Revoise da Coise

22 October 2004


Red Sox Embarrass Yankees in ALCS

The Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees have one of the greatest rivalries in sports. Precisely why is difficult to say, as it has been incredibly one-sided for decades. The Yankees always win. At least, until Wednesday night. The Curse of the Bambino was partially lifted by a Red Sox team that spotted the Bronx Bombers three wins and then, swept them. The smart money is still on the St. Louis Cardinals to win it all, but for now, Boston is the baseball capital of the world.

As the statistics junkies constantly said, no team in major league baseball had ever come back to win a best-of-seven series after losing the first three. In a sport where the best teams have a win-loss ratio of 60-40 and the worst 40-60 (unless someone has a really bad year), winning four straight is plain improbable. This collapse by the Yankees is likely to be the most stunning since 1951. That was the year the Brooklyn Dodgers lost the pennant to the New York Giants on a Bobby Thomson home-run in the 9th inning of the third game of a three game play-off series. The Dodgers led the Giants by as many as 13.5 games as late as August 11.

There is plenty of blame in the Yankee clubhouse for the team’s inability to finish off the series, especially as games 5 and 6 went extra innings. Kevin Brown, the Yankees’ starter in game 7, accepted a large portion (mostly sportsmanlike) after he gave up six runs in the first two innings, including a Johnny Damon Grand Slam that shut up everyone in the Bronx. However, had the rest of the team done their jobs, there would have been no game 7. Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield and Derek Jeter have all played better than they did in the last three games. And special recognition goes to George Steinbrenner, the owner, who seems to think that paying for great players creates a winning team – teams must be forged by commitment, give-and-take, and concerted effort, not purchased at $280 million a year.

As for the Red Sox, Curt Schilling pitched a masterpiece in game 6, despite having a tendon held in place on his foot by staples (that is commitment to the team). Johnny Damon had a lousy first six games, but hit two home runs, including the second-inning Grand Slam, when it mattered. And David Ortiz, MVP for the series, won the earlier games with his bat.

And this brings up the Curse of the Bambino – punishment meted out by the Gods of Baseball to the Red Sox for trading Babe Ruth to the Yankees (so the owner could fund a Broadway show). The Sox had won five World Series before the 1918 trade. They haven’t won one since. Has the curse been lifted? Of course not. Curses are superstitious piffle. There never was a curse. But in Boston, the feeling is still one of relief.

© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.

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