I know what some of you are thinking: that the Yankees have become the Red Sox and the Red Sox the Yankees. They didn't have to wait another 83 years to win a World Series; they came in 1st place in the AL East; and, worst of all, they don't look bad next year either. Do they have dynasty written all over them, while the Yankees gear up for another embarrassing finish? Not so fast, fans...<><>
FOLLOW THE LUCK
This is hard to do. How much did luck have to do with the Yankees 3 straight WS wins, 4 in 5 years, 5 appearances in 6 years? The short answer is, it DEFINITELY came into play. Then again, so did confidence and the "been there, beat them" attitude that O'Neill, Tino and Mariano exuded every time they took the field for a playoff game. Let's not forget, the 2001 team was fairly weak and came within ONE OUT of winning the World Series. Guts, bravado, miracle home runs (see: Confidence, again): all of these things allowed the Yankees to let their very best moments come out when they needed them the most.
Losing will do the opposite to you. I think it played a big part in the 2004 debacle. The Yankees had trumped the Red Sox so dramatically the year before but lost to the Marlins (!) in the Big Show. It had to affect them a little bit. The 2004 Yankees were pretty solid (of course, way too hitter-heavy) but there's no reason they should not have won that series up 3 games to nil. I'm gonna put confidence way up there, but we can't forget all those nice bounces, Jeffrey Mayer catches, Knoblauch swipe tags, Boone turning knucklers into walk-offs and so on (By the way, some said Boone later casually stolled across a pool on the way to his favorite bar).
I could go on forever, but I'm gonna stop right here: The Red Sox will not win the World Series this year. I would write that over and over but instead I'm just gonna say "Read it over and over." They won't, for the same reason they didn't win in 2005. Beckett won't have the same year. Neither will Lowell, Pedroia, nor even ugly Kev Youkilis, the Red Sox' answer to Cary Grant. Ellsbury will emerge as the dud they wish they traded Santana for. Et cetera.
I'm not predicting a Yankees title, but I am predicting a non-Red Sox title. I don't bet but I will take bets on this one. Show your faces, you mirror-shattering Red Sox fans, you spitting images of Pedroia, Youk, ugly post-juiced Schill, leather-lipped Timlin, chin-strap Ortiz...actually, don't show your faces. Keep your goatees under wraps and put your money where your mouths are. Actually, don't do that either. Go buy some different clothes and for heaven's sake, try and think a little differently for a change. You make hot dog venders seem original sometimes.Keywords: Ruminations on Yankees World Series titles and the why the Red Sox are so ugly they couldn't win another World Series.
Comments
Ahh, don't we all just love those poor sports down in the Big Apple who will look for any way possible to rationalize their AL team's failure to get past 'first base' in the 21st century; or, as in the case of this post, to rationalize why the Red Sox have done so twice (lucky bounces, sweep tags, etc.). Now, we have a 'fan' who won't predict his own team's potential fortunes (won't, even as he put it, put his own money where his mouth is), but figures that he'll go ahead and predict that the Sox will not repeat their championship.
Well, that's fine. He's entitled to his opinion, but as I do in most instances when confronted with a frustrated fan of the Bronx Bombers, I gently lay my hand upon his shoulders, nod a few times and say, "I understand."