How About That! or My Epic Baseball Post

After my quick rebound from the Braves annual first-round bounce from the playoffs, I decided that I was going to spend the last few weeks of the baseball season enjoying the games no matter what happened. I was hoping for wins from the Astros and the Red Sox; however, both teams dug themselves an early hole. The Astros losing the first two games in St. Louis and the Red Sox shooting themselves in both feet by loosing the first thee in a best of 7 series.

What happened next is both exactly what I predicted and exactly what I thought wouldn’t happen.

The Astros won three in a row at home and will play Game 6 tonight in St. Louis. I hope it goes to a Game 7, but after the dramatic, one-hitter, walk-off homer win in Game 6, it’s going to be hard for the Cardinals to stop that momentum. It will help them that the Astros are sending Pete Munro to the mound and holding Roger Clemens for a possible Game 7, but I’m not sure it will be enough. I hope the Cardinals can win tonight because nothing is as exciting as a Game 7.

The Red Sox have won three games in a row (two at home and one last night at Yankee Stadium) that have been the most gut-wrenchingly flawed, yet beautiful games ever played. If the Braves had been the Red Sox in these games, I would have officially been declared dead sometime Monday night. “I’m sorry, m’am, but it appears that your husband has died from a lethal combination of stomach ulcers and heart palpitations. It’s unusual, but it happens.”

As it is, I have been put through the emotional ringer watching these games because I do want the Red Sox to win for a few reasons:

• I hate the Yankees. Nothing big or earth-shattering about it, I just hate them. I hate them because they can buy whatever all-star they need to fill a hole in their line-up at any time they want, yet they think they are just another team. I hate them because it’s my team that let their little magic-streak begin back in 1996. Shudder. I hate them because the breaks always go their way (until last night). I hate them because when I was growing up, the Yankees weren’t a factor; they sucked and I grew attached to their history and actually liked them for a very long time.
• I would like the Red Sox fans to stop whining. There’s nothing worse than hearing fans of the team with the second-highest payroll in baseball constantly crying about the team with the highest payroll beating them. If they beat the Yankees I hope it will stifle the yipping a bit.
• I also don’t like hearing about the curse. There is a certain charm to it, but I don’t like hearing about it constantly. So, you haven’t won a World Series since 1918. So, you traded the greatest baseball player ever to your rivals. So, you continue to loose in the postseason in a heart-breaking manner. So what! Welcome to everyone else’s world, except the Yankees. If they beat the Yankees and then win the World Series, that has to end the curse talk, right?

Last night’s game got really interesting. Fist of all, the Red Sox sent one of the greatest post-season pitchers of the last decade out there with a dislocated tendon in his ankle, an injury so severe that his season was declared over after he pitched in Game 1. Apparently the folks at Reebok said, “Just slap this high-top on him and he’ll be good as new,” and the Red Sox said, “Uh, okay.” Turns out those Reebok guys either knew what they were talking about or Curt Shilling has all the strength, determination, and competitiveness of a Gabe Kaplan at the Battle of the Network Stars circa 1976. He pitched a solid 7 innings only giving up one run. The Yankees countered with Jon Lieber. Lieber is not an intimidating pitcher, but he did take a shut-out into the eight inning of Game 2 in this series. He pitched fairly well last night only getting into trouble in the fourth inning, but that was enough. In that fourth inning he gave up what was clearly a homerun to everyone watching except for the umpire who called it a double. The ball clearly went over the fence, bounced off a fan, and then back onto the field. Luckily the umpires conferred and everyone agreed that it was indeed a homerun and that they would definitely be eating at Mindy’s after the game.

After Schilling gave up a solo-homer to Bernie Williams in the seventh, yet getting 3 outs on feeble ground-outs or pop-ups, it was up to the worn-out Boston bullpen to hold the Yankees at bay. You could just feel the disappointment coming, especially when the first guy out of the bullpen was Bronson Arroyo. Never mind the fact that Arroyo pitched a perfect inning in relief the previous night, it just didn’t seem like a good decision to bring him in. You could just see one of those classic Yankee comebacks brewing; of course it probably would have felt that way regardless of who Terry Francona sent to the mound. Here’s how it went down: First, Tony Clark strikes out (sigh of relief). Then Miguel Cairo doubles (Crap! It’s happening.) Derek Jeter singles, Cairo scores, it’s 4-2 (Fucking Jeter!). Next Alex Rodriguez grounds the ball weakly between the mound and first base. Arroyo fields the ball as he is heading toward first base trying tag a speedy A-Rod. Arroyo transfers the ball from his bare hand to his glove and then tries to tag A-Rod with the glove for the out. All of a sudden the ball flies out of his glove and down the right-field line as Jeter scores, 4-3 Red Sox. Oh, no! There it is. That’s the curse. It’s all over now, but wait – how did that ball get out of Arroyo’s glove? Well, A-Rod, the highest paid player in all of baseball, a player who just had to get out of Texas and onto a winning team, a player who was a mere inches away from becoming a member of the Red Sox during the off-season only to become a Yankee a few days later, yes, that A-Rod slapped the ball out of Arroyo’s glove! How freakin’ bush-league can you get? Fortunately, the umpires conferred again and this time all of them agreed that A-Rod should be called out on interference, Jeter has to go back to second, and someone should definitely call ahead and make sure Mindy’s would have a table available. (Whew!) After the umpires signal their decision, the crowd started throwing baseballs and debris onto the field. The Red Sox manager pulled his players from the field and the Yankees followed suit. There was much discussion amongst the security people and umpires and their decision? To bring out cops in full riot-gear to guard the right and left field lines! This game had everything! Finally Gary Sheffield pops up to end the inning.

To top off the game, the Red Sox closer came in to pitch the ninth. He walked two guys, but otherwise preserved the 4-2 lead and the Red Sox are forcing a Game 7 after falling behind 0-3, something that’s never happened in baseball before.

So, are the Red Sox just torturing their fans and, in turn, all of the Yankee-haters too? We all find out tonight. I sure hope the game is a good one, but I can’t imagine what they haven’t already done in this series. There have been blow-outs and close ones; come from behind victories and pitching duels; injuries and reversed calls; rowdy fans and riot gear; extra-innings and walk-off homeruns. If anything happens to top this, then it will definitely be considered the best ALCS ever. I just hope it isn’t a heart-breaker, except for the Yankees.