Day 38

Fresh Start_38: September
After the Baltimore Orioles beat the Blue Jays 3-2 the AL East was set. It took until the 158th game of the year but the AL East has a champion for 2016. With the loss the Blue Jays surrender the division to the Boston Red Sox. This, for me hurts on many levels. I knew the Yankees wouldn’t win the division and I figured that out a long time ago. That was no question, but the Wild Card is basically at this point over, and with that, the season. I always have a tough time at the end of the Yankee season. I feel like a person in New York City who is getting ready to leave a sublet apartment and getting ready to go to another for a short time. I have so much joy and excitement every April when baseball is fresh and new because it is my favorite sport and my favorite time of the year. Now a few days’ pass and Jets football gets back in my life and I indulge myself in that until February when pitchers and catchers start.
Baseball for me is a lifestyle… I don’t mean in the way actually a lifestyle, it just becomes part of my routine. It doesn’t take me long to adapt baseball back into my day where I take at the least an hour to sit and watch the Yankee game. I go to a few throughout the year and that is always fun, and I hope and wish that someday I could go every day, but there is a happiness that surrounds me when the broadcast comes on. This year is especially said with Mark Texiera retiring after Sunday afternoons ball game, and he was one of those players that was always reliable. Whether it be with the glove made of gold or the bat—showcased last night with the game winning grandslam. Tex was a cornerstone piece for the Yankee success and was one of the most productive Yankees in recent memory when he was on the field. Throughout the eight years Texiera has transended himself as one of the best and most liked Yankees. I will be doing a full column of Tex on Monday morning so stay tuned for that.
But, back to the subject at hand, with that walkoff victory last night against the Red Sox—keeping the playoff hopes alive for now, it came with a grain of salt. As I’ve said Boston won the division which means enemy champagne on home soil. While the Red Sox didn’t celebrate on the field, they sure did in the visiting clubhouse after the loss. I hate seeing the Yankees lose to the Red Sox and certainly late in the season. There is something about the arch rival celebrating victory that gets under my skin, and as a die-hard Yankees fan, that is expected. It’s the same thing when Brady and the Patriots win a big game, or have an incredible comeback, it just makes me angry.
I would say I am baseball fan, and I respect the game, but I wish the celebration waited until Boston for the sweet smell of winning and corks were popped. This is the closest thing for me since 2004 which as many of you remember as the breaking of curse for Boston. I was little when that happened, but I remember being pissed at school the next morning and even sheading a tear when my teacher brought up the game. And the reason this hurts so bad, is because of how close the Yankees are to the playoffs. The Yanks made it last year, but had a pathetic exist in the Wild Card game. This year the same outcome was possible, but I thought and still do think, if there is any way the bombers sneak their way into the playoffs, lighting would strike and the team would get hot and make a playoff run. While this team is young and inexpierenced, the team is certainly talented. NOBODY, and I mean NOBODY, thought this team would do anything after the deals made at the trade deadline. My dad and I for sure road the team off and started to prepare for next season. But it was fun watching this team—against all odds make it a race, and texting back and forth with him. I would like to still enjoy it throughout the playoffs, but we will see. I will never congratulate the Red Sox but they have had a great season. For David Ortiz this is special and congrats to him. I will not cheer him later in his last game but I respect his game and what he has meant. For some time, I wanted to see both the Yankees and Red Sox make it to the playoffs, and by the way the playoff bracket is set, they would have the opportunity to meet in the ALCS. This would bring back so many memories and I just wanted that for baseball and for the rivalry. It would bring back some old memories and get the rivalry back on its feet and be fun. But we will wait to see if that happens. The season is over, and as the late great Yogi Berra once said “it ain’t over, til it’s over.”
Sources:(mlb.com, espn.com, baseballreference.com)  

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