Curses, Martial Law and the joys of a game seven!

The troubles in the sport of baseball are numerous; over the years an entire generation of fans seems to have lost touch with one of the great sports of our era. Greed, mismanagement and a seemingly contemptuous attitude towards its fans have threatened to send the once proud game down in the ninth without a hit.

But there once again is joy in Mudville as the Red Sox and Yankees rise to the occasion of drama and pull us all back to the television and back to the game that transcends time. There is nothing like a Red Sox/Yankee series to bring out the emotion of a game that can live and breathe with every pitch, every hit, and every managerial move and yes every call of the umpire.

The current match up between these two bitter rivals has once again showcased just how enthralling the game can be if left to the players on the field and the managers in the dugout. With a history that dates back past to a curse from 1918, we appear on the verge of writing another chapter in the lore of one of the great sporting rivalries of our time.

In a series that has had it all, we are gladly going back to the tube tonight, begging for more, hoping to squeeze every last ounce of drama from what has become one of the most entertaining championship match ups in recent history.

Down three games to none heading into last Sunday’s game most fans were already preparing the obituary for the Red Sox, embarrassed early on in this series including an astounding 19-8 defeat the Red Sox have picked themselves off the ground, dusted themselves off and stepped right back into the batters box. Battling back one game at a time, the Sox have fought through two games lasting over 4 and a half hours, staved off elimination and now sit just one game away, a winner take all contest that will send the winner tonight (or maybe tomorrow morning who knows with these guys) on to the World Series.

Never before has a team come back from a 3-0 deficit to advance, never before has a team rallied from that deficit to force a game seven, never before have we seen such drama as the last three consecutive nights of baseball have provided. And never have before have we seen the incredible happenings of last nights 4-2 Red Sox victory at Yankee stadium.

Not once, but twice the umpires were called upon to convene as though they were cardinals at a papal summit and render a judgement to the assembled flock. Decisions which were greeted unanimously with disdain by the assembled multitudes (the Yankee fans at any rate) and will fuel the fire of this rivalry for more years to come. A fourth inning hit by Mark Bellhorn provided the first concave of the night, as confusion reigned on the field the umpires gathered to discuss whether his hit cleared the fence or bounced off the rail, television replays clearly showed the ball hitting a Yankee fan in the first row, which would make it a home run. The umps without benefit of replays would have to take a straw vote, home run it was, for Yankee fans the night suddenly got colder, the mood uglier. The Sox were in the lead and by the end of the night that lead would be tested, but would hold.

Backing up a gutsy performance by starter Curt Schilling the Red Sox refused to go away quietly into the night. Blood oozing into his socks from his stitched up ankle, Schilling gave much more than could be expected, Schilling more than made amends for his sub par performance in game one of the series. Lasting until the seventh inning, Schilling provided the kind of pitching the Red Sox wanted when they acquired him for this season, with nothing left in his tank, the Sox relievers went to work and shut down the Yankees for the third night in a row.

The drama of the night completed by the surreal sight of New York City Police dressed in riot gear lining the field during the ninth inning. The need for the reinforcements another controversial call by the umpires that in the end wasn’t controversial at all. In the eighth inning with Derek Jeter on first base, Alex Rodriquez hit a grounder down the first base line, running to the base he swatted the ball out of relief pitcher Bronson Arroyo’s glove a definite contravention of the rules. The play was missed by the first base umpire who was blocked out of the view of the play, resulting in the second concave of the night, and again the Yankee faithful would find the decision wanting. Ruled interference, Rodriquez was called out and Jeter sent back to first base.

Yankee fans with the vision of game six slipping away from them proclaimed their indignation with a barrage of baseballs, cups, programs and other missiles directed at Umpires and Red Sox players alike. Fearing a much uglier scene could be on the horizon home plate umpire Joe West called for the troops, and a battalion of New York’s finest, dressed in battle ready riot gear took their place along the third and first base walls.

With a sense of martial law declared the game once again resumed, the Sox avoiding further bad karma by wrapping the Yanks up in the bottom of the ninth, forcing the greatest experience for a baseball fan a Game seven showdown. One pitch, one hit, one error or a blown call, could make all the difference between ending a curse or adding to it’s legend.

Baseball couldn’t ask for a better series to rebuild its shattered image, with the debacle of the Expos (Podunk passim) still fresh in our minds, we needed a sign that the sport was still worth following. The beauty of this series is that it shows that the game itself, much like hockey can somehow withstand the abuses of those that purportedly have its interests at heart. Leave us with the game between the foul lines and it’s a wonderful sport, no talk of salary caps, commissioner prerogatives or franchise shifts. Just a pitcher, a hitter and the fielders providing thrill after thrill.

When the Expos were born I split my loyalties between them in the National and the Red Sox in the American, following the trail of the Red Sox from Yaz to Fisk, from Clemons to Spaceman Lee and Billy Buckner I cheered when they won and commiserated when they lost. Far too frequently it has been at the hands of this Evil Empire from New York; one crosses one’s fingers, works on some chants and dares to dream that tonight that curse of the Babe will be put to rest. The near panic of the New York Post and New York Daily News a testimony that the momentum has swung to the Red Sox Nation.

The latest chapter in this rivalry of the ages takes place tonight. Game time is 8:20 (5:20 PST) it seems hard to believe that this incredible run can be topped, but you just have a feeling that the best may yet be to come. Baseball history could be made tonight, something that this sport surely needed at this time. In the end it's always about what happens on the field, as it should be.