Ten Years After: 2004 ALCS 7: Red Sox 10, Yankees 3

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Red Sox - 240 200 011 - 10 13  0
Yankees - 001 000 200 -  3  5  1

Peter Gammons, ESPN: "The most anticipated game in baseball history."

John Powers, Boston Globe: "Seventy-eight years, it has been, since the last time the Yankees lost the final two games of a best-of-seven series at home. ... [U]nless the beleaguered Bombers can win tonight's American League Championship Series finale at the Stadium, they'll become the first ball club ever to blow a 3-0 lead and go down as the biggest chokers in the history of organized baseball."

Gordon Edes, Boston Globe: "Can 86 years of tainted history be swept clean by one sweet, absurdly improbable act of redemption, the likes of which has never been seen in hardball history? ... After what we have witnessed the last three days, is there anyone of the non-pinstriped segment of society who believes the Sox are not capable of finishing what will eclipse all the bitter disappointments of the past century as the defining moment of this franchise?"

Eric Wilbur, Boston Globe: "There is a Game 7 tonight. Keep saying that and let it sink in. These are unprecedented moments in Red Sox history that we're witnessing. Everything is going Boston's way in this ALCS against the Yankees, and not against the Olde Towne Team. They've already overcome a 3-0 deficit, something no team in baseball history has ever done. There are no records for what a team has done in the seventh game after completing such a historic turnaround because again, IT HAS NEVER BEEN DONE."

Karen Guregian, Boston Herald: "For the Yankees, this is no longer just about advancing to the World Series. It's no longer just about continuing to torture their archrivals, and their fans. ... Tonight, in Game 7, it's about saving face. It's about avoiding the biggest choke job baseball has ever witnessed. It's about sparing themselves the embarrassment of living with that dubious label for posterity: losers of a 3-0 lead. No team has ever coughed up that kind of lead in a baseball best-of-seven series. No team has ever come back from that deficit. No team has ever rallied to win from that far behind. Ever."

Thomas Boswell, Washington Post: "What are the stakes now? If the Red Sox, the team synonymous with collapses, misfortune and despair, win Game 7, then, in a blink, the blackest mark in Yankees history will actually be darker than any disgrace in all Boston annals. If the Red Sox somehow win one more game, it won't make up for the last 86 years without a world title, while the Yanks have amassed 26 of them. ... But it will, for at least the next decade, and perhaps the next century, allow every Red Sox fan anywhere to face any New York fan and say, without fear of contradiction, 'How does it feel to root for a team with the biggest payroll ever that has the biggest choke in the history of the game?'"

We scare 'em shitless just by showin' up alive!

Finally, here is a shot of Newsday's Long Island early edition for the morning after Game 4. I don't know if this was simply a planned cover which was then scrapped when the Red Sox won in extra innings or if any copies were actually printed.

Joy of Sox

October 20, 2004: "The Most Anticipated Game In Baseball History"
October 20, 2004: They Need Help
October 21, 2004: ALCS Game 7: Boston 10, New York 3
October 21, 2004: With Apologies To Bob Dylan
October 22, 2004: Lifes Rich Pageant
March 30, 2005: ALCS 7: Red Sox 10, Yankees 3