Slappy before yesterday’s Yankees/Twins game:
“I mean, for us to be David in this situation, I think, is great. The Yankees are always going to be somewhat favorites because we’re the Yankees and that comes with the territory. It is something that we embrace and we like. But [if] they want to call us underdogs, we’ll take that role.”
A message left on a friend’s Facebook page this morning:
I sent my son to school today with his Yankee Jersey on so he could be dressed like the winner he is!
This, as they say, is why we hate you.
Two things: The only people calling the Yankees underdogs are people who don’t know the meaning of the word or people who think there is some major significance in the Yanks going into the post-season on the Wild Card. And if you think your son is a winner because the Yankees won a game last night, I hope to hell that means he’s on the Yankees payroll. If not, that’s a pretty damn sad statement to make.
You are not a “winner” because you choose to root for a particular team. You are ESPECIALLY not a winner because you choose to root for the most successful team in MLB history. Rooting for the Yankees doesn’t make you a winner. It either makes you a fan of your regional team or it makes you a bandwagoner who only roots for the team that ISN’T the underdog. So ARod and dude named Ray who posted on my friend’s Facebook page, shut up. You are only giving the people who hate your team and your fan base more ammunition for hating you.
On to the good stuff:
Watching Cliff Lee beat the Rays yesterday made me feel warm all over. I didn’t think anything that day short of a Yankees loss would make me feel so good. Then Roy Halladay appeared on my television and all else was forgotten. The guy threw a perfect game this year and starts his first playoff appearance ever with a no-hitter. I have sad feelings for Reds fans who had to endure it, Mets fans who have to watch their rivals not only in the playoffs but DOMINATING in the playoffs and Blue Jays fans who watched the only player on their team any of them thought gave them a chance at a playoff spot, making history with another team. The devastation of three separate fan bases with one win was sad to watch unfold. But, admittedly, that sadness took a backseat for me because watching someone throw a no-hitter in the post season is possibly one of the coolest things a baseball fan can witness.
I only wish TBS didn’t keep banging the drum of cheapening Don Larsen’s perfect World Series game. They kept referring to it as the last no-hitter in the post season (sure it was a no-hitter and in the post-season but I think it’s worth mentioning that it was a PERFECT game and in the World freaking Series) and back in the studio, Matt Weiner (is that his name?) had the audacity to say that Don Larsen as a trivia answer was now obsolete. OBSOLETE? Listen, I get as well as anyone that throwing two no-hitters (including a perfect game) in one season (even if this is the post-season) is a big deal. Throwing one in the playoffs is even a bigger deal. But Don Larsen threw a PERFECT game in the World Series. Nothing tops that. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Period. End of discussion. Halladay’s story is great on its own so TBS didn’t need to drag poor Don Larsen’s butt into it. But since they did, I’ll say this: What Halladay did was amazing. If you got to see him pitch at all you could actually see how in the late innings he seemed to be playing with the Reds. You knew in the 7th inning that it would be almost impossible for this to NOT end as a no-hitter. Doc is great (but if I read “Doctober” one more time, someone is getting kicked) and, aside from a World Series win because I don’t want to see the Phillies in the series again, I wish him all the good fortune a player of his caliber deserves. Having written all of that…what Don Larsen did still impresses me more. Under the pressure of a World Series game, he pitched a perfect game. The game he pitched prior to the perfect game, was a game in which he was take out after two innings (he gave up four runs). Larsen found out he’d be starting the game when he showed up at the park that day. It was game five and the series was tied at two apiece. I’m sorry…it was (and IS) a big freaking deal. Halladay’s is a big deal too. I just wish TBS didn’t go out of their way to try and minimize what Larsen did in an attempt to build up Halladay.
As an aside, according to different reports, Mel Allen and Vin Scully, who called Larsen’s perfect game, never once mentioned that it was a perfect game or a no-hitter during their broadcast. If keeping the silly superstition alive was good enough for Allen and Scully it’s good enough for me. (Although it does amuse me that Don Larsen took no such care and referred to it while it was going on!)
Three more games today (Phillies and Reds get the day off) on TBS. Still missing my Sox but day one was a fun-filled day!
– If you’re looking for some good Red Sox fixes, head over to RedSox.com and check out the many videos celebrating Mike Lowell!
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