Game Seven

Last week I wrote a post on heroism, which ended up as a post on baseball:

I am not the only one to find the New York Yankees a soulless lot, am I? Even if Jeter is the upstanding young fellow the announcers make him out to be (not that he is, rassenfrassen' overrated pretty boy *$&#*), he is not a very interesting or compelling player, because he has known nothing but success. You can root for U.S. Steel if you like, but watching their inevitable march through the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year is just not the same as living and dying with the Cubs or the Red Sox or the Mets.

Not that the other teams are real heroes, obviously, or that even the Cubs' and Red Sox' struggles are real tragedies. (Though the Red Sox, sometimes....oy). But for a few weeks a year their fans can convince ourselves of it, and it only works because they usually--or always--lose.

I still don't think professional athletes are heroes, but these Boston Red Sox are doing the best impression of it I've seen in at least five years, and maybe ever. What a team. What a rivalry. What a series. I didn't even mind when Curt Schilling noted he became a Christian seven years ago and thanked God for the Red Sox victory, which I'm usually awfully touchy about. He doesn't usually wear his religion on his sleeve--I'd never, ever read about it in any article about him. And I don't think God interferes in sporting events, but I can't really explain how you stand out there with a taped-together foot, doped up on painkillers and obviously hurting badly anyway, and shut down the scariest lineup in baseball. Schilling can credit Whomever he likes.

No baseball team has ever won a postseason series after going down 3-0. But then, no one had ever forced a game seven either. Only two teams before this one (including my beloved 1999 New York Mets) had forced a game six. Only three other teams had forced a game five. 20 got swept.

I like the decision to start Wakefield. I doubt he can go more than a few innings on such short rest, but I still trust him a bit more than the supremely erratic Derek Lowe, and the bullpen is tired enough that they probably need to try Wakefield at some point. As we all learned while cursing at the TV during the 11th or 12th inning last night, as Varitek gave up three passed balls that nearly lost the game, Mirabelli must catch Wakefield, and Mirabelli is a terrible hitter. This way they get what they can out of Wakefield and they get Varitek's bat for the rest of the game.

Mind you, I'm still 75% sure they'll lose tomorrow. But that's just the way I am.

UPDATE: Wakefield told reporters that Lowe will start. Well, if he's too tired he's too tired--it's more than understandable. We'll see tomorrow night.

Comments

[floppy]

Curt made some similar comments about his faith when he was playing for Arizona. To my surprise, I found it touching then, not at all the the usual cliches you get from most jocks. I didn't see what he said tonight.

[Katherine]

I don't have a transcript and it's not in any of the print articles--but yes, I actually found it rather sweet...He looked like such a wreck in the dugout after the seventh inning.

[Katherine]

(and thank God--see, I'm doing it too--that the umpires got those calls right after the review. A-Rod was a little ridiculous there, and the fans much more so.

Does George Steinbrenner always keep 40 cops in riot gear under Yankee stadium, or is it special for playoff games against the Red Sox? Anyway, it turned out to be handy.)

[John Thullen]

I'm a Yankees fan .. wait. wait, just read on .. but If the Red Sox win this win from three down, that's very cool and boy do I love baseball.

I don't like the God thing either in sports (you know, rooting and all) and I wonder if Schilling and Ortiz and Nixon (who has it on both sleeves) realize that the Yankees may well be God, so that's a theological something.

The Pirates' bill Mazeroski hit a big one off God in the 1960 series and the Mick cried like Achilles (did Achilles cry at some point? I don't know, but if he did it would have been just like Mickey Mantle crying) after the game. I play the game still and I cry sometimes too when things go into the crapper late in a big game.

No, they are not heroes, but there is something heroic about how certain players rise to the occasion, like Jeter and Bernie Williams and Schilling tonight.

Cards, I hope, and Yankees. Cards and and Red Sox would be just fine with me.

[Katherine]

Here is what he said...Fox only showed part of it:

Q. You heard Terry; how much did it hurt to pitch with your ankle like that? CURT SCHILLING: Well, I don't know that pain was the thing.

Seven years ago I became a Christian, and tonight God did something amazing for me. I tried to be as tough as I could, and do it my way, Game 1, and I think we all saw how that turned out. I knew that I wasn't going to be able to do this alone. And I prayed as hard as I could. I didn't pray to get a win or to make great pitches. I just prayed for the strength to go out there tonight and compete, and He gave me that. I can't explain to you what a feeling it was to be out there and to feel what I felt.

He also described the medical procedure, which sounds to me like an idea that Dr. Nick Riviera came up with:

Q. Did the stitches that Terry talked about allow you to pitch without pain?

CURT SCHILLING: Yeah, I couldn't wear the high tops because they were putting too much pressure on the stitches around the sutured area.

What they did is my tendon is out, it is subluxed or dislocated. To avoid having it popping in and out, they sutured the skin down to something in between the two tendons to keep the tendon out. And it worked.

The idea that he's considering doing this again in the World Series seems insane to me. But Schilling's an adult.

[floppy]

I wish I could remember what he said when he was at Arizona. I seem to remember his son was involved. I remember thinking he was a tough bastard, but he still managed to acknowedge his love for his family without seeming disingenuous or sappy.

It's one of the few times in recent memory I can think of hero and sports figure as being one and the same.

(Of course, Lance is not included in this muddled hero vs. sports cliche talk).

[praktike]

Hey, US Steel has had a rough couple decades.

[liberal japonicus]

Here is a nice essay about Schilling.

[Katherine's Dad]

I like John T. am a Yankee fan. But I am more a baseball fan. Having seen Katherine and her sisters become Red Sox fans has been sad but, I suppose, inevitable, seeing as how they have also rooted for the Mets. As have I, in the past.

Katherine's grandfather will be very happy to see the Cards play either. (Preferably the Yankees)

[crionna]

Katherine's grandfather will be very happy to see the Cards play either.

Although a Yank's/Gashouse reunion would be great to see, I'd put the Stos as a good shot to win, even in Busch.

Astros RedSox. Now that'd be a series, especially since because of his meltdown in the All-Star game, Clemens might open the series at Fenway. Wow!

[crionna]

Also, most athletes I know, heck, people I know, don't really ask God to intercede in a game or life, or expect him/her to do so. What they pray for (as do I in my job) is that God simply helps them (or the folks performing a service, say a doctor) to perform to the best of their ability.

[sidereal]

I've always like Schilling a lot. And liked him especially after I found out he's a total wargamer geek, and bought the company that makes ASL. And he does actually respond to emails from people with questions about ASL rules.

[Dubner]

I agree with everything that you said but one thing: I think you're selling Mirabelli short. Project his numbers out for a full season and you'll find a hitter just as good as Varitek. In 160 AB, Doug hit .280 with 9 HR and 32 RBI; in 463 AB, Tek hit .296 with 18 HR and 73 RBI. Even with the dropoff that Mirabelli probably would experience with a full season, he'd still significantly outslug Tek.

That said, I hope resigning Tek is one of their priorities this offseason. And in a strange way, I was impressed by the way he caught Wakefield. He knew he was going to miss balls, but he put more energy into getting strikes than catching knucklers. If he had spent each at bat flying from left to right to get in front of every pitch, Wakefield wouldn'tve gotten a single close strike called in the outing. Instead, Wakefield registered four K's -- including one dropped third strike. That shows a hell of a lot of confidence on Tek and Wake's parts.

[EdSez]

Small quibble, Katherine. I think that the scariest lineup in baseball is the lineup that scored the most runs in the regular season. That lineup belongs to the Red Sox, who scored 949. The Yankees were second best at 897.

[Elizabeth M]

Katherine R., you are my hero. I had a good LOL at Whomever.