Rodriguez essentially has replaced Bonds, fairly or unfairly, as the biggest pressure goat of our time. Lyons pointed out on Saturday that there's "not a guy in baseball wouldn't take A-Rods numbers" from this year. Really? Thirty-five homers, 121 RBIs and a .290 batting average are good numbers, but nowhere close to ridiculous numbers in the offensive-crazed era that we live in. Not to mention, it's in the American League and he has more protection around him in the lineup, than President George W. Bush has in public.

It's unfortunate the Yankees will receive more blame and the Tigers will receive less credit. I'm guilty of it too, but that's just the way it is. Did the A's beat the Twins based just on their own merit, or did the Twins significantly contribute to the result? Of course, we all know what the answer is. It's the same thing here.

Jim Leyland outmanaged Joe Torre by a wide margin (a separate column for another day). The Tigers' pitching was much better than the Yankees' pitching. Detroit's lineup was more clutch than the vaunted Bombers order. The Tigers just wanted it more.

However, they didn't do it all on their own. They had a lot of help from a lineup that just four days ago was being called the best in baseball history and now is just that, history.

Good riddance. Maybe the Yankees will learn to trust the Melky Cabreras of the world a little more next time around instead of an image blowhard like A-Rod. If role players work for everyone else -- including the team that plays nine miles to the south in Queens -- then why can't they work for the so-called "best lineup in history?"

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