I'm reading through all these recaps of the 2007 MLB season. Some are really great--Stark's on ESPN is one of the funniest I've ever read. So that got me thinking: what's my favorite Yankee and non-Yankee moment from 2007?
It's so hard to pick just one, when there are so many...
Yankees:
I'm going to go with the re-appearance of Scooter the Squirrel. There are so many moments to chose from, but Scooter IS 2007.
When Phil Rizzuto died, it felt like something special was going to happen; like there was no way the Yankees would miss the playoffs. It's hard to explain, I guess, but the ghosts of Yankee Stadium aren't myth. How else do you explain Aaron Boone, games 4 and 5 of the 2001 series, Jeffrey Maier...everything, really?
When Scooter made his first appearance, it was a quirk, something perhaps to joke about as the Yankees got a very important win over the Red Sox.
However, when Scooter reappeared in the same, exact spot, and Alex Rodriguez hit the next pitch to no-man's-land in left...it became something more.
Scooter's not just a good luck charm, but the ghosts of Yankee Stadium out for a penultimate hoorah.
MLB as a whole:
Sorry Mets fans, but this goes to the never-say-die Phillies. Sure, the Mets collapse has something to do with it, but a collapse only works if the other team gives up.
The Phillies didn't.
Everything said they should have given up halfway through the season: way too many injuries, no real pitching staff, the Mets cruising...
...but they didn't.
Of all major cities with a sports team, Philadelphia has gone the longest without a championship. One would have thought that there would have been groans of 'oh no, not again'...but the Phillies embody the best of optimism, and the best of hope.
It's hard to root against them...(except for Mets fans, that is).
Now that I got mine out, what are your favorite moments? Feel free to pick just for the Yankees or for all of baseball, both or another team entirely. There are so many good moments to choose from, I think anyone that reads this could comment and we still wouldn't cover them all...
So have at it! I'm curious to see what people think!
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
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First, hi! I saw your blog in passing through others (Andrew's, to be exact =P), so I thought I'll just comment here.
ReplyDeleteNow, about your question: favorite Yankee moment this year... well, since it's personal, I'll go with the last two Seattle/New York games where A-Rod hit 3 HRs in those two games, and both games had 7-run 7th innings... all I remember is celebrating in the bleachers, punching my friend in the stomach (and vice versa) out of pure excitement, and explaining to my professors on the first day of classes why my voice was gone. Yep. Favorite moment indeed.
Non-Yankee favorite moment: Easily the Phillies winning the East. It's a wonderful thing to see cocky and arrogant Met fans stay quiet for a couple of months. And of course, the Conan O'Brien spots of Mr. Met trying to "comment suicide" are hilarious as well. Now, if any Met fans say anything about the Yankees during this postseason, any Yankee fan can point to this season, and just smile.
=)
Alex's walkoff granny way back toward the start of the year. I don't remember when it was or who it was against [without looking it up!] but I had just subscribed to mlb.tv and this was one of the first games I was able to watch. I just had one of those gut feelings where you KNEW what was going to happen: the Yanks would load the bases to bring Alex to the plate, and Alex would hit one over the wall, and all of that happened. A walkoff grand slam!!!
ReplyDeleteBecca, nice touch on linking Scooter the Squirrel with the Ghosts of Yankees Past - as we all know, baseball players are about as superstitious as they come [so am I!!]. Ya gotta believe!!! [I heard that somewhere].
Non-Yankee moments: Well, in consecutive games near the end of the season when Tom Glavine and John Smoltz came close on no-hitters. I think I enjoy no-hit drama as much as any other, especially for two such aging warriors. Great drama [Greek drama, too, as each ultimately failed].
Brent--Welcome!
ReplyDeleteThose Seattle games must have been amazing! It was the second week of class for me, and I didn't get much sleep those nights!
Charles--Mm, I remember those no-hitters, but even more I remember a four game stretch where Clemens, Wang, Scott Baker and Clay Buccholz had back to back to back to back efforts!
That's right!!
ReplyDeleteGood, good stuff :-)