The Baseball Desert

Thursday, October 09, 2003

The Dark Side of the Pinstripe

My apologies to any Yankee fans reading this, but I think I finally realised last night that my nominal 'Yankee fan' status is no more... I watched last night's game, and from the first pitch through to the last out, I was rooting for the Red Sox.

It was a good game, and one which allowed me to finally understand what a knuckleball is and why it's so difficult to hit. Fox put up a series of knuckleball-related quotes throughout the game, and my favourite was one from the late Willie Stargell: "it's like a butterfly with hiccups"... Well, the Yankees didn't seem to be able to get hold of the butterfly last night, and the Sox gained not just an important Game 1 win, but also a psychological advantage. Everybody said they would be tired from their 5-game series against Oakland and the endless cross-country flights, but they came into the Bronx and beat the Yankees (under the watchful eye of the Bambino out in Monument Park). The Yankees once again need a big game tonight from Andy Pettitte to avoid going two games down in the series and leaving themselves with a huge mountain to climb.