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On the Diamond
Yankees relaxed one day after humililating defeat
Posted: Sunday October 17, 1999 08:29 PM
By Jamie MacDonald, CNN/SI
BOSTON -- Kaboom. With one offensive explosion in Game 3, the Red Sox gave their tortured fans a chance to do what makes them most happy.
Celebrate a win over the New York Yankees. And like many of the bleary-eyed fans who took their celebrations deep into Saturday night in the Back Bay, the atmosphere here before Game 4 did suffer a bit of a hangover.
Much like the scene in the South Bronx after Game 1, where Game 2 featured a number of late arrivals and no-shows, Fenway Park on Sunday evening was not nearly the pre-game madhouse it was before Game 3.
Maybe it was the Patriots. But as a local broadcaster pointed out after the Pats lost 31-30 to the Dolphins, the best thing Bledsoe and the boys have going for them is the Boston Red Sox.
Indeed. So if Boston is a nicer place when the Sox win, spirits are even higher when a) they beat the Yankees, and b) they are winning in the playoffs. Beating the Yankees in the playoffs is a dream sequence for locals.
Mr. Manhattan
Along with any popularity contest, Derek Jeter may also be able to win a mayoral race in New York City. But in Boston, well, Bostonians root for Nomar Garciaparra and would have it no other way.
In New York, Nomar sucks.
Here, Jeter sucks. A television crew was trying to coerce the Yankees shortstop into following him around for a night out in Boston. Jeter, coming out of the dugout at the time, laughed. "They don't like me here. You wouldn't want to go out with me here."
What, we lost?
While the scoreboard after Game 3 spoke a harsh reality of a playoff blowout in Boston, stretched and they laughed. They fooled aroundthe Yankees were surprisingly loose during their warmup period before the game. They and played schoolboy jokes on one another.
Chuck Knoblauch trotted around with his glove on his head. Scott Brosius sang along to the rap song blaring from the Fenway PA system. Shane Spencer was startled by a stretching band that was shot at him.
He panned his teammates with his arms out looking a bit like Cam Neely in "Dumb and Dumber" ("Who's the dead man who hit me the salt shaker", if you remember the line) only to spot Jeff Nelson with a guilty smile.
Then the team broke into parallel lines to throw to each other. Luis Sojo squatted like a catcher and flashed signs at Jorge Posada and Ricky Ledee, who took turns shaking him off again and again -- proving once again that everyone wants to be a pitcher.
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