October in August (Postgame Notes 7-8 August 2009)

So this is what October feels like, eh?


For a baseball purist, or any fan of pitching, tonight was manna sent from heaven.

If anyone told you that today's game wasn't a big game, they'd be lying--while it may not have been as big (at least for the Yankees) as last night's was, it was still big. Win, and the Yankees assure themselves of at least a series split and now Boston cannot, no matter what, come out of this having gained any ground on the Yankees.

Furthermore, tonight was a chance for AJ Burnett to prove that the Yankees didn't make a mistake in signing him to pitch a big game, though his two previous starts in Boston would have seemed to indicate otherwise. He had a real chance to deliver tonight.

And deliver, Allan James Burnett, did.

Holding Boston to just one hit--the first batter of the game on a play that probably should have been made--Burnett went 7.2 innings, which has a further benefit in that since Phil Hughes only pitched to one batter, he can probably pitch tomorrow.

The problem was, as well as Burnett pitched, Josh Beckett matched him step-for-step.

And so they dueled.

That the game became a battle of the bullpens should be no surprise to fans of either team, but the caliber of the relief pitching on both sides was mostly extrodnary.

The Red Sox used their entire bullpen; the Yankees five men, and it came down to a rookie making his major league debut only since Terry Francona had no other options, to break the scoreless tie.

Otherwise, tonight's game may have gone on forever.

There's thus nothing really to say about the offense--both teams had chances and couldn't capitalize, but it has more to do with the quality of the pitching than anything else.

So, you there Yankee fan, take it and enjoy it.

This is what October feels like--the atmosphere, the quality of play, the unfathomable-ness of a loss.

It's been a while, now, since there was October baseball in the Bronx, but the way these Yankees are playing, they may well be unstoppable.

Something Smarmy about the awesomeness that is Syracuse

Two of my friends from Nottingham came to visit me this week, so tonight I took them to my favorite restaurant on Arthur Ave, Zero Otto Nove. While we were waiting for a table, we had drinks at the bar, where one television screen showed the latest football (soccer) scores and highlights, while the other was showing the ACC tournament highlights.

I had to explain to my friends that yes, we do televise college basketball in the States, about March Madness and about why college basketball is so popular.

They went to sleep tonight after watching Jon Stewart rip into Jim Cramer (in my opinion, Stewart's best performance yet), but I think now that I should have made them stay awake.

See, even though they are avowed non-sports fans, I'm not sure anyone could have watched the Syracuse/UConn Big East Quarterfinal game tonight and not become a fan.

This is, after all, what March Madness is: insane things happening, like buzzer beaters, non-buzzer-beaters and multiple overtiems.

As a Syracuse alumna, of course, it figures I had a vested interest in the outcome of the game. Four years in the frozen tundra of upstate New York has taught me to hate UConn and to hate them well. I thought nothing could surpass the glory of beating them in the 2006 Big East Tournament...

...And then tonight happened.

At times I felt sick to my stomach from nerves, and at others I had to look away because of a an incessant feelings that the teams I like play best when I don't watch, if only then because if I don't see it, I can't see anything wrong with it.

Tonight's game, though, tonight's game re-affirmed everything that we love about sports: the rivalries, the competition, the play-till-you-bleed-your-heart-out, the never-give-up, never-surrender attitude that can take down Goliath. Sure, it's not as though Syracuse was David, even in David's prime, as a #20 nationally ranked team is far different from an unranked mid-major, but the Goliath of UConn has been portrayed as such that you would think anyone not named Pitt or UNC that had won the game would be hailed as a Cinderella.

Syracuse does face the unenviable task of having to again field a team for tomorrow's match up against West Virginia, but somehow, some way, they will.

And once again, I'll be there watching, even through six OTs if need be...