While the Yankees may have endured the worst and most shocking collapse in the entire history of postseason baseball, don’t say they choked. The Red Sox deserve credit for their skill and tenacity, and Yankees like Jon Lieber, Mike Mussina, and Mariano Rivera deserve credit for their wonderful play. To make the loss of a single game serve as the indictment of the character of these men, their teammates, and an entire organization is ungracious and unfair. The Yankees lost for specific and identifiable reasons, which had nothing to do with their character.

Most important, the Red Sox were a better team. They had better starting pitching, better hitting, and better defense, and when it finally came time to prove it, they did. After that, there’s luck or random chance; whatever you’d prefer to call it, such hits as Jason Varitek’s game-tying sacrifice in Game 5 and Mark Bellhorn’s three-run home run in Game 6 were partly the products of good fortune.

Lastly, the Yankees played fundamentally inept and poorly managed baseball over the last four games of this series. It’s the closest thing to choking that I can see, but a bit of luck would have earned the Yankees the single win they needed. This series was a devastating loss that will justifiably live in infamy in New York history, but the form it took shouldn’t detract from the fact that it proved what was already known: These teams were quite nearly equal, but the Red Sox were slightly better.

The reason for this is that the Yankees were built in a foolish and short-sighted fashion that left them stocked with big names and short on useful parts. When it was clear at the trading deadline that the Yankees needed a good long reliever and a quality left-handed set-up man to take pressure off the overworked back of the bullpen, they instead acquired a name, Esteban Loaiza, who was no better than Jose Contreras, the man he replaced.

You saw the fruits of that decision in this series – Paul Quantrill and Tom Gordon, so good for the first two-thirds of the season, were nearly useless. Unable to trust them, Joe Torre was forced to reserve relievers for the late innings and thus used his starters in unfamiliar roles. With little time to warm up, pitching on short rest, and coming in with the bases loaded, what else could have been expected of the homer prone Javier Vazquez last night than what he did? Giving up two home runs and five walks in two innings might be seen as choking; it might also be seen as the inevitable result of casting aside a thoroughbred starting pitcher, treating him as an interchangeable bit, and then expecting miracles when they’re needed.

The Red Sox, on the other hand, were built as a ball club, with a good player for every role. Crucial pinch-running appearances by Dave Roberts showed the importance of a good bench; the invaluable efforts of Tim Wakefield showed the importance of a durable swingman who can soak up innings with quality work.True, the Red Sox are as gluttonous as the Yankees; but while their superfluity of talent left them with an answer for every situation, the Yankees’ did them no good.

In the end the Yanks were no better or different than the Houston Astros, a team with half their payroll: They had two good starters, a closer, and half a great lineup. When the hitters stopped hitting, as will happen, they were left with no way to win.

Not so for the Red Sox. Johnny Damon may have redeemed himself last night with two monstrous home runs, but he did nothing in the first six games of this series. The no. 2 hitters did little; Manny Ramirez had no RBI in seven games. For Boston, the offensive heroes, aside from David Ortiz, were the likes of Bellhorn, Cabrera, and Varitek. They are baseball players, not names; they worked counts, drew walks, fouled off pitches, ran the bases, and made routine plays the last four games.

As the play of those Red Sox reflected the way the team was built, so did the play of the Yankees. Through the Division Series and the first three victories against the Red Sox, they played with patience and intelligence that reminded one of the World Series years. But as soon as they got into the least bit of trouble, all that stopped.

Batter after Yankee batter tried to hit home run after home run, to no more effect than to give away their at-bats; on play after play, fielders tried to accomplish the spectacular rather than the necessary. They were relying on the mass of their talent and the belief that this talent made eventual success inevitable. It was quite nearly enough, but that success proved elusive.

Now the recriminations will begin, and that’s perfectly well; what happened to the Yankees was a failure. But congratulations to the Red Sox. More than the Yankees’ failure, it was their success.