NO FAITH IN THE YANKEES

When reading the analysis of all the teams by the plethora of sports writers, I've noticed this intriguing fact. They say pretty much the same thing: the Yanks have the best and most powerful lineup and the deepest and strongest bullpen. Their defense is considered anywhere from very good to excellent. The starting pitching is considered to be more than adequate.
However,...
Only 6 of the more than two dozen writers and broadcasters I checked, pick the Yanks to make the World Series and only ONE, just one, picked them to win it all. No reasons, no explanations, no comparisons...and no faith.
I guess this is their way of covering both bases: if they lose, no one will have picked them and if they win, they can claim that the Yanks were the best team all along.

***MASSIVE FAILURES***
Yes, Atlanta faded bad enough to put them in the 'choke' category, but the big story was Boston because they were considered to be the best in the AL, maybe all of baseball, way back in March. Terry Francona will probably get canned, even though Theo Epstein says they don't believe in scapegoats. I've said before that Epstein deserves most of the blame, since he put this team together, including leaving them bereft of competent backups. But what about the players?
Youkilis likes to push players to play the game right, but when you're on the bench hurt most of the time, the players stop listening to you. In fact, one insider said he became more of an irritant than a cheerleader .
Big Papi, David Ortiz, second-guessed his own manager a few times during the year. When an established player does that, the manager loses the respect of the team. Not that Ortiz seemed to care.
Josh Beckett was a whiner and again according to an insider, wasn't well liked in the clubhouse.
Jacoby Ellsbury never talked or led, in fact, Jed Lowrie seemed to be the only guy on the team he would confide in.
John Lackey won the Cy Young award this year...in his mind. How can a guy who is effective one time out of every 6 or 7 times he pitches, think a manager should never take him out. He could give up 7 runs by the third inning and would still curse Francona if he took the ball from him. Believe me, if Francona had a healthy Bucholtz and Matsuzaka. Lackey would have been the most expensive mop-up man in baseball. And he wouldn't have deserved that.
Here's the most intriguing player on the team. Carl Crawford. Obviously, he didn't have a good year, but there has to be more to it than that. I think he has become increasingly disappointed that he signed with Boston. He never looked like he was enjoying himself. There were many times when he didn't seem to be putting out a full effort. He missed two line drives in left field, one against NY and one against Tampa, that should have been caught, and looked like he didn't even care.
If there aren't massive changes in the roster over the winter, Boston is doomed again next year.

CP-