NEW YORK, N.Y., Oct. 28, 2001 — Can the script be any more perfect? We’ve been here before, and we all know what I’m talking about.

And I’m not talking about pseudo classics, either, gleaned from Cliff Notes or stolen from B movie scripts or TV writers incapable of writing their own copy, as in the funny experience a friend stuck with monitoring a forum related recently. An obviously adolescent (or clueless) poster showed wisdom beyond his (her?) years (and then folly) in a discussion when they quoted the immortal bard with, “The ‘fault…is not in our stars, but in ourselves,’ in the words of Mr. Spock”! (If only Gene Roddenberry’s Sonnets could live up to his plays! LOL)

No, we fans who have been with this team through this whole run know not only that we survived Oakland after going down 0-2 in the ALDS, but that we also lost the first two to Atlanta in the World Series in 1996. And even though the first was by a 12-1 score (Andy Pettitte the loser), the second was…yes, you guessed it, 4-0, with Jimmy Key. Atlanta did not survive this trap. Why should Arizona?

And unlike 1996, these Diamondbacks haven’t even set foot in Manhattan or the Bronx yet. They haven’t played or won a postseason game in New York; they haven’t proven they “can make it here,” the greatest city on earth, the city where 115 years ago today, “Liberty Enlightening the World” (The Statue of Liberty’s true title) was dedicated. It can be and has been daunting, and we have every reason to believe it will be again.

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!