The Tao of Baseball

". . . And though it is like this, it is only that Yankees, while hated, flourish; and Red Sox, while cherished, fall."

The "greatest rivalry in sports" continued tonight with Game One of the ALCS pinning the Boston Red Sox against the New York Yankees. The Yankees won, 10-7, leading the game by 8-0 at one point. But Boston still almost rallied to win, putting the tying run on third base with two out in the eighth inning, bringing the tying run to the plate with one out in the ninth, and forcing the Yankees to use Mariano Rivera just hours after he flew back from a funeral in Panama.

And what is it with the press and Yankee tragedies? It's not enough for the press just to report that the Yankees have won, they have to try and dramatize it by saying that they won in the face of some enormous hardship - if Joe Torre's brother doesn't have cancer, then it's the September 11 attack on the World Trade Towers or a family funeral in Panama. It's not like there isn't tragedy in the other dugout - the First Noble Truth is the universality of suffering - but the discriminating minds of the national press can only see the suffering on "their," that is, New York's, side.

Anyway, it was a roller coaster of a game: Boston's new ace pitcher getting pounded for six runs in one inning, a seemingly insurmountable New York lead in Yankee Stadium, the Red Sox rally putting the tying run at the plate twice, etc.

It's going to be a fun series.