Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Rumble in the Bronx
Here we go again. Perhaps the most intriguing offseason in major league history and an entire season of baseball, and we find ourselves with the same two teams fighting (often literally) for the American League pennant. One of the most bitter rivalries in all of sports renews itself on the grandest stage possible, the Red Sox and Yankees in the ALCS. Buckle your seatbelts.
You can go to all the major sports sites and pull up 20 different breakdowns, most of them saying Boston has the edge because of their upgrade of Curt Schilling over Derek Lowe. Of course, the Yankees also now have ARod and Sheffield which should count as a bit of an upgrade as well. My problem with these analyses, however, is that they rely heavily on comparing last year's series to what should happen this year. I say last year's series is totally irrelevant on this season's field of play. This series is not about Boston being five outs better than last year's club as Kevin Millar will tell you. Who's to assume they will get all the same preceding outs to where they are only five outs away again? This series is about this year's personnel, completely independent of the achievements of last year's rosters.
Given that my hatred for Red Sox Nation is in my bone barrow, I'm obviously rooting for the Yankees in this series. Beyond that, the teams are so freakishly evenly matched, it will almost have to come down to a matter of wills, if not curses. And that is exactly what will ultimately determine the winner of this series. Despite all the feuding, the acquisitions, the t-shirts and the rhetoric, there is no negotiating around this simple truth: the Yankees are still the Yankees and the Red Sox are still the Red Sox.
It's all in the intangibles. For example, my buddies and I were at the ESPN Zone this past Saturday night. At the Zone they have this game where you actually throw pitches to a life-size simulation of major league baseball's biggest stars, the object being to strike them out. My comrade Sloppy Joe, a devout Red Sox fan, decided to take it upon himself to do what his team could not which is to beat the Yankees and he stepped into the cage against his archnemesis, Derek Jeter. In head-to-toe Red Sox gear and sporting a 74-mph "slider," Joe jumped ahead to an 0-2 count after two big cuts by the Yankees' captain. Rather than play it smart and try to get Jeter to chase a wasted pitch, Joe got a little cocky with his lead and went for the knockout punch. Jeter took that knockout pitch and drove it a good 380 feet. He then took a spirited jog around the bases and jumped proudly onto home plate, mobbed by his Yankee teammates. Joe shook it off and went downstairs to enjoy a twelve-dollar burger before working up the nerve to take another shot at Mr. November. Same matchup, same result. Jeter took him yard and Joe got a glimpse of the pain that awaits him in this series. Events like these are the superstitious supporters that will swing this series south to the Bronx.
Here's another one. As I said before, due to Boston bum rushing my Angels out of the playoffs, I am wearing a Red Sox shirt today. I could have worn it yesterday but I specifically waited until today. Why? Because it's game day. With Schilling on the mound for Boston in Game One tonight, it's the equivalent of being dealt a pair of kings, but as long yours truly is wearing this shirt, the House (That Ruth Built) is holding blackjack.
The Sports Guy made a great point today regarding this rivalry.
"...because of our tortured history, Fenway turns catatonic whenever something bad happens... Yankee fans expect to win at all times. Red Sox fans expect to win ... as long as something bad doesn't happen."
He was referring strictly to the fans, but I think it reaches further than that. The Red Sox could be up 6-0 in the ninth inning of a series they lead 3-0 and Red Sox Nation from Theo Epstein on down to my buddy Mike Burns will still be waiting for the other shoe to drop. As long as they have to get by the Yankees to win a World Series, they are always going to be looking over their shoulders. Curt Schilling is a possible exception, but his making a specific point of saying he came to the Red Sox just to beat the Yankees makes me think he is just as susceptible to the curse-induced choke. If the Red Sox are trying harder to beat the Yankees than they are to win the game, their paranoid psyche is going to be their downfall once again.
You don't hear the Yankees coming up with slogans like "Reverse the Curse," "Cowboy Up," or "Keep the Faith." You don't see Mike Mussina practicing on the side wearing a t-shirt asking "Why Not Us?" and, unlike Schilling, he is actually still yet to win a ring. They don't do dances, they don't practice midget-tossing as a celebration, and they don't grow facial hair resembling a garden hedge from "Edward Scissorhands." The game itself is entertaining enough for the defending American League Champs. The Yankees just go out and play baseball. That is why the Yankees will win again.
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You can go to all the major sports sites and pull up 20 different breakdowns, most of them saying Boston has the edge because of their upgrade of Curt Schilling over Derek Lowe. Of course, the Yankees also now have ARod and Sheffield which should count as a bit of an upgrade as well. My problem with these analyses, however, is that they rely heavily on comparing last year's series to what should happen this year. I say last year's series is totally irrelevant on this season's field of play. This series is not about Boston being five outs better than last year's club as Kevin Millar will tell you. Who's to assume they will get all the same preceding outs to where they are only five outs away again? This series is about this year's personnel, completely independent of the achievements of last year's rosters.
Given that my hatred for Red Sox Nation is in my bone barrow, I'm obviously rooting for the Yankees in this series. Beyond that, the teams are so freakishly evenly matched, it will almost have to come down to a matter of wills, if not curses. And that is exactly what will ultimately determine the winner of this series. Despite all the feuding, the acquisitions, the t-shirts and the rhetoric, there is no negotiating around this simple truth: the Yankees are still the Yankees and the Red Sox are still the Red Sox.
It's all in the intangibles. For example, my buddies and I were at the ESPN Zone this past Saturday night. At the Zone they have this game where you actually throw pitches to a life-size simulation of major league baseball's biggest stars, the object being to strike them out. My comrade Sloppy Joe, a devout Red Sox fan, decided to take it upon himself to do what his team could not which is to beat the Yankees and he stepped into the cage against his archnemesis, Derek Jeter. In head-to-toe Red Sox gear and sporting a 74-mph "slider," Joe jumped ahead to an 0-2 count after two big cuts by the Yankees' captain. Rather than play it smart and try to get Jeter to chase a wasted pitch, Joe got a little cocky with his lead and went for the knockout punch. Jeter took that knockout pitch and drove it a good 380 feet. He then took a spirited jog around the bases and jumped proudly onto home plate, mobbed by his Yankee teammates. Joe shook it off and went downstairs to enjoy a twelve-dollar burger before working up the nerve to take another shot at Mr. November. Same matchup, same result. Jeter took him yard and Joe got a glimpse of the pain that awaits him in this series. Events like these are the superstitious supporters that will swing this series south to the Bronx.
Here's another one. As I said before, due to Boston bum rushing my Angels out of the playoffs, I am wearing a Red Sox shirt today. I could have worn it yesterday but I specifically waited until today. Why? Because it's game day. With Schilling on the mound for Boston in Game One tonight, it's the equivalent of being dealt a pair of kings, but as long yours truly is wearing this shirt, the House (That Ruth Built) is holding blackjack.
The Sports Guy made a great point today regarding this rivalry.
"...because of our tortured history, Fenway turns catatonic whenever something bad happens... Yankee fans expect to win at all times. Red Sox fans expect to win ... as long as something bad doesn't happen."
He was referring strictly to the fans, but I think it reaches further than that. The Red Sox could be up 6-0 in the ninth inning of a series they lead 3-0 and Red Sox Nation from Theo Epstein on down to my buddy Mike Burns will still be waiting for the other shoe to drop. As long as they have to get by the Yankees to win a World Series, they are always going to be looking over their shoulders. Curt Schilling is a possible exception, but his making a specific point of saying he came to the Red Sox just to beat the Yankees makes me think he is just as susceptible to the curse-induced choke. If the Red Sox are trying harder to beat the Yankees than they are to win the game, their paranoid psyche is going to be their downfall once again.
You don't hear the Yankees coming up with slogans like "Reverse the Curse," "Cowboy Up," or "Keep the Faith." You don't see Mike Mussina practicing on the side wearing a t-shirt asking "Why Not Us?" and, unlike Schilling, he is actually still yet to win a ring. They don't do dances, they don't practice midget-tossing as a celebration, and they don't grow facial hair resembling a garden hedge from "Edward Scissorhands." The game itself is entertaining enough for the defending American League Champs. The Yankees just go out and play baseball. That is why the Yankees will win again.
# posted by j.h.k. @ 1:38 PM 
