Saturday, January 5, 2008

Why We Wait

There are now officially 40 days left until pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training. We are deeply entrenched in winter. I don't know about you guys, but where I live it's been around 20-25 degrees out lately. At the moment, it feels as if the baseball season may never return.

So to keep up morale in these discouraging times, I've advised a plan. I'm going to try out a series of posts called "Why We Wait". And for each one, I'll list a reason why while the Red Sox season may seem far away, it will all be worth it come late March.

Today's reason - beating up the Yankees. No regular season win is quite so sweet as one that comes at the hands of our hated rivals. The first Red Sox/Yankees series of the 2007 series was especially sweet.

In the first game of the series, the Red Sox scored five runs in the 8th inning, to beat the Yankees by a run. Mariano Rivera blew his second straight save opportunity and Hideki Okajima notched his first major league save. Then, in the second game, the Red Sox won the series behind Josh Beckett. It was the final game of the series, however, that was most sweet.

On April 23rd, the Red Sox swept the series in dramatic fashion. They tied a major league record by hitting back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs off of Yankees prospect Chase Wright. I can imagine Yankees fans thinking, "it's alright, no one was on" after the first home run. Then they probably thought, "alright, at least we're still up by a run" after the second home run. After the third, I'm sure they couldn't believe how they just lost their lead. And after the fourth I'm sure some of them had to turn off the TV for a little while.

Watch the video and relive the magic.

15 comments:

Michael said...

i haven't relived that hideous series since it happened...so thanks for the memories...i'll go to sleep tonight with thoughts of chase wright giving up homer after homer after homer after....

:)


i guess i preferred the last 4 times we met...

it IS getting tough to wait for the season to begin.
i must say it is interesting that we play the last three games of the year at fenway. i hope the race between the two teams comes down to that last weekend, though it would be fitting to have played that last one in the last weekend ever at yankee stadium!

Michael said...

PS

i remember the utterly astonished look on theo's face
from his perch.

i seem to recall him mouthing something like what the ...

i didn't turn off the TV after the 4th one, but i still find it hard to believe

from stark:


Strangest But Truest Event Of 2007
• How the heck did this happen? Yankees rookie Chase Wright, a pitcher who had given up four home runs to the previous 673 hitters he'd faced (in the majors and minors), needed a mere 10 pitches to serve up four home runs in a row to the Red Sox on April 22. Naturally, the four hitters who bashed them had combined for only four homers all season before that, in 218 at-bats.

Peter N said...

Ethan, I remember that game well, and the clip was great! It has been cold here too, but temperatures on Tuesday will approach 60 degrees. Holy s**t!! Enjoy your weekend, and keep on writing...your blog is great!! I wrote about Clemens and his Congressional "invitation" for my Saturday morning post. Take care.

Anonymous said...

anyone remember the game the yankees came back to win after being down 7-2~~ its "why we wait"

Anonymous said...

What are you looking for Eaton, a sounding board? Do you want Mark or will any Yankee fan do? Probably just someone interesting to post on your blog. Here I am.

Yes, we had a rough first half.
Yes, Wright had trouble making the jump from AA.
So the bright spot was A-Rod's April.

But the thing I really missed last year was an Red Sox vs. Yankees ALCS. It's never a good year without one.

PS: I saw the Dodgers do the 4 home run thing in 2006, against better pitching and in a pennant race.

Anonymous said...

Can you post of The Yankees hitters and their stats for 2007 against Redsox so call "Big three" Thanks

I'm guess blog is pro-Redsox and a homer

Dave said...

Thanks for checking out my blog the other day. I finally had a chance to check yours out and really enjoyed it.
I really wish Spring Training started tomorrow.
Go Sox


Thefoulline.com

Royal Rooters said...

Please remember Yankees fans, this is a Red Sox site. I expect your point of view, but I'm not going to cater to it.

Royal Rooters said...

Thanks Dave. I really wish it started today as well.

Royal Rooters said...

Yeah, Michael, it was bizarre as much as it was exciting.

Royal Rooters said...

Not that I don't want Yankees fans to comment here. I love it when people critique my points. And anyone that doesn't, probably doesn't make very good points.

But there really isn't anything to argue here. I said I enjoyed it when the Red Sox beat up the Yankees, that's all. I'm sure Yankees fans enjoy it when their team beats up the Red Sox.

Charles L. Wallace said...

We do! Certainly :-)
Yanks won the season series against the Sox, which is why WE wait [somewhat] patiently for Pitchers and Catcher's Day [sounds like the name of a fine holiday!].
Yanks vs Sox: that pretty much says it all. Good, good stuff.

Michael said...

believe me ethan, i don't expect to be catered to on a sox blog. i'm just finding myself thoroughly entertained.

Royal Rooters said...

I'm glad. That's what it's really all about. The comment wasn't really directed towards you, it was more directed to the people that leave anonymous, insulting comments.

Anonymous said...

i like the title: "why we wait"