Bronx, N.Y., Oct. 30, 2001 — And I know there’s a real good one going for the D’backs tomorrow night, but you sure saw a horse in Roger Clemens tonight. An astounding start really, with what appears to be the requisite for that title in this series — three hits allowed. Only Roger threw in an incredible 22 of 27 first-pitch strikes. (No, Schilling didn’t come close.)
And if that weren’t enough, Roger is even called “Hoss” by his teammates at times, as evidenced by Shane Spencer’s reply when asked how it felt to make that game-saving catch to end the sixth, with “Hoss waiting for you to give you a High Five and you know it will about break your hand…”
Further, you can quibble with my assessment, and that of David Cone’s a few years back, that pitching at Yankee Stadium “is the most extreme home field advantage in all of sports” if you like, and tell me that Justice’s misplay in Game 1 and Brosius not turning a big double play in Game 2 were examples of “BOB intimidation,” but what happened to Damian Miller tonight? I prefer to attribute what happened to a good young catcher most heralded for his defense to the Stadium, and to us fans, and if that’s hurtful to a fairly new team from a smaller city that hasn’t had the time to build a rabid fan base, well, it doesn’t make it any less true. (And we can agree to disagree if you must.)
A gorgeous, but cold, night, and that moon, which won’t be truly full until just after Game 4, sure seemed full tonight. The pregame festivities were similar to others with Sheppard, Eddie Layton, clips from the Honeymooners, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the Wizard of Oz, Rudy Guiliani, the flight of the eagle Challenger, Max Von Essen and NYPD Officer Daniel Rodriguez. It differed in that the big flag and the color guard personnel were from West Point, that two F-14 Tomcats followed up Challenger’s flight and of course that the President subbed for Yogi and the Scooter in throwing out the first pitch. Many were delighted he came; many grumbled that the extra security made getting into the Cathedral onerous. My only comment: nice pitch!
To my credit I was nudging Sue all night about the 11th flag from the left field corner, that it was bigger than the others, very tattered, and even had a hole in it, so I felt observant when Sheppard told us in the eighth inning that it was believed to be from near the top of one of the Twin Towers.
And finally, I would have loved to use the fact that 63 years ago today Orson Welles’s radio play “War of the Worlds” was aired, and link it to the contest between the Yanks and D’backs, New York and Arizona. But the days when it’s OK to use that kind of military metaphor for sport are over, so I’ll instead refer to 27 years ago when the Daily News headline read, “Ford to City: Drop Dead.” President Ford swore he would veto any federal bailout of the city that day. The country knows us, loves us, grieves with us today, and is eager to help — we’re all in this together. And the Yankees? Well, something magical seems to happen when they win a one-run game featuring a Jorge Posada dinger. We’ll take our chances too.
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!