APOCALYPSE
Boston Wins ALCS; Celebrates In House That Ruth Built




By: Russ Rose
Special to Yankees Talk Shop
October 21, 2004

They say the end of days will be foretold by unmistakable and wondrous signs. If that is true then we are truly entering the end of days. Last night we witnessed the greatest collapse by a team in baseball history. We also saw the greatest comeback in baseball history. Depending on whose team you were rooting for dictates how you view the 2004 American League Championship Series. As a Yankees’ fan I choose the former view.

The 2004 New York Yankees will go down in Major League Baseball history as the biggest choke artists ever to play the game. No team after getting their opponent down three games to none has ever lost a seven-game series. No team has ever let the other team get to Game 7. The New York Yankees allowed the Boston Red Sox to do both.

The Red Sox as if we all didn’t know by now was a beaten team. Down three games to none with four possible more games to play the Sox had just taken the worst beating ever in playoff history. The Yankees clobbered them for 19 runs on 22 hits and after it was all over looked poised to take their 40th trip to the World Series.

Baseball is, as I have said, an unpredictable game. It’s the same as warfare. You can write books upon books about how to engage in a battle, but once the first shot is fired you can throw the books out the window. Nothing ever goes as scripted. Game 4 is a perfect example of that. The Yankees lead the game 4-3 when they brought closer Mariano Rivera into the game. Mariano is the greatest playoff closer in history. When Sandman enters a game it’s supposed to be ballgame over. This is where the fortunes of war changed in favor of the Red Sox.

Rivera who is supposed to be murder on left-handed batters walked Kevin Millar on five pitches. Lead off walks will kill you every time. Dave Roberts replaced Millar and stole second base. Bill Mueller singled home Roberts tying the ballgame at four apiece. The Yankees offense went to sleep. Boston won it in the 12th inning on David Ortiz’ 2-run home run. Rivera, who blows saves about as often as Haley’s comet comes around, unknowingly released the Hounds of Hell upon the Yankees.

Without drumming up everything that went wrong suffice it to say Game 5 went nearly the same way as Game 4. It was another game of extra innings, a blown save and another win for the Boston Red Sox.

What had happened to the Yankees’ offense? The 1-5 hitters who batted a combined .484 in the first three games only hit .182 in the last four. Derek Jeter had a miserable series, looking like he did the first part of the year, when he couldn’t buy a hit. Jeter was six for thirty-one (.193 BA) with no home runs, 4 RBI, and six walks.

It was hoped playing in the friendly confines of Yankee Stadium and in front of a rabid pro-Yankees’ crowd would re-energize the team. It did not. Once again the 1-5 hitters failed to generate much against Boston’s pitching staff. They faced a one-legged ace by the name of Curt Schilling and failed to exploit his injured ankle. With blood filling up his right shoe and sock Schilling took the measure of the Yankees and gave his overtired and overused relief corps a much needed rest. Jon Lieber pitched a fine game himself. He had one bad inning when the Sox struck for four runs. However, like a man in a rubber raft, surrounded by sharks, and a thousand miles from land Lieber had no help coming his way.

Gradually, the Yankees, who were cruising into the World Series, found themselves backed into the opposite corner and on the verge of defeat. Mystique, Aura, the Ghost of the Babe and all the other legends swirling around Yankee Stadium had followed Elvis and left the building. The immortal New York Yankees were suddenly a very mortal team.

Last night, the line was drawn in the sand. You can use all the clichés you want. Do or die, all or nothing, win one for the Gipper or my favorite “Who’s your Daddy?” It didn’t take Boston long to rub that line out.

Kevin Brown, who in my estimation, has been the biggest waste of $15 million started the game. He quickly gave Boston a lead when he grooved one right down the pipe and into the wheelhouse of new Yankee killer David Ortiz. Brown last just 1-1/3 innings, but the damage was done. He gave up five runs on four hits, including setting up a grand slam to Johnny Damon, and Boston never looked back.

Not only did they win the series, but they humiliated their hosts in doing it. Yankees’ fans were treated to something neither they, nor several generations before them had ever seen. The Boston Red Sox celebrating a playoff series victory in the House that Ruth built. It will be long remembered by those of us who follow the interlocking NY and pinstripes as a “day of infamy.”

For the Boston Red Sox and their fans this series victory has gone a long way in exorcizing the ghosts and curses that have plagued them since 1918. The final hurdle will be in winning the World Series. As much as I hate to admit it I think they will do just that. Like the Anaheim Angels of 2002 the Boston Red Sox are a team of destiny. It’s always said the road to the World Series goes through New York and Boston not only took that road they steamrolled down it. This writer can do nothing, but congratulate the Sox on earning their right to go to the Show in a way no other team has ever done it before.

To the New York Yankees I can only say this team is a major disappointment. For all the money paid these athletes they proved a huge payroll guarantees you nothing. Maybe George Steinbrenner will learn a lesson from this. Maybe less is more. Every team that has beaten the Yankees in the playoffs since their last World Series victory in 2000 has had a payroll less than the Yankees.

It is going to be a long, bitter and cold winter for the Yankees and their fans. It is an almost guaranteed certainty the coaching staff and roster for 2005 will look very different than the one seen slinking off the field last night. It is time to blow this thing up and start rebuilding once again from the inside. Over the past several years Steinbrenner and the Yankees have hocked their farm system to pay for overpriced players who don’t deliver the goods. The bill came due last night.

If I were anything, but a Yankees’ fan, I’d say good luck to the Sox. I can’t do that. I will be rooting very hard against you. Unfortunately for me my heart and head aren’t in agreement on this one. My heart says you will lose, but my head says……..

PLAY BALL…..sometime in February, 2005!


© 2004 Yankees Talk Shop @ ezboard.com

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