After an explosive five-run inning in Game One of the ALDS, the newer version of the New York Yankees' "Murderers Row" was anointed the best lineup ever, and the elusive 27th championship seemed all but won.

Unfortunately for Yankee fans — and the Yankee players — someone forgot to tell the Detroit Tigers.

Jim Leyland's ball club dominated the series, thoroughly out-pitching and out-hitting the Bronx Bombers en route to Detroit's first playoff series win since 1987. The Yankees, who suffered their third first-round playoff exit in the last five years, are currently in a state of turmoil, just like after every season that does not result in a championship ring.

Baseball fans around the country are left scratching their heads, wondering how such a talented and explosive offensive team will not win the World Series.

I, for one, am not surprised by the Yankees' lackluster performance.

The 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks, 2003 Florida Marlins, 2004 Boston Red Sox and 2005 Chicago White Sox all had one thing in common: a rotation full of big arms that carried their team to the Promised Land.

I'm not telling you MLB fans out there anything you don't already know. Good pitching always beats good hitting. And in many situations, as we saw this weekend, great pitching can shut down great hitting.

The Yankees may have led the American League in wins, runs and RBIs this season, but the Tigers led the majors in pitching and finished the regular season with only two fewer wins than the Yankees.

While the baseball world was in awe of the star-studded lineup that featured a nine-spot hitter who was five percentage points away from winning the AL batting title, I was wondering how the Yankees intended to win in October with Chien-Ming Wang, a slumping Mike Mussina, an over-the-hill Randy Johnson and Jaret Wright. Apparently, my fears were spot on as, once again, the Yankees' inability to get consistent starting pitching in the postseason landed them on the outside looking in.

If there ever were a lineup that could slug their way to a championship, it was the 2006 New York Yankees — but clearly that lineup was only good on paper.

A championship-winning lineup is balanced, with a variety of players who all bring something different to the table. The Yankees, on the other hand, were a home-run-happy ball club who thought they could slug their way to the World Series.

Johnny Damon is a prototype leadoff hitter, Derek Jeter is the best No. 2 hitter in the game and Bobby Abreu is an on-base percentage machine. But after that, the Yankee hitters are all exactly the same. A-Rod, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada are all model cleanup hitters who bring the same set of skills to the table: long-ball ability, but more importantly, the tendency to strike out against good pitching.

When the Yankees were in desperate need of base runners this weekend, Giambi, A-Rod and Sheffield all looked as if they were trying to hit grand slams with nobody on base.

Also, fans, analysts and everybody else who prematurely deemed the Yankees World Champions ignored the fact that Matsui and Sheffield were returning from what were originally thought to be season-ending injuries. The sluggers never recaptured the consistency that made them the great players they were in years past.

As long as the Yankees have a $200 million payroll, it will always be considered a disappointment if they aren't the last team standing. But it is becoming quite clear that in today's game, there is not a direct correlation between spending money and winning championships.

Anything can happen in the postseason, especially in a five-game series. The Tigers were a better team than the Yankees for the majority of the season, so it shouldn't be such a shock that they were the superior team in October.

Say it ain't Joe

The most unfortunate part about the Yankees' embarrassing postseason performance is that reports are surfacing that Joe Torre could feel the wrath of impatient owner George Steinbrenner by week's end.

If the Boss lets emotion get the best of him, Steinbrenner will be ignoring the Yankees' improbable regular season run to their ninth straight division title and arguably Torre's greatest managerial season of his storied career.

After both Sheffield and Matsui went down for the majority of the season, Torre was able to lead the Yankees to the most wins in the American League.

After losing a projected 60 home runs and 240 RBIs, the Yanks didn't lose a step despite playing with the likes of second-year man Melky Cabrera, ageless wonder Bernie Williams, journeyman infielder Miguel Cairo and utility infielder Andy Phillips for most of the summer.

Following another injury, this time to all-star second baseman Robinson Cano, the Yankees were pronounced dead in the highly-competitive American League East.

But the Yankees persevered and, after a five-game sweep against the Red Sox in Beantown, the Yankees were on cruise control to the postseason.

I can't say this any clearer: Firing Joe Torre would be the most ignorant and egotistical decision the Yankees front office could make.

Torre has won four World Series titles and more than 1,000 games as manager of the Yankees, while keeping the biggest egos in the game in check.

Torre does not decide which overpriced free agents don the pinstripes, nor should he be held accountable when so-called "proven commodities" don't show up on the biggest stage. Torre did not throw a pitch or swing a bat this postseason and Jeter, Damon, Mariano Rivera and Scott Proctor have all publicly defended Torre, endorsing his return for the 2007 campaign.

A-Bomb

I have been defending Alex Rodriguez for months now and I will never condone the harsh treatment he receives at Yankee Stadium, but it seems that operation A-Rod in New York is never going to yield positive results.

The two-time MVP went 1-for-14 during the four-game loss to the Tigers and Saturday Rodriguez was dropped to eighth in the batting order for the first time in a decade.

A-Rod is 3-for-29 (.103) in his past two playoff series and 4-for-41 (.098) without an RBI in his last 12 postseason games.

I'm not saying A-Rod will never be a clutch postseason performer or that he is solely responsible for the disappearance of the Yankee bats, but for the time being, it seems like the big-hit Yankee fans and Rodriguez are waiting for is never going to happen. A-Rod's struggles, though blown out of proportion, undoubtedly affected the chemistry and performance of the team down the stretch. Unfortunately for A-Rod, he will never be embraced by the fans and, as a result, will never be able to exercise his October demons.

There are plenty of teams out there that would love to have the most talented player in the game, and it's time Yankees GM Brian Cashman starts to entertain the notion of departing with the bewildered slugger.

If 20 years of following Yankee baseball has taught me anything, it's that when the Yankees take the field in 2007, they are going look drastically different. But hopefully, for New York's sake, they will have the same manager and a new third baseman.

Andrew is a junior majoring in journalism. If you are a disgruntled Yankee fan who is having trouble sleeping at night, contact him at [email protected].