Damn Yankees *shakefist*

our season shouldn’t have ended like that.

KURSE all YanKs.

I told you the Red Sox were cursed. (Well they are. They were dumb enough to trade Babe Ruth away, and need I mention Bill Buckner in’86?)

A very unfortunate end indeed. This is probably the most crushing defeat of them all - we came SO close, and then it was bobbled away by an overconfident superstar. Pedro is one of the greatest pitchers of our time, no doubt, however a good pitcher should also be able to see when he is no longer competent and should step down and give way to fresh arms. His ego got in the way, and it cost the team the championship, and a trip to the world series.

I wanted the Marlins to win, but I didn’t want to root for them. Fuck the yankees, go Marlins.

dude, it has absolutely nothing to do with the pitcher. To take yourself out of a game as a pitcher is nearly a mark of cowardice, and it’s a cardinal sin to take yourself out; you’re always supposed to want to stay in the game. This is triple the case for the best pitcher in the league in the 8th inning of Game 7 of the ALCS against the greatest rival in sports history. Back in (I think it was Game 6) of the World Series in '86, Roger Clemens came out of the game in the 6th inning. The Red Sox went on to lose the game and then the series, and there has always been controversy as to whether the manager took Roger out, or if Roger asked out of the game, it’s rather infamous. That’s why as a pitcher you never ask out.

The blame for what happened in the 8th inning falls squarely on the shoulders of Grady Little. It’s the manager’s call, not the player’s, as to whether a pitching change should be made. His refusal to bring in Embree/Timlin, which had worked brilliantly throughout the entire rest of the playoffs is utterly mind boggling. Either he’s a coward and he wouldn’t take his starting pitcher out of the game when it was clear Pedro was done (115+ pitches at this point and Matsui who has hit him real well coming up), or he’s just utterly incompetent and didn’t understand that the best way to win the game was to throw Pedro for 7 innings, then bring in Embree–>Timlin–>Williamson, our trio of lights-out relievers in the playoffs. He’s a rather poor manager to begin with, but to lose what was up to then one of the greatest baseball seasons in memory because of a miscall that my dog could have done correctly, is simply disgraceful.

Merl, you say it so eloquently, I couldn’t’ve stated it better. I could probably count the number of Sox fans I know that don’t want to kill Little on one hand.

God forbid that people think harshly of Pedro Martinez, someone who is quite well known for hitting people with pitches, intentionally or not. I’ve heard of the Roger Clemens ordeal, and the only reason that is infamous in the least is because neither the manager nor Roger Clemens will say who did what - they both maintain that Roger opted to stay in the game. Hence, the controversy, because neither will tell the truth.

No, while some blame does fall onto Grady Little for giving Pedro the option to stay in, Pedro’s decision to stay in shows just as much irresponsibility and selfish-ness towards the team as it does to the posistion of pitcher. It is the Pitchers responsibility to lead the team, to be in control, and when the Leader looses control and can no longer maintain the lead of the game, it is his responsibility to see his own faults, and make way for a fresh arm to help lead the team to victory. Baseball is not all about the pitcher, it is a team sport.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I hope the Yankees win. I’m glad they beat the Red Sox, as I dislike the Red Sox very much. Maybe one day I’ll get tired of the Yankees winning, but not yet. If they’re good enough to win so much, than they deserve to be where they are. Obviously, they have one of, if not the best team out there. That being said, this is nowhere near the quality of a team that they had in '98. That was a team that won by pitching, defense, baserunning, just flat out playing baseball. Their rotation currently does not match the caliber of that season, and they tend to win more games with home runs than with scrapping games out. In short, I’ll be rooting for the Yanks, but I won’t be broken hearted if the Marlins pull it out. I’m just glad the Red Sox aren’t there.