NEW YORK -- This is what it felt like a couple of years ago when things started going right for the New England Patriots. An obvious, game-costing mistake was magically erased in the Foxborough snow, and the tumbling dice kept coming up winners the rest of the winter. Blessed as never before in the "Tuck Rule" win over the Oakland Raiders, the Patriots' boxcar victory train rumbled through Pittsburgh all the way to the city of New Orleans and a Super Bowl championship.
It was then that New England sports fans first started to think like winners. Instead of moaning "why us?" they challenged the gods of the games and asked "why not us?"
Which brings us to the local baseball team -- ever the most important New England sports franchise -- one that for the longest time has embodied frustration, failure, even buffoonery.
The Boston Red Sox tonight begin a best-of-seven series against the New York Yankees for the right to represent the American League in the 2003 World Series, and for a change Sox fans aren't baying at the moon, blaming curses, or expecting something to go wrong. The path to the pennant thus far has been sprinkled with gold dust, the same magic ash that fell on the head and shoulders of Tom Brady and friends in January-February 2002.
"I think they are going to do it this year," says captain Carl Yastrzemski, who has taken the torch from the late Ted Williams as the greatest living Red Sox player. Yaz was around for too many of the near-misses that created the modern-day image of this ball club (Lucy's going to pull the ball away again), and he is here to tell you, "The Yankees aren't that good."
The Yankees are good, of course, but the Sox played them to a near draw this year (9-10) and regularly pummeled New York's vaunted pitching, scoring nine or more runs six times. The pinstripe veneer of invincibility dissolves when you beat them by scores of 10-3, 10-2, 10-5, and 11-0.
The prospect of a seven-game set with the Bronx Bombers is almost too much to bear for a Red Sox Nation already sleepless and depleted by the dramatic three straight wins (a walkoff homer in the 11th inning, followed by a pair of one-run wins) over Oakland (back to our Patriot theme).
"I can't decide which game is the best one," Sox chairman Tom Werner said in the champagne-drenched clubhouse in Oakland late Monday. "It's like picking your favorite Beatles song."
Little background music is necessary for this matchup. Even David Brudnoy (we love that Bruds prides himself on knowing nothing about sports) is aware that the Yankees have made life difficult for the Sox over the years. The Yankees hold a marginal 26-0 lead over Boston in baseball championships since the Sox sold Babe Ruth to New York after the 1919 season. More recently, the Sox have finished second to the Yankees each of the last six seasons, which is a major league record for Hertz-Avis finishes.
Even more recently, we have the bitterness of last winter when new Sox CEO Larry Lucchino characterized the Yankees as the "Evil Empire" after the Yankees outbid Boston for the services of Cuban free agent pitcher Jose Contreras. Yankees owner George Steinbrenner reacted as if Lucchino had spray-painted graffiti on Yankee Stadium's Monument Park. It got so bad that commissioner Bud Selig had to issue a cease-and-desist order, telling Steinbrenner and Lucchino to stop firing salvos.
Sox rookie general manager Theo Epstein reportedly broke some furniture in disgust over the Contreras episode, then watched helplessly as New York made an end-around deal with the Expos and White Sox to keep the Sox from getting Bartolo Colon. There was no end to the madness. Theo's dad, author/professor Leslie Epstein, ripped the Yankees and put Steinbrenner's 1970s felony conviction back on the table.
Meanwhile, the Sox and Yankees battled on the field. Trot Nixon homered off Roger Clemens after Clemens hit Kevin Millar, then Pedro Martinez hit Derek Jeter and Alfonso Soriano two days later.
The Sox and Yankees met four years ago in a similarly hyped hoedown, but Boston's pitching was thin (Kent Mercker started Game 1), the Sox made 10 errors in five games, and two calls that resulted in written apologies from umpires went against Boston. The Sox' only victory in that series was a Game 3 rout at Fenway when Clemens was hooted and embarrassed in a 13-1 loss to Pedro. Asked to assess the response her son elicited at Fenway, Ma Clemens said, "They treated him like Hitler."
There was something pathetic about Boston and the Red Sox in that series. The Sox played poorly, and fans were obsessed with beating Clemens rather than winning the series. Fans littered the field in frustration at the end of Game 4, causing an eight-minute delay and another verbal shot from Steinbrenner.
Things have changed. The Sox are under new ownership (think of this one as New York Times vs. New York Yankees), have a new manager, new attitude, and new haircuts that make them look like Natural Born Winners. Boston's 2003 Cowboy Uppers thus far have been emboldened instead of infected by the 85 years of failure that have preceded them.
Sox in six.
By Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe.
This article appeared on Boston.Com on October 8, 2003.
Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.