Quick Comments From The Golf Course

Because where else would a Sox fan be right now?

It was nice to finally see someone step up and deliver against the Yankees. And while I still think the Yanks will make it to the Series, at least they showed they are not the supernatural juggernaut everyone thought they were.

I'm not going to say anything mawkish or ridiculous like "Let's make Jeff Mathis an honorary member of Red Sox Nation!" Because first, that's just dumb and second, I hate the Angels as well. One of my favorite memories is Hendu cracking that homer off of Donnie Moore to keep the Sox in the '86 ALCS*. Ideally, one of those meteors from the "2012" commercials would hit the park during Game Four. But since that isn't likely to happen, I'll just applaud anything that makes life difficult for the Yankees. Mathis did, and so *clap* *clap* *clap*.

Mo Rivera looked ageless...have to give the man credit. He put himself in a jam in the 10th and worked right out of it. He's impressive as hell...damn it. I think Paps could be just as good...he has the talent. What he is missing is the mindset. Watching them both this year, I think that is the difference. Paps gets pumped up and wants to dominate. And that isn't a bad thing, but it can lend itself to getting too worked up, which I think is what happened in Game Three of the ALDS. Rivera is an assassin. He's ice on that mound. I think that is the better mindset overall. And heaven knows there is a large body of evidence to back that up.

Personally, what I enjoyed was Joba looking like a tool. He only got one out, gave up two hits and the critical fourth run for Anaheim. Glorious.

The other thing I noticed was that for the first time, this was a game the Yankees were lucky to be in, as opposed to the other way around. The Angels had a couple of chances to put this away. Bobby Abreu's bonehead play in the 8th, trying to stretch a double to a triple like he's Chone Figgins, cost the Angels an excellent chance to take the lead. And there was the 10th where they had corner runners with no outs and came away empty. But for once, it felt like the Angels were driving the action. Hopefully that will make the Yanks sweat a bit. After all, they have blown 2-0 leads (and greater) before...

Seriously, though, one of those "2012" asteroids would be just fine.

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* What makes it hard to enjoy this memory is what happened to Donnie Moore afterward. People forget he was injured when he pitched that game, which makes you wonder what the hell Gene Mauch was thinking leaving him out for a third inning of work. Then three years later he shoots his wife and kills himself, and this game was part of why it happened (Moore was clinically depressed). At the end of the day, all the ranting and slagging and histrionics aside (including mine)...it's just a damn game. But players kill themselves or drink themselves into oblivion while fans attack each other with abandon because of the shirt they happen to wear. There is a real dark side to professional sports that we collectively seem to be willing to ignore. All I know is, no one should ever be driven to kill themselves over a damn baseball game.