Yankee Killer

My son Quinn turns one tomorrow. On the day he was born last year, Kenny Rogers shut down the Yankees in the Playoffs to take a two games to one lead. The Indians defeated the Yankees in extra innings tonight to take a two game lead in the series. It was the first intriguing game of the postseason. Pettite and Carmona locked in a pitcher's duel. Mariano Rivera like an aging bullfighter mowed down Indian batters tonight. His stuff was almost too good. A strike-three rising fastball that soared over Posada's glove nearly put the winning run on in the tenth but the Yanks held. I think the New Yorkers may have been overlooking the Indians just as they did the Tigers last year. The one thing you have to wonder about if you are a Yankee fan is whether they have run out of gas. They've had severe outages throughout the season, especially at the beginning. The Orioles beat them nine times. This is not a good time to go into a funk. I'm having trouble getting used to watching the playoffs on TBS. The coverage is as bland as when they do NBA games. The voices sound familiar as though the annnouncers are trying to imitate Joe Buck and others--but it's not the old standbys--it's guys like Steve Stone who used to do Cubs games with Harry Caray.

My daughter says she likes baseball better than football because you get to go "home." We'll see if the curse of Quinn Smith holds for another year.

I'll stick to my Red Sox World Series prediction. Their infusion of young talent at the end of the season was impressive. They act as though they have something to prove.