But what happens when championship clubs play bad and lose the next year?

"If they're good enough to make contributions to a championship club, so be it."

"We haven't played like a championship club to date," Johnson said after the game.

The goal now is to establish ourselves as a Championship club.

But the Yankees know how to spend the money and put championship clubs on the field.

"We feel we have something positive going on here in building toward a championship club."

"We just were not good enough to be a championship club," Dombrowski said.

They were in a little awe playing for a two-time championship club, taking the place of important people.

"It certainly is one of the ingredients we think makes for a championship club," Wilpon said.

After his first game in charge, the Championship club sat at the bottom of the table looking likely candidates for relegation.