Enjoy Vermont, Alex. Beautiful country, indeed.

The standings don't mattah a lick to fans like the one you encountered. They reflexively respond to Yankee gear like butane responds to flame, which is fine.. just not my style.

I'm always polite to Sox fans, no matter the standings, or the situation. Shook hands with the ones who sat in front of me celebrating Game 7 ALCS 2004, and wished them luck in the Series... even if I didn't mean it...

There's been a lot of talk this season about Beckett's development as a pitcher. But his curveball looks pretty flat - a far cry from a Flash Gordon curveball. In fact, it's even looks flatter than a Scott Proctor curveball. It seems the reason he's having more success is simply that he's only throwing 80 fastballs per game instead of 100 fastballs per game. And a little variation makes a 95 mph fastball harder to hit. But I'm not convinced he's on his way to taking the mantle of 'best AL pitcher' from Johan Santana anytime soon.

2 He snapped off a few good ones yesterday. I think a lot of what's going into his "development" angle is that he was so bad last year that this year is great in comparision.

1

not to start a story telling session but ny fans are surely not all like you. my first time in nyc a few years back, me and my buddy went to a bar for lunch and a drink after the long drive and parking at the hotel. we went outside to have a smoke and some dude walking by got up in my face because i had a sox cap on. i love talking with fans of other teams though and generally like sitting next to them at games becasue you egt that different perspective and learn things about the players you may not normally know.

1 Right. It's paht of the New England cultchaah to despise the Yankees - little old ladies and toddlers alike!

Personally, I get a kick out of igniting tempers over my Yankees gear, although when times are tough I prefer to don my Tampa Yankees cap and pretend that I'm from Florida. :)

It's not just New England. I can still remember going to my first MLB game as an eight-year old in Kansas City, the Royals vs. the Brewers. I was dressed down in the parking lot by some old codger for wearing a Yankees hat. And I was eight!

4 yeah, certain fans of all creeds and colors take the 'enemy' 'rivalry' 'hate' thing waaaay too far.

sometimes it's hard not to take the crap you hear from a rival fan personally, I mean, they are insulting your FAMILY, right? but anybody who physically gets up in someone's grill is seriously lacking perspective in life.. and is nobody I want to be around.

7 by colors I mean team colors, lest anybody think I'm brining race into the discussion.

Back in '99 when I was living in Seattle, the Yankees swept a series at Safeco Field. At the end of Sunday's game, a couple of guys with Yankees caps paraded through the concourse pretending to sweep it clean while chanting, "Sweep! Sweep! Sweep!"

I looked at my girlfriend and said if someone ever tried that at Fenway (or the converse), there would be an altercation. Seattle fans were too nice.

Of course, even here in Syracuse, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting someone wearing a sox hat these days.

7 Some guy got in my face because he couldn't tell the difference between a Brooklyn Dodger cap and a Boston Red Sox cap. I ignored him, which must've pissed him off. The reason I ignored him, because I had no idea as to why he was yelling "Boston Sucks." This was in Detroit, back in 2003; I remember Weaver had started the game.

I've been hoping that Jeter is the DH today, and Betemit plays short. With Wang pitching and the day-game effect (white shirts in the crowd), if our usual shortstop is out there we'll be eating lots of pasta divingjeter for lunch.

I find the whole "Boston sucks" thing really bush, if only because it's so...so Red Sox. I mean, last night was a fun game - not exactly an artistic success, but lots of interesting goings-on and a satisfying Yankee win in the end. And there are thousands of drunk assholes yelling, "Boston sucks!" Why? To me, the point of the game was the Yankees, not the Red Sox; why not cheer the Yankee win rather than the Red Sox loss?

For years, RSN has tended to view their fortunes in light of the Yankees - yelling "Yankees suck" as the Pats were winning the Super Bowl. I really hate to see Yankee fans fall to that level

I actually like being jeered when I wander into enemy territory. In February 1999, I was in Boston on business and decided to go to a Bruins game. It also happened to be the day the Yankees acquired Roger Clemens. During one of the intermissions, I went up to the concession to buy a beer and a hotdog and the vendor asked to see my driver's license. He looked at it carefully, handed it back to me and said something like "You're from New York. I am not serving you." Thinking he was joking, I laughed a little, but he repeated, "You got Clemens, I am not selling you anything". Realizing he was serious, I moved on to another stand, but this time bought a soda instead.

12 word. I thought "19-18" was bush, too.

nothing was more bush to me than, "just say no!" one of my favorite baseball moments ever when Darryl shut them up.

6 On the other hand, people in Baltimore seem to treat you better if you wear Yankees gear. It's almost as if they appreciate the infusion of tourism dollars into the local economy (or realize that they are outnumbered).

12 "I really hate to see Yankee fans fall to that level."

With all due respect, painting all fans of a team with a broad brush ("so...so Red Sox") and considering yourself and the other supposedly definitive fans of your team far above that other team's fans is the level I'd prefer to avoid.

12 Agreed...but I think that's the result of the Yankees trendiness. Far too large a percentage of people who go to YS aren't really fans, but rather loudmouths looking to drink beer and misbehave in the Bronx.

12 Living in Boston, I get to see the best and worst of this baseball-crazed town. The best part is that it keeps baseball in the news all year long -- I love that. The worst is that people lose perspective, and sometimes treat the rivalry as real life.

In my professional career, I prefer not to disclose I'm a Yankee fan since I realize some people will actually dislike me for it. While this is patently ridiculous (after all, die-hard Red Sox fans don't switch to rooting for the Yankees if they move to NY), it's a distraction I'd rather not have at work.

16 Sorry Josh, but I don't see the problem with looking down on Red Sox fans :)

living in L.A. in 96-97, (I was there for 6 years) several years before the Angels took ownership of the Yanks, I actually felt sorry for Angels fans, they were so outnumbered when NY came to town.
It wasn't that Yanks fans were getting in their faces or anything, it was that there were like twice as many of us in their park.
I was almost embarrassed to be part of the invading swarm. Poor little kids in Angels gear having to suffer these boisterous fans from another planet.
I got over that feeling for good when the Angels fortunes changed, and the rally monkey emerged.. but by then, it was time for me to get back to NY anyway.

"1918" at least had the virtue of being true, even if it was cruel.

Neither "Yankees suck" nor "Boston sucks" have that. Worse, they're totally unoriginal. I mean, damn, try harder. It depresses me to hear Yankees fans sinking to that level.

I remember the look on the bartenders' face when I was up in NH during the 2003 World Series when I walked up to him with a Yankees cap on and asked him to put on the WS. He eventually did as I asked, allowing me to watch a frustrating loss. I think that made him feel a little better.

16 Nah, I don't have nearly as much of a problem with smug superiority. That's the level Yankee fans have been at for years.

Actually, I think that kind of chanting is bush league regardless of who does it; and, of course, I'm not talking about Red Sox fans in toto, but the WEEI types. When I went to Fenway a couple of years ago, I had a great time with the fans around me in the center field bleachers - we were baseball fans talking about baseball.

Having said all that, there is a kind of insanity that is specific to RSN as a group (not necessarily as individuals), and I think the Super Bowl chanting says something about it.

Not that Yankee fans are necessariy better, just different. Fans of other teams have a point when they identify an arrogance and entitlement among many Yankee fans (again, the sports radio callers), and I don't like that either.

0 So does that mean Em's folks are Sawx fans? If so, lament with me brother.

Oakland used to have more Yanks fans. It's pretty much swung the opposite way. Those dynasty years while in was in college were great times. There's way more agressiveness by A's fans now. I don't let me wife wear Yanks gear there anymore. Sad really.

13 I don't like being jeered in enemy territory. Too many clowns out there, and it only takes one to try to start something. I wore a Dodgers cap to a Yanks-Tigers tilt, and I still got into it with someone.

Whenever possible, I try to wear something neutral. I have no problems holding my own in the knuckle game, I'd just like to avoid it whenever I can.

Having said that, the first time I was in Fenway (Yanks-Sox, Sept 1997), I sat in the bleachers. A Sox fan bought me a beer. But this was before the rivalry got out of hand.

Oh and...Let's go YANKEES!
Time to burn some worms.

22 : Well put. I agree with you on pretty much everything (all but the use of the term Red Sox Nation (RSN), a term I hate). I'd also add that the two team's specific insanities feed into one another.

Yankees going with the "A-team" again...no house money this time.

PeteAbe also has some interesting quotes from Moose. As one who likes Mussina, I really wish it hadn't come to this. Hopefully, he can rebound.

28 don't moose (meese?) always land on their feet, or is that another animal?

23

i dated a rabid yankees fan in college. i cant say we didnt have our differences, but large breasts tend to soften the animosity i felt towards her home team ;)

27 Fair enough on RSN. It's a convenient shorthand, not for all Sox fans, but for a certain breed - but I'll try to avoid it.

I have to say, I kind of like MFY. There's a certain elegant, straightforward simplicity to it that works.

Well, I made it into work this morning around 10:30. Told everyone I'd be late because I was at the game last night.

What a game! What an experience! I've been to other Yankees games before, but everyone was right, there really IS something about this rivalry and the electricity in the stadium when it's a Sox/Yanks game. The atmosphere was sheer lunacy.

It had everything I could've hoped for - great pitching - can't tell you what a thrill it was to be able to say I saw Roger Clemens pitch. Not so great...UGH! Farnsworth! Another home run from A-Rod, and even witnessing the Ortiz home run, pretty darn cool!

I said it was a good game when it was 4-1, but when it went to 4-3...THEN it was a GAME! Mariano Rivera...I love how the stadium goes fucking nuts over this guy, especially with a game like this on the line. And they go even nuttier when he shuts 'em down!

Some of the Sox fans were of course, big douchebags. Most were good sports, which was refreshing. I felt like I was in a cattle herding trying to get out of the stadium (even more interesting when you factor in I was with one of my girlfriends and her sister who was 8 month pregnant...talk about being a trooper!!). We almost got into a fight with a Sox dude because he pushed her trying to get through the crowd (there is one of the 'big douchebags' I mentioned), but we made it out of the crowd.

WOOHOOOO!

32 Yanks/Sawx at the stadium really is something else. My wife & I went to one last year (or was it 2 years ago already...), she had her Sawx garb on, my with my Yankz gear. We got no end of perplexed & amused looks from the gate attendants, vendors, etc. Fighting for the kids loyalties, when we have kids, will be epic.

Funny moment on YES the other night. Camera finds two smiling kids in the stands wearing their rival garb, holding a sign that reads "Best Friends."

Girardi cracked, "Yeah, for how long?"

Another reason I wouldn't mind if Girardi eventually replaced Joe. He gets it, and has a sense of humor, self-deprecating one at that. He could certainly handle the P.R. aspects of the job.

33 You owe me a nickel.

35 huh

35 freakin' hilarious >;)

36 You used my name! "my with my Yankz gear"

This shit ain't free!

37 Thanks ;)

36 Sorry, I just pictured you with this really blank look with your head shaking back and forth trying to figure out what that meant.

38 You deserved it. Makes me proud to see another quick-witted lunatic doing his thing.

"Sox got a seven-game lead (now six)"

That old lady (though she took it a bit far) just knows that until the Yanks are mathematically eliminated from the AL East, there's still a chance for 'em. You NY fans might be concentrating on the WC, but we Sox fans (well, a lot of us) still think the Yanks have a legit shot at the division.

12 I've always hated the "Yankees suck" chant. (Every time it starts, something seems to go badly for the Sox.) So as far as I'm concerned, NY can have the new version.

40 "NY can have the new version."

Nah, that's okay. Most of us don't care for it, either. Me, I tend to think people who do that on this side are front-runners or casual baseball fans who get caught up in the moment. Of course we have a lot of knuckleheads too, but who doesn't these days...

I asked about this late last night, I'll ask it again now. There was a scorer's decision that is completely inexplicable to me, and I wonder if anything was said about it on the air (or if anyone understands it better than I do).

Third inning, Hinske on second, one out. Pedroia drops a little bunt ten feet in front of the plate; Clemens throws him out easily for the second out as Hinske moves to third.

Pedroia is credited with a sacrifice. Wtf?????

1 So I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Park Slope, much to my deep dismay, has turned into a Little Boston, with that damned 'B' seemingly on every head.

I try to be gracious too, sliced, like you, no matter the situation, one baseball fan to another and all that. So on my way out of the bar one night--this must have been when we were within 4 or 5--I wished a Boston fan good luck.

"Thanks. I won't say the same to you" was his reply.

Couldn't tell if he was being ungracious or just pathetically fatalistic.

Oh, and as I was walking past the courthouse in lower Manhattan, I stopped a woman with a Red Sox shirt to ask what gives!

"There's a game tonight," she replied.

"No, I mean, ten years ago, I never saw a Red Sox fan in the street and today they're simply everywhere."

"It's because we finally won," she admitted.

Least she's honest.

44 Right, I have absolutely no problem with them coming out the closet.

Btw, after the first game of this series, I predicted that the Yankees would sweep - and I'm sticking by that. They'll do it just to give us another glimmer of hope, then they'll collapse against TB this weekend.

44

i find it hard top believe that there were sox fans in ny before that were too scared or ashamed to wear bos caps or whatever.. baseball is alot more popular now than 10 years ago. and if my large number of friends that moved to NYC says anything about percentages, there are prob more transplants these days than before.

47 Speaking of transplants; when I lived in Inwood in 2004, many residents wore B caps right after Boston won the AL championship and especially after Boston won the series. That lasted until Pedro left for Queens; when I went through after that, there were a lot more Mets caps.

It'd be a damn shame if the Yanks miss the playoffs. Of all the teams that have a chance of making it, only LAA scares me.

Of course, that's what I said last year about the Tigers.

Beautiful sinker down and in to put away Ortiz.

What a pitch.

King Kwang

That's an acceptable first inning, though the worms were spared. Based on quotes in PeteAbe's notebook column today, it looks like Wang has realized that the Red Sox have figured out the sinker. Therefore, he's changing his approach. So far so good.

Wow, Schilling's really down to 86mph?

That's unbelievable.

Do we think Derek has one last tear left in him, get back up to .330?

Ah, nice dunker into center.

52 You think he'll go to the slider more, then, especially in sinker counts?

Aren't those girls' sunglasses?

54 Well, he seems to throw the sinker just about all the time normally, so I think a fair mix of straight fastballs (which for him can reach 95-96) and sliders should keep hitters off balance enough that the sinker becomes effective late in counts (like with Ortiz), as a strikeout pitch and not just for inducing grounders.

Oh, Jesus, the man wears a cross, now?