2004 ALCS Roundtable – Game 1
October 13, 2004
GROUP DISCUSSION

David Brown: It’s 12:45 a.m. in D.C., and I’m finally starting to settle down. I can’t take six more games of this. I keep telling myself, “A win is a win,” but an eight run win would have felt a hell of a lot better.

Even though Sox fans can find some solace in their comeback, they must be soiling themselves right about now. This series was all about Schilling. And after three innings, the Schilling factor is gone. GONE! Now Yankee fans are actually hoping they trot him out again. He had nothing on his fastball tonight, and the Boston media is trying to get a court order to have his leg amputated above the ankle for an autopsy.

I watched the game with a friend, another die-hard Yankee fan who typically likes to watch in solitude. We figured this game would probably be a Yankee loss anyway, so why not be miserable together. After three innings, we were looking at each other wide-eyed and saying, “We’re up SIX TO NOTHING!!!”

Thank god Rivera made it back. If there is anybody in sports that could pull off what he did today without being phased by it, it’s Mariano Rivera. Nothing bothers this guy. He could fly back to Panama tonight and still be ready to pitch the ninth tomorrow.

Moment of the game that bodes well for the Yanks: Sheffield’s slide after scoring from first. The reaction he had as he embraced A-Rod was one you don’t often see from a Yankee. He has brought a huge amount of passion and heart to this team. That’s why he should be the MVP. If Pedro beans him in game two, Sheffield may kill him on the mound and then hunt down that Dominican midget and kill him too.

The Bronx faithful will be in a frenzy tomorrow. Anything could happen. Either pitcher could just as likely dominate as get shelled. My stomach is in knots. The Fox broadcasters made me sick tonight with their excitement over Boston’s comeback. I broke my friend’s lamp with a fist pump after Bernie doubled in two runs in the eighth. I’ve had four beers and may need a glass of wine to sleep. Screw the debate tomorrow. Some things are bigger than the future.

Brendon McCullin: So how many people do you think were only watching the game in the 6th inning because Mussina had a no-hitter going? Who could blame anyone really for wanting to turn it off? After the third inning I thought it was going to turn into The Passion of the Red Sox starring the Yankees bats, Curt Schilling’s ankle and Johnny Damon’s hair.

As soon as the Sox broke through and scored on Mussina you knew they at least had a chance. That Yankees bullpen isn't as intimidating as it used to be. Tom Gordon and Mariano Rivera are very good, don’t get me wrong, but they both used to scare batters more than they do now.

The handy thing about not having a rooting interest is that I can switch allegiances on a dime. When Mussina had a no-hitter going I was rooting for him to keep it going, just because I thought it would make the 8-0 game worthwhile. Then when the Red Sox put together their rally I started rooting for them to at least tie the game up.

Out of curiosity, do they play Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus” when Johnny Damon comes to bat in Boston? I haven't watched enough Red Sox games this year to know.

That double over the head of Ramirez was classic Red Sox and classic Manny. You could use the clip of Manny trying to run back to get the ball as a visual illustration for “lumbering.” The only thing that was missing was Boston scoring two runs in the 9th to make that officially what cost them the game.

On the plus side for Boston, normally the Yankees like to lose the first game of a series, so maybe Terry Francona is just using reverse psychology. For that to work though he better hope that Pedro Martinez hasn't been flirting with all of those cute Yankees, like Jeter and A-Rod. You wouldn't want him getting into a catfight with Jessica Alba before his start.

I wonder how Orioles fans felt going into that game. I mean, Mike Mussina and Curt Schilling are both former Orioles. The Baltimore faithful have to be real happy that their genius owner Peter Angelos doesn't pay for pitching but keeps shelling out $10 million every few years for Rafael Palmeiro. I'm sure the home runs cancel out all of the fourth place finishes.

Why exactly is Fox using a three man broadcast booth? What does Al Leiter add to anything? Bruce Springsteen references? It’s bad enough that Tim McCarver hasn't had anything useful to say in 15 years (assuming that you think he's ever said anything useful) and Joe Buck now makes me think of beer.

I did like Fox's pregame feature with clips of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader mixed in with the Yankees and Red Sox though. It gave me an urge to go buy the just released DVD set of the Star Wars Trilogy new from Twentieth Century Fox Home Video. Gee, I wonder if that was intentional.

Michael Walls: You know what? I’m starting to think that we’re all a bunch of chumps. That this whole Yankees-Red Sox, 100-year old rivalry is nothing but a gigantic fix and marketing campaign, coordinated by Major League Baseball and Ogilvy & Mathers.

I can’t figure out how every single Yankees-Red Sox game, playoffs or not, becomes such a rollercoaster drama. I had predicated that this ALCS would be a borefest, compared to last year – as I can’t imagine what could top a 7-games, extra innings, walk off homerun ending.

And last night, through six innings, it looked like my predication was going to be true. Sox down by eight going into the 7th inning – Mussina not even letting one Sox near first base. Boring… I even contemplated rooting for Mussina’s perfect game, because as a baseball fan, watching history is always a treat. But then I remembered that this was Mussina and that his last perfect game attempt was foiled by the Sox in the 9th inning. Sure enough – before the inning can end, the Sox chase out Mussina and put up a 5-spot.

MLB and Ogilvy scripted it perfectly:

Scenes 1-6: Mussina perfect.

Scenes: 7 & 8: Red Sox comeback.

Scene 9: Tearful dominance by tragedy-strickened Rivera.

Predictions: Pedro shuts down the Yankees and shuts up the crowd. Schilling pitches game 6 and wins series for the Sox.

Alexander Washburn: I happen to find it funny that the Yankee Stadium crowd will chant MVP everytime Gary Sheffield comes to the plate, when the real MVP of the Yankees is Hideki Matsui. Last night, Matsui took one step closer to making everyone forget that Jason Giambi ever played for and hit clean-up for the Yankees. When wasn't this guy on base last night? When wasn't he driving in runs?

Why must Mets fans be tortured during playoffs. It's not bad enought that our crosstown rivals make the post-season every year, but they have to put Al Leiter in the booth for the ALCS. The problem with Leiter in the booth is that he's good. He's real good. In fact, he is better in the booth than on the pitching mound.

If this is his last year, which I suspect will be if the Yanks don't win it all, it was sure nice to see Bernie Williams get a big hit at home. Bernie, along with Jeter and Mariano Rivera, are the only Yankees still around from the 1996 World Series, the starting point of current Yankee dominance.

Tim McCarver? What a jackass...There are a few things you cannot do in sports and one of them is question Joe Torre. So, what if Torre left Tom Gordon, did people not realize that Gordon actually had a better year (albeit by not much) than Rivera. Gordon could very well be the star of the bullpen and it was clear that Torre was doing everything in his power to give Rivera the night off. With all the drama Fox created, you'd think McCarver would realize that...

Mike Spinney: I cannot watch sporting events with my family in the same room. This lesson was something I should have figured out earlier in life, especially during the original Sox/Yankees ALCS matchup of what seems like an eternity ago. Remember? The one that was set up by a lot of heroics against the Cleveland Indians?

In that series my wife kept asking why Pedro wasn't pitching – in every game. After all, by her logic, if he was Boston's best, he should be out there to start every game. The lesson was reinforced during Super Bowl XXXVI when the Patriots beat the Rams on Vinatieri's last-second field goal.

The seemingly never-ending string of questions I had to answer about football rules was frustrating enough, but when having to keep quiet because she was asleep at the end of the game was maddening.

Now, my 11 year old daughter has decided that, because I'm a Sox fan, she must be a Yankee fan. She knows less about baseball than my wife, but roots for the Yankees no matter what happens. I don't want Mass HHS paying me any visits, so I quietly stew while she exults over the Bombers' performance during the lineup exchange and seventh-inning stretch.

What makes it worse is when the Sox implode, as they did for four innings last night. In spite of my best efforts, I am too emotionally attached to the Sox to not suffer from any number of cardiac maladies during a game – even when the team wins. I can't watch games in which the team seems helpless.

I do take some solace in the fact that it took a near-perfect effort by Mussina to keep the Sox down, and that even when Schilling and company failed to do more than tee up the ball for the Yankees, it was still a game. Martinez, Arroyo, and Lowe aren't damaged goods right now, and I believe any of 'em can get the job done in this series.

I still think the Sox will win. I just may not have the television on when it happens.