New place, same quest for Yankees

NEW YORK — New place. Same quest.

After failing for the eighth straight season to win a World Series, after a flop that ended 13 consecutive years of playoff appearances, the New York Yankees packed up and moved across 161st Street.

When the play their home opener against Cleveland on April 16, instead of being in the historic House that Ruth Built, they'll be in the House that George Built, a $1.5 billion palace of restaurants, shops and every baseball luxury one could imagine.

"It definitely feels awkward. If definitely feels weird. It will take time," Andy Pettitte said. "Everything's different."

New York's clubhouse stretches from home plate to the right-field corner. There's a double-batting cage near home plate, a high-tech video room off the dugout steps. On the other side of the clubhouse are alternative dressing stalls away from prying reporters, a Hydro room with a pool and a Swimex, a trainer's room as big as the clubhouse in the old ballpark and a weight room any gym would love to have.

And, of course, after slumping to an 89-73 record and third-place finish in the AL East, the Yankees filled their polished new oval clubhouse with polished new players, spending $423.5 million to sign free agents CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira.

"I guess I can sit up here and say that if we don't win a World Series, we've let our fans down," said Hal Steinbrenner, who replaced his famous father George as the team's controlling partner during the offseason. "That's certainly the mentality of everybody in this organization and everybody in my family."

Since winning the 2000 World Series for their third straight title and fourth and five years, the Yankees have been mostly in reverse. They lost Game 7 of the 2001 World Series in the ninth inning against Arizona, were knocked out by the Angels in the first round in 2002, then lost the 2003 Series to Florida in six games. In the 2004 AL championship, they became the first major league baseball team to wasted a 3-0 series lead in a best-of-seven series, falling to Boston, then they were eliminated in the first round three straight times.

That caused them to offer Joe Torre just a one-year contract. When he walked away, Joe Girardi was brought in. Girardi's Yankees didn't even make the playoffs in his first season.

In the glow of spring, and perhaps the syrupy excitement of moving into the new ballpark, Girardi is positive going into his second season.