Well, It's Ova
The 2005 Red Sox season ended last night. I liked Bob Ryan's column today, because the end really summed it up for me: "If you're a Red Sox fan and are even remotely disappointed in this outcome, you haven't been paying attention. Last year was last year. This team was never good enough."
That's true, and even though I was pretty much into a deep denial, last night during the eighth and ninth innings, I felt like it was done. I really didn't feel like there was any comeback left. This morning, I read all the same columns, about the lack of pitching, the lack of clutch hitting aside from Manny and Ortiz, and the sad notion that a lot of the team won't be back next year.
If I'm honest, I wasn't surprised that the Red Sox didn't win the ALDS. I was afraid of Chicago, and I was surprised that everyone was treating the ALDS like an introduction to the main thing, another series against the Yankees. Chicago had it going all year, they were a tough team for the Sox during the regular season, and they wanted it. In the end, they outplayed the Red Sox. And, I think, they wanted it more.
A few weeks ago, a friend of mine told me that he wasn't into the Red Sox this year. He just couldn't get into any of the games the way he had last year, and he couldn't think of many defining moments for this year's team. I tried to persuade him, and I talked about some obscure references to an early April comeback win, to a few Ortiz ninth-inning at-bats, to some Yankees wins, and even some good pitching performances. But honestly, I don't think I did a good job of convincing him at all. The closest the Red Sox came to having a real season-defining win was the win against Toronto the last week of the season, when they came from a 4-1 deficit in the ninth. Turns out, that wasn't season defining at all.
Everyone wondered what would happen after the Red Sox won the World Series. And we saw it. The Red Sox are just another good team now, and this year, they weren't good enough to win again. And for the first time in 87 years, that's okay.
That said, being at Fenway for the final game of the season was one of the weirdest experiences I've had. I've always said that Fenway Park is my favorite place to be - I've said that I would watch grass grow - being there for the past two seasons has been pretty much amazing. And the thing is, somewhere along the way, it became that I was excited not to go to the park, but to go to work (and trust me, there's a huge difference there). The people who work at Fenway are some of the nicest, funniest, weirdest, and best people I've known. There are some tough days at Fenway, even though nobody wants to believe it. The only place hotter than my room this summer was the park (which, trust me, is saying a lot. When it's about 100 degrees out, it's easily 110 plus 150% humidity inside Fenway). As with any job, there are just days when you don't really feel like you're at the top of your game. But, there really wasn't a single game that went by that I didn't have a good time. And you know, I couldn't tell you whether the good games were the ones that the Sox won or lost. What really defined the season for me was the people who worked there with me.
During the game last night, I realized that this could (and, as the game progressed, probably would) be the last game at Fenway this season. My friend Kelly and I made sure we watched the bottom of the eighth inning from behind the Red Sox dugout, so that we could also watch everyone sing "Sweet Caroline," which, as cheesy as it is, is a great moment in the park. As we watched the game, we were both really watching something bigger than just Orlando Hernandez (whose leg kick is astounding at age whatever he is) pitch. We were both trying to just take it all in, before everything shut down for winter.
And then pretty suddenly, it all stopped, and everything got quiet. Even with hundreds of people still in the park - half waiting to cheer for the White Sox, half just not wanting to admit the season was over - it was quiet. The stands were mostly empty, but the lights were still bright on the field; the sound system was playing the Boston theme songs, even though those are usually reserved for wins. Finally, after they had played all the Boston songs they could think of, they played "Chicago," and as they played it, I thought, this is a classy move.
And at that moment, I realized, it all felt okay. And maybe it's because I fit into the category that Bob Ryan was describing, about Sox fans who knew that this team wasn't last year's team and that this year's team didn't have what last year's did; maybe it's because the better team really did win, and it was nice to see a group of nice fans come through the ballpark and celebrate (and, as an important side note, after the game, Red Sox fans were constantly telling White Sox fans good luck and being happy for them, and this made me feel so good about Red Sox fans and people in general, I can't even describe it); maybe it's because we can't expect to win every year, and as my friend Kelly pointed out, we were pretty lucky to be in the position we were in last year; and lastly, maybe it's because the Red Sox, baseball season, and all good things, just can't last forever.
There are 131 days until pitcher and catchers report for the 2006 season.
That's true, and even though I was pretty much into a deep denial, last night during the eighth and ninth innings, I felt like it was done. I really didn't feel like there was any comeback left. This morning, I read all the same columns, about the lack of pitching, the lack of clutch hitting aside from Manny and Ortiz, and the sad notion that a lot of the team won't be back next year.
If I'm honest, I wasn't surprised that the Red Sox didn't win the ALDS. I was afraid of Chicago, and I was surprised that everyone was treating the ALDS like an introduction to the main thing, another series against the Yankees. Chicago had it going all year, they were a tough team for the Sox during the regular season, and they wanted it. In the end, they outplayed the Red Sox. And, I think, they wanted it more.
A few weeks ago, a friend of mine told me that he wasn't into the Red Sox this year. He just couldn't get into any of the games the way he had last year, and he couldn't think of many defining moments for this year's team. I tried to persuade him, and I talked about some obscure references to an early April comeback win, to a few Ortiz ninth-inning at-bats, to some Yankees wins, and even some good pitching performances. But honestly, I don't think I did a good job of convincing him at all. The closest the Red Sox came to having a real season-defining win was the win against Toronto the last week of the season, when they came from a 4-1 deficit in the ninth. Turns out, that wasn't season defining at all.
Everyone wondered what would happen after the Red Sox won the World Series. And we saw it. The Red Sox are just another good team now, and this year, they weren't good enough to win again. And for the first time in 87 years, that's okay.
That said, being at Fenway for the final game of the season was one of the weirdest experiences I've had. I've always said that Fenway Park is my favorite place to be - I've said that I would watch grass grow - being there for the past two seasons has been pretty much amazing. And the thing is, somewhere along the way, it became that I was excited not to go to the park, but to go to work (and trust me, there's a huge difference there). The people who work at Fenway are some of the nicest, funniest, weirdest, and best people I've known. There are some tough days at Fenway, even though nobody wants to believe it. The only place hotter than my room this summer was the park (which, trust me, is saying a lot. When it's about 100 degrees out, it's easily 110 plus 150% humidity inside Fenway). As with any job, there are just days when you don't really feel like you're at the top of your game. But, there really wasn't a single game that went by that I didn't have a good time. And you know, I couldn't tell you whether the good games were the ones that the Sox won or lost. What really defined the season for me was the people who worked there with me.
During the game last night, I realized that this could (and, as the game progressed, probably would) be the last game at Fenway this season. My friend Kelly and I made sure we watched the bottom of the eighth inning from behind the Red Sox dugout, so that we could also watch everyone sing "Sweet Caroline," which, as cheesy as it is, is a great moment in the park. As we watched the game, we were both really watching something bigger than just Orlando Hernandez (whose leg kick is astounding at age whatever he is) pitch. We were both trying to just take it all in, before everything shut down for winter.
And then pretty suddenly, it all stopped, and everything got quiet. Even with hundreds of people still in the park - half waiting to cheer for the White Sox, half just not wanting to admit the season was over - it was quiet. The stands were mostly empty, but the lights were still bright on the field; the sound system was playing the Boston theme songs, even though those are usually reserved for wins. Finally, after they had played all the Boston songs they could think of, they played "Chicago," and as they played it, I thought, this is a classy move.
And at that moment, I realized, it all felt okay. And maybe it's because I fit into the category that Bob Ryan was describing, about Sox fans who knew that this team wasn't last year's team and that this year's team didn't have what last year's did; maybe it's because the better team really did win, and it was nice to see a group of nice fans come through the ballpark and celebrate (and, as an important side note, after the game, Red Sox fans were constantly telling White Sox fans good luck and being happy for them, and this made me feel so good about Red Sox fans and people in general, I can't even describe it); maybe it's because we can't expect to win every year, and as my friend Kelly pointed out, we were pretty lucky to be in the position we were in last year; and lastly, maybe it's because the Red Sox, baseball season, and all good things, just can't last forever.
There are 131 days until pitcher and catchers report for the 2006 season.
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