Same Old Song
By John Bonini
It’s early September, and the Yankees' swollen 10 ½-game lead over the Red Sox has now dwindled down to a puny 2-½ games in the course of only two weeks. Time to panic in Yankee land? Not quite.
Turn the clock back about a year to early September of 2003: The Yankees lead had been reduced to 3 ½ games over the Red Sox going into the teams' final meeting the weekend of September 5th. Yankees lost the first game 9-3 against Pedro, and Andy Pettite got pounded in the first two innings, allowing 8 earned runs. And who can forget the 11-0 shutout pitched by Tim Wakefield who befuddles the Yankees on frequent occasion. Suddenly, the criticism started flying in the Bronx. The media began pointing fingers at just about everyone in the Yankees clubhouse. Why isn’t Jason Giambi more productive? Why is Alfonso Soriano striking out so much? When is the Yankee pitching going to get going? Every question imaginable was thrown at the Bronx Bombers with no logical answer for any. Then came David Wells. Boomer restored order in the Bronx by pitching a gem in the final game of the three game set, boosting the Yankees lead back to 2 ½ games, and the Yankees never looked back.
Fast forward — and here we are again in September, 2004. The Bombers are now on the brink of their biggest collapse in the history of the storied franchise. Or are they?
As we’ve seen time and time again from the Red Sox, history tends to repeat itself. Need I go into the specifics? The questions are again flying. Why aren’t the Yankees hitting? When is Javier Vazquez going to get it together? The only answer is in due time. Alex Rodriguez is too good of a player to stay in the kind of funk he’s currently in for a long period, A-Rod will soon show Yankee fans everywhere the menace he can be at the plate, at the time it counts the most, pennant race time into October.
Rodriguez hasn’t been in the playoffs in about 4 years, and the atmosphere of the playoffs will rejuvenate him and give him that extra push he needs. Giambi will return just in time to add potency to the already deadly Yankee lineup. Yankee pitching is beginning to come around, with Mike Mussina going 7 innings against the Orioles and Vazquez throwing 6 shutout innings against the Orioles on Saturday. And no one could have asked for more from "El Duque" than what he’s contributed since his return.
History shows it’s difficult to stay as hot as the Red Sox are for a long period of time (like the Yankees in June and July, for example.) The Red Sox will soon cool down at the worst time possible, Trot Nixon's ailing quad won’t allow him to have the type of post season he’s capable of, the sub-par pitching by Derek Lowe and Bronson Arroyo will hurt them against teams like Oakland and the Yankees, and the void left by Nomar will inevitably be felt by Sox players and fans alike. The Red Sox will lose ground in the last weeks of the season, as the Yankees have time and time again proven to play better when the heat is on, and it is on full blast going into early September.
Fall is coming. School is in session and once again the Yankees and Sox are battling it out at recess, with the eye black on, sleeves rolled up and ready to get dirty. Yankee fans are growing restless as September rolls on, getting nastier by the day. Red Sox fans are excited about their best September in recent memory, and the two are on a crash course to meet once again on September 17th. This all can only mean one thing: October is coming, and it waits for no one, no team. Order will be restored in Yankee land in September. The tight pennant race will do nothing except make for all the more heartbreak in the end of yet another chapter of the Boston Red Sox.
