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Well, what a difference a day makes. It's hard to believe that this time last night I was in the throes of making deals with the devil, debating whether or not my "impending sense of doom" was symptomatic of a heart attack or the upshot of having Sox in scoring position, and generally marinating in uncomfortable anxiety and tension for nearly 6 hours.
Today, on the other hand, was a bit different. My buddy Matt came over to watch game and instead of screaming at the TV and breaking things over missed scoring opportunities and/or questionable Girardi moves, we were able to enjoy the game while discussing other important issues, like whether you'd be more unnerved if you found chloroform or binnoculars at your date's apartment. (My vote was for the latter.)
Today also marked the first CC start in about 5 chances where I did not receive the requisite "Fatso struggling" text from Kevin. (Instead, I texted him, "Fatso dealing." I need to make a new auto-text for that and start a new trend.)
So for the 2nd game in a row, the Yankees have held the Red Sox to approximately zero runs. A bunch of marbles rolling around the box score.
Liam, my buddy who texted me last night, "Only you would think a game in August matters," texted me today, "No obnoxious text today?" I don't know if my lack of gloating stems from a general principle of not wanting to count my chickens before they win the World Series, or from the fact my 3-hour sleep last night led to a 4-hour post-game nap today that fell squarely in the primetime window for obnoxious texting. But at any rate, I responded, "Nah. 5.5 game lead. It'd be like getting excited over beating the O's at this point."
":) There it is!" he responds.
Good sport.
And indeed, Fatso was dealing today. Remarkable after he stayed for the duration of last night's game. They definitely showed him yawning quite a bit though. We're lucky that the Sox were just as, probably more so, depleted energy-wise than the Yanks. Because our boys definitely looked like they were flying a little low to the ground today. In the bottom of the 8th, with a 3-0 lead, Mo starts warming up in the pen, perfectly capable of coming in for the save after only having pitched 1 inning last night. (Um, thank you, Girardi.)
Then Jeter squeezes a homerun out of a shot that barelllllly cleared the short porch in right. (Yeah, I know, haters. Yankee stadium. Cheap homeruns. Etc etc. You know it works both ways, right? You guys are allowed to go yard, too, not just the home team.)
So the score becomes 5-0 and we see Mo barking at his battery mate in the bullpen. No need for him to come in for the save now, and I have no doubt in my mind that he was more than a little aggravated over the fact he was woken up from his pen-nap for no reason. I respect that.
As expected, the Boston pitching was a problem, and after Bucholz was pulled after 6 pretty solid innings, Ramon Ramirez came in for about a cup of a coffee before getting ejected. Both sides were warned in the first since firing 90 mph fast balls at the Yankees is something Boston seems to think is as necessary to opening the game as the National Anthem and roll call. (This may be due to the fact that some fans don't actually believe in honoring the National Anthem.)
Ramirez first threw at Tex, then drilled ARod to get tossed from the game. Our pitching, on the other hand, was stunning. CC took a perfect game into the 5th before walking Ortiz on a 3-2 pitch. Tubbo.com also blanked 9 batters in nearly 8 innings of outstanding pitching, which was exactly the type of outing the tired bullpen was hoping for.
Robertson came in in the 9th in a wise move from Girardi, and the game ended as perfectly as it started: with Ortiz being called out watching a beautiful strike zip down the pipe. Maybe showing up and saying/doing nothing works in ESPN sanctioned press conferences, but not in the Bronx, buddy.
Which brings me to my next subject of discussion.
“The mood and temper of the public in regard to the treatment of crime and criminals is one of the most unfailing tests of the civilization of any country.” --Winston Churchill
Ok, here it is: throughout this whole steroids thing, I've been basically impervious to any of the burgeoning feelings of disillusionment or betrayal. I never once lost even an iota of respect for the sport, never became jaded. Nothing. Baseball was and has been the same paragon, the same paradigm for everything that's good in the world, and most revered faction outside of family and God.
Until today. Today marks the first time that I've been overwhelmingly disgusted with the steroids scandal. The first time that the whole controversy left a bad taste in my mouth. And maybe prior to today, I only "hated" Ortiz for his bat, or his uniform. But today I hate him for compromising my rapt awe of baseball.Watching his press conference today before the game made me physically nauseated. I'm not kidding. I didn't even drink last night, so we can't even chalk it up to that. Put that one in the books, David Ortiz literally makes me sick.
But perhaps as horrified as I was with Ortiz, I was even more disgusted by ESPN. I'm sure I don't need to remind anyone exactly what kind of treatment ARod got when his name was leaked.
So I made this helpful comparison-at-a-glance chart to facilitate really getting a clear handle on the depths of the hypocrisy governing our sport.
I mean, it could also boil down to this. If Ortiz never did steroids, don't you think he'd be a little bit more up in arms about the whole thing? Instead of "I never meant to hurt anyone's feelings." Riiiight.
Or, as Matt, who's in med school and hence knows a bit about this stuff, texts me, "Even if you're 'careless' with supplements, there aren't too many I've heard of with anabolic steroids in them."
3 Comments:
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August 9, 2009 at 11:07 AM
As soon as Ortiz showed up in public wearing a gingham shirt underneath a faux-denim blazer with pronounced white stitching, it was obvious that he was going to pull a "Jethro"--i.e. I was tricked, too trusting, didn't do anything wrong, should've asked the kid at the CVS making $6.49/hr what he was forcing OTC down my $8mn/yr throat.August 9, 2009 at 11:11 AMIt makes me sick to think of the complete demonization Arod was subjected to when he apologized, yet this slime wont even admit it, yet everyone's rallying around him.August 9, 2009 at 4:31 PMTypical and disturbing with the Yankee bias, Ortiz pulls a Sammy Sosa playing stupid, and A-Rod goes on the skillet, even the NY papers were light on Ortiz its time to move on and that he is actually a victim....nice Churchill refernce by the way very Old School
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