Mike Celizic

The Yankees aren’t going to get their 27th world title this year, but whoever does win the World Series might want to consider sending a “Thank You” note to George Steinbrenner for making it all possible.

They might even consider sending a dozen roses and a nice bottle of wine. If they really wanted to show their appreciation for everything Steinbrenner has done to make their championship possible, they might consider sending him half a pennant. He’s done that much.

It’s something about which Yankee fans would prefer not to be reminded. For the past two years, they’ve seen their team’s hopes dashed because of a lack of starting pitching. This year, when six starters missed at least one assignment because of injuries, the lack of quality and reliable starters was downright embarrassing. Fans would have thought that for $200 million, a roster could include at least three proven starting pitchers.

Meanwhile, Houston was recovering from a horrendous start to win the NL wild card on the strength of a pitching staff anchored by Roy Oswalt and two ex-Yankees, Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens. And the White Sox cruised to their divisional title with two more ex-Yankees on their staff, Jose Contreras, who pitched that wonderful complete-game clincher against the Angels and Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez, whose three-inning scoreless relief outing against Boston in the ALDS was critical to the White Sox advancing.

Those ex-Yankees went 54-33 this year, a .620 winning percentage, and Clemens led major league starters in ERA. Without them, their teams would not be in the World Series.

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What should be most galling is that the Yankees could have kept at least three of those pitchers — Contreras, Pettitte and El Duque. Good arguments were made at the time for letting Contreras and Hernandez leave, but there was never an excuse for Pettitte’s departure.

Nor is there any excuse for the fact that for all four pitchers, the Yankees got nothing in return, not even a player to be named later.

Clemens was gone two years ago. He had officially retired, and all of us actually believed him. But Pettitte, who, like the Rocket, is from Texas, was a Yankee lifer who never thought he’d play anywhere else. But when he became a free agent, the Yankee front office took it for granted that he would come back to the fold. Instead of courting him and making him feel loved, the Yankees spent their time wooing Gary Sheffield. By the time Sheff was signed, Pettitte had decided life might be better back in Texas, where he ended up pitching with his old pal, the suddenly unretired Clemens.

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Pettitte missed most of 2004 with arm troubles and subsequent surgery. Most people suspected it was coming; he’d had episodic elbow problems for years, and those things never get better on their own. But, given the success rate of Tommy John surgery, there was every reason to expect him to come back in 2005 as good or better than ever.

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