The perfect script
May 20, 2008Mike Moore
Sports Editor
It was a clever adage, I will give them that. It kind of grabbed you, made you
believe something bizarre was always about to happen while at the same time you
expected the sequence of the game to flow in its natural rhythm. If you followed
the Major League Baseball playoffs at all you know what I am referring to. At
every twist and turn of a game, Fox broadcasters emphasized the catch phrase,
“You can’t script October.”What did it mean? Basically that you had to expect the unexpected. Whatever happened was so unbelievable that, well, you couldn’t script it. Clever, huh? I agree, but if you think about it, it‘s also flawed. Take a look at this postseason. The fact is, this October was so unbelievable that it was a script in progress since 1918.
Opening scene: The year is 1918, the city is Boston, the event is the World Series. A player by the name of George Herman Ruth will pitch in games 1 and 4 for the Boston Red Sox, winning both, and helping the Sox beat the Chicago Cubs four games to two. The series victory will be the fifth for the Red Sox since 1903 and the third in four seasons since Ruth joined the team.
Scene II: Falling out: Despite leading baseball in home runs, a contract dispute will result in 1919 being the last season Ruth is with the Red Sox. A feud will grow between Ruth and team owner Harry Frazee. Frazee, in turn, will sell Ruth to Colonel Jacob Ruppert’s New York Yankees, a team that as of 1919 has yet to win a World Series, for $100,000, plus a loan collateralized by Fenway Park.
Scene III: The Curse: In his first season with the Yankees, “Babe” Ruth will bat .376, hit 54 home runs and drive in 137 runs. To add insult to injury, Ruth’s first home run as a Yankee will come in a 6-0 victory over the Red Sox. The Yankees will be the first team in baseball history to exceed the one million mark for home attendance. In 1923, due to increased attendance, the Yankees will open a new ballpark, Yankee Stadium, and the former Red Sox star will lead New York to its first of a record 26 World Series titles. “The curse of the Bambino” will officially begin.
Scene IV: The greatest depression: The biggest challenge for the Red Sox over the next 30 years will be to avoid finishing in last place. Up until 1945, the Red Sox will finish last nine times, never win a division and finish, on average, 30 games behind the first-place team. This includes 1932, when they will end the season in last place, 64 games behind the first-place Yankees.
A glimmer of hope will appear in the 1946 season, however. The Red Sox will finish in first place for the first time since 1918 and advance to the World Series. After five games they will hold a three-games-to-two lead over the St. Louis Cardinals, only to lose games 6 and 7 in St. Louis.
That season will be the best finish for Boston for the next 21 years, as from 1951-1966 the Red Sox will not finish better than third place and never win more then 87 games.
Scene V: Back to respectable: In this scene, we will tease the Boston audience with another trip to the World Series in 1967. Again the St. Louis Cardinals will be the opponent, and again the result will be the same. Only this time it will be more dramatic. The Cardinals will take a 3-1 lead in the series before Boston fights back to force a Game 7. St. Louis pitcher Bob Gibson will three-hit the Red Sox and the curse will continue.
The 1975 season will bring more hope and heartbreak for the Boston faithful. After Boston’s Carlton Fisk hits a home run to win Game 6 of the World Series, the Red Sox will blow a 3-0 lead and lose Game 7, 4-3, to Pete Rose and the Cincinnati Reds.
Three seasons later Boston will lead the New York Yankees in the American League standings by 11.5 games in July, only to blow the lead and be forced into a one-game playoff tiebreaker. A 5-4 loss will only make things more painful for Red Sox nation, but we will do our best to make it worse.
Scene VI: Ground ball to first base: One name and seven games will sum up this entire scene. The Red Sox will be one out from winning the 1986 World Series four different times before a ground ball will dribble in-between Bill Buckner’s legs. A day later the New York Mets will win Game 7.
Scene VII: One last painful memory: The 2003 American League Championship Series (ALCS) will come down to a Game 7 in which the Red Sox will be five outs away from eliminating the Yankees. Boston manager Grady Little’s decision to leave starter Pedro Martinez in will allow the Yankees to eventually tie the game, force extra innings and win the pennant on a walk-off home run by trade-deadline acquisition Aaron Boone. Revenge will come.
Scene VIII: The final chapter: How could this script come to a perfect end? For the second straight year Boston will face New York in the ALCS, and the Yankees will win the first three games of the series. When all hope is lost, seemingly unhittable Yankees’ closer Mariano Rivera will blow two consecutive saves, the Sox’ Curt Shilling will pitch with a shredded ankle and the Red Sox will win, yes win, the series in seven games.
Who should be their opponent in the World Series? Why not the team that has beat them twice before, the St. Louis Cardinals. Only this series will be entirely lopsided, and for the first time in 86 years, under a bright red moon, the Boston Red Sox will be champions of baseball. The End
Not bad, huh? Maybe Fox is right, maybe you can’t script October, but you sure can script 86 years of suffering.
Now the sequel…
Chicago Cubs, 2005 World Series champions.
