KO'd in the first

For Yanks, it's unusual, but Giambi has been here before

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Jason Giambi has been here before. Oh, has he been here before.

You want to talk about postseason one and done? Giambi is an expert. You want to talk playoff disappointment? Giambi's your man.

He's just never been here in pinstripes.

On Saturday, Giambi once again played the part he has perfected, the disappointed first-round loser still looking to get to the World Series. He was pragmatic. He was patient. He was down.

Giambi was a lot of things after the Yankees were bumped from the postseason by the Anaheim Angels in their American League Division Series. More than anything, though, he was simply out. Again.

"I'm disappointed, no doubt about it," he said, wide-eyed and straightforward as always. "I came here to win. We ran into a team that was red-hot. But, like I said, no excuses."

No, Giambi and the Yankees offered no easy answers for their stunning ouster in the first round of the playoffs, save for the old saw that anything can happen in a best-of-five divisional series. Anyone who watched this series knew why the Yankees were painfully quiet.

The Yankees, like Giambi said, were simply outplayed, beaten by a clearly better team. The great Yankees pitchers gave up 31 runs in four games, every one of them earned. They allowed 56 hits in 34 innings. They served up nine home runs. The Angels hit .376 against them.

The Angels, in a word, dominated.

Anaheim didn't pitch particularly well, posting a 6.17 ERA for the series. Compared with the Yanks' 8.21 ERA, though, the Angels looked … well, they looked like the Yankees were supposed to look.

At this point, you have to wonder whether the Yankees' dynasty is in need of a tune-up. Their pitching, the strength for this fantastic run they've been on, is getting no younger. Roger Clemens and David Wells and even Andy Pettitte could break down in the blink of a breaking ball. There are questions about closer Mariano Rivera's health.

Is Mike Mussina, who pulled a groin muscle in Friday's loss and was so-so for much of the season, going to be OK? Will Jeff Weaver settle down and become the starter the Yankees hope he can be?

And what about their offense? Thanks in large part to Giambi, the Yankees became a prolific power-hitting team this season, but they strike out at an alarming pace, too. Right fielder Raul Mondesi has been disappointing. Left fielder Juan Rivera is still young. No telling which way he will go. Third baseman Robin Ventura's best days are behind him.

There are a ton of questions and, right now, not a whole lot of answers.

"You don't play good for a week, it doesn't mean you have deficiencies," manager Joe Torre said after the Yanks suffered their first first-round ouster since 1997. "Obviously, all of us aren't going to be back in the spring. But hopefully this experience here will help them."

After the Yanks hit .183 in last year's World Series, owner George Steinbrenner went out shopping for more power. He ended up with Giambi, arguably the best power hitter in the American League. He was, it was hoped, the final piece of the ever-changing puzzle.

Giambi and his Oakland A's had lost twice to the Yankees in the first round in the past two years, so he was only too eager to get to a team that has been in the World Series four straight times. The Yankees won 103 games, too, this season. They were on their way.

Then came the Angels.

New York, with its deep pockets, will be active in the free-agent market this offseason. Steinbrenner will shake things up. "Every winter is extremely difficult," general manager Brian Cashman said. "Hopefully, we'll make the right choices."

Still, the Yankees can't change their pinstripes at this point. They will not become, for instance, the Angels, a team that battles every at-bat, that goes from first to third on a rumor, that plays station-to-station as well as any National League club.

But the Yankees will change some, at least a little. It's inevitable.

It also may be the only way Giambi will ever make it out of the first round.

John Donovan is a senior writer for CNNSI.com.

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