A buddy of mine, a New York Yankees fan (yes, I fraternize with those types on occasion, although I always have my hands sterilized immediately afterwards) e-mailed me this morning to explain that even though the Sox won the Wild Card, they’re gonna drop three straight to the Angels, because they’re not “a dynasty team.”

Alls I know is, that’s still three games more than the Yankees will be playing in 2008.

“It basically boils down to we weren’t good enough,” said Derek Jeter, who had reached the playoffs in each of his first 12 full seasons. “Our team didn’t play well enough the whole season in order to get where we needed to be.”

“It’s really devastating. It makes you sick to your stomach,” Alex Rodriguez said. “On Sept. 23, there’s absolutely no excuse for a team with this talent to be going home. It’s hard to believe right now that we’re out.”

Yet… you must believe it. Because it is true.