argued and Torre came out again, but Culbreth was unconvinced.  In the top of the sixth, Doug Mientkiewicz made a diving stop on a Sizemore grounder and flipped the ball to Mike Mussina at first, but Sizemore was called safe by first base ump Gerry Davis on the "bang-bang" play.  He was out.  Again, the plays didn't factor into the game, but they could have.  This is the playoffs for you too guys and you were terrible.

Quite frankly, I'm shocked the Yanks lost this ballgame.  I was convinced the Bombers would get to Byrd and force a Game 5 in Cleveland on Wednesday night.  Obviously, I was dead wrong.

Well, that's all folks.  The speculation has already begun about the future of Joe Torre and the big-name Yankee free agents -- Alex Rodriguez, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, etc., but honestly I can't get into that right now.  The off-season has come upon me too early and I'm just not mentally prepared.

It's been a season of ups and downs and I had fun chronicling the 2007 Yankees.  I just wish it lasted a little bit longer.

There's always next year.