Yankees Go Home

That’s not a political slogan. That’s a fact. And from the perspective of all true Haters, the season is effectively over. None of us has to endure the indignity of watching the other play in the World Series, let alone win the thing. Instead we can watch simply for the enjoyment or entertainment or drama, without having any nervous breakdowns; and we don’t have to stay up until dawn, should one or more games go into extra innings.

I think the theme of this year’s classic, no matter how it turns out, will be redemption. The whole Josh Hamilton story is grounded in redemption. And while the Giants can’t quite match Hamilton for the extremes he’s encountered, there is an element of redemption for all the cast-offs who were picked up by San Francisco, whose careers seemed to be ending, and who are now playing for a championship.

Long time ago, I was a Giants fan, really as a result of being a Willie Mays fan. I always thought Mays was the greatest ballplayer of all time. He could do everything, and do it better than most everyone else. Think about the catch. And then think about his numbers from this perspective. He missed two years in his prime, when drafted for the Korean war. 1951 he was rookie of the year; 54 he was MVP; but he missed most of 52 and all of 53. Then consider that he was playing in the Polo Grounds, with a short porch down the left field line, and after 57 moved to Candlestick, where it was close to impossible to hit home runs. In 1954, when the Giants won it all, at the all-star break he was on a pace to break Ruth’s single season home run record. But Durocher told him instead, to hit for average, and he ended up winning the batting title. So if you give Mays those two years, and delay his move to Candlestick for even half a decade; everyone would have been chasing Mays with 800 home runs – not Ruth, not Aaron, not Bonds. Forget about it.

So for old times sake, I suppose I’d like to see the Giants win, although before the NLCS, I couldn’t have named anyone on their roster aside from Lincecum. At the same time, I like the Rangers. Not just because they beat up on the Yankees, but because they have an exciting lineup, with an landsman at second base. I like Vlad Guerrero, another guy who seemed like his career might be over, and who now is playing in his first World Series. For my money, I’d like to see a seven game series, with games decided in the late innings. But as for who wins, even though the Giants are a sentimental favorite, I think the season will have a happy ending for many folks, no matter how it turns out.

Speaking of happy endings, how about Cuse stopping West Virginia on that last drive, preserving a road win against a ranked team? How about an exciting defense, with guys blitzing from all over, and different schemes in the defensive backfield? I know the offense has been pretty unexciting of late, although the running game produced some good numbers yesterday before Carter got hurt. But the defense really stepped it up; and that was a huge change from the Pitt game. Wouldn’t it be nice if the coaching staff could figure out what the team’s deficiencies were, and make adjustments that corrected the problems? Wouldn’t that be a switch from the past decade, when we seemed to get out coached in every single game? I don’t know exactly how the team turned things around so dramatically in one week, but I’d like to think that the coaches had something to do with that turnaround. (And by the way, don’t you think that the guys who hired Robinson as defensive coordinator in Michigan are feeling pretty stupid right about now?)

If the Orange keep this up, before too long the Dome will be full for something other than the Nova game. Only thing is, if that ever happens, Dr. Gross will go nuts, and then I’ll be faced with a real dilemma: whether to pay the jacked up prices, both for my seats, and for the tickets? Last time they tried to jack me, I held out, didn’t renew, and eventually got my seats back for the old B level price. Actually, it was for the new B level price, which had already gone way up; but at least I didn’t get changed to A. But now, if football becomes exciting, will I really be willing to throw in the towel? I guess I’d rather be faced with that question instead of whether to attend the last game of the season, or try to sell my tickets on stubhub for seventy-five cents each. Go Orange.