For fear of adding to the already infamous Boston Red Sox “Curse of the Bambino,” I’ve put off writing even a single character about their American League Championship Series showdown with the New York Yankees but now it’s all said and done… It’s about time…
It’s the kind of story that’s too far fetched to be true… down 3-0 in a best of seven series, having just been thrashed 19-8, the Red Sox do what no other team in history has done… Win the remaining 4 games over the next 4 nights cumulating in a 10-3 win at Yankee Stadium to finally send the team into the World Series for the first time in 18 years where they will face either the St. Louis Cardinals or the Houston Astros.
Now, the series has been staple viewing in our home, what with Erika being a damn Yankee fan and me, well, not liking the Yankees one bit… Now I don’t like the Yankees for a variety of reasons, their high payroll and their blatant disregard for the salary cap, the 26 World Series titles, the fans and their “who’s your da-ddy?” chants aimed at Pedro Martinez, but it boils down to one reason and one reason alone… Paul O’Neill… He was the right fielder for the Yankees during my peak baseball watching years (1997-2001, though I’m still in my peak, he just retired in 2001) and from 1998 to 2001, the Yankees were in the World Series and each and everytime I thought they might lose, Paul O’Neill would make an important catch or a big hit to save their pinstriped asses… My dislike for O’Neill got so bad that I could never win a single game against the Yankees in Triple Play Baseball 1999 on the PlayStation as I ALWAYS had to aim the pitches at O’Neill’s head thus getting my pitcher thrown out the game, a shitty one would take over and Tino Martinez would smoke the following pitch over the wall in deep center field, each and every time, without fail… ALWAYS!
Anyways, Erika is a Yankee fan and I had on my Red Sox hat, and we’d be watching the games, busting each others chops about the plays taking place (so far as to Erika getting Phil to call me on Sunday just to remind me about the 19-8 blowout the previous night), and it got even better as the Red Sox fought back, going so far as Erika saying she wouldn’t mind if the Red Sox won… A Yankee fan saying that, can you believe it? We watched pretty much every pitch, even in the game that ended at 1:30am and the monster 5:45 marathon, and it’s probably the most enjoyable thing I can remember, drumming my hands against a footrest, cheering on the Red Sox long after midnight, Erika spouting every excuse under the sun as to why the Yankees collapsed like a house of cards (while sneakily changing my avatar on a few message boards we run).
The World Series probably won’t be as enjoyable but I still hope the Red Sox win and break the “curse” once and for all… Though most will already say it has been broken, in the house that Ruth built…