2008 Woodie Awards
Yanks or Sox? Our Experts Hash It Out, Part 2 Sports Columnist
Brian Fitzsimmons Sports Columnist
Issue date: 9/22/05 Section: Sports
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Faithful fans who populate monumental Fenway Park every night with hopes of their Sox inching closer to the ultimate triumph? Check. Kevin Millar's bleached hair that he sports to trigger a quirky team-wide rally campaign? Check. Manny being Manny, and the Big Papi sending home runs over the green monster? Check. The Yankees occupying the driver's seat in the American League East division...Not so fast. The year of obscurity is in its last few weeks, and the Boston Red Sox find themselves as the poster boys for the season long thrill ride that unexpected teams thrived upon.
Entering the beginning of the week, the Sox lead the New York Yankees by 1 ½ games in their respective division. Though that is far from a comfortable lead, Red Sox Nation shouldn't panic and start reliving all the blunders that put them through almost a century of pure torture. Now that the curse is buried, and maybe even reversed, the Red Sox faithful should have one thing in mind: keep the World Series in Boston.
The 2005 season has been an everyday struggle for the "Evil Empire" and while fighting for their lives in the final weeks of the year, they have won five out of their last six. The runs have been plentiful and the pitching recently received a shot of adrenaline courtesy of Chien Ming Wang's unexpected return from a shoulder injury that sidelined him much of the second half. One theory that is in favor of the Sox is that the Yankee's timing is off.
Instead of waiting until the very ending of the season, the bats came out two weeks too early. They may cool down, and when they run into the gates of Yawkey Way, a massacre by the home team could bury "George Steinbrenner's baseball version of E-Bay's" playoff chances for good.
The Red Sox finish their season with two crucial series against division rivals with seven straight games at home. Fenway will host the Toronto Blue Jays for a four game set. These games are must wins, because too many times we see that teams hovering around the .500 mark spoil playoff chances for ball clubs. Following the four game set, the Sox get a chance to put the stake into New York's heart.