ARod: Yanks 'Not the Team to Beat'

OK. Before we get into team previews and what-not let's just get this out of the way. That's right, kids!

IT'S OUR FIRST AROD POST!

But it's not what you think.

I fully expect the headline above (or something like it) to be the header for Lupica's next column - or at least mentioned in passing in some of our illustrious New York tabloids - so I'm going to do something unprecedented in the history of Yankeefandom. I shall now defend Alex Rodriguez before anyone even bothers to attack him.

The real reason I'm writing this is that all winter I've been thinking the exact thing ARod said. What it amounts to is "Damn, isn't it nice not to be expected to win?" Isn't it refreshing not to have listen to Mets or Sawx fans who say "anything less than a Series title is a letdown for you" and then have to hear one of an endless litany of payroll comments?

And - gasp - ARod said it perfectly .

"We don't feel like we have to defend something we don't have."

Genius.

Well...he didn't embarrass himself anyway.

So, no guarantees. Young pitching staff. No first baseman. New manager.

This season might actually be fun .
_