Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Maybe?

Maybe now, after a seventh consecutive year without a championship, despite having the highest payroll for so long, Yankee fans will stop being so arrogant.

Maybe now, after seeing the Red Sox go as farther than their team again, they'll think twice before assuming the Red Sox will choke.

Maybe now, after seeing Steinbrenner threaten to let their manager go (twelve straight post-season appearances is not enough?), they'll start to realize there is more to baseball than winning. We could make a deal, they could stop acting like they're the "winners" and we're the "chokers," and acting like every loss is just a win upside-down, and we could come out and say, yes, that was a good effort from a team that had been so far behind--a good effort is all one can expect, you can't win every year....

The chance of any of that happening is about as fat as Joba, who I'm hoping people will have to Google to find out who I'm talking about when they read this five years from now. So I'll just happily laugh in the faces of Yankee fans. "Would you care to retract that statement, sir?" "No! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Yankees lose again!"

The funny thing is when you think, Hey, all the assholes who spammed my blog with comments about how the Yanks are DEFINITELY better than the SOX and WILL win it all will just shut their mouths now, humbled. Ha! They'll still come up with some excuse why I'm the asshole and why the Yanks will always be grand champs and the Red Sox will never be winners even when they're holding the trophy. That's why I say "screw 'em."

Thank you, Indians! Nice job.

How great was the Jeter double play? And then the out he made in the ninth. As my girlfriend said, How come they didn't show his parents after those at bats?? And A-Rod--oh, A-Rod, how I love to watch you in the post-season. There seems to be a faction that tries to act like A-Rod actually IS good in the clutch. Did you watch this series? Or the one before it? Or before that? This guy screwed the pooch again in October. He nor Jeter could save the Yanks. You know why? Because they aren't pitchers. This team was doomed from day one. You can bash your way to the playoffs, but not through them.

Johnny Damon. How I love to see you lose. "Tell Theo thanks for Johnny," Yankee fans (INEXPLICABLY, AS JOHNNY WON WITH US BUT NOT WITH THEM--sorry, I like to really stress points that Yankee fans erase from their memories) said at the time. From Theo: "You're welcome, ASS HOLES." Coco Crisp will be playing in the ALCS this season.

Wang: the "ace"! Really showed up this series.

Rocket, how could I forget you! I don't know if there's anything left to say to that guy. Except "eat it, traitor."

Let's look at the predictions from this blog for this series:

Nine people said Indians in five.
Four said Indians in four.
One said Indians in three.
One said Yankees in five.

Me, Peter, Michael, and Quinn nailed this one. But I was the only one to guess Sox in 3, so I guess I'll give myself an autographed Gedman card tonight before bed. I'd like to thank the fans, who made it all possible.

Some notes on TBS' broadcast tonight: The main announcer--I kept thinking it was DeWayne Staats, but it was Chip Caray. (See this article ripping him.) He seemed to be rooting for the Yankees. I actually started thinking maybe I should see if I can pull in Jon Sterling for more neutral announcing! I guess if you're a Yankee fan, you'd be "shocked" by the Indians beating you--that's what Caray kept saying. He blurted out, at one point, "this is absolutely amazing," referring to the Indians adding to their lead. Really? The team tied for the best record beating the wild card team by a few runs is "absolutely amazing"? They "shocked" Yankee fans? If they'd been shocked, they would've stayed for the whole game, instead of leaving early because they knew their team would lose. No faith, these Yankee fans. But I don't blame 'em, with the group of chokers they have to root for year after year. And then Brenley goes and says, "these Indians aren't afraid of the Red Sox." There we go again: Yankees--an awesome, unstoppable powerhouse, even as they watch another team celebrate (on their home field) in the first round of the playoffs for the third consecutive year. Red Sox--just some team not to be afraid of, even though we just swept through the Angels.

When Damon made the catch in the eighth, Caray screamed blue murder, like, like, well, like Michael Kay. It was a nice catch. But not that nice.

He also opted to break out the old "a little vitamin D from the Melk Man" on a routine fly to Cabrera.

And Tony Gwynn, who looks an awful lot like Buddha, made a few blunders, including referring to the bottom hand as the top hand.

So, pretty terrible job by TBS, but I'm just so happy right now, it doesn't matter at all.

Finally, I know some people thought it might be better to play the Yanks than the Indians in the ALCS. First of all, I couldn't have rooted for that. But I assure you, if the Yanks had won, I'd have been happy to have the chance to take them out ourselves. But still, even if that was important enough to me to actually root for the Yanks in their ALDS, I feel like that would've been a bad move anyway. Had the Yanks won, they would've been a team who'd won three straight. In other words, the Yanks you don't want to see. Sure, we'd have loved to have gone up against the Yanks who lost games one and two, but to want to play a hot Yankee squad would've been, uh, irresponsible, or something. So I'll happily take my chances with the Indians. They are good, but what are we, chopped Joba?

"Not the Yankees" vs. the Red Sox, ALCS game one, Friday. (AP photo above by Bill Kostroun)

Okay, forget I said "finally" up there. I've got a better final note. I think the most telling thing about the *new* New York Yankees came on Abreu's homer in the ninth. The Yanks were down 6-3, and Abreu's one-out homer got them as close as they'd end up getting. What song did the PA system at Yankee Stadium play? Theme from The Natural. Of course, in the movie, Roy Hobbes' home run won the pennant for his team. Bobby Abreu's was too little, too late. But they still played the song. "Almost--but not quite." "Coulda, shoulda, woulda." "If, if, if." Baseball fans, I give you the New York Yankees.

Comments:
I just can't get enough of Fat Vinny from the Bronx with that sad, shocked, spoiled, pouty "I can't believe this is happening again" look on his face...I could watch that forever...it's always a close second to the random bandwagon-chasing-new NY hat-wearing celebrity sporting that same facial expression...I live for this!
 
Great call. Note: I added a final paragraph to this post.
 
Also, I was flipping through channels just now, and I got to TBS, and next to their logo it said "the division series continues." Maybe they really were shocked. It's over, people! It's championship series time!
 
The Courant today (Tuesday) listed the 7:10pm Friday ALCS game one as being on Fox....is that correct? I thought TBS had it locked up.
But enough with trivial matters....right now we wait the wait until Friday night, our bullpen getting rest and our sluggers REMAINING hot!
 
Mom here.
Chip Caray was so rooting for the Yankees. When they took the lead in the first game, he shouted, "AND HERE COME THE YANKEES!!!" in the same tone you and I would have used if we were on a ship that had lost its crew; we were on the water for three months with just one squeezed-to-the-max tube of toothpaste between us and starvation; and we spotted the spires of Manhattan (a la the guy crawling across Serling's desert and spotting the tops of the Las Vegas casinos). Imagine our voices shouting, "LAND, HO!!!"
So Caray must have been castigated, because last night he said rather sullenly when the Indians got their first hit, "Here come the Indians..." in the same tone as... (fill in the rest--I have to go work on Chapter 12, DIRTY WATER: A Red Sox Mystery.)
 
Is TBS showing the ALCS, also? If so, I hope Steve Stone does the ALCS.
 
Brilliant post Jere. I will say it was a bit saddening to see Torre at the press conference. And I say this as a Red Sox fan. Even if the Yankees wanted him back, I seriously think he should tell them to shove it. Why put up with a fanbase and management who don't want you?

Anyway, it'll be a nice ALCS because there will be no hype, just baseball. Bad for casual fans I guess, but great for those who love the game, and don't need the "entertainment".
 
Great post, Jere. I couldn't have said it better. And I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed they played the theme to the natural what a farse.....
 
As always, no one wraps it up or says it better than Jere. Thanks for putting into words what everyone in Red Sox Nation is thinking this morning.

So far, these AL playoffs are unfolding poetically. My eldest daughters (age 10 and 11) jumped into the air this morning when I informed them that the Yankees were toast.
 
Chip is really up there:

In The Dumb Dumb, Mc Carver Category;

Like in a League With Michael Kay;

Which isn't saying much
 
I had to come share the love with Sox fans. I'm with you Jere, I wanted another first round wipe out of the Yankees just to shut their freakin fans' mouths if nothing else. How many excuses do you think they can buy with that payroll?

*rubbin it in & lovin it*
 
Victory sure is sweet, even when it doesn't come from our boys. I do feel bad for Torre, though. He didn't do anything wrong, all the players fell apart (Wang, A-Snob, etc).
 
Thanks for all the comments. I answered the Fox/TBS questions in the next post.

Hey, if Torre did nothing wrong in the losses, you gotta say he did nothing right in the wins. Of course I feel like a manager who takes his team to the postseason should keep his job. But the fact that that's not good enough for Stein makes it endlessly amusing for me.
 

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