THE UNTHINKABLE
If you read the papers, watch TV, listen to
radio, or get your news from the web, by now you know that last night
there was an event of historic proportion, of great magnitude, causing
sadness all over the world for Yankee fans.
Yesterday I wrote about Baseball as a religion of sorts, a
personal source of the sort of things others may find in faith or religious
pursuits. From early September until the
middle of this month I spent countless hours composing a lengthy post, a sort of
position paper and wide-berth musing on issues and my own perceptions revolving
around personal Jewish identity.
Heady and deep as those entries may have been (or so it seemed to me,
particularly in writing them!), the oppressive result, the sadness of
the outcome of the action last night, makes all that seem like chopped
liver.
And if you read yesterday's
blog entry, you also know that I was dead wrong in my predictions for
last night. There's no joy in Mudville right about now.
SAD DAY FOR YANKEE FANS
Today it is a dark day in New York.
The baseball gods have left the building, apparently joining Elvis as
they declare it a day for no sun to shine on Gotham. The Yanks have lost the ALCS in an historic
collapse to their most hated rivals, the ever-cursed Boston Red Sox. This collapse will become a permanent part of
baseball lore, the first time in a League Championship series that a team with
a 3-0 lead in a best of seven contest managed to blow it, dropping the next
four games in a row and falling to the wayside as the victorious underdogs move
forward to The World Series.
Of course, despite the shocking and embarrassing Yankee
loss, all is not good for our baseball neighbors to the north. ìRed Sox Nation,î as they like to call
themselves, should enjoy the moment.
Revel in the glory and joy of beating the Yankees, their divisional
rivals, their most hated of all opposition.
The President of the Boston ball club referred to the Yankees last year as ìthe evil empire.î Last night during the clubhouse victory party
interviews he did note that the evil empire had to fall, all evil empires fall
sooner or later. Shame on him, at such
times one should be magnanimous.
But Boston,
beware! The
Curse Of The Babe lives on.
Let me note once more: the sun did not come out today; it
was a dark day in New York.
LIFE GOES ON
As I went to sleep last night --after loads of calls of
condolence, which continued all throughout the day today-- I wondered if upon
waking, everything would be different. Would there still be gravity? After all, if the Yankees could lose in such
a massive collapse to the hated Red Sox, would the world be as we had known it
before this occurrence?
Would pigs fly? Would
hell freeze over (and what would that do to mass transit in Texas)?
Would Bush and Cheney come clean about the bullshit war and the lack of
WMDs and that they always planned to attack Saddam, September 11th
being the ruse theyíd use to fund the oil-for-us and contracts-for-Halliburton
effort?
Would my cat start talking to me (in English, as opposed to
meows and that purring noise), and would my knee problems perhaps disappear?
Would my bank accounts suddenly overflow with riches?
Well, none of that happened.
Apparently, despite the lack of sun, life does go on. Even after so appalling, horrid, and shameful
a Yankee loss and end of season.
ALCS POST MORTEM
The adages hold forth, Baseball wisdom prevails: good
pitching beats good hitting. And good hitting combined with good pitching
will always come out on top. So be it, the great comeback, the Yanks'
collapse, all hail King Shrek, (the MVP of the ALCS), and also Foulke and Lowe.
Surely by now you've noticed how much David Ortiz resembles Shrek, yes?
Decisions made by Torre, et al, yesterday, seem haunting. Why go with
Kevin Brown? El Duque or Mussina could have gone a few innings, and
either would have been safer bets. Then, with the bases loaded, Torre
brings in Vazquez, who is known to give up the long ball early in his outings.
Again, even with Brown having started, why not immediately bring in Sturtze for
some innings, or El Duque, to stop the bleeding?
And why was Steve Karsay left off the roster? Bubba Crosby was on the
roster, with what, one pinch running appearance? Lofton was barely used,
so a speedster was apparently never a part of the plan. Since pitching
wins games, and given the frailty of the Yankee staff at this point in the
season, why not add Karsay to the post season roster as a little
insurance? His brief appearances, all end-of-season outings upon return
from rehab, showed a pitcher with command, velocity, movement on the
ball. As a specialist or short relief plug-in Karsay would have been a
plus.
FRANCONA OUTMANAGES TORRE
Terry Francona managed using the total team, with Dave Roberts as
a base stealing specialist to shake up the momentum in Boston's favor. Roberts' very presence took
the Yanks' pitchers' concentration away from the plate. His successful
steals changed the balance and the strategy for the Yankees. And after
Grady Little's disastrous handling of the staff last year, Francona was able to
use the committee bullpen to maximum effect. And apparently he even gave
the troubled and troublesome Pedro a final shot at being a part of the
team-effort deconstruction of the Yanks' power and mystique.
So despite the dark day in Gotham and the sad
fact that this incredible and historic comeback will become a part of Baseball
lore forevermore, we still have yet to see the lifting of The Curse Of The
Babe.
The Red Sox still have a World Series to ahead of them. It will be either
the return of the Rocket, or the coming of the winningest team in regular
season play, starting Saturday night. If it is Houston, the Red Sox might as well pack it in
right away. That team, with the three killer Bs, will be their
undoing. Bs are the core of The Curse: Babe, Bucky, Buckner,
Boone. Add to that Beltran, Biggio, Bagwell, and also Berkman and Backe
(his first name is Brandon,
so he's a double-B).
For the St. Louis Cardinals there's not a single B player on the roster. That might be less
foreboding for the Bosox. Except, perhaps the B as in ballpark: Busch
Stadium. Of course, there's Second Baseman Mark Bellhorn, the lone B on
the Red Sox roster, who might just join Buckner in the tradition of The Curse.
It ain't over until itís over, as Yogi would say. Sadly, for Yogi's team,
the fat lady has sung. New Yorkers know that fat lady to be the recorded
voice of Kate Smith, ever since September 11th, singing God Bless America before the Seventh Inning Stretch.
Time to give that recording a rest, and for the Yanks to
retool for next year.
Hmm, ìnext year.î
Those two words seem so much more apt for Boston fans than for Yankee fans.