TwitterThe Day After
17 Oct 2003
I just figured out why this win meant so much to me. I can’t really take credit for it, I needed to read the NY Daily News story on Don Zimmer to get it. For those of you who didn’t see it, Zimmer said last night that he is quitting after the Series because he is sick of Steinbrenner’s treatment of him. I admit, at first I was somewhat upset with Zimmer. Why did he have to pick this moment to pick another fight with George? But, then as I thought about it, I realized how right he was. Put simply, this season hasn’t been fun. Every media outlet talks about how the Yankees should win. The Diamondbacks and Angels won World Championships and it was almost as if a mistake had happened. Certainly, George Steinbrenner felt that way. He berated and beat on everyone over the mistakes the Yankees had made. Expectations became so high, that winning anything but the World Series seemed trivial. I remember watching the Red Sox when they clinched their Wild Card berth and being jealous at the pure joy of that moment. We had just won the division, but it didn’t seem to be a big deal. Same thing with the Twins, yeah we won, we beat up on the underdogs.
Well, last night was different. I honestly didn’t think we would win. I thought Clemens would be too emotional to pitch well and I expected Pedro to be Pedro. But then something happened. I still don’t know if Mystique and Aura are topless dancers like Curt Schilling said, or if they really exist, but I swear I felt some magic in the air last night. I know I saw it on the TV. And, suddenly, I was six years old again watching Greg Nettles make play after play at third base, basking in the pure joy of childhood. I probably have watched Boone’s HR twenty times today and I think I might watch it one hundred more. That moment brought the joy back. Thanks, Aaron.
Sep 27, 2012 @ 07:22:53
Until Selig introduces an extra polfayf spot just for teams that win 90 games, no matter of where they end up in the standings, winning 90 games a year means nothing. It’s about how you compare against other teams, most importantly in your division. If the Rays can win 90 games a year with a $50m payroll, but the Sox/Yanks win 95 games a year in the $150,000,000+ range, then it doesn’t really mean much, does it? Unless we are now playing for pride. It’s a shame, because if the Rays even only added $15 million (alot for the rays, but compared to NY/BOS ..) they could surely fill another hole or two and bump that 90 to 95 wins. For example, even a league average SS would have brought an extra 2 wins after the garbage performances the AAA trio put up for most of the year, and that’s if he just played league average, it would be more if he were an actual good player who had a moderately good year. The cost of a veteran SS would have been absolutely justified.And I don’t care about how other teams can’t beat NY/BOS. Most of those aren’t in the division (who cares what the orioles do against the division ) and can get by without it. The Rays CAN’T. They have to at least hold their head above water against them unfortunately. It’s nice to say that it doesn’t matter what those 2 teams do and we can just do our own thing but we know that’s not true.