Most. Anticipated. Game. Ever. - Democratic Underground

WilliamPitt

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Wed Oct-20-04 02:08 PM
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Most. Anticipated. Game. Ever.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs2004/columns/story?columnist=caple_jim&id=1905582

Culmination of All that is Sox-Yanks

By Jim Caple
ESPN.com

NEW YORK -- Obviously, Pedro Martinez will be at Yankee Stadium tonight but somebody really ought to leave a ticket for Don Zimmer. Preferably, some place within a short run of the field.

And while they're at it, they should find two seats for Grady Little and Aaron Boone. And when you get right down to it Roger Clemens really ought to be here, not in St. Louis. And everyone should squeeze in and make room Mike Torrez and Bucky Dent, too. And what the heck, fit in Bobby Sprowl and Mel Parnell and Ellis Kinder and every other prominent player from those past Red Sox-Yankees showdowns.

And hell, if those Boston doctors can somehow suture Curt Schilling's tendons together so he can pitch -- can't wait to see that procedure written up in the New England Journal of Medicine -- surely they can figure out a way to revive the guy who sparked this whole insane, heated rivalry: the Babe himself.

After all, tonight's game is what everyone has been waiting for at least since Boone's home run sailed over the fence and into Yankees-Red Sox legend last October: Game 7 of the American League Championship Series between the two great rivals who have been knocking heads for a century, New York and Boston. Actually, it's what fans have awaited ever since the Red Sox traded Ruth to the Yankees.

Only this time, for once, somehow, the Red Sox appear to hold the upper hand.

They've charged back from a 0-3 deficit, becoming the first team in baseball history to force a seventh game after falling thus behind, and could make further history by winning tonight. After their 4-2 win behind the bloodied Schilling in Game 6, they have the momentum and the confidence while the Yankees are so shell-shocked that they couldn't even decide on a starting pitcher for Game 7. It could be Kevin Brown (who lasted only two innings in Game 3) or it could be Javier Vazquez or who knows, maybe they'll bring in their own doctors and suture a couple fresh tendons in Ron Guidry's arm.

"We're going to take some phone numbers and make some calls later," manager Joe Torre said. "Mel and I are going to have to talk about it after I finish all this stuff."

When was the last time you heard Torre that unsure? But it's understandable. No one has ever been in his spot in postseason history.

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http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs2004/columns/story?columnist=caple_jim&id=1905664

Yankees on Brink of Greatest Collapse
By Jim Caple
ESPN.com

NEW YORK -- The New York Yankees are on the verge of the greatest collapse in postseason history, and baseball fans nationwide are getting their yellow ribbons ready.

If New York loses Game 7 Wednesday night, the 2003 Cubs, the 1986 Angels and all those Red Sox teams will all be off the hook. These 2004 Yankees will go down as the greatest chokers in postseason history. You can already hear their front-office employees photocopying résumés at Kinko's.

Three days ago, the Yankees were three outs away from sweeping Boston in four games. Now the team with the game's highest payroll is 27 outs away from doing what no other team in baseball history has done in a century of postseason play: blow a 3-0 series lead. And most delicious of all, they would blow it to the Red Sox.

As a precaution, major-league security has ordered riot police to surround George Steinbrenner's private box.

The Yankees are staring at history, and the reflection is not pretty. While David Ortiz is slamming his way into Boston lore and Curt Schilling is pitching his way into both the postseason record books and the New England Journal of Medicine, Team Heimlich is embarrassing itself with an epic collapse. The Yankees scored 19 runs in Game 3 but have scored just 10 runs since while going 4-for-30 with runners in scoring position. They scored only one run in seven innings in Game 6 against a pitcher who requires surgery on his ankle and whose tendon had been stabilized with sutures that left his sock soaked in blood.

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http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=caple/041020

Genius Joe will Lead the Yanks
By Jim Caple
Page 2

Editor's note: He managed the Red Sox and coached for the Yankees. So we take a shot at how Don Zimmer, the man who knows them both so well, would scout and analyze the ALCS ... if given the chance. In other words, What Would Zimmer Do?

"Yankees fans are pretty worried right now, and everyone else is convinced the Red Sox are going to win. But I don't think so. When I was bench coach with the Yankees, we were in worse spots and Joe always found a way out.

"I mean, you remember that one time he had cancer and had to leave the team? He put me in charge; but to be honest with you, he was still calling the shots. They'd put him through chemotherapy and he'd be all loopy from the painkillers, but he still always made the right call. Like there was this one time when they gave him a little too much codeine and he called me up in the middle of the game and told me to signal for the suicide squeeze. I told him we didn't have anybody on base, but he insisted; and darned if it didn't work. He also had me give Chili Davis the day off and let Pettitte bat for himself; and sure enough, he hit two home runs into the black seats.

"That's Joe, though. He's always out-thinking everyone. A couple years ago, we had an off-day in Cleveland, so the coaching staff went to see that Bruce Willis movie, 'The Sixth Sense.' We're about 20 minutes into the movie and Joe got up to leave. I asked him where he was going and he said, 'Aw, this movie is too predictable for me. The reason Willis can see the kid is because his character is dead, too. He just doesn't know it yet.'

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http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2004/10/20/who_needs_sleep/

Who needs sleep?

Loyal Sox fans pay later for joy of viewing

By Peter DeMarco and Heather Allen, Globe Correspondents
October 20, 2004

Like millions of fans across Red Sox Nation, those gathered at Spirit bar in Cambridge last night shook, screamed, jumped, clapped, cringed, and held their breath with every pitch.

But even as fans cried "unbelievable" and "Oh, my God!" when the Red Sox pulled out another must win against the Yankees, the fans here weren't fooling anyone. Exhausted from two of the longest games in playoff history on Sunday and Monday, they were cheering on pure adrenaline.

"It's like perpetual baseball," said Prabal Chakrabarti, 31, of Cambridge, after jumping for joy. "At night, I've been sitting on my couch, swaying back and forth watching these games. I'm tied to it emotionally. It's in my blood stream. I dream about it. I'm very tired. But one more . . ." Marlowe Schaeffer, 25, of Cambridge, waving her hand in the air after second basemen Mark Bellhorn's decisive home run, said, "I'm kind of drained, but it is the best feeling in the entire world. . . . this is the kind of thing I'm going to tell my children about."

Billy Marsh, 33, of Belmont, wasn't sure he would even live to tell grandchildren about it. "If this keeps up, I won't make 50," he said.

There seemed to be no way around the dilemma Sox fans faced last night.

Those who went to bed early risked missing another dramatic victory and being left out of today's did-you-see-the-game? banter. Those who stayed up again until the end were expecting to awaken exhausted once more.

For true fans, though, there really was no choice, said Jim Dumas, 24, a graduate student from South Boston. Skip the sleep, and grab an espresso for breakfast.

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http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2004/10/20/a_team_with_verve_suddenly_on_the_verge/

A team with verve suddenly on the verge

By Gordon Edes, Globe Staff
October 20, 2004

NEW YORK -- Can 86 years of tainted history be swept clean by one sweet, absurdly improbable act of redemption, the likes of which has never been seen in hardball history?

Twenty-six times a team has lost the first three games of a postseason series. Twenty times the team that has lost the first three has gone home after the next game. No team trailing, 0-3, has ever won the next three to take it to a deciding seventh game. No team, until these Red Sox, has ever been on the verge of a miracle.

After what we have witnessed the last three days, is there anyone of the non-pinstriped segment of society who believes the Sox are not capable of finishing what will eclipse all the bitter disappointments of the past century as the defining moment of this franchise?

"We're extremely tentative about talking about what we're on the verge of accomplishing," said Sox outfielder Gabe Kapler, a thoughtful man even under the most emotional of circumstances, which would include last night's 4-2 win over the Yankees in Game 6 of this American League Championship Series. "But I think what we've accomplished thus far is the story at this point. I think obviously history shows that this doesn't happen very often.

"What's been special about it is the fashion which we've won games. It hasn't been easy. It never has been easy for us. I'm just so proud of my teammates right now. I think a lot of guys right now are proud of each other."

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http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/20/sports/baseball/20curry.html

With One Life to Live, the Red Sox Want It Now
By JACK CURRY

Published: October 20, 2004

The Boston Red Sox were scattered throughout every nook and cranny of the crowded visiting clubhouse as Eminem's voice pumped through the speakers. It was impossible to ignore the lyrics and not wonder if maybe, just maybe, the Red Sox would finally have a season to celebrate.

Curt Schilling and the Red Sox had just defeated the Yankees, 4-2, in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series last night, so the song that greeted them when they breezed from the dugout to the clubhouse could not have been coincidental.

"Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted, one moment, would you capture it or just let it slip?"

The words from the song, "Lose Yourself," were so fitting for the Red Sox, a team that had found itself at the right time by winning three straight to force a decisive Game 7 tonight at Yankee Stadium. After 85 seasons without a World Series title, will the Red Sox capture the moment or will they let it slip?

"We thought we could do this," center fielder Johnny Damon said. "We tried to keep it hush-hush."

There are no secrets about the Red Sox anymore. There are no secrets about this series anymore. Whoever wins will reach the World Series. So the Red Sox will either complete an amazing comeback as the first team to rebound from a 3-0 deficit in postseason history, or the Yankees will stop them and smile about achieving the same result again and merely taking a circuitous route to do it.

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