October 07, 2005

The curse lives on. Time to fish that piano out of Willis Pond.

posted by charlatan at 06:45 PM on October 07, 2005

You know, this doesn't hurt all that much at all. Oh, sure, two years ago it would have. Last year's World Series victory makes this acceptable. After all, it is unusual for a team to win back to back World Series. Well, except the Yankees. So, while I would have loved to have seen my Sox go to the series again, I am content to see the White Sox win and will root for them in the ALCS. Well played, White Sox.

posted by Joey Michaels at 06:52 PM on October 07, 2005

Reasonable Red Sox fans what's this i see? Surely I must be dreaming.

posted by fade2244 at 06:54 PM on October 07, 2005

yeah i know i just ment in general>

posted by fade2244 at 07:11 PM on October 07, 2005

May I just take a moment to say AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA? Thank you.

posted by mr_crash_davis at 07:29 PM on October 07, 2005

White Sox: splendid work. Hang onto that most excellent El Duque. The boy's money in the bank. quite right El Duque is a for real big money pitcher.

posted by fade2244 at 07:39 PM on October 07, 2005

Francona deserves a lot of credit (I'd avoid Boston talk radio over the next week if you share that opinion) because things didn't go according to plan and they still enjoyed a lot of success. Big offseason upcoming for a team had a lot of fatal flaws. Outside of Varitek, Ortiz, Schilling and Nixon that team could have a very different look come April. Also, can someone put Rick Sutcliffe in with Joe Morgan and Tim McCarver and sink that ship. How awful. And in general, I'll look forward to analysts not bringing up Derek Lowe and the three games he actually pitched well in last year, because that's all they seemed to remember about him.

posted by YukonGold at 08:08 PM on October 07, 2005

Don't focus too hard on football New England The Pats are done. You know, in the course of a little more than a year, the Patriots won two Superbowls, the Red Sox won the World Series and the UConn Men and Women both won the NCAA championship. I can go a few years now without a victory. In my life, I had one sports year where every team I rooted for won. What more could any sports fan ask for? So, yes, it would be wonderful to see my teams keep winning, but, damn, what a year that was! I hope that every fan gets to experience something like that and if it means I need to wait a few years between championships, I can live with that.

posted by Joey Michaels at 08:11 PM on October 07, 2005

Chicago overcomes Boston? Are you on crack? Overcome? You're out of your mind. You had a nice season, your effort was great, but the better team BEAT you. Honestly, I'm tired of Yanks/Boston coverage. I'm tired of the Easter Sports Network praising the effort of the BoSox who where out gunned, out pitched, and out classed in this series. Pay your respects, wish us luck, and stand aside. We'll take it from here. Let's Go-Go White Sox!

posted by pmoutz at 08:11 PM on October 07, 2005

Yeah Joey would love to see Lion, Tigers and UofM hoops sweep post seasons don't see it happening so i rag on the people that happened to have the good fortune to experience it.

posted by fade2244 at 08:13 PM on October 07, 2005

go chi sox only if angels happen to do the improbable and beat Yankees. At which point I'm all about go Bronx Bombers.

posted by fade2244 at 08:16 PM on October 07, 2005

I'm tired of the Easter Sports Network Yeah, me too. Who gives a shit about what Peter Cottontail is doing, anyway?

posted by lil_brown_bat at 08:30 PM on October 07, 2005

I hope this is the White Sox's year. If the Yanks end up playing them for the ALC, and the Yanks get mowed down by El Duque pitching the way he pitched tonight, I'll have nothing to do but cheer for the White Sox. How can you not like stuff like what he did in the 6th?

posted by lil_brown_bat at 08:47 PM on October 07, 2005

Well, congrats White Sox- now that the Boston 9 have their long-awaited crown, we were excited to win this year but not desperate like in the past. It would be nice to see Chicago take it all this year, put their own ghosts to rest. And if Boston doesn't go all the way in 2006 then maybe the Cubs, eh? :) Sox fans are calm simply because we're not going to be greedy like that other team and their psycho hosebeast fans are about winning every. single. year. Besides, 3 of the 4 past years have been Patriot Superbowl wins, we've got plenty of Sox post-season appearances the last few years including that magical 2004 World Series win. The Celtics are for crap but we can't be pissed what with 16 titles in 50 years. As Joey Michaels expounded, there has been plenty of success in New England of late, and with the Dream Season we have nothing to truly complain about for some time. Here's to Ortiz winning the MVP, at least... I hope! :) As for the remainder of the playoffs... so long as the Yankees don't win, or for that matter the Cards, I'll be okay. A Chicago-Houston series might be nice to see this year- every other team has been recently rewarded (I'm kind of writing off the Padres, sorry San Diego fans). Angels got theirs in 2002, Atlanta had one in '95 and has been in the playoffs every year, St. Louis is the second winningest franchise in baseball. That leaves Chicago and Houston as teams needing a little relief!

pmoutz: You had a nice season, your effort was great, but the better team BEAT you.

I don't know that Chicago was the better team (heck, by Pythagorean standards, Cleveland should have had the best record in the AL this year!), but they were two very good teams and Boston just slumped at the wrong time. Chicago only had a 4 game lead over the Sox, playing in a weaker division. A couple of hits here or there games 2 or 3, and this series could still be going on. The White Sox might well have won, and I congratulate ChiSox fans for their post-season success so far... but it being a sweep is simply a case of bad timing for poor pitching and quiet hitting. For example: the unstoppable juggernaut of the 2001 Mariners, 116 game winners and team seemingly incapable of losing a 3 game series or not coming back in dramatic fashion, got beat around by the Yankees in the ALCS that year. Anyone who says that this means the Yankees were clearly the better team, however, is batshit crazy.

posted by hincandenza at 08:55 PM on October 07, 2005

White Sox: splendid work. Hang onto that most excellent El Duque. The boy's money in the bank. (was that a dramatic bottom-o-the-sixth or what????)

From this humble Red Sox fan, I congratulate all the White Sox Community on your great victory!

Terry Francona put it the best when he said "we were out played, out hustled......" something along those lines.

As for "El Duque", the guy is most definitey clutch. Let's not forget the commendable work done by Ozwaldo Guillen, simply outstanding job. Ozzie made all the right moves, everything worked for him. Many second guessed him, but when you win 99 games in a year, and get the White Sox their first ALCS since 1917, you have to admit that the man knows what he's doing, no fluke. He helped build the current team along with his general manager.... he brought most of the current pitchers to Chicago on his own, and turned them into one of the best (deepest) bullpens in baseball today! I would not be surprised if Ozwaldo gets Manager of the Year! Now, all of red Sox nation will be behind you - we hope you take it all! Best wishes ........

posted by zippinglou at 09:29 PM on October 07, 2005

way to come to your sense jerseygirl GO YANKEES!!!!

posted by fade2244 at 09:34 PM on October 07, 2005

<<<<has numerous typos will try to improve

posted by fade2244 at 09:37 PM on October 07, 2005

from the ESPN recap page Stadium: Fenway Park, Boston, MA Attendance: 35,496 (97.8% full) not 100% full? what, here's the first playoff game back in Boston after clinching the 2004 WS, is ALDS baseball a waste of time?

posted by gspm at 09:57 PM on October 07, 2005

No just the difference east-coast and mid-west. By THE WAY THE YANKEES ARE LOSING!

posted by volfire at 10:09 PM on October 07, 2005

How could the Yanks lose with such people as Spike Lee and Regie Miller in da house? WHOOOOOOOOOOOOPS!

posted by volfire at 11:04 PM on October 07, 2005

go chi sox only if angels happen to do the improbable and beat Yankees. At which point I'm all about go Bronx BombersI really don't see what is so improbable here fade? The Angels are the only team that has a winning record against the Yanks in their own stadium. btw...angels just beat up johnson. 2-1 series, go angels.

posted by sangu at 12:11 AM on October 08, 2005

Reasonable Red Sox fans what's this i see? Surely I must be dreaming. btw...angels just beat up johnson. 2-1 series, go angels. I really don't have a dog in the fight b/w the BoSox and Yanks, but I'll say the fact that Tony Graf got one of the biggest applauses during the introduction in tonight's game and Randy Johnson was nearly executed when he got pulled says at least *something* about the fans in attendance at tonight's game. That said, fuck 'em both. Go Cards.

posted by Ufez Jones at 12:16 AM on October 08, 2005

so what, exactly, does it say about the fans in attendance? Well, as I said, it doesn't *exactly* say anything. It just says *something*. Graf commited an error that in all likelihood swung game 2 and, in hindsight, the series to the White Sox, but he was still applauded, more so than any other Red Sox player (according to the play by play men of ESPN radio) during the intros. In the swing-game, Randy Johnson goes out and throws a pretty damned bad game. The fans at Yankee Stadium were ready to give him the concrete shoes. This is not the first time that the Yanks have signed a player that has performed at a less than hoped for level and been publicly villified for it*. In fact, it's been quite often not just this season but pretty much par for the course in recent memory. I've never seen fandom so fickle on a player-by-player basis - on the whole - than the Yank fans. I'll grant this: Graf's response to his error has been about as good as any damned fine PR firm could've done. I'm sure that merited him bonus points with the BoSox fans. I just can't see Cano committing the same play and getting the same response earlier tonight. YMMV. If your quibble is with my annotation of "in attendance", well, chalk that up to my Econ/Stats background and unwillingness to stereotype people. I was only able to judge reaction based on the people in attendance that I saw/heard (depending on which inning it was in either game), and there was a distinct difference. That's all I'm saying. If you did actually make it to tonight's game, goddam, then I'm quite jealous, as it was a *fantastic* baseball game, disregarding the result (and please note that I'm a Rangers fan that has been consistently frustrated by the LAA'A's for far too many seasons now). *disclaimer: This is far from exclusive to the Yankees and there are more exceptions to this rule than I can even begin to count, even including my roommates' fingers and toes.

posted by Ufez Jones at 01:06 AM on October 08, 2005

fair enough Ufez. (sorry if i came off as overly defensive. i did go to the game and as you can probably guess i'm not in the greatest of moods.) i guess i'll start by giving you my perspective on this. i went to 61 home games this year and have heard just about every player on that team get booed at some point. yes, we are a fickle lot. but in my opinion, there are different type of boos. the ones that guys like jeter or arod or randy (or even rivera earlier this year) get are the "we know you're better than this" kind of boos. we're not going to run you out of town, we're just not pleased with your performance at this particular moment. the next time they step to the plate or whatever, they still get cheered. then there are kind that guys like womack or lawton or embree get. they're the "we never want to see you at the plate during a crucial moment in the game" or "we never want to hear 'now pitching, number 46'" boos. then there's the special boos like the ones that giambi got in the beginning of the year. they're the "you fucked up big time and dug your own grave and we're going to boo you until you prove that you belong here" boos. as for Johnson, what should we have done? listening to a post-game report, randy expected to get booed. i don't think we hurt his feelings. we're not going to give him a hand just because he's a future hall-of-famer. and it's just not the NY way to be silent. he fucked up in a big post-season game. if he has a chance to pitch at the Stadium again this year will he get booed again? who knows? if that happens he will have probably pitched game 1 or 2 of the alcs in chicago. if he lays an egg again he probably will hear it again his next time out. if he pitches a good game then he will be cheered. and if he never pitches until next season i really don't think the booing will carry-over for that long. actually, both Cano and ARod made big errors in wednesday's game. Cano's wasn't as costly as ARod's but he has made quite a few this season, a couple that even cost them the game. i don't remember him ever getting booed for it the next time he appeared in NY. ARod's error lead to the run that tied the game. but tonight he got the same ovation he always gets. again, i'm not trying to be antagonistic or whatever, and i'm sorry if any of this reads that way. i'll be at tomorrow's game as well (uh, make that today's game). i hope to be in a better mood when i get home. but if they lose, they lose. at least i'll have most of next year's tickets paid for if the rest of my playoff tickets go unused;-)

posted by goddam at 02:29 AM on October 08, 2005

Listening to the Fan (WFAN 660) AM in New York last night), I think it was Steve Somers, he said, and I quote: "This series will always be remembered as the time Tony Graffanino pulled a Bill Buckner."

posted by the red terror at 07:41 AM on October 08, 2005

All of this good feeling is creeping me out. Isn't there a single Red Sox fan who is crushed by the fact that your team forgot to show up in the postseason, giving up its chances to repeat with a whimper? I was devastated when the Rangers were mathematically eliminated from the pennant in early July.

posted by rcade at 08:02 AM on October 08, 2005

I'd tend to think this would be easier for Red Sox fans than if they'd had things in hand and let them slip away, a la so many previous years. Yes, there were a few pivotal moments where the Red Sox could've turned things around (Graffanino keeps the glove down, Damon checks his swing just a bit more), I got the impression that the White Sox won it, as opposed to the Red sox losing it. Now, the Yanks just have to lose today and I'll be satisfied...

posted by ajaffe at 09:05 AM on October 08, 2005

Now, the Yanks just have to lose today and I'll be satisfied... Not to call you out specifically, ajaffe -- you're just the latest in a series -- and not that I haven't been guilty of schadenfreude in my life, but good god, were all of y'all's teams eliminated back around the time of the summer solstice that your only source of pleasure now is to relish another team's defeat? And you're still hanging around in the baseball threads to share the sour grapes? It's a big wide world of sports, folks, and there are plenty of corners of it where you could get a happier life right around now.

posted by lil_brown_bat at 09:22 AM on October 08, 2005

I think it was Steve Somers, he said, and I quote: "This series will always be remembered as the time Tony Graffanino pulled a Bill Buckner." He's 99% wrong on that. People may remember the error, but in 10 years I doubt anyone outside the top 1% of the fan base will remember who it was.

posted by YukonGold at 11:41 AM on October 08, 2005

[Fenway Park] not 100% full? what, here's the first playoff game back in Boston after clinching the 2004 WS, is ALDS baseball a waste of time? I think I may actually have to write a column to get this all of my chest, but that was an amazing game in two ways. It was amazing to attend a playoff game and it was amazing to sit there in the middle of "the best baseball fans on Earth" and feel like an ass for making noise. There were like 3 other actual fans up in the right-field tables, assuming Doug Flutie is a real fan (Yukon, he didn't catch a ball this time). All the other times I've gone to Fenway were for regular-season games. We arrived late (middle of the first) a couple of times (got there 10 minutes early yesterday). People were still showing up in the 4th. As "real" fans, we talk a lot about bandwagon jumpers here on Sportsfilter. I can stand people who start paying attention after the All-Star break; people who take tickets from work and go just to be seen are killing me (in the interests of full disclosure, my wife won the tickets at work). At this point, I think a lot of "level-headed" Sox fans would take a rebuilding year or two to clear out the chaffe.

posted by yerfatma at 12:36 PM on October 08, 2005

the home plate umpire called time out before wakefield threw the ball.

posted by goddam at 01:13 PM on October 08, 2005

YEEEESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

posted by redsoxrgay at 01:58 PM on October 08, 2005

Now, all of red Sox nation will be behind you - we hope you take it all! Best wishes ........ posted by zippinglou Um, no. Not sure who elected you president of red sox nation, but this sox fan is rooting for the angels if they can get by the yankees. Regardless, should be an interesting off season for boston. posted by justgary at 11:42 AM CST on October 8 It's a comment generated from from my compettive spirit. I believe that if I get beat, I want the guy that beat me be the best... at least I can say I lost to the best. When my Red Sox lost to the White Sox, I want them to take it all.... at least I can say, we got beat by the Champs..... This aside from the fact that I'm Venezuelan, and Ozzie being the first manager from my home country to ever make it this far, makes me want to root for him now! Go RED SOX (forever) but for the rest of this season..... GO WHITE SOX!!!!

posted by zippinglou at 09:25 PM on October 08, 2005

Great to see the White Sox finally get past a playoff series. Also great to see one of the funnest White Sox players of all time, Ozzie Guillen, be a major part of that. I don't care who they play in the next round, but I think it would be sweeter to beat the Yankees and their big payroll to get to the World Series. Here's hoping the White Sox win it all this year and the Cubs next year, then we can all stop feeling sorry for ourselves!

posted by sic at 06:49 AM on October 09, 2005

Excuse me that was what happened to ....... i just got carried away i was so glad that BOSTON LOST!!!!!! FrankySP

posted by FrankySP at 09:02 AM on October 09, 2005

Okay, I have to say it...the google ad on this page for the "Yankees Choke" t-shirt 'specially for Boston fans is kinda funny right now. You talk or wear that kinda trash and sooner or later, it'll come back to haunt you.

posted by lil_brown_bat at 09:24 AM on October 09, 2005

AL hung with Pujols pretty well last year, if I recall.

posted by jerseygirl at 06:04 PM on October 09, 2005

They had a no hitter going at the start of each game too, as I remember it.

posted by jerseygirl at 06:08 PM on October 09, 2005

your team is out and your remaining post season support is fickle. Go practice the shotput and get over last year already. Are you still upset that the media forces the yankees/red sox on the public? This might be the cardinals year. Then again, that's all I heard last year also. Wait until the series, the cardinals will show boston what real baseball looks like. And, well, they sucked. Maybe this year will be different.

posted by justgary at 08:09 PM on October 09, 2005

So much for the notion of "Oh Cardinals fans are SO nice!" c'mon jgirl. You started that LR thread. Stay true.

posted by Ufez Jones at 09:01 PM on October 09, 2005

No context needed in this regard. All teams have good and bad fans. Don't feed the animals.

posted by Ufez Jones at 10:53 PM on October 09, 2005

Sorry, here's the link again: CHI-WSOX & VENEZUELAN TRADITION

posted by zippinglou at 04:22 PM on October 10, 2005