Opening Day’s come and gone, but Yard Work’s 2008 Season Preview keeps limping along! Today we hear from another presidential nominee, Senator Hilary Rodham Clinton, as she holds court on her hometown team, the New York Yankees.

Just as it has been my honor to serve as a Senator to the greatest state in these United States, I am equally honored to have this opportunity to discuss the greatest team in these United States, the New York Yankees. But before I begin, I would just like to address the oft-issued claims that I’m not a true New Yorker, and therefore can’t be a true Yankee fan. Though it is true that I never lived in the Empire State until 2000, I have always admired New York from afar. My childhood dreams were filled with thoughts of me kicking up my heels at Radio City Music Hall, bringing down the house at the Apollo, and lobbing gobs of spit towards gloriously unruly punk rockers at CBGB’s.

As a student at Yale Law School from 1970 to 1973, I would often venture into the city with my future husband, President Bill Clinton, to partake in the sights and sounds of this unparalleled cultural nexus. This, of course, included frequent trips to that unparalleled baseball mecca Yankee Stadium. Those great teams, featuring Hall of Famers Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter, and Graig Nettles, won their fair share of World Series championships, as you well know. They also won me over with their grit and determination, two qualities that I’ve taken to heart during my many years of public service.

Whether I was down in Razorback country reading torts with my beautiful daughter Chelsea –named after that quaint area of Greenwich Village, by the way! — or spending a quiet evening alone in the White House while waiting for my husband to finish with the interns, I made sure to keep tabs on The Team That Ruth Built. I cried when Thurman Munson died in that awful commercial jet airliner crash. I cheered when the Yankees finally got a ring for Donnie Baseball. I screamed for joy when current manager Joe Girardi hit that clutch home-run against Arizona Diamondbacks closer Hideki Okajima. And I bow my head every time Kate Smith’s booming voice caresses the words of our National Anthem during the 8th inning. It didn’t matter if the player was a true blue Yankee like Scott Brosius or Paul O’Neill, a transplant from another team like Mike Mussina or Jim Leyritz, or even a former member of the dreaded Boston Red Sox that finally came to their senses. As long as they wore the proud Yankee pinstripes and that interlocking NY insignia, I rooted them on, even during this terrible drought they’ve experienced of late.

As any true Yankee fan knows, the fault for this recent run of failure lies at the feet of two men, and two men alone. The first, sadly, is former manager Joe Torre. Mr. Torre might be a great humanitarian, and he might be a great communicator, but it’s been clear throughout his tenure that he is an awful manager, with last year only offering more proof why. Why, when young Joba Chamberlain was beset by that swarm of gnats, did he not tell the umpires to suspend the game until the swarm cleared? Why, when it seems perfectly obvious that staff ace Chien-Ming Wang was not ready for the pressure-packed spotlight of the playoffs, did he start Wang twice during that ill-fated American League Championship Series? And this final point brings me to the second person at fault — why, knowing his history of being the antithesis of clutch, did Joe Torre continue to bat third baseman Alex Rodriguez in the middle of the line-up?

By now, everyone knows the sad tale of the man they call “A-Rod.” Drafted first overall by the Texas Rangers, and signed to a ludicrous contract that paid him $25 million per year, Rodriguez was acquired by the Yankees for up-and-coming superstar Alfonso Soriano. Needless to say, the team hasn’t recovered. Yes, Soriano continues to steal bases and blast home runs at a predigious rate for the Windy City, winning the city over with his boundless charm and lithe gazelle-like strides. In fact, it is because of my fandom for Soriano and not some sad attempt to win over potential voters that this picture of me wearing a Cubs hat was taken:

Meanwhile, Rodriguez has done nothing except fill the back pages of New York tabloids with his sordid exploits, and fill the playoff box scores with zeroes. He was never able to win the big game while in Texas, even while playing with players such as Sammy Sosa and Nolan Ryan, so why the Yankees thought this would change under the scrutinty of the New York media machine is beyond me. As my husband has often shown me, you can build the dog a new house, but that doesn’t mean it won’t keep pissing in the flower bed. My only regret as a Yankee fan is having to watch Rodriguez sully this great franchise with his presence for another decade. Believe me, fans, I share your pain.

Despite this setback, I feel this year’s version of the team is poised to join the ranks of great Yankee teams of the past. Why, you may ask yourself? Because the team has finally realized that in New York City, success is measured in terms of championships. It is a lesson we have all learned from the architect of so many Yankee championships, owner George Steinbrenner.

It is sad to note that his storied tenure has come to an abrupt end, but his legacy will live on in his son Hank. As brazen and outspoken as his father, but now bolstered by the greatest minds and technologies money can buy, only good things can follow in Hank’s wake. While I was unable to attend his father’s funeral, I made sure that Hank knows that the thoughts and prayers of my family are with his family during this undoubtedly trying time.

Hopefully, he will be able to find some solace through the Yankees successes this year and in the years to follow. And what success they will have! With a lineup containing captain Derek Jeter, young superstars Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera, the inscrutable mystique of Godzilla Hideki Matsui, the steady bats of Bob “Bobby” Abreu and Jorge “George” Posada, and a resurgent Jason Giambi, they resemble nothing less than those great Murderer’s Row teams of the 1960s. Couple that with a pitching staff full of aces both young (Philip Hughes, Ian Kennedy) and old (Andy Pettite, Mike Mussina), and the one-two bullpen punch of Mariano “Sandman” Rivera and Joba Chamberlain, and it’s no wonder that experts are picking the Yankees to finally reverse their curse. That this new era of excellence coincides with the construction of a new stadium is the sort of happy coincidence that even Hollywood couldn’t script. It’s been a long time coming, but I believe those dark days are finally behind us, and I can’t think of a better group of fans that deserve this change of fortune than those of the New York Yankees.