Upon the Gathering Storm
The Yankees have 3 games this week against Baltimore, a sub-par team who they should beat up on. The Red Sox are in the midst of a tilt with the Central leading Detroit Tigers, looking to even up the series tonight after a loss last night. They currently sit 2 games behind the Yankees for the lead in the AL East (with the all important 3 game defecit in the loss column). However, both teams can be forgiven for looking forward to Friday.
Beginning with a day/night doubleheader, the Yankees and Red Sox will play a 5-game in 4 day series which should determine playoff destiny for each team. Assuming things hold as they are, the Sox will have to win consecutive games at some point, and then avoid losing consecutive games to gain ground on the Yankees. Given the teams' almost dead even record against each other during the past several years, this is not the most likely of prospects. (yes, yes, neither was the Sox winning 4 straight in 2004. thanks dick). The wounded Sox will be at home, where they excel, especially Ortiz and Manny. This twosome are as benefitting of "excuse-me" homeruns as any Yankee player, what with the asenine constrction of Fenway Park.
The Yankee fan in me would love to see a 4 or 5 game domination of the Red Sox, and it may not be as unlikely as it seems. I can give the reader many reasons why I believe the Yankees have the matchups in their favor, but I will instead appeal to that friend of sportswriters the world over, the "intangible".
I spent 4 years in Massachusetts as a college student, and during that time I was witness to many Red Sox games and seasons. I got a certain feeling when the Sox were dead, and most of it came from the fans. 2004 was an abberation, as the Sox faithful stopped expecting the worst, and started hoping for the best. While I am not suggesting that the fans can affect the player performance, I am suggesting that such rabidly devoted fans can serve as an accurate barometer of where the team is headed. All but the best players are battered, including the heart-and-soul Vartiek. Ortiz is on a heat streak that seems destined for a crushing strike-out in one of those situations in which he has recently come up with a winning moment so often. the pitchers are not the Schilling, Pedro, Timmy junk-ball (who on his day can baffle the best lineup) squad who got them deep in games, and the pen is a'shambles.
I am not predicting a Yankee sweep. But I will not be surprised if one occurs.
posted by Charlie at 2:16 PM
10 Comments:
Nice prediction on the Orioles' Series -- 1 out of 3 is a real thrashing. Let's see how you do with your prediction of a weekend sweep.
hmm, seems to me i said the Yankees should beat up on the O's, which they should have, and the second to last sentence says "i am not predicting a sweep" re: the Sox tilt.
Thanks for reading.
It looks like you should have had the balls to predict the sweep. Put a fork in the Sox -- they're done.
Should have stuck to your guns kid -- the 5 game sweep is complete. If only they could pick on someone of equal payroll -- oh wait, there is no one even close.
Having trouble following the twisted logic of a Red Sox fan:
Yankees lose = Yankees suck.
Yankees win = they have more money, so they should win. Hence, Yankees suck.
So, win or lose, the Yankees suck. Even with 26 championships and 8 straight division titles. If the Yankees suck with those stats, then the Red Sox choke while trying to swallow.
"So, win or lose, the Yankees suck." Kevin, you figured it out. But why did you assume that I am a Red Sox fan -- nearly every baseball fan in every city hates the Yanks and the inequities in the system which allow them to buy championships. The only thing more loathsome than the Yanks is their fans -- a bunch of insecure, obnoxious front-runners who feel the need to associate themselves with a purported "winner." All Yankee fans, by definition, are bandwagon fans -- they have never had to suffer, and their loyalties have never been challenged. It takes real strength of character to root for the perennial favorite. Why not just go back to 4th grade and root on the bully to beat up the nerdy kid? There's little difference.
Actually anonymous (why not just id yourself at this point) those of us who started with the team as 10 year olds in 1991 know a good bit about suffering.
"hate and envy are often two sides of the same coin"
I have a pretty strong suspicion you started with the Yanks around 96, after giving up on your true hometown team, your first love, the New York Mets. Assuming the truth of your statement that you've been a Yankee fan since 91 (not so incidentally, the first losing year for the Mets since 83), the Yanks started winning in 94 (first place at the strike). Three years of "suffering" is not that impressive. I really love it when Yankee fans talk about the "lean years" --you know, back in the 80's when they came in second nearly every year and had Guidry, Winfield, Mattingly, Righetti, Ricky, and every free agent they could sign from the poorer teams (Steve Trout, Steve Kemp, etc.). You want to talk suffering, lets talk about Ed Kranepool, Lee Mazzilli, Joel Youngblood, Ellis Valentine, Pat Zachary, Mike Jorgenson, Doug Flynn, Frank Tavarez, John Stearns, Tim Foli, Richie Hebner, Skip Lockwood, Bob Apadoca, Willie Montanez, Duffy Dyer, Mike Vail, Neil Allen, Butch Metzger, Mark Bomback, Ron Hodges, John Pacella, Ed Glynn, Ed Lynch, Steve Henderson, Dan Norman, Bobby Valentine, Craig Swan, Elliot Maddux, Junior Ortiz and Pete Falcone. I've always been proud that I rooted for my team through those years and rooted for those players as much as I would have David Wright or Jose Reyes. No Yankee fan could ever understand what that means, or what it means to be a true diehard fan, win or lose.
are you expecting me to say "Uncle"?
I was really disappointed in the Mets in the early 90s, but only because they let Cone go to the Jays, which kept the Yankees from a possible pennant. My first in-person games were admittedly Met games, but only because I had no hand in buying the tickets. One of my strongest memories is of going to a Yankee game one night as a youngster. We had to leave in the 7th, with the Yankees down 7-2 (or something). I protested vehemently, not wanting to leave in case the Yankees won. My father told me that if the Yankees won after we left, he would buy me a dirt-bike. I spent the night dreaming of scenarios where the Yankees could come back, only to wake up and find they went down 7-5. A fan was born that night, and he never went away.
Enough said. But I find it absolutely shocking that a young lad could visit beautiful Shea Stadium and not walk away a fan.
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