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Eager Sox- Anxious Fans Ready for Stadium Invasion

Pressure?  Urgency?

The Red Sox could get swept by the Yankees this week and still hold a 6-4 lead in the season series.

Unfortunately, the glass-is-hall-full approach is not shared by many citizens of Red Sox Nation, who have been known to demand the firing of pennant-winning managers and other field generals who take the team to the ALCS.  In some baseball cities, reaching Game 7 of the ALCS would be seen as a triumphant season.  In the hardball meccas of Boston and New York, however, such a season is a disappointment, a chapter in the annals of the franchise that deserves to be skimmed over.  In these two cities, where baseball is not as much a diversionary sport as it is a fan’s validation of his own self-worth, the greatest rivalry in professional sports is renewed (for the eighth time this year) this week in the Bronx.
The scene is much different from the last time the Olde Towne Team made an appearance in the Stadium.  (Like everything else in the Big Apple, New Yorkers who assume that their city is naturally the center of the universe don’t feel the need to add the redundant “Yankee” to the name of the ballpark.)  In April, the Sox came to The City and dusted off the then-Bronx Boobs, sweeping them in three straight games after taking 3-of-4 at Fenway, including a magical come-from-behind victory on Patriot’s Day when Bronson Arroyo outdueled Kevin Brown.  

The Sox were on top of the baseball world, riding high in first place in the AL East, while the Yankees were languishing in a sea of questions regarding team chemistry, payroll, the mother of all slumps, shortstops playing out of position and a catcher getting his enormous schnozz in the way of a double play.  For the first time since before anyone had heard of Ron Goldman and Kato Kaelin, the Yankees looked truly vulnerable, a baseball version of Robert Parish in the waning years of his career with the Bulls, obviously overmatched and obsolete but still clinging to a self-image formed by past greatness.

The scene will be different when the two ancient rivals meet at 7:00 tonight in the House that George Renovated.  The Yankees are nearly unbeatable at home, having gone 25-10 while wearing pinstripes, only seven of those losses to teams other than Boston.  The Red Sox are carrying a mediocre 17-18 road record into the game, which doesn’t bode well for the Nation.

Yankees fans are fired up and they smell blood.  The vultures are circling this Red Sox team, supremely talented but so far unable to find the consistency that marked the two years of the Grady Little era.  The sheer irregularity of the level of their play has been staggering.  Never was this more evident than the series with the Phillies over the weekend, as the Sox won 12-1 on Friday, lost 9-2 on Saturday, and finally won 12-3 on Sunday.  A blowout loss sandwiched between two blowout wins is about as inconsistent as you can get.  

If the Sox want to make up some ground in this series, they are going to have to find the consistency from 2003 that has been curiously missing this season.  Losing the series to the Yankees, while not disastrous, would simply solidify the confidence and invulnerability that the Yankees (and their fans) feel going into July.  Yankee fans feel that winning the division is a birthright, and they treat it as such.  They are circling the Sox bandwagon, ready to pounce on any signs of weakness, like a gladiator giving one final impaling to ensure death.

Sox manager Terry Francona won’t admit that this is the biggest series of the year.  He will smile and provide sound bites espousing the philosophy that all 162 games count equally, and that the games against the Yankees aren’t special.  Mathematically, he is correct, but in the hardball version of Athens vs. Sparta, these games do matter more.  A Red Sox sweep or even winning 2 out of 3 would shift the balance of power in the East, and hopefully set the Sox back on a consistent winning track, maybe even a long win streak.  A Yankees sweep leaves the Sox 8.5 back and in danger of being overtaken by the red-hot Devil Rays for second place.  Still, Francona thinks there is no pressure on these games.

Even the most cockeyed Red Sox optimist (if such an oxymoronic specimen actually exists) would start conceding the division race to the Evil Empire if they pull off the sweep.  Looking up in the standings at Tampa Bay would be a confidence blow to Sox Nation and provoke an endless array of talk radio callers to leave Whiner Line messages exclaiming, “They’re ruining my SUMMAAAAAH!”  

Pressure?  You bet.  Urgency?  Absolutely.  The Sox going into New York and winning two out of three?  That’s my prediction.  I’m not ready to concede the season yet.

By Ryan McGowan    2004

By BostonMac

Ryan is a teacher, writer, journalist, basketball coach, sports aficionado, occasional real estate agent, and political junkie. He graduated from both the College of the Holy Cross (bachelor's) and Boston College (Master's), and knows anyone who has never heard of Holy Cross probably would never have gotten in there anyway. He is an unabashed Boston sports fan and homer who, according to lore, once picked the Patriots to win for 25 straight weeks on the "NFL Picks Show," which he co-hosts with Vin Diec, R.J. Warner, and Burton DeWitt. He is also an original co-host of SportsColumn's "Poor Man's PTI." He is married, lame, and a lifelong Massachusetts resident (except for a brief sojourn into the wilds of Raleigh, NC) who grew up in North Attleboro and currently lives and works in Everett.

3 replies on “Eager Sox- Anxious Fans Ready for Stadium Invasion”

Game Over! I thought this Red Sox team would be different.  They had Schilling and Pedro, supposedly one of the great big game 1-2 punches of this generation.  Well, they’re done, and neither has pitched in the first two games at the stadium.  Even though the Yanks bought the pennant again, I thought Boston would at least make it interesting.  They’re choking it away earlier than usual this year, and it’s because of the defense.  Terrible.  Just terrible.

Sportscenter I was watching the highlights of the loss to the yanks last night.  After Ortiz botched the hard grounder, I think Stu Scott said “whats up with Boston first baseman and errors in New York?”.  Now that’s just wrong.

Sox-Yanks Full commentary should be expected for tomorrow.  I don’t think I am in a rational state of mind to write anything that wouldn’t be “trolling” for the page today.  ðŸ™‚

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