Thursday, October 21, 2004
Damned no more?
THE BOSTON RED SOX ARE IN THE WORLD SERIES.
Quick, check for me: has hell frozen over?
-I watched all of the end of last night's game (I gave my wife a break from baseball and watched Lost and The Bachelor with her, then caught the game from the fifth inning on. Marriage: it is all about compromise). Even though the outcome wasn't in doubt I still was nervous, pacing back and forth in the bottom of the ninth. When Sierra grounded out I shouted: "That's it!" And I watched the celebration on Fox.
-It is a pity that Jimmy Fallon left Saturday Night Live because this series really begs for a "Boston" sketch: "Wicked awesome!" I chortled uncontrollably during Game 6 when they showed the promotional commercial of Curt Schilling learning "Bostonese": "Wicked ... cahh ... park the cahh in the yaard ... wicked awesome ..."
-Is the curse over? Not for now: the Red Sox have lost four World Series Game 7's since 1918 ('46, '67, '75 & '86), so getting to the World Series isn't the triumph. But one thing is for certain: after over eighty years of hood-winking the Red Sox, the Yankees magestical hold over Boston is over. Forget all of the history: the Yankee comeback in '49, Bucky F---ing Dent in '78, last year's ALCS ... the Yankee mystique is gone. Fatally shattered like a mirror.
What this was, was one of the most epic victories in baseball history ... or really, of sports history. But the Red Sox still have to finish the job. The pressure is on them to win it all. You had better believe that if they fall short in the World Series the curse won't be lifted.
-Naturally, today I'm rooting for the Cardinals to win today's NLCS. A rematch of the '67 series would be interesting, and the Cards and Red Sox are such potent offenses it would make the World Series a lot of fun to watch. Go Cards!
-How amazing was it to see poor Johnny Damon, who looked awful in Games 1-6, finally come up big with 6 RBIs in the game of his life? Poetic.
-How humiliating is this for the Yankees and their fans? They are the first team in MLB history to blow a 3-0 lead, and they did it at home to their archrivals, in the hallowed green of Yankee Stadium. The Ghosts of Ruth, DiMaggio, Mantle, et al., couldn’t save them. A-Rod went to the Yankees instead of the Sox in a deal that was supposed to sew up the World Series ring, but that didn’t happen and A-Rod was a big part of that: he was just 2 for 17 in the last four games with one run scored. The Yankee machine failed, while the motley Red Sox were the champs.
-What was the deal with bringing Pedro in during the 7th? Just having him in the game fired up the Yankees fans and you’ve impacted his ability to pitch in the World Series. Francona made a smart decision pulling Pedro and putting Timlin in. That had trouble written all over it.
-A little article caught my eye at Yahoo! about workers in New York and Boston being less productive at work thanks to the ALCS. I remember reading somewhere that fantasy sports leagues cost the nation a few billion dollars in productivity because fans usually spend the first ten minutes at work checking in on their fantasy teams.
Links: Aaron Gleeman has a few comments about last's night's game at Hardball Times in his ALCS Diary. Also, a very emotional Ben Jacobs, Sox fan revels in the joy of the Red Sox improbable triumph. ESPN's Jim Caple is stunned by the fact that a team rallied from 0-3 to win, crediting the Red Sox hitters ability to wear down the Yankees pitching.
Quick, check for me: has hell frozen over?
-I watched all of the end of last night's game (I gave my wife a break from baseball and watched Lost and The Bachelor with her, then caught the game from the fifth inning on. Marriage: it is all about compromise). Even though the outcome wasn't in doubt I still was nervous, pacing back and forth in the bottom of the ninth. When Sierra grounded out I shouted: "That's it!" And I watched the celebration on Fox.
-It is a pity that Jimmy Fallon left Saturday Night Live because this series really begs for a "Boston" sketch: "Wicked awesome!" I chortled uncontrollably during Game 6 when they showed the promotional commercial of Curt Schilling learning "Bostonese": "Wicked ... cahh ... park the cahh in the yaard ... wicked awesome ..."
-Is the curse over? Not for now: the Red Sox have lost four World Series Game 7's since 1918 ('46, '67, '75 & '86), so getting to the World Series isn't the triumph. But one thing is for certain: after over eighty years of hood-winking the Red Sox, the Yankees magestical hold over Boston is over. Forget all of the history: the Yankee comeback in '49, Bucky F---ing Dent in '78, last year's ALCS ... the Yankee mystique is gone. Fatally shattered like a mirror.
What this was, was one of the most epic victories in baseball history ... or really, of sports history. But the Red Sox still have to finish the job. The pressure is on them to win it all. You had better believe that if they fall short in the World Series the curse won't be lifted.
-Naturally, today I'm rooting for the Cardinals to win today's NLCS. A rematch of the '67 series would be interesting, and the Cards and Red Sox are such potent offenses it would make the World Series a lot of fun to watch. Go Cards!
-How amazing was it to see poor Johnny Damon, who looked awful in Games 1-6, finally come up big with 6 RBIs in the game of his life? Poetic.
-How humiliating is this for the Yankees and their fans? They are the first team in MLB history to blow a 3-0 lead, and they did it at home to their archrivals, in the hallowed green of Yankee Stadium. The Ghosts of Ruth, DiMaggio, Mantle, et al., couldn’t save them. A-Rod went to the Yankees instead of the Sox in a deal that was supposed to sew up the World Series ring, but that didn’t happen and A-Rod was a big part of that: he was just 2 for 17 in the last four games with one run scored. The Yankee machine failed, while the motley Red Sox were the champs.
-What was the deal with bringing Pedro in during the 7th? Just having him in the game fired up the Yankees fans and you’ve impacted his ability to pitch in the World Series. Francona made a smart decision pulling Pedro and putting Timlin in. That had trouble written all over it.
-A little article caught my eye at Yahoo! about workers in New York and Boston being less productive at work thanks to the ALCS. I remember reading somewhere that fantasy sports leagues cost the nation a few billion dollars in productivity because fans usually spend the first ten minutes at work checking in on their fantasy teams.
Links: Aaron Gleeman has a few comments about last's night's game at Hardball Times in his ALCS Diary. Also, a very emotional Ben Jacobs, Sox fan revels in the joy of the Red Sox improbable triumph. ESPN's Jim Caple is stunned by the fact that a team rallied from 0-3 to win, crediting the Red Sox hitters ability to wear down the Yankees pitching.
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