Friday, October 5, 2007

Gnats....(ALDS Game 2 Postgame notes)

Last night's loss I could handle. It wasn't heartbreaking; it was just ugly.


Tonight's loss, however, has me near tears. Okay, I'm lying...there's something wet running down my cheek.

I know what you're all going to say.

You shouldn't be that attached to the Yankees.

There's still at least one more game to play, anything can happen.

Thing is, I felt so sure about tonight. I thought, there's no way that the Yankees would be in this position...not with Andy Pettitte on the mound, not with the way he pitched tonight.


Pettitte not might have, but did, give the performance of his life tonight. He did EVERYTHING right, and so did Mo, and so, for an inning and a third, did Joba.

In the world of heartbreaking losses, this one ranks up there with '95, '97, '01 and '04, and it's not an elimination game.

To be quite honest, I think the culprit right now for making me feel like I feel, struggling to even find the right words to say, is the frustration.

We are the Yankees. We mounted a historic comeback in the regular season. We've been the best team in baseball since May. We all thought, okay we went 6-0 against the Indians in the regular season, we'd much rather face them in the playoffs than the Angels...

The frustration gnaws at us. we've not gotten to the ALCS, and our shot at redemption since 2004. No big deal for most other teams, but the Yankees are NOT most other teams.

Our offense hasn't been able to do anything since game three of the 2004 ALCS, and everyone knows that all it really takes is one big, one good inning to break through. This isn't on any one player in particular. I will NOT jump that bandwagon. This is on the team as a whole.

As Jeter said, it's "what WE need to do," and right now, the Yankees, as a team, are not doing much.



I have hope it will change.

Hope that the Yankees will sweep the next three games and move onto the next round.

Hope that going back to Yankee Stadium for the first time since 24 September will do them some good.

Hope that they will break out of this funk.

Hope that they will pull a '95 Seattle LDS style comeback.


In 2007, nothing else, really, would be appropriate.


It's going to be hard to get through tomorrow, I'll give you that. I'll leave you with this thought:


These are the growing pains of a young team.

In 1995 and 1997 we made it to the playoffs as a Wild Card and lost in the LDS rounds. The next year in each case, we won the World Series.

9 comments:

  1. Very well said Rebecca. The real culprit is the offense. You can't get just 1 run and expect to win.

    Still, tonight seemed like a game we could steal with Andy being brilliant. The gnats or flying ants or whatever clearly bothered Joba. Not an excuse, just a fact. It's terrible luck. And given how the team played tonight, any bad luck would doom them. This is going to be the longest weekend.

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  2. Becca, this Series is a microcosm of the entire season. OF COURSE we dropped the first two. You weren't thinking this was going to be easy, now did you?
    We can hit Westbrook.
    We can HAMMER Byrd.
    We've shown we can touch Sabathia.
    Chin up, peeps, times like this are when champions are forged.

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  3. Charles: I like the way you think.

    And I have to admit, yes, a part of me thought this couldn't happen any other way.

    However, doesn't make me any less nervous.

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  4. One way or another,
    we'll shortly find vindication.

    Either we were right, and it's just another trial by fire, or the team really IS lost.

    I refuse to believe the team is lost. Champions find a way when none is apparent....

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  5. The squirrel made an appearance on the field tonight, if anyone saw it.

    ...

    I feel your pain, but I'm feeling better about it.

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  6. I saw it. Thing is, apparently squirrels on the road only help pitching, not offense...

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  7. charles,

    You are the man!! I am not ready to give up my team that fast!! I will stick with them till the end. No matter what, nothing can change how special the season is for me. We still have chance because this is baseball!! It not over till we give up. Let's go Yankees!! #27 in 07!!

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  8. It is SUCH a shame to see Pettitte's night go to waste. And poor Viz... can't even really blame him, he came into an impossible situation and was given NO support by the offense.

    The season is not over... but I actually hate that tomorrow is an off-day... I worry that these fragile dudes will have too much time to dwell and end up psyching themselves out.

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  9. I agree, the off day's not a good thing, especially for certain infielders, for them the game is completley mental...

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