FanNation - The Republic of Sport

The historic comeback of 2004 against the hated rival New York Yankees. The great comeback of 2007 against the Cleveland Indians. The one game too short attempted comeback of 2008. The Boston Red Sox keep digging themselves a large hole only to miraculously find the strength and willpower to climb back out into the light of World Series glory once again. Or did someone throw them a rope and a long ladder? I was raised as a young baseball fan to always trust my heroes and believe that winning teams played to the letter of the law. I also believed that politicians cared about their constituents and always had out best interests in mind. They were there to serve us to the best of their abilities. As a child, I believed that John F. Kennedy was assassinated by a lone gunman and that the tooth fairy would adjust for inflation. But as life teaches us, not all things are as they appear. Could the unthinkable have applied to our beloved game of baseball? We have seen this grand game recently tarnished and even blackened by the likes of Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. But what of something even more unthinkable? What if an entire series could be thrown by one team? Today???s enormous individual salaries would make such a thing difficult to engineer and even more difficult to believe. There is, however, precedence. The 1919 Black Sox scandal was the most obvious, and while not admitted to by the players involved, the commissioner Judge Landis did ban those players for life. This action was taken, the commissioner explained, despite the relative lack of evidence, to protect the integrity of the game. That the easily favored Chicago White Sox lost the World Series to the much less talented Cincinnati Reds garnered much suspicion for many months. The difference in talent between the two teams was simply too great, and while not every player on Chicago was in on the fix, enough of the key players were able to find a way to lose the series. It was and continues to be the greatest baseball scandal in the twentieth century. That we can prove. But I have suspected for years that there have been others. Prior to the 2004 Boston Red Sox, there was a World Series which featured an improbable victory ??? one which featured a team so injured and beat up they were at best a Double-A ball club. The series between the Oakland A???s and the Los Angeles Dodgers was one which saw the Dodgers so beset by injury that they were fielding basically a Double-A team. The famous Kirk Gibson home run (which I still can???t stand to watch) looked and still looks like it was a grooved pitch. The Dodgers shouldn???t have won. But win they did. Entering the 2004 season, the Boston Red Sox had not won a World Series since 1918. The curse of the Bambino seemed as if it would haunt the Red Sox Nation until the end of time. The first three games of the 2004 ALCS against the New York Yankees resulted in Yankee wins, with game three in Fenway resulting in an embarrassing 19-8 loss. The Red Sox weren???t playing badly, except for game three, but they were obviously no match in any sense for the Yankees. It looked not only as if the Yankees would win the series in four, but that the series would be an embarrassment. It might have spelled the end of sold out Red Sox regular season games and a substantial downplaying of national exposure. Fans were switching the channel on their television after game three. This series was done. How long could Red Sox fans keep hoping for an end to their playoff drought? This Boston team was supposed to be the one that got them to the Promised Land at last. This Boston team had to make it to the World Series. They didn???t have to win it but they had to get there. Suddenly, the Yankees could do nothing right. Their pitchers were throwing pitch after pitch down the heart of the plate and in game four seemed to have no idea that pinch runner Dave Roberts would attempt to steal second base. Suddenly, David Ortiz was hitting everything. The Yankees were beating themselves and had forgotten how to play. By the end of the second inning of game seven, the Yankees had laid down their weapons and surrendered, not even pretending anymore. The 2007 ALCS again aroused my suspicions. With the series tied at three each (after having been 3-1 in the Indians favor) and with the Red Sox leading 3-2 in the top of the seventh, Indians outfielder Kenny Lofton was on second base. Franklin Gutierrez then ripped a low line drive, which bounced off the wall which juts out behind third base and caromed into left field at an almost 90 degree angle. Lofton should have scored easily, tying the ultimate game at three. Instead, Indians third base coach Joel Skinner held Lofton at third ??? for no apparent reason. The Indians ended up losing, and Boston took the World Series. Another miraculous Boston comeback. More happy dances from network television executives and the commissioner???s office. Skinner had been the favorite to take over the vacant Pirates managerial position for the 2008 season, but then suddenly he wasn???t a candidate. Did Pittsburgh suspect something other than incompetence? The 2008 ALCS nearly saw another Boston miracle comeback. But then Tampa Bay managed to turn back Boston???s momentum with a game seven victory, getting the former doormats into the World Series for the first time. Did Major League baseball decide the game needed this new Tampa Bay fan enthusiasm more than it needed the safe and always paying Red Sox nation? Although Fox couldn???t have been enthused with the promise of poor ratings, might there be something more devious behind Tampa???s ascension? Is it just coincidence that Tampa???s new, good fortunes come at a time when the team is trying to get a deal for a new stadium?