Bronx, N.Y., Feb. 9, 2002 — I had it coming. “Baseball, gods, hear me clearly. Guilty as charged. I got soft; I got happy; despite my (not very good) best efforts the spanking was deserved, and I thank you for setting me straight.”

I wouldn’t be telling Yankee fans anything new or shocking if I were to tell you that in many ways, we’ve said good-bye to a wonderful Yankee team, and we’re about to greet a new one. And with the acquisition of Jason and the hoped-for development of Nick things might not be changing much, but the strength of the departing dynasty was lefty hitting. TinoBambino, the relentless professional O’Neill, Justice for a while, Bernie and Jorge putting up more numbers that way.

Being aware of the rosters around the league that had the lefty “snipers,” this was the job of the Yankee fan, at least in this latest run. Knowing Paul Assenmacher was in the Jacob’s Field pen, or that Randy Myers populated the double-decker bullpen in the Yards we call Camden, checking their daily numbers two weeks before that three-gamer, or the upcoming back-to-back weekend showdowns. Not a lot to ask of a guy who roots for the most winning franchise in the history of spectator sport, huh?

Norm Charlton was released yesterday. My first reaction: Good riddance! We had some memorable battles with him, none finer than October 4, 1995. Pitching four masterful innings against the Yanks and keeping our left-handed artillery at bay, he walked none, struck out five and gave up only one hit in Game 2 of the 1995 ALDS, carrying the Mariners forward from the 7th through the 10th innings of a game they led. Led, that is, until Paul O’Neill stroked the only well-hit ball off Norm during another magical night in the Bronx. Paul’s 8th-inning liner to the right field bleachers kept us alive through 10, Ruben Sierra’s 11th-inning double helped us persevere through another test, and Jimmy Leyritz put one in the history books in the 15th.

From Nasty Boy to irascible old (well, aging) man, I have followed Norm Charlton’s career with sidelong, furtive glances when he was a Red (and even briefly with the Braves), with head-shaking embarrassment in Tampa Bay, and with the grudging respect of a fan of a left-handed team during his days (and days, and days) in the Great Northwest. But a quick glance at his stats today tells me he spent much of a year in Baltimore. Hmmm? Yep. 1998! I was even aware that he ended up in Atlanta, but the fact that he was with an AL East rival four seasons ago and he’d escaped my memory already! I should be ashamed!

We all remember the glory that was 1998, the year we knew baseball was easy. We knew we might never see a year like it again, until we did — and then didn’t — last year. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. With the help of a sports talk-radio tangent, I developed the year’s theme: BTW,TYW By The Way, The Yankees Win. I told myself to beware, not to take it for granted. Remember Fritz and Mike. Remember Trout and Kaufman. Think of Dale, Eddie and Horace.

So 1999 rolls around with the Yanks in it again, although the team looks mediocre and bored in September. But we march to the title. The 2000 season arrives, much of the team is older, and on top of that there is potential for a crosstown World Series, which actually comes to pass, but when? The year we win just 87 games and take only two or three games all of September! But we win it again, and the blissful but clueless grin takes up habitation on my face again. What were the gods to do? I had to be brought to my senses. And then last November, Mo’s errant throw to second, Womack’s big-time double and Gonzalez’s bloop to short left combined to count me out on three pitches, and the pain sank in.

So now, I’m Nicolas Cage and Cher has just slapped me in Moonstruck. “Snap out of it!!!” I have, you can be sure. In four days, I’ll be on the guys who will follow in Charlton’s footsteps. Who they are and how they’re doing is at least as important as who’s playing right in the big ballpark, and the order (and makeup) of the starting rotation. The tenth man on the Yankee team (11th, if you’re counting the DH) is ready to go. Play Ball!

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!