cool as a cucumber
7.26.2004
built around a couple posts i made elsewhere, last night:
now that i'm sitting back and not seething at this game, the sox haven't got as much of a hard won series as perhaps they or their nation'd like to think.
game 1 - yankees surprisingly beat the crap out of their ace. frankly, i still am wounded from the events of 2001 and frankly, i neither expected nor hoped the yankees would beat schilling friday night. i believe that was the most Important Thing that happened all weekend. i'd make a dig at their closer but he's been a pile of suck lately so i can't in good conscience gloat about that.
game 2 - sox literally beat the crap out of a career AAAA pitcher, knocking him out early, and take advantage of a tired, abused yankee pen. because of who was starting, i assumed this was going to be a loss as soon as i heard the weekend's rotation. messy game on the whole, and mo with his second blown save of the year, in grand fashion like #1 at texas. for all he's done and will do, i cannot fault him.
game 3 - sox beat the crap out of a back end of the rotation guy who historically has trouble with their team - i for one hoped it would be different, but i accept it. cue that old song about a game of inches: jeter's line drive bouncing off foulke, damon's hr meeting the pesky pole. the only thing that really gets my blood boiling was the camera all up in ben affleck's smarmy cretinous grill every two minutes.
the yankees didn't lose a whole lot. they left boston with a still-strong hold on the american league east - even a sweep would not have damaged that. the red sox had to have these games. they go back to baltimore now, and baltimore owns them. in fact, they have the scheduling disadvantage from here on out, and while at said disadvantage, boston will need to struggle and scratch their way to secure the wild card. the yankees, on the other hand, get to play a drowning toronto team about a hundred times, and when these two teams meet again in september, the yankees will be a different animal. after all, the regular season is only a rehearsal, a fine-tuning for this yankee machine. errr. do i sound like a YES propagandist? probably. do i care? not in the least.
