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July 25, 2004
INSTANT CLASSICS
If you're a baseball fan, you have to love what's happening between the Red Sox and Yankees this year.
Sure, you could tell me that those two teams have the highest and third highest payrolls in baseball, and it is spending like that -- Boston included -- that is damaging the game and running small market teams out of competition. And you could tell me that when basically only two teams are in the market for the big-name players as the trading deadline approaches. And you could tell me that the east coast-centric media overhypes the New York-Boston rivalry at the expense of the stories in the rest of baseball. You know what? You'd be right on all counts.
But none of that matters when these two teams take the field.If you don't absolutely love what's been happening between the white lines between the Sox and Yankees, then you're just not a real baseball fan.
I'm not saying this because the Sox have been winning; the games that the Yankees have won have been just as great to watch. The game two weeks ago, when the Yankees came from behind to tie the game late, then won in extra innings after Derek Jeter dove face first into the stands... instant classic. This past Friday night, the Sox took a 4-2 lead into the 6th inning with Curt Schilling on the mound, only to lose to two big doubles in the 9th inning that put the Yankees up 8-7. Again, instant classic.
Yesterday's gamecame complete with an angry bench clearing brawl in which punches were actually thrown - a rarity for baseball brawls; the Yankees taking a 3-0 lead, the Sox coming back to take a 4-3 lead... the Yankees storming back to take a 9-4 lead, only to have the Sox rage back and win the game 11-10 on Bill Mueller's walk-off home run off Mariano Rivera. Again, instant classic.
Tonight, with an atmosphere that resembles a playoff game, the Sox lead 9-2 in the top of the 7th. Kevin Millar has gone 10 for 12 against the Yankees with 4 home runs - another one again tonight. If you're a Yankee fan, tonight's game may not qualify as a classic, but the Sox fan in me has certainly been enjoying it.
This season, the Sox-Yankees series has provided gritty pitching performances and gutsy dives into the stands. It's provided blowout wins for each side, and gut-wrenching classic nail-biters with late inning heroics. It's offered tremendous passion from the fan base of each team, and passion felt just as deeply by the players. Whatever there is to love about baseball, these two teams havegiven this season. So I'll say it again:
If you don't love the Sox-Yankees this year, then you're not a baseball fan.
