Diary of a Yanks Fan: The Curse Was Reversed in 2004

Wednesday, 7:26 p.m.

Dear Diary, I’m scared.

Having watched the previous six games of the ALCS, I am not confident at all that the Yankees are going to win tonight, even against the Red Sox. In fact, I think the curse has abandoned us.

The curse is undoubtedly real. There’s no way Bill Buckner misses that ground ball without a little help, and there is certainly no way Aaron Boone hits a home run to win Game Seven last season without something guiding his hand. But this series, things are different.

In Game Five, Tony Clark’s double reached the seats stranding the potential winning run on third. In Game Six Jorge Posada’s second-inning sure-homer died on the warning track, while Mark Bellhorn, Mr. Automatic Double Play, hit an opposite field home run off the end of the bat. Curt Schilling has a debilitated ankle and still threw in the 90s all night long en route to a gem. And even more mysteriously the Yankees aren’t getting any of the close calls, even if they have been right. What series am I watching here?

I’m starting to think Babe Ruth’s ghost is like an Old Testament God. He pestered the heck out of that Jonah guy, but eventually he let him off the hook and gave him 80 virgins or something. Maybe I’m mixing my parables here, but my point is the Banshee of the Bambino has tormented these poor saps in Beantown for 86 years or so. Now maybe he’s sippin’ on some Cristal and sitting in the big Skybox in the sky and figures: “You know, maybe I’ll let them off the hook this year.”

And poof, the curse is over, and in spectacular fashion. The Red Sox become the first team to come back from a 3-0 deficit, including twice against the best closer in post-season history. Naturally they’ll go on to win the World Series, decisively beating Roger Clemens (who I despise) and the Astros (who I like) to clinch the crown.

“That would make 86 years of pain and misery wholly worthwhile,” my roommate and avid Sox fan Matt Burke says with glee. So there you have my pre-Game Seven anxieties. Now I’ll take you in my mind as I suffer through a Game Seven that never should have been necessary.

8:30 First pitch. The crowd seems into it, pitcher Kevin Brown seems to be throwing pretty hard and Johnny Damon still looks helpless at the plate. Signs are good.

8:57 It’s 2-0 Boston, but Fox’s Kenny Albert tells us that Bucky Dent throws out the first pitch while the Sox watched Miracle. Joe Buck chimes in that today would have been Mickey Mantle’s 73rd birthday. The ghosts, fate, miracles are all about … and Kevin Millar ropes a single. That can’t be a good sign.

9:11 Javier Vazquez relieves a pathetic Brown with the bases loaded and on his first pitch Johnny “Chewbacca/Jesus/Captain Caveman” Damon takes him out for a grand slam. Damon’s been beyond awful the whole series and he hits it out. Doo-doo doo-doo doo-doo doo-doo. It’s becoming clear that this game was over before it began.

9:22 If the Yanks get some runs back here in the bottom of the second the Yanks can still pull it out. But they gotta chip away.

9:26 Posada walks, Lofton grounds out for the third out. No runs. Ball game. (See, Red Sox fans don’t have a monopoly on pessimism.)

9:43 Bottom three and Jeter scalds a single into left and Cairo scores after stealing second. Crowd is cheering. Yanks are chipping away. This could definitely happen.

9:47 A-rod and Sheffield ground out. But lead is down to five. Maybe the Curse is just setting the Sox up for the ultimate kill.

9:52 … Or not. Johnny Damon homers again and is now five innings away from becoming the first Bostonian inducted into the Bucky Dent/Aaron Boone Middle-Name Club. I think I see a fork poking out of Vazquez’s arm.

9:56 Fox’s Tim McCarver makes a scary point. Manny Ramirez has no RBI in this series and yet the Sox are likely going to win it. How does that happen? How does Damon hit two home runs? How can I find away to dull this pain?

10:58 Phony apathy isn’t working. I’m still upset and I just realized a horrible Catch-22. If, make that when, the Yanks lose, we Yankees fans can’t complain about losing because Red Sox fans will invariably reply that they’ve lost for 86 years. So not only can they gloat that their team is better than ours, they can also gloat that their team is worse than ours. Oh, the misery!

11:00 The Sox just brought in Pedro Martinez to pitch the seventh? Why?

11:03 Bernie Williams ropes a double off the center field wall on an 0-2 pitch to score Hideki Matsui. 8-2 Yanks with no outs. Are the ghosts alive after all?

11:05 Lofton singles home Williams and it’s 8-3. The “Who’s Your Daddy” chant is deafening. My roommate has begun constructing a rudimentary voodoo doll of Sox manager Terry Francona.

11:12 Our adopted son gets out of it, but the crowd is alive. The likelihood of a comeback is smaller than Pedro’s midget, but the Yanks are back within range of the Curse.

11:15 Just kidding! Bellhorn goes deep off Tom Gordon. Momentum gone. Hope gone. Curse gone. Game over. The 1918 chant has an answer.

12:01 It’s official. The Sox are in the Series. Did I just say that? Congrats Sox, you’ve earned my respect. I tip my cap to you, but just for tonight. Rest assured the rivalry endures, and I will be rooting for the NLCS Winner, even if I have to root for, sigh, Roger Clemens.

Mike Hume may be emailed at mhume@fcnp.com