Stupid Red Sox. They win with Wakefield (their #3 pitcher) and lose two with their #2 and #1 (AT HOME) pitchers. Now they have to win three of the next four games from the Yankees, which I would suspect has been done only a handful of time (including the regular season) since the Evil Empire started its run at buying World Series rings in '96.
Game three was a complete mess, with a 4th inning that seemed to last an hour. The bizarre inning included Pedro throwing behind, and hitting, Karim Garcia, Garcia attempting to sever Todd Walker's legs sliding into second on a double-play ball, Pedro threatening to hit Jorge Posada in the head, Clemens throwing a pitch to which Manny Ramirez (wrongly) took umbrage, Don Zimmer (yes, THAT Don Zimmer) charging Pedro, Pedro dropping Zimmer. In fact, the only thing it didn't include... RED SOX OFFENSE.
So long upset victory in game 1. So long surprising steal of home-field advantage. (Of course, this was the Yankees' third consecutive postseason win at Fenway.) So long critical game 3. Hello familiarity. Hello Evil Empire. Hello curse.
Posted by pcg at October 11, 2003 4:46 PMI'm not really quite sure what I would do if I had Don Zimmer charging at me, but I have to guess it would pretty much resemble Pedro's move. Sure, it sucks that Zimmer's 73 and any fall could lead to serious injury, but come on... If you charge the mound, any good pitcher is going to take matters into his own hands. Nolan Ryan proved that back in the mid-90s, and they've been doing it ever since (and before, I'm sure). You can't ignore a bull rush just because the guy's old.
On the other hand, Pedro's motioning to his head was inexcusable. That deserves a fine.
e;
Posted by: e; on October 12, 2003 3:47 PMI'm not sure how I feel about the whole thing either. I *think* I like Zimmer's move; while everyone else was futzing around with Clemens and Manny, Zimmer went straight to the source of the problem like a real man. And I *think* I like Pedro's move; he has to defend himself, even against a 73-year-old (and someone who outweighs him 2-to-1).
As for Pedro pointing to his head, I don't know that I agree that he should be fined. Perhaps he should, but couldn't his actions just fall under gamesmanship? I mean, it's not like he *did* hit Posada in the head, and I don't think he was throwing at what's-his-name's head either. (Torre, the hypocritical bastard, sure thought he was, of course.) He was taunting the other team. If they wanted to show him, they should have continued to hit him. Not that they needed to at that point, but even so, Pedro ended up pitching a perfect game from that point until he was removed. So whether he gets fined or not (I don't think he should), whether it was appropriate or not (I think it was fine), he apparently had them thinking.
Of course, NONE of this would be a problem if it weren't for the completely asinine DH rule. Pedro would have gotten one between the numbers (or higher) and it would have been over before it started. Ah, the good ol' days... ;-)
Posted by: pcg on October 12, 2003 5:53 PMFor the most part, I agree with what's been said here. I'll normally defend Pedro, but he acted like a child. The pointing to the head and the pointing to Posada was just plain dumb. Zim acted completely irrationally, and he'd be the first to admit it. Ramirez probably could have cooled his jets a bit, but I don't really blame him for reacting like that. It was ROGER CLEMENS, after all, who is the most notorious head-hunter in baseball today. Yeah, it was up and *mostly* over the plate, but it was head-high and a touch inside. Did Ramirez overreact? Sure. Did Clemens want to give Ramirez a little chin music. Yep.
So yeah, not a game that is going to make Fox's next version of the 100 greatest baseball moments ever, but an interesting one nonetheless.
And Jeff Nelson kicking the crap out of a Fenway employee? WTF?
Posted by: jonathan on October 13, 2003 5:46 PM