 03/25/2004 9:20 AM ET
AL East: The battle resumes
Boston poised to beat Yanks, but there are intangibles
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Tom Singer
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| Kevin Millar's Red Sox may need a new slogan this season. (Harry How/Getty Images)
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In Boston, Sisyphus again begins pushing the rock up the hill, intent on finally getting it over the top, while hoping to not get crushed when it begins to roll back down.
Is he a new Red Sox pitcher we haven't heard of before, pounding the "rock" into his mitt on the "hill?"
No, for today's take on Boston's eternal quest to reach the top of the World Series mountain, we borrow from Homer's "Odyssey," which narrates the tale of the ancient Greek who "was compelled to roll a big stone up a steep hill; but before it reached the top of the hill the stone always rolled down, and Sisyphus had to begin all over again."
And so Red Sox Nation begins again, the 86th "next year" since the Olde Town Team last won a World Series.
"It's just a game" doesn't apply when it's the Yankees and the Red Sox. Baseball is the theater where the cities' rivalry is fought. It's a summer-long crusade for bragging rights.
Mostly, though, it's a battle of psyches, strong and brittle.
The Yankees expect to find a way -- to get the good hop, the flare into no-man's-land, the flat knuckleball.
The Red Sox wait for something to go wrong.
Lee Mazzilli, who now manages in Baltimore but for years shared the Yankees' karma as a coach on Joe Torre's staff, can stand back and talk about the mother of all intangibles.
"The Yankees have a uniqueness about themselves, in that they always find a way," Mazzilli said. "Joe instilled that ... a way of just finding a way to get it done. Whatever the reason is, they always find a way to get it done. That's what separates them from other teams."
Brian Cashman, the general manager, is also good at finding ways. Let's not forget how his snatch of Alex Rodriguez completely reversed expectations for the season, not a surprising influence to be wielded by the game's acclaimed top talent.
The Red Sox were approaching Spring Training as The Chosen -- and then, practically when the trucks to Ft. Myers were already loaded, A-Rod changed all that.
Or, did he? On the sabermetrics scale, he shouldn't make much difference. Second baseman Alfonso Soriano and third baseman Bret Boone combined to hit 44 home runs and drive in 122 runs last season. Rodriguez had 47 homers and 118 RBIs, and the new man at second, Enrique Wilson, has never been an everyday player in his seven Major League seasons.
But on the psychological side, Rodriguez meant everything. The Yankees again beat the Red Sox to the punch, again yanked the rug out from under them, again stuck out their tongue at their frustrated nemesis.
Again put Red Sox Nation into that familiar frame of mind, "OK, what's next?"
Boston, of course, should have known better than to ask that question. It should know by now that the dark fates are always happy to oblige.
Put it this way: Ramiro Mendoza, who never had such things happen to him when he pitched for the Yankees, got hurt the other day when he cut his finger throwing a baseball. Isn't throwing a baseball what pitchers are supposed to do?
"I don't know what's going on," Mendoza said with a blank expression. "This stuff keeps happening."
Stuff ... Trot Nixon herniates his disk driving to camp and is out until May; Nomar Garciaparra is walking around with his heel in a boot cast; Byung-Hyun Kim overworks his way onto the season-opening DL.
Physically, nothing the Red Sox cannot overcome. Gabe Kapler will be a revelation in Nixon's spot, Garciaparra expects to make Opening Day, and Bronson Arroyo looks primed to never let Kim back in.
But it's all just more emotional baggage. Kevin Millar may be called on to coin a new motto. "Cowboy Up" is so 2003. We suggest "Suck it Up."
Exclude the apocryphal 10th man -- the ghost of Babe Ruth -- and the Red Sox match up well to end New York's run of six consecutive AL East titles.
Boston's merciless and relentless 2003 offense -- Major League-high 961 runs, 238 homers, 649 extra-base hits, all-time record .491 slugging average -- lost only Todd Walker, and Pokey Reese's exciting glove makes it a net gain.
On the other hand, even that one-through-nine attack only brought the Red Sox close, which the Yankees are spinning into an advantage.
"They have some guys who had career years last season," Cashman says. "How will certain guys handle that? But it'll be a dogfight. I have huge respect for the opposition and what it is capable of doing. Personally, I always fear the worst."
And expects the best. "We haven't lost an AL East since I've been here," Cashman adds, "and don't plan on starting now."
The Yankees have moved way beyond the disappointment of losing Andy Pettitte and having Roger Clemens resurface next to him in Houston. Javier Vazquez is a nice foundation for rotation reconstruction, rated no less than the best pitcher in today's game by a rival GM who adds, "I'd take him over Kevin Brown."
Thing is, the Yankees have both. As well as Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield added to a lineup that last season averaged only a half-run less per game than did Boston's.
Sitting across the table from Cashman, Red Sox GM Theo Epstein says, "I'll see your A-Rod and Sheff, and raise you Curt Schilling and Keith Foulke."
So the pot grows. The potboiler thickens. You know the Red Sox will get that rock near the top of their mountain. What you don't know is what will happen next.
Tom Singer is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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