Red Sox 2004
Marlins 2003
Angels 2002
Diamondbacks 2001
yankees 2000
Braves 1995
Blue Jays 1993
Twins 1991
Reds 1990
Athletics 1989
Dodgers 1988
Mets 1986
Royals 1985
Tigers 1984
Orioles 1983
Cardinals 1982
Phillies 1980
Pirates 1979
Giants 1954
Indians 1948
White Sox 1917
Cubs 1908
Brewers --
Astros --
Devil Rays --
Rangers --
Mariners --
Nationals --
Padres --
Rockies --

Just because I was bored. It wasn't as hard a list to make as I thought it would be. Like George Costanza architect alter-ego building that new addition to the Guggenheim, it really didn't take very long, either. The only one I had to look up was the Giants. And for the Indians, I initially thought 1934, because I always think that, thanks to Lynn giving Jake 555-1934 as her fake phone number in Major League. I should know better, what with that being one of the one-game playoff years. Sox fans over 65 will be all over me for that one, I'm sure. The rest, I think, are right. Feel free to double check me. Also, I wanted to do this while the Sox are still at the top of the list. You'll note that the Red Sox are in the top four, or "first division," while the yanks are in the lesser-quality bottom twenty-six.

The other night, Chan and I were walking home from Saigon Grill. I had our food in one hand and a can of soda in the other. Two dudes were having a catch with a football along the sidewalk. (Completely unnecessarily, as there's a park across the street from where they were. I think they just enjoyed making people avoid a football as they innocently walked down the sidewalk. In other words, they were assholes.) As we approached them, I knew that I'd have trouble making a play, should the ball get away from one of them, seeing as my hands were full. Which was a shame, since my favorite play in football, aside from the onside-kick, the flea-flicker, and the hook-and-ladder, is the the tip drill.

So the far guy throws to the near guy, and I can see right away that with the height and speed of the throw, there's gonna be a chance that the ball tips off the near guy's shoulder, and comes floating toward me. And sure enough, it happened. Somehow, with my left hand, the one holding a heavy bag of Curry Tau Hu and whatever Chan ordered, I manage to catch the ball, cradling it between my elbow and my body.

I kind of leaned upward so the near guy could take the ball from me. He gave me a stoned-sounding "Good lookin' out, man."

We kept walking, and as we passed the far guy, instead of hearing, "Hey, good job over there, most people don't catch my purposely errant throws even with two free hands," he starts in with the Red Sox-bashing.

"Yo, they just got swept, you still wearin' it?" (my hat).

"Uh, what?"

"Yo, no other team in baseball got swept, at least the yanks went five games."

This was the point where I realized there was no use talking to this guy.

Long story short, the kid gave me all the pre-2004 bullcrap, as if last year had never happened. He wasn't specifically mentioning the yanks, though, so I asked, "What's your team?"

"The Mets," he said.

"What kind of Mets fan are you, being so pro-yankees," I asked.

"Cuz' it's New York."

"I live here," I told him.

More talk of 86 years followed, and with each thing he said, he'd turn away to throw the football, leaving my rational responses to go unheard.

"AL East Champs!" he bragged. (You know, about his "other" team. So please don't believe that "One or the other and nothing in between" crap about New York.)

It's just so funny how they make fools of themselves. A yankee fan, or whatever he calls himself, bragging about his team tying the Red Sox, then suffering an equal fate in the post-season, a year after losing in historic fashion to the Sox.

It once again goes to show that this never was about baseball. It's about pathetic people needing to feel good about themselves. The Boston "B" will always say to them, "That person's below me." Here's something funny to imagine: Say the Sox go on to tie the yanks in terms of total championships. Even if takes 300 years. There's no doubt in my mind that yankee fans will still come up with some ridiculous reason why they will always be better than us. "Everybody knows those last twenty were flukes." And I'm sure the "class" issue will still be raised, even if the entire yankee team ends up being convicted for murder at some point.

And, as was brought up in my comments, why do they feel the need to go up to total strangers to attempt to put them down? And this wasn't joking around, more like he really was thinking about physically fighting me. A stranger. On the street.

Here's the bonus. As we walked away, with me yelling "terrible job," Chan told me he'd seen the same kid a few days earlier with a bat and a ball, and was getting ready to hit the ball over 2nd Avenue, despite the fact that Chan was walking by right in front of him. Chan hustled out of there.

Terrible job, kid.

Putting people down to make yourself feel better, hmm, sounds like a documentary I just watched called Flight From Death.

Actually, I would have brought it up anyway, because it was co-written and co-produced by Greg Bennick, someone I'm proud to be a friend of. He did some great work. Check out the site and read about it, and if it sounds interesting to you, you can buy the DVD there. Or go to a Virgin Megastore, that's where I got mine. Put simply, t's all about how death affects life. Really interesting stuff. And I'm not getting paid for this. He doesn't even know I'm plugging his work, and as far as I know, isn't even aware of my blog.

What a crazy ending to that ALCS game tonight. In case you missed it, I'm the one who said "Just grab 'em in the biscuits." I mean, in case you missed it, the Angels were one strike away from sending the game to extra innings. And they got it, but the batter decided to run to first, thinking that maybe the catcher had caught strike three on a bounce. He made it, since the catcher had already tossed the ball to the mound, and the Angels were all walking off the field. After a stolen base, the next batter knocked in the winning run.

Needless to say, the Angels were quite pissed. Mainly because it looked like the catcher caught the ball cleanly, on the fly. McCarver was completely certain of it. I don't know, it could have bounced, barely. But it just goes to show you that you should run every time the catcher misses a strike three. Or, in this case, if you think there's the slightest chance that the ball was short-hopped. Then again, the batter had started walking to his own dugout, but when he saw the catcher roll the ball out onto the field, he took a shot. It's almost like the umpire saw this and thought, "Oh, he must have a reason for running. Yeah, that's right, the ball bounced. Safe. Instead of the out call I already made."

It also goes to show that the catcher should just go ahead and tag a guy if there's any doubt. But that was McCarver's point; the guy had no doubt, that's why he rolled the ball away and ran to the dugout.

In the NLCS, some National League teams played, and bunting was probably involved.

Also, did you see this article? I swear, this isn't some fake article written by me to mock the way the media treats the yankees like some regal...beagle. My favorite line? Oh yeah, it's definitely:

"And it's over, this gallant quest."

From my comments:

"I guees when your a miserable red sux fan you'll cling to any bit of foolishness. Happy 86 more years loser!!!"

Okay, you've (you have) got the "you'll" contraction down. Good job. It's (it is) the "your/you're" that you're (you are) still having trouble with. I find that thinking before and during the writing process helps. Just think "Am I trying to say 'your' or 'you are'?"

We all make mistakes. I make them all the time. But your (not "you are") mistake clearly shows that you are (not "your") having difficulty understanding this particular rule.

As long as we're making predictions, I'm (I am) going to predict that you and most other yankee (spelled with a lower-case on purpose) fans never figure this out.

I almost get the feeling that yankee fans think that they "predicted" the 86-year drought, got it right, and are now predicting another one. Can it be possible that these people really think that we hear that and hang our heads and cry because we think it's true that the Red Sox won't win for 86 years? (Also, I like how one of my commenters, referring to the yanks going five years without winning, said, "I can do five years standing on my head," or something like that. As if WE'RE the ones who don't have experience in going years without winning.)

Look, yankee fans, when you made fun of us for "1918," you were stating fact. That's something you had over us. Although it didn't help you last year and is now obsolete. So, if you want to make fun of us now, you might want to avoid looking like complete morons by thinking that we'll somehow be put in our place when told that YOU THINK our team won't win for another 86 years, escpecially in a day and age when only a select few teams have a chance to win, and our team is one of them. Please try to come up with something that has some validity. Also, and I know this really isn't that important to you, but work on the grammar and spelling. It would just class this whole place up a little.

Thank you.

This is a photo taken from a vent in the ceiling of Bubba and Shef's hotel room in Niagara Falls on their wedding night.

I, for one, support their right and their decision to get married. And come on, you have to admit they're pretty dedicated to their team, seeing as they wore their full uniforms to their wedding. Including spikes, gloves, and hats. I'd like to wear a Red Sox uniform on my wedding day, too.

Kudos, Shef and Bubba. Red Sox Nation and the state of Massachusetts support you.

Kinda.

Teen Girl Squad Issue # 10 is out.

And I just got an e-mail from The Souvenir Store, which I believe is now affiliated with the Sox, saying "Johnny Damon Bargain Alert." Maybe it's a pre-emptive move. I just hope the guy sticks around.

Also, Nomar saves lives.

Read BS Memorial's comments about the way the yanks are portrayed in the media.

Here's part of it:

"Or when Jeter has a single in the 9th inning of game 5- scoring no runs, producing nothing- and we hear, 'and Jeter with ANOTHER clutch postseason hit... this should surprise no one.' Well, it should surprise no one who enjoys being informed about what actually happens that Derek Jeter actually made the final losing out in a higher percentage of his team's losses than any other player."

Of the many things I wanted to talk about after experiencing the yankees' elimination and subsequent media coverage, this was something I forgot about.

I heard this on so many sports reports on the radio as I was in my car all day the day after they lost. I'm guessing they kept bringing up Jeter's hits just to show up A-Rod and all the other "untrue yankees" who totally choked again. But still, I've never heard of a guy who got so much credit for doing absolutely nothing. But if Bellhorn had gotten three hits in that game, I don't think we'd be hearing "The yanks lost as A-Rod didn't drive in any runs....Mark Bellhorn had three meaningless seeing-eye singles in the loss."

Did you notice in the background of the Fox baseball studios the picture of Jeter--not hitting a ball or making a play, but doing the fist pump?

Here's how far this has gone: A few weeks ago, I was in Boston, watching the Red Sox on NESN and the yanks on an ESPN regional game. I saw a yankee run-scoring play, and was only a little surprised to see ESPN do the famous "show Jeter clapping in the dugout" shot. You know this is my all-time pet peeve. And I'm not talking about an inning where Jeter had an earlier hit or sacrifice and ended up in the dugout. I'm talking about an inning where Jeter never batted, never did anything of note in the game before that, and had no connection to what happened in the inning. But the producer was probably screaming, "Get me the Jeter reaction shot!" A few minutes later, watching NESN again, they showed the Yes version of the same play I'd just saw. And within that highlight, broadcast by an entirely different network, I saw, that's right, the Jeter clapping shot.

There's something so wrong about that. Two different networks just happened to think, We'd really like to show our viewers what this certain player did after he saw what a bunch of other players did that he had nothing to do with.

BSM, it is hard to nail down this topic, because it's scope is too massive. You always do a good job in your efforts, though. I still don't know if people outside the NY area can truly appreciate what we deal with. I wonder just how much the media coverage dictates our level of hatred for that team. One thing we can say for sure is that there just isn't enough time in the world to discuss all this horseshit.

If you're a yankee-hater, this is a great time to go to Random Fandom. It's written by Michael, who you know if you ever read the comments here.

He also wrote this post, which tells you how you can donate to Alzheimer's research. And he's right, it is a horrible disease. My grandpa, who was around for the 1912, 1915, 1916, and 1918 championships, died from it. Help out if you can.

They just don't fit together.

I love how A-Rod just can't get it done. He and his buddies, Shefanie and Hide-a-key, had three RBI between 'em in the ALDS. And then he goes and says that the team shouldn't hang their heads. I guess he didn't get the memo.

Steinbrenner already made a statement about the end of the season, and Mike & the Mad Dog thought that the Boss' congratulations of "the Angels and their manager" was a shot at Torre. So who knows what that'll turn into. But I predict more 21st-century yankee style chaos and ultimate failure.

Randy Johnson is such a joke. Before Game 3, he said his old fans in Arizona were "more animated" for his starts. That just made the booing louder for him when he came out of the game after a shitty performance. I also heard that during Game 4, they played a pre-recorded message to the fans on the scoreboard, and the fans booed that, too. Those yankee fans and Randy deserve each other.

"I don't like to use the word 'choke'. --Michael Kay, on the radio, just now.

Game 3 was key. I was listening in the car, and I heard another classic yankee rally. Dave Campbell said the yanks came back thanks to seven softly-hit balls. Just when I thought the momentum had turned, the yanks allowed the Angels to come right back. Quickly it was 11-6 Angels.

Game 4 was a killer, with the yanks getting the tying and winning runs on close plays at the plate. But I knew they were going back to Anaheim for a Game 5, so I wasn't too worried. (Funny how the yankee fans kept cheering Bernie--you know, "just in case" that would be the last time they'd see their yanks this season.)

For Game 5, I turned it on in the second inning to see someone besides Colon on the mound. But the kid did a great job. And once the Sheffield/Timo--I mean, Bubba Crosby play happened, I pretty much knew the Angels were gold. I did kind of hope that the yanks would get a runner on in the ninth, so their fans would yet again see what it's like to almost win but still lose. It's still gonna take awhile before all the "mystique" is washed out of their mouths. Or something. But it happened twice, for an extra bonus. Jeter gets on, A-Rod hits into a DP. Giambi and Shef get on (on two of the cheapest hits of all-time), and Matsui, the great Matsui, who always comes through in the clutch, ends the game. Beautiful.

I also like how they think they've got a second baseman in Cano (corn). Yeah, everything's fine there. Don't even worry about it. He's a sure-fire Hall of Famer.

As for the Sox, I still defend my decision (from the White Sox point of view) of using El Duque and not putting too much faith in Contreras. I was definitely right about the Dork, and I feel like we were getting to Contreras, but all of a sudden he had a huge lead, making it a lot easier for him. He can prove me wrong tonight, we'll see. But I feel he's not gonna do much in these big games. I guess I should root for Chicago, so that we can say "the team that beat us proved they were better than the team that beat the yanks." But, I don't really care about that. The Angels are slightly more likeable, I think. They've got Cabby and Erstad. I'll take them in seven. I think the White Sox have what it takes to go all the way, but that they just won't.

Today, I've heard two people on the radio, one host and one caller, say that this loss is harder for yankee fans than last year's was, for the reason of: They'd beaten the Red Sox for 86 years, so they were due for that...

I'd just like to say that besides the whole "trying to pretend we're not completely embarrassed about 2004" thing, it still pisses me off when people think that all those years when we finished ahead of the yanks somehow don't count. By that logic, the Red Sox "beat" the yankees this year, because we've got the most recent championship, and they didn't take it back. Like it's the Little Brown Jug or something. Terrible job, ignorant yankee fans.

Click above to hear an all-time classic call by the yanks' Jon Sterling. He was talking about a play where Cano took his foot off the bag before catching the ball. If you have Gameday Audio, go to the archives for Ocober 7th. The play happens at 4:00:24. Then hear Jon rant about it starting at 4:04:33. Then, the call I have above is at 4:15:44. That guy is out of his mind. Only a "true yankee" would say, in case you can't access it above, "That was an awful call...even if it was right."

Hey yankee-haters age thirteen and under! Welcome to the five-timers club! You've now, for the first time in your young lives, seen the yankees NOT win the World Series for five consecutive years.

And while I'm on that topic, I'd like to recap those last five, if for no other reason than to make me feel really happy.

2001: The most underrated choke of all time. yanks have World Series in grasp with Mr. Greatest-of-All-Time on mound. Still lose. (But are deemed true American winners due to earlier terrorist attacks in several cities that had nothing do do with baseball.) (?)

2002: The first-round exit. Still with a chance to continue their bought dynasty, yanks go quietly without even reaching ALCS.

2003: The turned tables. yanks become what they despise, putting all their energy into beating Red Sox, forget about ulimate goal, and fail against a baseball team that plays in Miami.

2004: I'm still laughing about that one.

And now, 2005: Revenge gone horribly awry. yanks "win" AL East, but forget to play for home-field advantage, putting last night's decisive Game Five in Anaheim. (They saved Mussina for that?)

After what we went through from 1996-2000, this is just wonderful. Five in a row.

Note: For anyone who says "Bla bla bla, your own team, bla bla bla, doens't make you better, bla bla bla, class, bla bla bla, 26...", well, just know that I care less about what you think than I do about what's on the Style Channel right now.

I was away from computers this weekend, but will have more stuff for you about baseball and stuff later on.