MINNEAPOLIS -- It isn't enough, apparently, to have a $210-million payroll, a $423.5-million offseason boost, a $1.5-billion monument to recession-be-damned greed and a steroid-free (presumably) megastar who finally resembles Mr. October while his actress girlfriend coos at him in the front row beside Jay-Z. No, above and beyond all their built-in advantages in life, the Yankees have to get the friggin' baserunning and bad-umpiring breaks, too.Which suggests that their pain and professional embarrassment of the last eight years -- the last five in particular, since their infamous choke job against the Red Sox -- is about to fade into another dominant postseason. Sorry to disappoint the legions of pinstripe-haters on our planet, but no one is beating the Yankees this fall. Not Torii Hunter's swagger. Not the inspiration of the late Nick Adenhart. Not Joe Torre, their former manager, or Manny Ramirez, their former nemesis. Not the defending World Series champions, the Phillies, and not even the snow and freezing temperatures in Denver. You might say that the only ones who can topple the Yankees are the Yankees themselves, and you know what? That's not happening, either.




