Three out of four ain't thrilling

I know that I could probably take more joy in this. Over two baseball-packed days, the Sox took three of four games from the Yankees. They played good, fundamental baseball, and their pitching was actually pretty good against a really scary lineup. David Murphy got his first major league home run, Mike Timlin showed that he has something left in the tank, Dustin Pedroia got a hit off Randy Johnson in what was possibly the largest height-imbalance in recent history, and the Yankees didn't get to clinch the division in their house against the Sox.

As much as there was to appreciate this weekend, it just lacked the intensity that a mid-September Red Sox-Yankees series should command. I think that the Yankee fans sensed that. The only real emotion they showed this weekend was booing David Ortiz for some blown-out-of-proportion comments he made about the MVP. Every time he came up, the fans booed, and every time Jeter came up, the crowd went out of its way to kiss his butt and chant "MVP! MVP!" Is that the best that we can come up with? That's the only rallying point left on this season? Well, that's sort of correct. The whole thing is rather sad, actually.

I got a bitter start to the weekend's games on Saturday- we were in the car and had AM-880 on, which is the WCBS station out of New York. Don't look at me, that's one of my wife's pre-set stations. It's her car. I think she likes listening to the New York traffic reports. At any rate, the broadcasters went to a remote reporter doing a piece from the Bronx, where the Yankees were having their annual Fan Fest prior to the games. The guy described all of the events and attractions, one of which was a dunk tank. Inside the dunk tank was "a guy wearing a Red Sox uniform. He's really wet."

That just made me sad and a little angry. I know- I KNOW that it probably says something more about me than about Yankee fans, but when I hear about Yankee fans, or see someone wearing a Yankees hat or jersey- my first thought is that they're probably a bad person. I automatically assume that they're a morally void, mindless drone who cares nothing about baseball in general and only worships the fact that the Yankees can buy as many wins as necessary, every year.

I'm wrong, I know I'm wrong- but not always, and not all the time, not completely. I can forgive anyone who grew up in the Bronx, or even in Manhattan- they didn't have much choice. I can understand foreigners or immigrants who love the Yankees. They represent everything big about America, both good and bad, but always confident and usually victorious. It's not until you move here that you see the not-always flattering underbelly. Though I haven't found most Yankees fans, both new and old, to be the most critical thinkers about their team or baseball in general, so they might not ever realize what the presence and behavior of the Yankees means to baseball.

Overall, I think it just struck me as being in bad taste. Dunking a Red Sox player when the Sox are 10 or 11 games out in the playoff race. They'd be better dunking a Mets guy, or a A's guy, or even a Tigers guy. I'm glad I wasn't watching it on TV- I can just imagine that the guy in the dunk tank was wearing a Jon Lester jersey.