October 21, 200422 yr NY Post A-ROD NOW FACE OF FAILURE BY JOEL SHERMAN October 21, 2004 -- ALEX Rodriguez arrived to applause in February, not just because the Yankees thought they had secured the majors' best player, but because the joy is always sweeter for them when it humiliates the Red Sox. He left last night in October to Bronx boos, the symbol of the greatest Yankee failure ever because it was inflicted by the Red Sox. Rodriguez, who was supposed to be the new Babe Ruth in this rivalry, is instead the face of Yankee failure against Boston, which makes this humiliation excruciating. Rodriguez was supposed to be even more valuable to the Yankees than mystique and aura. But A-Rod disappeared as the ALCS went along and so did mystique and aura ? probably forever. The Yanks became the first major league team to blow a three-games-to-none playoff lead, finishing off the lowest moment in the organization's history with an embarrassing 10-3 loss to the Red Sox. Suddenly that Mazeroski homer 44 years ago feels like a gnat bite. No Yankee team had lost both Games 6 and 7 at Yankee Stadium since the 1926 World Series, which ended with Ruth being thrown out trying to steal second. The Curse of the Bambino was just eight years old then. It is over now, finally, ending in The House that Ruth Built. Ending without A-Rod honoring the lineage that was supposed to have tied him to Ruth ? the great slugger who escaped from the Red Sox to the Yankees and brought hex and horror upon Boston. A-Rod ultimately proved more inspirational to the Red Sox than detrimental. His 2004 image against the Red Sox will be having Jason Varitek's glove in his face and his hand chopping Bronson Arroyo's glove ? all while never laying a glove on the Red Sox. Both instances riled up Boston. Yesterday Curt Schilling went on ESPN-Radio to put down A-Rod's professionalism. Rodriguez refused to fire back before the game. He had a chance to answer with his bat. But there was no reply. There were three meek grounders, one strikeout and three strong booings. After Derek Jeter singled home a run to close the Yanks to 4-1 in the third and rouse the crowd, Rodriguez provided a deflating comebacker. He hit a two-run homer in the third inning of Game 4 off Derek Lowe, and tanked after that and the Yankee offense followed. He had a Winfield-esque one single in his final 15 at-bats, including 0-for-7 with men on base. Rodriguez was hardly the only culprit. Every phase of the Yankee offense shut down, including Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui behind A-Rod. GM Brian Cashman's pitching acquisitions were insufficient. And even Joe Torre and Mariano Rivera ? usually October saints in these parts ? took hits to their reputations. But they have accomplishments around here that will not soon be forgotten. A-Rod, meanwhile, joins a growing, expensive cast with Matsui, Mike Mussina and especially Jason Giambi who have taken George Steinbrenner's money and not returned a parade. They could not stop the Red Sox, in part, because Boston proved to have more fortitude ? an unpardonable pinstripe sin. But for A-Rod the burden is now greatest. He fled Seattle and the Mariners got better, forced his way out of Texas and the Rangers improved, and joined the Yankees and The Curse ended. The Yanks' biggest wins of the season against Boston proved to be getting A-Rod in February and when Jeter dove into the crowd in July. However, A-Rod will rudely learn, the Yanks are defined by October. Those are the rules of engagement here, a battle A-Rod insisted he so badly wanted to join. Now he finds out the harsh reality. Those hits earlier in the playoffs against Minnesota and Boston no longer count. The Yanks had an inexcusable four-game losing streak, and Rodriguez was ineffectual in stopping it. The Red Sox were Michael Corleone in the final scene of The Godfather, settling all scores accumulated over 86 frustrating years. That includes having Rodriguez so tantalizingly close to their uniform only to end up a Yankee. That was supposed to make him the new Ruth. Instead, he now is the face of a brand new era ? The Curse of A-Rod. NY Post CHOKES ON YANKS By GEORGE KING October 21, 2004 -- GAME 7 Red Sox 10 Yankees 3 Starting today and until the world logs off the 2004 Yankees' season will be known as the Colossal Collapse. The darkest moment in Yankee history descended upon The Bronx last night when the plucky Red Sox climbed baseball's steepest and slipperiest postseason slope to cop the ALCS at Yankee Stadium. Until Johnny Damon, David Ortiz, Mark Bellhorn and the Red Sox spanked Kevin Brown, Javier Vazquez and Tom Gordon for a 10-3 Game 7 victory in front of a horrified audience of 56,129 no team in baseball jumped out of a 3-0 postseason ditch. That it was AL East rival Red Sox doing it against the Yankees and celebrating on the Stadium's hallowed grounds makes it the biggest pinstriped stain ever, and guaranteed to deliver ramifications from George Steinbrenner. Nothing on the field compares to the Colossal Collapse. Twenty-six World Series victories? They might as well be Parkchester Tavern League titles. Aaron Boone? Who's he? It's been four years since the Yankees beat the Mets for their last World Series crown. Last night it felt like 40. Today it's 50 heading to 60. Was it really just Saturday night that the Yankees led the best-of-seven series, 3-0, were nine innings away from a sweep and poised to do a pinstriped cha-cha-cha on the Red Sox' grave in Fenway Park? Last night those Yankees who had the stomach to look saw the Red Sox dancing and hugging on the same turf the Yankees mobbed Boone on last October. The Red Sox' first World Series since 1986 starts Saturday at Fenway, but it looked like a World Championship party last night. The Red Sox will be trying to win their first World Series since 1918. From the beginning of spring training there were major questions about the Yankees' starting pitching. In the end the pitching was lethal. Red Sox starter Derek Lowe pitched well on two days rest but Brown and Vazquez stunk. Because Brown showed up small in an enormous moment the Yankees never had a chance. Trusted by a strapped Joe Torre, Brown bombed on three days rest. Tough on clubhouse walls, Brown melted against an opponent that hit back. He surrendered five runs and four hits in 11/3 innings. "He satisfied me he feels well enough to do this," Torre said of the cantankerous Brown, who says he has battled back problems all year. "The only consideration was is he physically fine? The mental part, he has enough practice readying himself for big games as anybody." Vazquez replaced Brown with the bases loaded in the second and his first pitch was hammered for a grand slam by Damon for a 6-0 lead. Vazquez gave up a two-run homer to Damon in the fourth that landed in the right-field upper deck and extended the bulge to 8-1. Vazquez gave up three runs in two innings. Brown set the tone for the long evening by giving up a two-run homer to MVP Ortiz in the first. The Yankees kept the large crowd interested by scoring a run in the third on Derek Jeter's one-out RBI single to left off Lowe that made it 6-1. But Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield grounded out to kill the mini buzz. Two runs off Pedro Martinez in the seventh cut the deficit to 8-3 but Mark Bellhorn made it 9-3 with an eighth-inning homer off Tom Gordon. They tacked on another in the ninth. While Brown and Vazquez didn't give the Yankees a chance, they did nothing against Lowe. The soon-to-be former Red Sox allowed one run and one hit in six innings.
October 21, 200422 yr Solution, a 2005 budget over $200m Add Beltran, a couple of quality starters and a good bullpen for next season.
October 21, 200422 yr Solution, a 2005 budget over $200m Add Beltran, a couple of quality starters and a good bullpen for next season. 597993[/snapback] Trust me all of the above will be done...george will get the team back to the W.S. next year..
October 21, 200422 yr A-Rod deserves the flack after what he did (and didn't do) in the series, but it'll wash. For one, he's too great a player. And, for two, this isn't the age of creating curses. Our collective memory ain't what it used to be.
October 21, 200422 yr Who cares, the Sox lucked out they'll get owned in the NLCS, they'll overlook the NL team just like the Yanks did last year. Cardinals in 6 Houston in 7 The curse will live Where do all these BoSox fairweather fans come from? They should stop making becoming a Red Sox fan part of the frat hazing process at colleges....there are alot less painful initiations...
October 21, 200422 yr Solution, a 2005 budget over $200m Add Beltran, a couple of quality starters and a good bullpen for next season. 597993[/snapback] For the Tigers to be successful... Add Beltran, a couple of quality starters and a good bullpen for next season. A budget over $200 million :lol Ridiculous Too bad they still get beat by teams with payrolls under $100 million (minus the Red Sox this year)
October 22, 200422 yr I love it when Yankee fans bitch. Since they have nothing to bitch about. 598174[/snapback] For real. Next they'll be asking why in the world they dont have Bonds, Albert, Beltran, Edmonds, Rolen, Randy, etc. But then again...they ONLY have 26 WS Championships. :plain
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