I mean he was safe by like a foot...20 years ago today

Yo La Tengo

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Nov 21, 2005
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I dislike Jeter as much as the next SoSHer, but that throw wasn't tailing into the bag. Jeter was going to have to come across his body with it regardless if he caught it out front or waited another split second.

Of curiosity to me has ways been, given Roberts' "great jump" and blazing speed, how was he almost out? Did Posada have incredible pop times? If that throw was on the corner of the bag, Roberts is OUT.
I don't even dislike him, just the long dormant media fawning. He didn't need to stretch for the ball and doing so cost him micro-seconds. If he had caught the ball at the base to tag across his body, instead of reaching out, it would have been quicker.

As for the question, I don't think he got a great jump.
 

Yelling At Clouds

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Jul 19, 2005
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Keep in mind the Yankees were up 3-0, and even if the Sox could squeak out that game, no one really thought they'd make history - instead it was a moral victory to not be humiliated in the series. In hindsight, we understand the significance more fully.
As I recall, the steal didn’t even becomes THE STEAL until Terry Francona started calling attention to it in interviews well after the series was over. It was one of those things where he kept saying something along the lines of “this was a big moment that people have been overlooking” to the point where now it’s the first thing anyone talks about from that game.
 

Oil Can Dan

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Can’t believe it’s been 20 years. I remember walking into Fenway that cold, drizzly Sunday feeling like I was going to a funeral. Five hours and two minutes later I was just happy to at least not getting swept.

20 fucking years!
 

Pablo's TB Lover

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Can’t believe it’s been 20 years. I remember walking into Fenway that cold, drizzly Sunday feeling like I was going to a funeral. Five hours and two minutes later I was just happy to at least not getting swept.

20 fucking years!
Same here! We trudged into the park to find we were front row of bleachers behind the Sox bullpen (had the partial season plan with random assignment of postseason tickets). Would have been an upgrade from our usual mid bleachers but they still had the damn prison fence behind the bullpen which wouldn't be removed for another year or two.

Leading up to and during the game we kept telling each other "We're not watching the Yankees celebrate on the field." Of course, the game stayed very tight with the Yankees holding a narrow lead. I was thinking I'd rather have a blowout loss like the previous night and leave rather than need to stay until the bitter end at the risk of the Yankees winning with me present.

But the vibes were high in the Sox bullpen, guys were into the game along the front wall and talking with fans to the point where they truly were "idiots" to not realize they were down 3-0. The hopefulness prevailed in our section versus all evidence to the contrary, and as Simmons had written at the time it feels like the Sox fans collectively willed Roberts into second base. After that, everything was gravy and it felt like something special was going to happen.
 

Hank Scorpio

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For me it was when Damon scored the winning run in game 5....then I started to believe. Goosebumps just thinking about it.
The whole 4 game run was just surreal. The Roberts steal and Mueller base-hit felt almost like the gods putting a plan into action. Small wheels in motion, leading to something much, much bigger. Game 5 was like a different version of the same story. Then you had Game 6, with Schilling taking the mound with a bloody sock - the entire game was like a sappy Hollywood movie where you have to suspend disbelief. The A-Rod glove slap was just icing on the cake - because it made the Yankees, for the first time in my baseball loving life, feel like losers. And not just any losers. Petty, frustrated, sore losers. Then their fans threw garbage onto their field. And it was delicious (the situation, not the garbage).

Still, you head into game 7, and there's still this air of uncertainty. Yes, Ortiz gave us an early 2-0 lead. But it still didn't feel like enough. We couldn't breathe. Eighty-six years or bitter disappointment hung in the air.

I'll never forget Castiglione's call of Damon's grand slam. It wasn't joy. It wasn't excitement. It was something like exasperation. Shock. Maybe disbelief. Joe's voice, to me, asked the question "is this really happening?"

By the time Damon went yard a second time, Trup was gleefully champing at the bit to bury the dagger in the hearts of the Yankees. Love the way he punctuated the call with "ADD. ON. RUNS." - Essentially, "BURY THESE MOTHERFUCKERS".
 

worm0082

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The Sox won the 04 World Series and then my son was born a day and a half later.
 

jose melendez

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Amazingly, Zuckerberg has labeled the original KEYS as spam, so I'm taking to just posting them outright.

Here's 20 years ago today

From SoSH: Re: 10-18-04 Sox make history(Pt.2)

It’s time for Jose Melendez’s KEYS TO THE GAME.

1. It is curious that Jose has less to say after last night’s fantastic win than after Saturday night’s horrific loss. Even coming up with that last sentence took 15 minutes. Jose supposes that there is more humor in the tragic than in the divine. That’s why Dante’s Inferno is such a laugh riot and Paradiso is such a drag. But if that is the price of victory, Jose will gladly be unfunny on seven more occasions this year.

After last night’s win, Jose doesn’t even care that the Kingston Trio sang the national anthem. (Note: Though couldn’t they have had “Theo and the Trio” join them for Charlie on the MTA?) (Additional Note: Even thought the Kingston Trio was a ridiculous choice, it was still a huge upgrade over the Cowsills. It’s like upgrading from John Burkett to…well not Curt Euro, but maybe Balki Arroyo.) We do appear to be moving further backwards in time with the anthem though, don’t we? Jose assumes that tonight we’ll have Mozart out there saluting America. Then, if we make it to the World Series, We’ll have Og the Caveman pounding it out on a sheepskin drum.

Last night’s game was theater of the improbable. DLowe the Paranoid Android pitched passably and ended each inning with a hearty exhale, and an “I can’t believe I got out of that inning look” instead of giving the look during each inning. Curtis Leskanic, who only the night before was about as effective as a tee, looked like the second coming of Lee Smith. The Red Sox even used a stolen base to tie a game. Yes, these are strange, strange days.

There’s been a lot of blame assigned in this series but Jose would like to give out a little credit to some of last night’s unsung heroes. First, he would like to give the Melendezette credit for realizing that hairy legs were not working in game 3 and shaving. Kevin Millar apparently had the same idea, in switching from the “facial pubes” to the neatly trimmed goatee. Jose doubted you both, but you proved him wrong. Second, Jose would like to give credit to his friend Audrey who brought a picture of her choking out Derek Jeter to Jose’s apartment, and lo and behold, choke Jeter did. Finally, Jose would like to thank Wes Chamberlain who the Red Sox acquired in exchange for Paul Quantrill in 1994. That set in motion the chain of events that led to Quantrill surrendering the game winning shot in the 12th last night. Wes Chamberlain, Jose thanks you for finally, finally contributing something to the Red Sox.

2. Let’s see. Jose couldn’t get up early and work on KEYS because he didn’t get to sleep until about 2:30, and Jose has a really busy day, so he can’t spend too much time writing at the office…soooo…well, lets just switch to default settings and that means shredding Tony Castrati.


What TC says: “The challenge remains considerable, the chance at ultimate victory highly improbable.”

What TC means: The mountain is high the valley is low, and you’re so confused, bout which way to go.

What TC says: The goal is to ensure there will be a game at Yankee Stadium tomorrow.

What TC means: After the Red Sox win, I will yell Goooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllll!!!
like that Spanish speaking soccer guy, Andres Cantor or whoever.

What TC says: “And never have the Red Sox been happier to take them one game at time.”

What TC means: According to my sources, the Yankees wanted the rain out replayed as part of a double header yesterday, but the Red Sox objected saying that it was “a really f’ing stupid idea.”

What TC says: “Added the Sox manager: ‘We did a lot of things to hang on.’”

What TC means: Terry Francona (sic) has one of those posters of the kitten hanging on a tree limb with the caption “Hang in there baby” in his office. He brought it out before the game and repeatedly told his players “Be the kitten. You are the kitten. You hear me Lowe? You’re the god damn kitten.”

What TC says: “There was tension and there was drama”

What TC means: Unlike Friday night when they replaced the rained out game with a David Arquette movie. That’s the best you can do FOX?

What TC says: “Is this a series now? It is still too early to say.”

What TC means: Five games is more a progression than a series in my mind.

What TC says: The Yankees outplayed the Red Sox in Games 1, 2 and 3, and they took the Sox to 12 innings in Game 4. There really is not much else to it.”

What TC means: And yet I managed to stretch it to 500 words.

What TC says: “At this time of year, the laws apply to everyone.”

What TC means: Yup, had O.J. committed murder in October he would have gone to prison, but he did it in June when the laws don’t apply to everyone, so he walked.


3. New York can have its Nicholsons and Spike Lees. You want celebrities? We’ve got celebrities up the wazoo right here in Boston baby!!! The stands were so thick with celebs that Jose didn’t need to be at the game or even have television point them out for him to pick out a few. Look over there!!! There’s former State Senator, Candidate for Governor and candidate for Lieutenant Governor Warren Tolman looking sharp in a traditional blue Red Sox cap. And who’s that over there? Why it’s Attorney General Tom Reilly wiping the sleep out of his eyes. No accusing the Red Sox and Major League Baseball of being a massively corrupt enterprise for you tonight Mr. Attorney General. Nope, tonight you just wallow in it.

You can see why Fox didn’t bother to mention that these celebs were in attendance. When you have names this big, you don’t need to name them. (Note: speaking of celebrities, did anyone else notice Brookline High Valedictorian Conan O’Brien at game 2, wearing some random non-Red Sox cap? Conan, if you’re going to go to the games, represent.)

I’m Jose Melendez, and those are my KEYS TO THE GAME.
 

Humphrey

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Had never heard about the Cowsills appearance. Strangely, their Wikipedia page claims they sang the anthem before game 4.
Showtime or HBO had a documentary on them called Family Band. The documentary claims the Partridge Family show would have featured them; the father was such a tyrant and bad negotiator the network decided to go in a different direction.
 

jose melendez

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Showtime or HBO had a documentary on them called Family Band. The documentary claims the Partridge Family show would have featured them; the father was such a tyrant and bad negotiator the network decided to go in a different direction.
wikipedi claims they played befor game 4
 

yecul

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I love Buck's call because he shut the F up. In the context -- down 3-0, still down a run, without knowing of the comeback, it's understandable that he'd be lower key. However, now, looking back -- he made the simple, understated call and was quiet. The cuts to the crowd, the roaring cheers -- Buck may not have understood what was happening, but we did and he let us talk.
 

Jim Ed Rice in HOF

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I've told this story on here (because we've told all our '04 stories before) but I was in my seats in the bleachers, section 36. Heading into the 9th there were some loud and obnoxious MFY fans in section 37 getting into it with Sox fans. They were all set for a sweep and there were words being exchanged and various objects being hurled down from the higher rows at them. Security comes up to defray the situation and they told the MFY fans that they needed to settle down and not egg the fans on. There was no 1st amendment in the bleachers in those years - bad things were most likely going to happen if they didn't STFU. They went about arguing with security and were adamant that they were going to continue celebrating and making noise. Welp, that was the end of them and they were escorted out. Security didn't want to deal with a fight that was almost certainly going to break out and if you can bounce Yankee fans in the interest of keeping things calm, all the better.

I kinda wish they'd been allowed to stay just to see their reaction as that game slipped away.
 

Sandy Leon Trotsky

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I rarely post in the game threads and couldn't even get myself to look at them after the Game Three shellacking. I didn't have a telly in my home and couldn't bring myself to go to a bar (lived in Brooklyn at the time even though the local bar had a lot of Sox fans) so I just was working in my studio and listening to the game on the radio. I admit that I just turned it off after the 8th inning. Mariano was coming in. Game Over. I didn't believe they could win. My then girlfriend was in Boston at the time and called me up about 15 minutes later and I was expecting a "sorry darling...." sort of call but she was demanding I turn the radio back on, so I at least caught the Ortiz home run call to end the game thankfully.
I still couldn't bring myself to believe they win the series. Even after Game 5. Even after Game 6. And yeah, when Pedro came in and looked really weak I thought it'd be the beginning of some epic comeback and ultimate ball-crushing. I'm still not sure they actually won....
 

Ivo Rentoren

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Sep 23, 2021
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I'll admit I didn't watch "The Steal" live. I was living in Brussels at the time and watching each primetime game live basically meant going to work the next day without any sleep. After watching the Boone walk-off home run live in 2003 (and going almost straight to work in a bad mood) and watching games 1, 2 and 3 live on my computer in my apartment, I was too depressed after the game 3 beatdown to watch game 4. I was back in front of my computer for games 5, 6 and 7. At the start of game 7, I decided I wasn't going to be able to watch the Sox get eliminated by the MFY again in a game 7 while being sober, so I started drinking beers from the first inning. If they were going to get eliminated, at least it would sting less that way, I thought. After they won and I spent a good time jumping around the apartment at 6 a.m. (and waking up my wife), I slept for an hour or so, took a shower and went to work with a serious buzz but a huge smile on my face. Good times! Now at age 52 I'm not sure I would have the stamina to get through a week like that, it was mentally and physically exhausting...
 
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nayrbrey

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I'll admit I didn't watch "The Steal" live. I was living in Brussels at the time and watching each primetime game live basically meant going to work the next day without any sleep. After watching the Boone walk-off home run live in 2003 (and going almost straight to work in a bad mood) and watching games 1, 2 and 3 live on my computer in my apartment, I was too depressed after the game 3 beatdown to watch game 4. I was back in front of my computer for games 5, 6 and 7. At the start of game 7, I decided I wasn't going to be able to watch the Sox get eliminated by the MFY again in a game 7 while being sober, so I started drinking beers from the first inning. If they were going to get eliminated, at least it would sting less that way, I thought. After they won and I spent a good time jumping around the apartment at 6 a.m. (and waking up my wife), I slept for an hour or so, took a shower and went to work with a serious buzz but a huge smile on my face. Good times! Now at age 52 I'm not sure I would have the stamina to get through a week like that, it was mentally and physically exhausting...
Exhaustion and exhilaration that week. Due to weather, games 3-7 were one after the other. No days off. Everyone was buzzing at work due to lack of sleep or hangovers or both.
Just a surreal experience that I am so glad to have lived through.
 

Reverse Curve

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Sep 11, 2021
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Love this thread! Bringing back those same euphoric feelings in my upper chest from 20 frigging years ago. Deep breath...Just does not seem possible.
Thanks for digging out your old Keys @jose melendez, always a must read for me, and @reggiecleveland, Curtis Letspanic certainly came through when we needed him to!
Anybody remember that '04 interwebs video/photo montage of this series that featured the soundtrack of Smashing Pumpkins' Tonight Tonight? Loved that, and I can't find it anywhere...If anyone knows where to find it, I will be forever indebted to you.
 

Sandy Leon Trotsky

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Exhaustion and exhilaration that week. Due to weather, games 3-7 were one after the other. No days off. Everyone was buzzing at work due to lack of sleep or hangovers or both.
Just a surreal experience that I am so glad to have lived through.
Wait... wasn't there a rain-out after Game 6 that also worked in the Sox favor to get Lowe some rest or am I totally wrong??????
 

PedroisGod

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Love this thread! Bringing back those same euphoric feelings in my upper chest from 20 frigging years ago. Deep breath...Just does not seem possible.
Thanks for digging out your old Keys @jose melendez, always a must read for me, and @reggiecleveland, Curtis Letspanic certainly came through when we needed him to!
Anybody remember that '04 interwebs video/photo montage of this series that featured the soundtrack of Smashing Pumpkins' Tonight Tonight? Loved that, and I can't find it anywhere...If anyone knows where to find it, I will be forever indebted to you.
I'd also like to know where the Dream On montage can be found. I've been trying to find that one to no avail.
 

Sandy Leon Trotsky

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He went on 2 days rest. Game 4 was 17th, 5 the 18th, 6 the 19th and 7 the 20th.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/2004_ALCS.shtml
What the hell am I mixing up????
But geez... talk about a "horse"! I remember after the playoffs and Lowe and Pedro both were FA's thinking that Lowe was a better option to bring back just for that reason alone. Post Sox career, Lowe ended up a better signing than Pedro actually... sadly....
 

Jim Ed Rice in HOF

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What the hell am I mixing up????
But geez... talk about a "horse"! I remember after the playoffs and Lowe and Pedro both were FA's thinking that Lowe was a better option to bring back just for that reason alone. Post Sox career, Lowe ended up a better signing than Pedro actually... sadly....
Rain pushed out game 3 by a day so that's probably what you're thinking of.
 

dynomite

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God I love this thread and these memories. More please.

As I recall, the steal didn’t even becomes THE STEAL until Terry Francona started calling attention to it in interviews well after the series was over. It was one of those things where he kept saying something along the lines of “this was a big moment that people have been overlooking” to the point where now it’s the first thing anyone talks about from that game.
I don’t think this is true. Here’s Shank’s column from after Game 4, note the sub-head:

Red Sox avert sweep as walkoff homer downs Yankees
Steal, run by Dave Roberts in ninth key to comeback win
You're right that he doesn't focus on the steal in the recap enough, but there are photos both of the steal itself (the famous photo) and Roberts celebrating after scoring the tying run.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2004/10/18/red-sox-avert-sweep-walkoff-homer-downs-yankees/l3TXXLZCGJSKsEOpfaazML/story.html?p1=Article_Inline_Related_Box

And less importantly earlier in the thread I posted my college newspaper column from 2 am — 2 hours after the game ended — and I referenced the steal twice in the summary of the game.

As the Red Sox played small ball and Dave Roberts turned into Willie Mays Hays in "Major League," I could sense the tide turning.I spent the next excruciating hour (or was it five?) on my feet,willing Embree to get outs, begging Leskanic to retire Bernie Williams with the bases loaded in the top of the 11th inning. As Ortiz did it again and I engaged in awkward man-hugging, I was 15 years old and rooting for the '99 Sox again.

How about that game? Derek Lowe, left off the postseason rotation, pitched his heart out. Francona managed the game perfectly; Roberts came into the game and immediately broke for second. Everyone rose to the occasion. Curtis Leskanic, a veteran who had been hammered the night before, came up enormous. And you just knew that Papi was going to crush that ball. You could feel the walkoff coming.
Even at the moment of the steal I remember thinking “Whoa, any other year he’s out at 2nd. Maybe we have something here.”

Edit: And of course, in the immediate aftermath it was just one SB that helped make the series 3-1 as opposed to a sweep, so until they won Game 7 its place in history wasn't secure. Still, my memory is even in by World Series -- during the broadcast, I think -- people were already referring to the "Roberts Steal" as the key turning point of the ALCS. I could be wrong, I just have a memory of turning to a friend on one of those replays with my eyes wide when I finally realized how close that play was.
 
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canderson

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Ortiz’ at bat before the walkoff in G5 is one of the best pieces of hitting you’ll ever see to keep fouling pitch after pitch off to stay alive. That at bat battle I think gets a bit lost, understandably so.
 

tims4wins

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Ortiz’ at bat before the walkoff in G5 is one of the best pieces of hitting you’ll ever see to keep fouling pitch after pitch off to stay alive. That at bat battle I think gets a bit lost, understandably so.
And his home run in the 8th, down 4-2, is in my opinion the single most underrated moment of the entire series. It gets lost amongst the steal, walkoffs, Bellhorn, grand slam, slap, etc.
 

BaseballJones

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And his home run in the 8th, down 4-2, is in my opinion the single most underrated moment of the entire series. It gets lost amongst the steal, walkoffs, Bellhorn, grand slam, slap, etc.
That homer gave the Sox a chance. They'd immediately follow it up with another run, and in that sequence, Rivera had another blown save, though he came into what was an almost impossible situation. Up a run, runner at third, nobody out. Pretty hard to keep that run from coming in.

Old friend Tom Gordon was the one that really blew that game for the Yankees.
 

8slim

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There has not been another day where I was more "sports anxious" than the day of Game 5.

Once word got out that Schilling was going to go in game 6, I was in full blown freak out mode. I figured if we got to game 6, and our injured ace just didn't have it and we lost, then what can you do? But we HAD to get to game 6. We HAD to win at Fenway and make those fuckers go back to NY to beat us.

It's kind of wild to think just how out-of-my-mind I was at 2:37pm ET on 10/18/2004.
 

chrisfont9

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Yup. I remember feeling in the moment that I was pleased that it wasn't officially over, but that they were just delaying the inevitable. It may have been Bellhorn's HR in Game 6 when I finally thought that they could do it.
For me it was the overturned call on Slappy. There was something so bush league, and so unusual to get a massive (if deserved) break, after getting the earlier overturned call on the Belllhorn HR, that seemed like the stars were aligned AND the Yankees were actually bullshit.
 

Riconway3155

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The Sox just posted the game 5 look back. Varitek attempts to catch the knuckleball and Papi just looking for Loiza’s cutter.

View: https://youtu.be/RhgBrojSUzY?si=aWkCIdn1udjOUCh4
I had two real emotions watching this.

1. I know Wake has been gone a while. We all know that. Watching this was the first time I truly felt it though.

2. I was still just as nervous watching Tek catch those knuckleballs as I was back then. I know the outcome but it doesn't matter!
 

jose melendez

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I'm going to be on a plane tomorrow, so putting this up now.

From SoSH: Re: 10-19-04 Sox make history (Pt.3)

It’s time for Jose Melendez’s KEYS TO THE GAME.

1. As the clock ticked past 11 o’clock last night, Jose found himself on his knees, hands folded in a moment of humble prayer. He had already spent the first seven innings sipping Guinness and chewing nachos at a tavern. For the second seven he returned home, lest anyone mistake his nervous fidgeting for a seizure and call 911. (Note: Would 911 come if you called them during that game? If so, they’d have the game on in the ambulance right?) Inside his North End tenement, Jose took to doing everything he could to release his nervous energy as the game progressed. In the eighth inning, it was pushups, situps and curls. For the ninth and tenth, Jose went to ironing. In the eleventh, he clipped his fingernails and toenails. (Note: If Johnny Damon can clip his toenails during a playoff game, why can’t Jose?) By the end of the eleventh, every muscle was toned, every shirt neatly pressed and every hangnail trimmed away…so Jose paced for the next three innings. He walked back on forth across the cold, cracked linoleum of his living room/kitchen floor not even daring to tie the drawstring on his pajama pants, lest it somehow affect the knuckleball.

Then with David Oritz at the plate in the 14th Jose had a revelation. He should kneel as if in prayer. Jose had done this during both of the Patriots’ Super Bowl winning field goals, the second on a foul and sticky bar room floor, and it had worked. Why not now? So Jose got down on his knees and folded his hands. To say he prayed, might be a bit much. Praying for sports victories seems absurd and shallow to Jose. In fact, if there is a just and merciful God, it seems like the sort of thing that might piss him off. But still Jose humbled himself in anticipation of Ortiz’s hit. Had the game gone to the 15th, Jose might have been on to self-flagellation or a vow of silence. (Note: Jose was a little disappointed with how the game ended. Jose’s brother had vowed to shave his beard into a chin strap if Ortiz hit another walk off homer. Hopefully, the single is worth at least an Abraham Lincoln.

But Ortiz came through. The Sox came through, and so we head to game 6; we return to the Bronx. Where will Jose find himself at the end of this game? Doing Thai Chi in a bar room? Astral projected in to Yankee Stadium? Watching TV and smoking peyote in a sweatlodge. Perhaps, just this once, religion is the answer.

2. Eric Kneel’s Page 2 column today was good. Really good. In fact it was so good that Jose is going to steal the concept, if not the content, for KEY 2.

Imagine you’re Jon Lieber right now.

Imagine you're Jon Lieber today, this minute, with the ball in your hand and the curtain about to go up.

You've never been here before. The lights, the millions of fans the pressure that comes with being the goat and failing in the biggest moment of your life. It's all new to you, and you have no idea how to handle it.

You keep thinking about the Yankee mystique, hoping that it will overcome your own weaknesses. But deep down inside you know that it can’t. You remember lying in the hospital wondering if you’d ever pitch again. You remember thinking about this day and wondering if you could stand the pressure.

And you can't believe your bad luck. You shouldn’t have to do this. You were supposed to start Game 2 of the World Series. A game 2 you can handle, there are no consequences, but a game 6? Those are not for the faint of heart, and you are the faint of heart.

You're Jon Lieber. And you can’t relax. You need a valium or a drink or a hooker, but you can’t get out of bed. What if your sinkers don’t sink? What if your curves don’t hook? You keep screaming inside your head “WHY DO I HAVE TO DO THIS???” And the answer comes…Your teammates failed you. They put you in this position. They set you at there, but will they be blamed when you fail tonight? No, when you fail, you will be alone.

You seethe over the attention received by A-Rod and Jeter. You envy Mussina’s good looks. You hate Kevin Brown because he’s a d*ck. You know in your heart of hearts that when you fail, Steinbrenner, who once received you so warmly, will toss you to the curb like so much garbage.

You are Jonathan Ray Lieber and you’ve never been so scared in your life.

You are Jonathan Ray Lieber and everyone in the world outside of New York is rooting for you to fail.

You are Jon Lieber and you went to the Yankees for the money. You thought it would be easy, but it’s not. It is the hardest thing you’ve ever done.

You couldn’t sleep last night. Breathing was a burden. When you close your eyes you see David Ortiz, when you open them the light seems blinding.

You are Jon Lieber and you are going to fail. You are Jon Lieber and there is nothing you can do.

3. So what if no team has ever come back from down 3-0 to tie a series at 3-3 before? There are lots of things that are happening for the first time in history today. A few examples:
-This is the first time “actor” Chris Kattan has ever had a 34th birthday.
-This is the first time Ronald Reagan’s daughter Patti Davis has ever sued the Salvation Army.
-This is the first time that a Boston Herald headline “Curse This” has ever infringed on Jerry Remy’s copyright before.

All around the world, there are first birthdays being celebrated, first communions being received, first aid being applied and first class being flown. Today is a day of firsts. And the Red Sox evening the series will be but one among many.

I’m Jose Melendez, and those are my KEYS TO THE GAME.
 

Heating up in the bullpen

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SoSH Member
Nov 24, 2007
1,292
Pittsboro NC
Ortiz’ at bat before the walkoff in G5 is one of the best pieces of hitting you’ll ever see to keep fouling pitch after pitch off to stay alive. That at bat battle I think gets a bit lost, understandably so.
I could listen to him talk about hitting all day. He was truly a master of his craft — the physical skill and the mental approach to maximize that skill. I wish some of that mental approach would rub off on our current hitters
 

dynomite

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There has not been another day where I was more "sports anxious" than the day of Game 5.

Once word got out that Schilling was going to go in game 6, I was in full blown freak out mode. I figured if we got to game 6, and our injured ace just didn't have it and we lost, then what can you do? But we HAD to get to game 6. We HAD to win at Fenway and make those fuckers go back to NY to beat us.

It's kind of wild to think just how out-of-my-mind I was at 2:37pm ET on 10/18/2004.
Absolutely. I wish I were wearing a heart monitor during the top of the 9th (when Tony Clark's ground rule double juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust made it over the fence to stop Rueben Sierra at 3rd and save the series) and when Wakefield was on the mound in the top of the 13th and Varitek had no idea where the ball was going and Sheffield was on 3rd base (I had to turn my back to the TV -- I couldn't bear to think two years in a row the Yankees would beat us in extra innings of the ALCS because of this player I loved rooting for).

Edit: Now watching the replay I was CONVINCED this ball was going to be a Home Run. Honestly right now rewatching this my blood pressure just shot up and I had a heart stopping millisecond where I worried the ball was going to go over the wall... 20 years after it didn't. Yeah... we were shells of human beings that week.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORG0mphzrD4
 
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reggiecleveland

sublime
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Mar 5, 2004
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Saskatoon Canada
The Sox just posted the game 5 look back. Varitek attempts to catch the knuckleball and Papi just looking for Loiza’s cutter.

View: https://youtu.be/RhgBrojSUzY?si=aWkCIdn1udjOUCh4
This may not be popular, but they should interview Schilling for game 6, and Damon for game 7. I don't like how the Yankees sold 2009 commemorative stuff without Arod in the pic, or tiny Arod in the corner. Game Six was Schilling, the slap, Bellhorn, and Foulke on Fumes. All those guys should be part of it. Both those guys have won that title and I will never pretend they were not part of it.