In the one of the better Simpsons’ episodes, “Brawl in the Family,” Marge kicks Homer out of the house when his and Flanders’ Vegas wives make an unfortunate reappearance. When he wakes amidst the shattered remains of the doghouse he tried to sleep in, he cherishes the few seconds he has before his memory kicks in, saying “Ah, the sweet couple of seconds before I remember why I’m sleeping on the lawn.” After Friday night, I know how he feels. I’m fully appreciative of the brief moments I have each morning before I remember that there won’t be another Red Sox game for months.
It’s not that I’m surprised by the Sox’ quick exit from the playoffs; in an email to a Yankee fan friend of mine from a few weeks ago I said the following:
either way though, it’s not like it matters. neither one of our pitching staffs is going to take us real far.
I’m hopeful, of course, that that proves as true for the Yankees as it did for the Sox, but in any event it should demonstrate that this outcome was not entirely unexpected. Saying that pitching and defense wins champions is a cliche these days, but regrettably no less true for that. In a match up of the league’s best offense (the Good Sox) and the league’s best pitching (the Evil Sox), pitching, unsurprisingly, carried the day.
No, what’s troubling is that I, like Sox fans everywhere, live and die with this team. Baseball’s unlike any other sport in that there are 162 games in a season. For about half the year, there’s a game on. This makes baseball teams a part of a fan’s life in a way other sports can’t be. I’ve tried explaining this to some of the folks from Denver, but given the fact that the Av’s and Broncos are the big teams out here, I’ve had little success so far (though I’m recruiting heavily for the Sox with some success).
Now as much as it’s true that the Sox are a huge part of its fans’ lives, it’s also true that team sports – in the grand scheme of things – are ultimately pretty trivial. No one actually lives or dies depending on the outcome of the season, much as it might sometimes seem that way. We all have things in our lives that are far more important, family and friends most obviously. But the difficult thing is that baseball is enjoyed with those same friends and family, as the half dozen or so sympathy calls I’ve received since Friday night amply demonstrate. The churn can also be hard, because each season marks the end of the line for certain players that you’ve become attached to. Just as 2004 saw the end of Pedro Martinez’ tenure, so might ’05 see the departure of players like Bill Mueller, Manny Ramirez or Mike Timlin. As accustomed as we all are to this baseball-is-a-business reality, it still can be sad.
Anyway, I’ll undoubtedly get over the premature end of the Sox season by invoking the Sox fan’s traditional mantra of “Wait till next year,” but you’ll have to excuse me if I mourn the passing of this season for at least another few days. Meantime, thank you ’04 Sox for a great season, and Go Angels!
