Sunday, September 02, 2001

Tanked out

Nobody but nobody can express the frustration I and countless others feel on a morning like this better than Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe. When things are going well, I find his 24/7 wait 'til they collapse attitude infuriating, but, at time like these, I'm grateful that he is the spokesperson for my misery.

... the Yankees go about their business from April through August - paying little attention to the noise in Boston - then crush our spirit every autumn. And now it's happening again, right at home, in front of the sad eyes of the Nation. If Mike Mussina takes care of business tonight, this series will take its rightful place alongside the Boston Massacre of 1978, the final weekend of '49, and all the other indignities heaped upon the Olde Towne Team since Babe Ruth was sold to New York (1919).

And he never fails to remind us the Curse:

Speaking of George Herman, would Pedro Martinez like to rethink that challenge he issued May 30, when he said, ''Bring back the Bambino and have me face him and I'll drill him in the ass''?

Martinez pitched a stellar six innings of two-hit, no-walk, six-strikeout, shutout ball yesterday, but he is now 0-for-June-July-August-September since taunting the Big Fella (The Boston Globe).

For me the worst part of it all it the feeling that things won't get better next year. I'm slowly resigning myself to the notion that Dan Duquette could, as so many others have suggested, be the real problem here. And he's not going anywhere.

I'm stuck now with coming up with another month of daily postings in the face of the stark reality that this is another year like all the others that have come before. I've still got many years (God willing) ahead of me, but the other night I was gripped with fear of the very real possibility that I won't see it happen in my lifetime. Heck, there is not guarantee that the game as we know it will even be around in another 50 or so years.

Time to go walk the dog and try and forget about baseball for awhile.