Coach May,
The Yankees lost to a mediocre hitting team because the other team had better pitching. This was true in the season series and it was true in the playoffs.
Stud starter! The Angels had the probable Cy Young award winner in Colon and John Lackey who may have been a better pitcher this season than Colon for stud starters. They also had a pretty good if inconsistent rookie in Santana and a couple solid veterans in Washburn and Byrd. Add to that Kelvim Escobar in the bullpen along with Shields and Rodriguez and you aren't going to find a much better staff in baseball.
For most of the season the Yankees had somebody pretending to be Randy Johnson, Shawn Chacon and Mike Mussina benefiting from all that hitting. I'd say that Chacon was their only legit playoff starter despite Mussina's performance in game 1. Of course they had Rivera but they have to get to him. If the Yankees had beaten the Angels they would have lost to Chicago. I'd say there are 4 to 6 teams with more talent than the Yankees if you're willing to consider Cleveland and Boston.