SAFE SOX

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

And so the world can continue to turn peacefully on its axis, with no imminent threat of any so-called curses being broken. Let us consider the following:

1) By blowing the 7th game, the Sox spared us the sadness of watching them go to a Cub-less World Series. It would have been like arriving at the Prom and discovering your date had a flat tire and never made it. Here, it’s more like you and your date were driving along, had a blowout which sent you plummeting off a cliff to a fiery doom and thus never made it to the prom.

2) Had the Sox made to the Series, they likely would have lost. Losing to the Cubs would have been a big deal because, y’know, the Cubs would’ve won. Losing to the Marlins…who cares? The only way history would have been made in a Sox/Marlins game is if the Sox had won the first three games and everyone would have been saying, “Well, that’s it, no team has ever come back from a three-game deficit in a best-of-seven Series, it’s a lock,” at which point the Sox could have been the first team to blow a three game advantage. That would’ve been kind of cool.

3) If it had been a Cubs/Sox game…one of the teams would have lost their mystique. I mean, one of the things that’s so legendary about them is their constant inability to win. If one of them had won, they would have been reduced in status to a team that wins on rare occasions, and we’ve got a bunch of those. This way, parity remains between the AL and NL.

4) If it had been Cubs/Yankees, I would have felt compelled to watch, and thus suffer through another twenty showings per game of that dámņëd Visa Check cashing card commercial. Since it’s Yankees/Marlins, I can skip it and thus not have to be badgered by it anymore.

Thus ends the baseball blog entries for the year 2003.

PAD

37 comments on “SAFE SOX”

  1. I’m with you Peter. I won’t be watching, but hoping for lots of pulled groins and hamstrings and quiet bats for those in Yankee pinstripes.

  2. Can there be a more pointless World Series? I don’t care about the Marlins, at all, and hate the Yankees.

    A Cubs/Sox series would have been a dream come true for any baseball fan. Sure, Peter your right, one of those teams would have lost their mystique but how can you deny the fun we’d have had watching.

    Oh, and that Visa ad became the most annoying thing on tv by the second time I watched. I wonder how many people in Boston have switched to Master Card since seeing that ad after every inning for the entire playoffs?

  3. What a great game 7!! Yanks were able to pull it out at the end, and I am one happy fan! I’m looking forward to game 1 Saturday night.

  4. Until tonight, I thought I could watch any two teams play baseball. I just love the game, and sometimes I almost prefer watching two teams whom I have no emotional investment in, just so I can see it without any bias.

    Today, a strange thing dawned on me. Up 4-0, then 5-1, no matter how much I WANTED the Red Sox to win, I didn’t BELIEVE that they were going to do so.

    And if you don’t feel like anything can happen, anybody can make the play, any team can squeeze out a win-

    Well, why bother watching a forgone conclusion?

    I’ll try to watch the Series this year, but I’m not sure I’m going to see much reason to follow the game so passionately next year.

    Fortunately, there’s a high school ball field a few blocks down the road. I’m sure I can get my baseball fix in other ways next summer.

    But for now, Let’s go, Fish!

  6. Awwwww.

    Since the potential for one for the ages has turned into one for the insomniacs, I was counting on you to tell who won the series.

    Yankees again? (yawn)

  7. I’ve refused to watch any World Series with the Yankees in it since they won the 1998 Series. I think I might have accidentally caught an inning or two of the 2001 series. I’ll skip this one, too.

    Can we fire Grady Little now?

    How about now?

    Now?

    Can we at least teach him that relief pitchers are intended to come in and retire hitters when the starting pitcher is too tired or too ineffective to continue?

    How about now?

    Or now?

    Now?

  10. I just find it amazing that so few people want to watch the World Series now. We all seem to love baseball, but there is just something about seeing the same Yankees going again and again that has worn all but Yankee fans down.

    This should be a good matchup, with two teams on a roll, and with a Yankees club that will be rather tired. Yet because it’s not the two “cursed” clubs, the buzz is gone.

    Seems real weird to me.

    Go Marlins!

  11. Hëll, I’m a Yankees fan and I hate those Visa Check Card Commericals.

    Frankly, I’d be happy if we never have to see Steinbrenner and Jeter hock anything on TV ever again.

  13. I think a Consolation Series between the Sox and Cubs would garner big ratings, and probably give Bud Selig apoplexy as well. Two reasons to hope for it.

  14. Can there be a more pointless World Series?

    Sure, last year’s. Two California teams that I cared nothing about.

    When was the last major series anyway. Yanks/Braves in 1999 maybe?

    Anyway, THIS is how a playoff should be. Games 7 with extra innings (and what is it about the 11th? Both extra inning games in the NLCS went there, as did the Marlins 7th game win.

    I freely admit, Boston played great and I figured the game would be decided on which team hit the home run first (somehow I didn’t see it happening on an RBI).

    For the Boston fans, I do sympathise. I’m a Dolphins fan who is waiting to see how they screw things up this year. Last year at halftime of the last regular game of the season, they had home field in the playoffs, and when the night was over they were out of it alltogether.

    Anyway I’m happy that it’s my favorite teams vs my home tean. I’m still rooting for the Yanks, but I won’t be too disapointed if the Marlins win it. I’d just like to see a good series. Let’s go to game 7 again.

  15. Another vote for ‘looks like there’s something else on the tube’ here.

    The ironic thing is the big loser in all of this is Major League Baseball itself. For the past couple weeks, with all the drama and the media storm around two perrennial ‘wait till next year’ teams having a chance to break their streaks, the MLB Division series and League Championships outdrew Monday Night Football for the first time in who-knows-how-long. The Cubs and Red Sox are pretty much nationally followed, and between the media and fans, it was pretty obvious either of the two getting in would have continued to be a huge draw (ask Florida and Atlanta, whose home playoff games pulled 5,000 Cubs fans on the average) So in other words, three out of the possible four combinations would have been a ‘win’ for MLB on the whole.

    Marlins v. Yankees? The “Evil Empire” versus a team that was pulling 15,000 in a 70,000 seat stadium until the playoff run? I’m thinking NBC would be able to pull better Neilsen ratings with West Wing reruns. Bud Selig must be crying in his beer along with the Cubs and Red Sox nation, going, ‘it could have been…’

  16. As much as I agree that Little made a crucial error letting Martinez stay on in the 8th, I can’t bring myself to feel anything but sympathy and good will for the guy–even this morning when the hangover of crushing disappointment and the effects of a string of late nights with high adrenaline is upon me. Yeah: he shoulda pulled him, shoulda overuled him in the conference on the mound when Pedro let him know he wanted to stay in. No doubt that for want of a change, a kingdom was lost.

    But he’d a pitched an absolutely gorgeous 7 innings, and it felt right, somehow, to leave him in–even though I said to the screen at the time “That’s gonna be trouble.”

    So, I feel bad for Little today–his job’s on the line becuase he stuck with his star too long. It was the wrong call, but made for a bunch of right reasons, even if some of them were sentimental. I dunno–one of the local sportscasters observed that being the Sox GM is a harder job than being the Governor of MA in terms of the public pressure–can’t say I disagree with that, at least not on days like these.

    Oh, man. Five freaking outs away.

    Anyway–now there’s books to be read, a little new TV worth watching, the occasional Bruins or, later, Celtics game to care about, hiking and running to do, touch football to be played, and plenty of Sam Adams and Guinness on hand to drink with friends and family through a long Boston winter. The Charles is still flowing, the sun still glints off the Pru, and that Citgo sign still buzzes over Fenway, waiting for spring.

    Thanks, PAD–these entries of yours have been a blast.

  17. “Frankly, I’d be happy if we never have to see Steinbrenner and Jeter hock anything on TV ever again.

    Posted by Neil @ 10/17/2003 07:57 AM ET”

    Neils unite!

    I also don’t want to see Jeter and Steinbrenner selling anything on TV, but I am not a Yankee fan.

    My interest in the World Series had dropped by a whole bunch, but it may be rekindled.

    As soon as the announcer said, “The Red Sox are 5 outs away from the World Series” I had “thank sinking feeling.” Unfortunately, Grady Little was mesmerized by how well Pedro Martinez had been pitching until then. I just couldn’t believe they only brought a relief pitcher in after there was no longer a “save opportunity.”

    I’ve heard that NBC is changing its mind and will have a new episode of

    The West Wing on next week (unless they reconsider again).

    Neil

  18. well Pedro gave up a run in the bottom of the 7th so it was clear he was starting to falter.

    If boston’s bullpen had been going badly, then yeah sticking with the ace makes sense but in the ALCS the bullpen was great.

    But one of the rules is you never ask the pitcher if he wants to come out, because they almost always say no. Even if it’s in their own best interest to leave. Martinez isn’t a 9 inning pitcher. Grady should have made the call if he had left him out tere it’s onew thing but to make martinez make the cal was bad. And to let him stay in to face posada? even worse asfter that first run scored in the inning little should have pulled him.

    As for the Visa commercials i hate ’em except it shows what we always knew deep down.

    Steinbrenner’s an idiot and Jeter’s a liar.

  19. “Oh, man. Five freaking outs away.”

    Kind of the theme of the playoffs, isn’t it 🙂

  21. I would have watched the W.S. if either the Sox or Cubs made it, but Marlins/Yankees holds no interest for me. I don’t have anybody to root against, even.

    The best thing I can think of happening would be for the Series to go to Game 7, and after nine innings it’s tied 13-13, both sides have used all their pitchers, and Bud Selig declares it a tie and sends everybody home. That would make it memorable. Otherwise, who cares.

  22. Well, the 2001 series between the Yankees & D’backs was great; watched Game 7 of that one. 🙂

    But you know that Fox was pulling for the Cubs, if only for the ratings. Man I hate what the media has done to sports.

    Anyways, atleast we Cubs fans are slightly vindicated – we will not suffer alone this off season.

  23. Count me as one of the fans who *didn’t* want to see a Sox/Cubs World Series. Yeah, I know it would’ve put an end to one of the “curses”, but that’s exactly the problem. Not enough suspense.

    I was rooting for a Cubs/Yankees showdown. What better way to lift a 95-year curse than to shut down the most successful sports franchise of all time? It would have been the ultimate David vs. Goliath matchup and a far better one than the David vs. David title bout we almost wound up with.

    Still, I’d have rather had that than this punchless Yanks/Marlins series we’re stuck with. Ugh. This is really going to be hard to take for an encore, unless something truly weird happens to define the series, like Derek Jeter being abducted during the game by Islamic militants and held for ransom. Something like that. Otherwise, it looks as though FOX’s fairy-tale ride has come to an end.

    -Dave O’Connell

  24. I just need to add on thing, as it seems that everybody here is agreeing that there is no interest in a Marlins-Yankees World Series.

    I would love to watch a Marlins World Series. Angels, Giants, Royals, Cubs, hated Braves or irrelevent Tigers even. I would watch it, and I’m sure I’d enjoy it. I just love the game.

    But I just can’t watch the Yankees. What’s the point in watching the game if you don’t believe the other team can truly overcome their payroll juggernaut?

    Because aside from one lucky Luis Gonzalez single and the entire Anaheim Angels team (except Garret Anderson) having career years at the exact same time, nobody’s done much of anything to slow George’s pocketbook down in over half a decade now.

    I’ll tune in, but if the Yankees go up a couple games early, I’m not going to hang out to watch the inevitable.

  25. Oh, man. Five freaking outs away.

    The moment the commentators mentioned that, I started shouting, “No! Shut up! That’s what they were saying about the Cubs right before game 6 went down the toilet! Stop saying that!”

    But they didn’t.

    I wonder if, in Boston, they’re trying to blame it on the Chicago fan.

    PAD

  26. No, PAD, in Boston, we blame ourselves. It’s the perfect team history for such an Irish-Catholic city, psycholgically speaking.

  27. Well, fellow Sox fan Tim Lynch and I both didn’t see the game, since we were both at Neil Gaiman’s reading.

    On the other hand, while I can’t be sure of this, I think the timing works out that it’s quite possible that either the Yanks made their comeback or Boone hit the home run during Neil’s reading of “15 Portraits of Despair”

    [Btw Tim, Neil did get a chuckle out of your tying together of that title with that other work of his when I mentioned it to him (Tim and Lisa had to leave without getting to tell Neil himself due to the length of the signing line)]

  29. George Grattan: But he’d a pitched an absolutely gorgeous 7 innings, and it felt right, somehow, to leave him in–even though I said to the screen at the time “That’s gonna be trouble.”

    “Absolutely gorgeous”? Pedro fell apart in the 7th. He gave up a home run, an infield single, and another single. He threw 21 pitches, easily his worst inning of the first 7. He was clearly, clearly done.

    The Sox had two relievers who had been lights-out in the postseason. It was clearly, glaringly obvious that it was time for Timlin (9.2 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, O R, 11 K) and Williamson (8.0 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 1 R, 14 K) to pitch the last two innings of the game.

    There is no reasonable explanation for leaving Pedro in to start the 8th.

    There is no even remotely defensible explanation, not even one that a person might reasonably imagine might, in some alternate universe, be defensible, for leaving him in to face Matsui and Posada.

    I will be flabbergasted if Little is the Red Sox manager going into spring training. That would be an absolute disaster after this postseason.

    Argh. Argh argh argh.

  30. Tom Galloway: Well, fellow Sox fan Tim Lynch and I both didn’t see the game, since we were both at Neil Gaiman’s reading.

    It amuses me to no end that Tim Lynch and I are both Red Sox fans. 🙂

  31. It’s the World Series No One Wanted. Other than Yankees fans and a small percentage of South Floridians, most of them bandwagon jumpers, no one is going to care.

    Part of me would love to see the Yankees lose. Another part of me thinks that baseball is such a mess that it might be for the best if the Yankees run off about 15 World Series victories in a row, because that would cause ratings to plummet, hitting baseball in the only place that seems to matter–the wallet–and it might finally encourage TPTB to level the playing field a bit.

  32. “There is no reasonable explanation for leaving Pedro in to start the 8th.

    There is no even remotely defensible explanation, not even one that a person might reasonably imagine might, in some alternate universe, be defensible, for leaving him in to face Matsui and Posada.”

    I’ve got to agree. The Sox had a great bullpen all series, and it’s not as if Grady didn’t have numerous opportunities to rectify his error even once the 8th inning started. But no, he pulls Pedro only after the game is tied.

  33. Hate to break it to both Tom and Michael, but I’m not really a Sox fan. As a general rule, I don’t care enough about baseball to really be a big fan of any team.

    I wanted the Cubs/Sox matchup enough to root pretty hard for both teams, though — the fact that I watched goodly pieces of both series was unusual in itself.

    So — a fan? No. Pulling for ’em this time? Yeah. Completely uninterested in a Yanks/Marlins Series despite originally hailing from just outside NYC? Yeah.

    Disappointing Michael Rawdon? Nostalgically priceless. 🙂

    (And thanks, Tom, for relaying Neil’s response. I’m glad he enjoyed it. I’m not sure I’m going to be able to read “15 Portraits of Despair” with a straight face any more.)

    TWL

  34. Whoops. Six innings, of course. I meant six innings.

    And, again–Grady made the wrong call, no doubt about it.

    But I understand why he made that wrong call–why he made while probably knowing it was wrong, even. It’s not something I’ll be able to explain, really, so there’s no point in trying except to say that it seems he might have done the one thing no Red Sox GM should ever, ever do: believe it’s possible that things will go well.

    Heck, for six innings there, we all believed it. 🙂

  35. I would have loved, LOVED to see the Sox go down in flames against the Marlins. Can you imagine it? The Marlins getting there SECOND against the Red Sox? All the Boston fans being forced to watch a team that didn’t even EXIST ten years ago being crowned the champs for a second time? IT WOULD KILL THEM!!! LOL

  36. OH MY GOD. Defilers.

    I’m watching the opening of Game One-

    During the Marlins starting line-up introduction, the Yankees PA played Darth Vader’s theme.

    During the Yankees introduction, they played the theme from the award ceremony at the end of Star Wars (New Hope, for the confused).

    If anybody in baseball qualifies as an Empire and deserves the Imperial March as their theme……

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