ALDS 2005 Game 3, Chicago 5 - Boston 3
Well, its over, and I have no complaints. There will of course be plenty of complaining on radio shows and discussion boards all winter...rants about how Terry Francona couldn't manage a lemonade stand, or about how much "Millar sucks" (walking out of Fenway tonight I heard that exact quote at least 15 times), or about how overpriced Damon will be or how bad our pitching situation is (plus or minus a Papelbon)...we'll hear it all. Blow off some steam, sure, but I contend there is no need for complaints. I was reminded again tonight of how much of an impact (finally) winning a World Series had on me. I was sort of disappointed, but I've been much lower in years past. Hell, after Game 3 of last year's ALCS I was ready to give up on anything baseball related whatsoever, and cursed my father for ever introducing me to the whole thing in the first place. But not this time. No, not after what happened last year. I wish they won, of course, but they didn't, and for the first time in my life, I'm OK with that. (damn, I DO wish they won, though).
The Red Sox did have their chances. It was nice to see Manny's and Ortiz' bats come around, and it would have been even better if the Sox put men on base BEFORE any of those precious few Freddy Garcia mistakes. After Manny's second shot, the Red Sox managed to load the bases with a pinch-hitting Varitek coming up with nobody out. It looked like a great situation with the then-tying run only 90 feet away and the Captain at the plate. Some long at-bats, but no runs. Not a walk, a hit by pitch, not even a sacrifice. Definitely frustrating. That particular inning hurt even more after the White Sox elitely manufactured an insurance run in the 8th with a leadoff double, a sacrifice bunt to 3rd, and finishing with a suicide squeeze for good measure. Although we have seen these guys come back from these kinds of deficits before, they just couldn't pull it off this year. Damn. Damn damn damn...
Finally, an anecdote: throughout the game there were these two Chicago fans about 8 rows in front of us who, much like many of us would do if the roles were reversed, would stand up and cheer after every good White Sox play. When Konerko hit the 2 run job, however, they stood up and TURNED AROUND...obviously a move that requires some kind of response. It was my distinct pleasure, along with the old man, to start a directed "1917" chant just for them for them. I must admit, it felt a little weird to be one of the people who jeer fans of a team that hadn't won a World Series for over 80 years (not even a postseason series!), but it was definitely effective. Sit down.
After the last pitch, the old man and I stayed seated for a while watching everyone leave and the grounds crew start their work. I looked over at him, then the wall and outfield. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the flag moving, then realized what else was happening: the 2004 World Series Championship banner was being lowered for the last time at Fenway.
I look forward to watching the next one go up.
2 comments:
Pitching Pitching Pitching.
As I hustled off to work moments before the game on Friday I tuned in 850 am and was amazed when I learned that Wakefield was starting game 3. My Boss was pulling into to the lot as I was leaving with the company car and I abruptly asked him "Do you have any Idea why Schilling isn't stahtin' today". He acted like it was elementary that we needed him for game four. I accepted it at the time but the more I thought about it the more I didn't like it at all. My philosophy was and is: There will be no game four if you can't get through game three. Friday was the must win of all must wins. To have an entire post season series without EVER using your best pitcher in inexcusable. And so we watched (In my case listened) for what seemed to be the fiftieth time, a starting pitcher that did not have his stuff fumble though inning after painful inning. In the first several innings it seemed like every two seconds a ball was hit very hard off the bat that was either caught, fielded, or worse (and far too often) it fell in for a hit or was straight up blasted out out of the park. After an entire last month of the regular season of pithcing woes and leaving guys in an inning or a batter too long what does it take for Francona to get the guy who's dogging it up out of there? I don't care if you have to go through every god damn pitcher on the roster to find someone who can get through an inning. Let's just try and win. I mean, what was the rational of leaving Clement in for so long in game one after clearly his skill level had fallen of a cliff. Clearly we were conceding game one by not taking Clement out after the first abysmal inning. Leaving a sucky pitcher in because of whatever personnel conservation reasoning is TOO conservative. Francona is too conservative and not using Curt Schilling at all in the entire post season is the quintessential example of this flawed, too-conservative, approach. I'm afraid I can's be as serene as Spence. Anger and frustration still linger in my head and I have three words for the Red Sox management to work on over the winter: Pitching, Pitching, Pitching.
Might this be the kind of complaining you are talking about?
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