Mariano Rivera was every fans' dream.
A player who could come in, under the most pressing circumstances, and bail out the team. A person who could, and did, reliably save us from our own failings.
A man who could undo the mistakes and dangers the rest of us had created. Human errors and misplays which put at risk all we hoped to achieve. Mariano would flawlessly and magically put things right again for us.
Time and time again. We expected his perfection and, most incredibly, we almost always got it.
On the biggest stage of all our boyhood dreams. He would get the last out of the World Series.
We wake up this morning to the harsh reality that our dream has now ended.
We shall never again see such a player. Most of us, that is.
Forever forward, we will be biting our fingernails whenever there is a critical "save us" situation, and someone wearing pinstripes emerges from the bullpen.
It will be like throwing dice and hoping to hit a "7".
Our days of breathing easy are over.
How do we carry on?
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10 comments:
you must endeavor to persevere.
With Tex and Jete back in the everyday lineup and Pineda leading a revamped rotation, we won't need a closer. Just a mop up man who can keep the other team from scoring one too many against our double digit offensive output.
I've taken to living in a fantasy world where we're advancing to the Series this year on the backs of Adams and Nunez. It's going to be really exciting because I'm making it up so it will be.
And wait until next year! If we don't set a new season win record, I'll eat my hat. (Note: I don't actually own hats in reality. But in my fantasy world, I have a closet full of snappy fedoras and straw boaters.)
Man oh man, I can't wait.
Other ways in which the Yankees are not still the Yankees:
Real Yankees: Played in Yankee Stadium.
Bizarro Yankees: Play in EPCOT Yankee McStadium Restaurant/Shopping Mall.
Real Yankees: Voice of the Yankees--Mel Allen.
Bizarro Yankees: Voice of the Yankees--John Sterling.
Real Yankees: GM George Weiss
Bizarro Yankees: GM Brian Cashman
Real Yankees: Best farm system in baseball.
Bizarro Yankees: One of the worst farm systems in baseball.
Real Yankees: Behind the plate--Yogi Berra/Elston Howard/Thurman Munson/Jorge Posada.
Bizarro Yankees: Behind the plate--Some Guy. (Same for almost every other position).
Real Yankees: Centerfield--Joe DiMaggio/Mickey Mantle/Bernie William.
Bizarro Yankees: Brett Gardner (great fielder, but . . .)
Real Yankees: On the mound: Raschi/Reynolds/Ford/Guidry/Rivera.
Bizarro Yankees: On the mound: Series of question marks.
One could go on, but you get the idea.
I think Brett Gardner deserves the benefit of the doubt.
But I do get the idea.
Mr Anon, what is your fixation on the stadium. The team is illegitimate because you don't like the stadium? (I've not been there, but I don't particularly care for it because those expensive seats near the field are so frequently empty.)
The "real" Yankee stadium was carved out like a pumpkin 40 years ago. They replaced it with a concrete edifice that was difficult to move around in. It's major appeal was the vertical design that kept such a large portion of the crowd right on top of the action. But it was just a building, and this new thing is just a building. I personally root for the laundry.
The old Yankee Stadium, carved or uncarved, was a baseball park where people went to watch baseball. The vast majority of the seats were grandstand and bleacher, priced within range of working-class fans and their families. Moreover, it was the sacred ground where Gehrig spoke, where he and Ruth and DiMaggio and Mantle and Berra and Ford spun legends of greatness. That ground is now paved over. For what? For a structure in which baseball games are an afterthought, a mere adjunct to the real business of selling overpriced "memorabilia," steaks, etc., where the cheap grandstand and bleacher seats are precious few so they can cater all the better to the financial/expense-account elite who never show up for the games, leaving the recessed stands half empty and the cries of the few real fans distant and vaporous.
In brief--a total disaster, thoroughly cleansed of the grit and myth and ardor that made the original Stadium, in both versions, a monument to greatness--a greatness that has now been ruthlessly trampled by the Steindolts (thanks, Alphonso) and their assembled lawyers and lackeys.
@Tom,
Ask *anyone* not named Steinbrenner or Sterling, who has actually been to both.
The only things retained were the field dimensions (but not outside the lines) and the Yankees (tm) logo.
The new stadium has food. BFD. I really, REALLY miss the old cathedral.
Anonymous has such a good point, I may change my name to Johnonymous.
John, "Anonymous" neither wants nor respects our kudos. Nor does he deserve them in light of the verbal tantrums he has thrown over the last week. His contributions have been until very recently a distasteful blend of pretension and sadism. Why the Old Guard is indulging him is baffling.
Why you gotta be so mean?
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