One of the Worst Performances In Yankee History

Game 5 of the 2024 World Series: Dodgers 7, Yankees 6. One of the worst performances in Yankee history, a set of 4 innings that were worse than the first 3 games combined, as bad as those were.

It started out so well. Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm hit back-to-back home runs in the 1st inning, giving the Yankees a 3-0 lead. Alex Verdugo singled Anthony Volpe home in the 2nd, to make it 4-0. Giancarlo Stanton hit one out in the 3rd, making it 5-0. And through the 1st 4 innings, Gerrit Cole had allowed no runs, no hits, just 2 walks. He wasn't overpowering, but he was getting the job done beautifully.

And then came the top of the 5th inning. Yankee Fans who saw this inning will see it in their nightmares until they die:

* Kike Hernández singled to right.

* Tommy Edman hit a fly ball to center field, and Judge dropped it.

* Will Smith grounded to short, but Volpe can't make the double play. Bases loaded, nobody out.

* Cole struck Gavin Lux out.

* Cole struck Shohei Ohtani out. He got to within 1 strike of getting out of it with no runs.

* Mookie Betts grounded to 1st. But 1st baseman Anthony Rizzo was too far from the base to make the play. And so was Cole, so Rizzo couldn't throw to him. It was like Bill Buckner and Bob Stanley in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, except that, this time, the 1st baseman did get the grounder. Stanley often gets blamed for not covering 1st, but Cole wouldn't have made it in time, either. This was not bad defense, it was just bad luck, and good hitting by Betts. Kike scored. 5-1.

* Freddie Freeman, who seemed to be out-hitting not just the Yankees but his own teammates, singled to center, scoring Edman and Smith. 5-3.

* Teoscar Hernández doubled to center, scoring Betts and Freeman. 5-5.

* Max Muncy drew a walk.

* And Kike batted again, grounding to short, and Volpe stepped on 2nd base to force Teoscar out, and finally end the inning. That's 5 runs on 4 hits (1 of them an infield hit), 1 walk and 2 errors.

It would have been understandable if the Yankees were shellshocked by this. But they loaded the bases in the bottom of the 5th -- but couldn't score. Somehow, Cole survived all this, and pitched a 1-2-3 6th inning. He went 6 innings, allowing no earned runs -- 5 unearned.

In the bottom of the 6th, Juan Soto and Judge walked, Chisholm grounded into a force play that eliminated Judge and moved Soto to 3rd, and Stanton flew to center to sacrifice Soto home. Rizzo drew a walk, but Volpe grounded out to end the rally.

It was 6-5 Yankees, and there was hope again. But the shadow of that 5th inning was too large: It didn't feel like all we had to do was get 9 more outs.

Cole and Clay Holmes got through the 7th. But manager Aaron Boone did not leave Holmes in to pitch the 8th, and Tommy Kahnle allowed singles to Kike and Erdman, and walked Smith. Again, bases loaded and nobody out. Boone brought the closer in, Luke Weaver. Lux hit a sac fly to center, scoring Kike. Ohtani was awarded 1st base on a very dubious catcher's interference call. And Betts flew to center, scoring, Edman. 7-6 Dodgers.

Dodger fans have ripped their manager, Dave Roberts, for the Dodgers' shortfalls over the last few years, with their only World Series win being in the "COVID Bubble" year of 2020. But with this "bullpen game," he outmanaged Boone -- or, rather, Boone let Roberts outmanage him.

The Yankees had men on 1st & 2nd with 1 out in the 8th, but didn't score. And they went very quietly in the 9th, with Walker Buehler striking Verdugo out swinging for the final out. The Dodgers had won the World Series in 5 games, despite Clayton Kershaw being injured and unavailable for the postseason. Freeman, of course, was named the Series Most Valuable Player.

For the Dodgers, a glorious moment, an 8th World Series win, 7 if you properly do not count the 1955 title in Brooklyn. For Roberts, total redemption, and putting himself in the conversation for election to the Hall of Fame once he retires. For Ohtani, a title that cements him as a baseball legend, though his own World Series performance was awful. For Freeman, who had previously won the Series with the 2021 Atlanta Braves, and Betts, who had previously won it with the 2018 Boston Red Sox *, possibly raised to the status of future Hall-of-Famer. (They might have gone on to make it, anyway.)

For the Yankees, a season of big moments, including the 1st American League Pennant in 15 years. And yet, it cannot be termed anything other than a failure. They scored just 7 runs in the 1st 3 games, won Game 4, took a big lead in Game 5 to forge some hope of the greatest comeback in baseball history... and then had the nightmare inning. Once again, the fundamentals were bad. The Yankees took out the fun, and left "da mentals."

To find a worse inning in postseason play, you have to go back to the 1929 World Series, Game 4, bottom of the 7th. It began Chicago Cubs 8, Philadelphia Athletics 0. The inning and the game ended A's 10, Cubs 8, and the A's won the Series the next day.

Of the 28 Major League Baseball teams that didn't get this far, most if not all of them would be content with what the Yankees did this season. But those of us who are Yankee Fans cannot be content with this.

Yes, the umpiring was bad. It was also bad in the ALDS against Kansas City, and in the ALCS against Cleveland, and we won, anyway. It shouldn't have been an issue this time. The Yankees had their chances, and blew them.

What can you do, except hope that team management will make the necessary changes for next season. But they won't, will they?

Yankee Season-Ending Dates, 1903-2024

August 11: 1994, end of regular season (Strike)

September 2: 1918, end of regular season (World War I)

September 26: 1954, end of regular season

September 27: 1903, 1931, end of regular season

September 28: 1930, 1975, 2008, 2014, end of regular season

September 29: 1919, 1935, 1940, 1946, 1968, 1974, 1991, 2013, end of regular season

September 30: 1924, 1934, 1945, 1971, 1973, 1979, 1984, end of regular season

October 1: 1933, 1944, 1967, 1970, 1972, 1989, 2023, end of regular season

October 2: 1917, 1966, 1969, 1983, 1988, 2016, end of regular season; 1932, Won World Series

October 3: 1909, 1920, 1948, 1965, 1971, 1982, 1990, 1993, end of regular season

October 4: 1916, 1925, 1970, 1987, 1992, end of regular season; 1955, Lost World Series

October 5: 1913, 1986, end of regular season; 1942, Lost World Series; 1953, Won World Series; 2021, Lost Wild Card Game

October 6: 1907, 1912, 1929, 1985, end of regular season; 1936, 1941, 1947, Won World Series; 1963, Lost World Series; 1997, 2002, 2011, Lost ALDS; 2015, Lost Wild Card Game

October 7: 1906, 1914, 1915, end of regular season; 1950, 1952, Won World Series; 2006, Lost ALDS

October 8: 1905, 1908, 1911, end of regular season; 1922, Lost World Series; 1927, 1939, Won World Series; 1995, 2007, Lost ALDS

October 9: 1910, 1959, end of regular season; 1928, 1938, 1949, 1958, 1961, Won World Series; 2018, 2020, Lost ALDS

October 10: 1904, end of regular season; 1926, 1957, Lost World Series; 1937, 1951, 1956, Won World Series; 1980, Lost ALDS; 2005, Lost ALDS

October 11: 1943, Won World Series

October 13: 1921, 1960, Lost World Series

October 15: 1923, Won World Series; 1964, Lost World Series

October 16: 1962, Won World Series

October 17: 1978, Won World Series

October 18: 1977, Won World Series; 2012, Lost ALCS

October 19: 2019, Lost ALCS 

October 20: 2004, Lost ALCS

October 21: 1976, Lost World Series; 1998, Won World Series; 2017, Lost ALCS

October 22: 2010, Lost ALCS

October 23: 2022, Lost ALCS

October 25: 2003, Lost World Series

October 26: 1996, 2000, Won World Series

October 27: 1999, Won World Series

October 28: 1981, Lost World Series

October 30: 2024, Lost World Series

November 4: 2001, Lost World Series; 2009, Won World Series

Game 4: Yankees Finally Show Up

Well, look who finally decided to show up at the World Series: The Yankees.

After yet another home run by Freddie Freeman put them in a 2-0 hole before they could even come to bat, it looked like the Los Angeles Dodgers would complete the sweep last night. But a funny thing happened on the way to that happening: It didn't.

In the bottom of the 1st, Gleyber Torres hit a drive down the right-field line. Mookie Betts reached over the fence to catch it, and did -- but a fan reached over and pulled the ball out of his glove. And that fan was assisted by another. They were thrown out of the Stadium, and have been banned from attending Game 5. As of this writing, no decision had been announced covering them thereafter. The umpires ruled fan interference, and Torres was out, which he would have been, anyway.

That was an ugly moment. But the Yankees and their fans were hanging on another ugly moment: The only comeback from three games to none in a postseason baseball series, when the Boston Red Sox cheated their way to victory over the Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series. Despite the Yankees taking the 1st 3 games, winning 19-8 in Game 3, Kevin Millar told the media, "Don't let us win tonight." But the Red Sox did win that night. And the next. And the next. And the next.

The idea that the Yankees, who had scored 7 runs in the 1st 29 innings of the Series, could score enough runs to beat the Dodgers 4 times in a row was ridiculous. They got a run on a groundout in the bottom of the 2nd to make it 2-1 Los Angeles. But going into the bottom of the 3rd, it was still looking like a sweep, by a Dodger team who, aside from Freeman, wasn't hitting a whole lot better.

But the Yankees loaded the bases in the bottom of the 3rd, and Anthony Volpe, born in Manhattan, grew up in Watchung, Somerset County, New Jersey, graduated from The Delbarton School, a Catholic prep school in Morristown, New Jersey, and attendee of the 2009 World Championship parade at the age of 8, fulfilled part of the dream by hitting a grand slam home run. Yankees 5, Dodgers 2.

But in the 5th, Will Smith hit a home run, and Freeman had another RBI. The Dodgers were within 5-4. Was this part of a terrible one-game collapse? No: Austin Wells hit one out in the bottom of the 6th. In the 8th, Verdugo, as he had in the 2nd, brought a run home on a groundout. Then Torres hit a home run.

Aaron Judge had reached base 3 times -- without a hit: He drew 2 walks and was hit with a pitch. Finally, later in the 8th, he singled Juan Soto home. Final score: Yankees 11, Dodgers 4.

Luis Gil started, but allowed 4 runs in 4 innings. Tim Hill got 2 outs in the 5th, Clay Holmes got the last in the 5th and all of the 6th to end up as the winning pitcher, Mark Leiter Jr. got 2 outs in the 7th, Luke Weaver got the last in the 7th and all of the 8th, and Tim Mayza pitched the 9th. Between them, the bullpen went 5 innings, no runs, 1 hit (Hill), 1 walk (Leiter), and 7 strikeouts.

As for the offense: 7 runs in 29 innings, followed by 11 runs 7 innings. I've said it many times over the last few years, echoing the line from the TV game show To Tell the Truth: "Will the real New York Yankees please stand up?"

"Don't let us win tonight." Is this the start of the 1st genuine 3-0 postseason comeback? Game 5 is tonight, at 8:00. Gerrit Cole starts against Jack Flaherty. If Cole is on his game, and the Yankees get the runs again, we go to a Game 6 in Los Angeles on Friday night. Game 7 would be in Los Angeles on Saturday night.

Impossible? No. Highly unlikely? The Yankees, especially in the postseason, have done many unlikely things. We shall see.

October 30, 1974: The Rumble In the Jungle

October 30, 1974, 50 years ago: "The Rumble in the Jungle" is held in Kinshasa, in the former colony of Belgian Congo, at this point called Zaire, and since 1997 called the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

George Foreman was the undefeated, undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World, 40-0,  and heavily favored to defeat former champion Muhammad Ali, 44-2. Ali was talking his usual trash, but most people thought Ali would lose. Indeed, there were some who feared that Ali would be killed in the ring.

Ali fooled them all. People who say Ali just leaned against the ropes in his "rope-a-dope" strategy and let Foreman tire himself out with punches are fools. I've seen the tape of the fight: Ali got in a lot of punches, enough to win every round except for the 2nd and the 6th.

Foreman would later tell an interviewer that, at the end of the 6th, Ali yelled at him, "Is that all you got, George?" And Foreman had to admit, "Yup, that's about it."

Through a months-long psychological campaign, including practically the entire black population of the continent of Africa in his favor and against the equally black Foreman – he had done something similar to Joe Frazier, who was puzzled by it: "I'm darker than he is!" – Ali had gotten into Foreman's head, just as he had done to Sonny Liston, Floyd Patterson, and just about everybody else he'd ever fought.

The referee was Zack Clayton, who had played in baseball's Negro Leagues, and for one of the great pre-NBA all-black teams, the New York Renaissance Five.

In the 8th round, backed up against the ropes, Ali managed to turn an exhausted Foreman around, toss a few jabs, and knock him on his can. Foreman tried to get up, but he ran out of time, and Ali was the winner by a knockout.

When David Frost went to interview him for the BBC after the fight, he pointed at the camera and said, "Is this thing on? I told you all that I was the greatest of all time when I beat Sonny Liston! I am still the greatest of all time! Never again doubt me! Never again make me an underdog until I'm about 50 years old!"

He was off a bit, as he probably should have quit at 36, after losing the title to Leon Spinks and then regaining it from him. But, by far more than his boxing prowess, by the force of his personality, and by the example he set as a man of (at least, in America) a minority race and a minority religion, making him, somewhat contradictorily, the champion of the underdog, he proved that he really was The Greatest... Of All Tiiiiiiiime!

He still is.

Built in 1952 under Belgian rule as the Stade Roi Baudouin, the site of the fight was renamed Stade du 20 Mai (for May 20, the anniversary of the founding of Zaire's ruling party) in 1967, and Stade Tata Raphaël (Father Raphael Stadium) in 1997, after the death of dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.

October 30, 1954: The NBA Begins Using the 24-Second Shot Clock

Danny Biasone, 1992

October 30, 1954, 70 years ago: The National Basketball Association starts the 1954-55 season, the 1st with the 24-second shot clock. Professional basketball would never be the same.

From their arrival from the rival National Basketball League in 1948 until the retirement of their star center George Mikan in 1954, the NBA was dominated by the Minneapolis Lakers. Although they had others who that would go on to the Basketball Hall of Fame -- forwards Jim Pollard and Vern Mikkelsen, and guard Slater Martin -- their game was mainly to get the ball in to Mikan, at 6-foot-10 the pro game's 1st great "big man," and let him lay it in.

But Mikan was not fast. The New York sportscaster Bill Mazer once said, "He was more like a stampeding elephant." And, unlike some later big men, he was unwilling to foul his way into shooting position, which, for him, wasn't a big area. So the Lakers would keep passing the ball around until Mikan, or somebody else, could get into the lane. This could take several minutes.

The only way to defend against this was to commit fouls, hope that a free throw was missed, and hope that someone could rebound the miss before Mikan could. Or, for the other team to do the same: Hold the ball, pass it around, for as long as possible until someone got inside before Mikan could.

This resulted in scores that even the 1990s New York Knicks version of Pat Riley would think were too low, bottoming out on November 22, 1950: The Fort Wayne Pistons attempted only 13 shots through the entire 48 minutes, and beat the Lakers, 19-18. The 4th quarter saw just 3 points from the Pistons, 1 from the Lakers. A few weeks after that, on January 6, 1951, the Indianapolis Olympians beat the Rochester Royals, 75-73. The final score wasn't the problem. The problem was that game went to 6 overtimes, an NBA record; and, in each overtime, the team that won the jump ball held the ball for nearly the entire 5 minutes before attempting a last-second shot.

The NBA was getting boring. Attendance was dropping. Teams were dropping out. When the NBA was founded as the Basketball Association of America in 1946, it had teams in Washington, Toronto, Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, Cleveland and Pittsburgh. By the start of the 1951-52 season, all of those teams were gone. Eventually, all of those cities but Pittsburgh would get new teams (although St. Louis eventually lost their replacement, and Chicago lost theirs before a 2nd replacement, the Bulls, succeeded). But big cities were losing teams, because fans didn't want to come out to see the games. Something had to be done.

In 1954, the owner of the Syracuse Nationals, Danny Biasone, had an idea: "I looked at the box scores from the games I enjoyed, games where they didn't screw around and stall. I noticed each team took about 60 shots. That meant 120 shots per game. So I took 2,880 seconds (48 minutes) and divided that by 120 shots. The result was 24 seconds per shot."

Biasone showed his findings to his general manager, Leo Ferris, and his head coach Al Cervi. Cervi ran intrasquad games with a stopwatch, and blew his whistle after 24 seconds without a shot. They agreed that 24 seconds worked well. Ferris talked to the other NBA GMs, and they adopted it for the 1954-55 season, although Biasone has gone down in history as the idea man: He is in the Basketball Hall of Fame, while Ferris is not. (Cervi is in, but was elected for what he did as a player.)

At first, the clock made players nervous. Dolph Schayes, the Nats' best player, said, "We thought we had to take quick shots – a pass and a shot was it – maybe 8–10 seconds... But as the game went on, we saw the inherent genius in Danny's 24 seconds. You could work the ball around for a good shot."

The shot clock, together with some rule changes concerning fouls, revolutionized NBA play. In the last pre-clock season, 1953-54, teams averaged 79 points per game; in the first year with the clock, 1954-55, the average was 93 points, which went up to 107 points by its fourth year in use, 1957-58. The increase in scoring led to an increase in attendance of 40 percent within a few years, to an average of 4,800 per game.

And, wouldn't you know it: The Nationals, the 1st team to work with the shot clock, and thus the team with the most exposure to it, won the 1955 NBA Championship. They got back to the Finals in 1956, but lost to the Philadelphia Warriors. Then Red Auerbach drafted Bill Russell for the Boston Celtics, and they used the shot clock better, and dominated the NBA for the next 13 years.

The 1955 NBA Champion Syracuse Nationals.

Biasone is at far left, Farris at far right, Cervi in the middle.

Number 4 is Hall-of-Famer Dolph Schayes.

The Nationals remained a good team, but Syracuse eventually proved to be too small a market for a major league sports team. In 1963, the Nats moved, becoming the Philadelphia 76ers, taking the place of the Warriors, who had moved to San Francisco a year earlier.

The American Basketball league of 1961-63 used a 30-second shot clock. The American Basketball Association started in 1967, and also used a 30-second clock. To get its teams ready for absorption by the NBA (4 of them were: The New York Nets, the Indiana Pacers, the San Antonio Spurs and the Denver Nuggets), they switched to a 24-second clock for 1975-76, which turned out to be the ABA's last season.

The NCAA resisted putting a shot clock in the college game, but allowed conferences to experiment with it, and some did, with enough success that the NCAA put in a 45-second shot clock in 1985. The college game was already growing in popularity, and the institution of the shot clock increased it. The clock was reduced to 35 seconds in 1995, and 30 seconds in 2015.

Biasone died in 1992, not long after the photo at the top was taken at the Nats' arena, the Onondaga County War Memorial, built in 1951, and now named the Upstate Medical University Arena. It is home to the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League. Ferris died in 1993, Cervi in 2009.

In 1996, ESPN held a panel discussion on what was the greatest team in NBA history. Bob Ryan of The Boston Globe said that the 1954 institution of the shot clock should be a demarcation line. He cited both Mikan and the NBA's 1st scoring champion, the leader of the Warriors who won the 1st NBA title in 1946-47, as players who would not have excelled under the new system: "I'm not gonna kid you, I don't think Jumpin' Joe Fulks makes it in today's NBA, except maybe as a 12th man. George Mikan? A good backup center. He was great in his time, deserved every accolade he ever got. But, today? He's Greg Kite with a hook shot."

(Ryan decided that the best team in league history was the 1986 Celtics. The other panelists chose teams like the 1967 and 1983 Philadelphia 76ers, and the 1987 Los Angeles Lakers. They also discussed the 1965 Celtics, the 1970 New York Knicks, the 1972 Lakers, the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers, and the Chicago Bulls team that had just gone 72-10 and won the title.)

*

October 30, 1954 was a Saturday. There were 3 games played in the NBA on that Opening Day. It would have made sense for the Syracuse Nationals to be among the teams scheduled, but they weren't. The other appropriate teams would have been the Lakers and the Pistons, the teams that played the 19-18 game. And they did:

* The New York Knicks beat the Minneapolis Lakers, 94-83 at the old Madison Square Garden. Without Mikan, no Laker scored more than the 18 of Clyde Lovellette. Carl Braun -- the man whose saying, "Swish!" whenever he hit a shot that hit nothing but net inspired Knick broadcaster Marty Glickman to use it on the air, and later Warner Wolf to do so in WCBS-Channel 2 recaps -- led all scorers in the game with 26. The Lakers moved to Los Angeles in 1960.

* The Fort Wayne Pistons beat the Milwaukee Hawks, 91-72 at the Milwaukee Arena. In 1974, it was renamed the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena. This was the 1st professional game for Bob Pettit, who scored 17 points, and went on to become the greatest player in Hawks history. The Hawks moved to St. Louis the next season, and to Atlanta in 1968. The Pistons moved to Detroit in 1957.

* And the Rochester Royals beat the Boston Celtics, 98-95 at the Rochester War Memorial. Like Syracuse's war memorial arena, former arch-rival Rochester's still stands and hosts minor-league hockey, the Rochester Americans, under the name of the Blue Cross Arena. But it does not host pro basketball: The Royals moved to Cincinnati in 1957, to Kansas City as the Kings in 1972, and to Sacramento in 1985. 

Game 3 Makes It Clear: This World Series Is Being Lost

Yankee Stadium II packed for its 1st World Series game in 15 years. The home crowd roaring. Derek Jeter throwing out the ceremonial first ball. It was all set for the Yankees to take over the Series and make the comeback.

And then Clarke Schmidt gives up a 2-run home run to Freddie Freeman. The air all goes out of the balloon. The game was essentially over before the Yankees even come to bat.

Schmidt didn't get out of the 3rd inning. Aaron Boone used 8 different pitchers. The Yankees didn't get a hit until the 4th inning. Just 3 hits and 5 walks in the 1st 8 innings. It didn't help that the umpires gave the Yankee hitters at strike zone the size of The Bronx, but that's not why we lost.

Aaron Judge went 0-for-3 with a walk. In this World Series, his batting average is .083, his on-base percentage is .154, and his slugging percentage is .063. In 3 games, he has 1 hit, no RBIs, and 7 strikeouts. For his career, in postseason play, his "slash line" is .196/.303/.430.

With 1 out in the bottom of the 9th, Anthony Rizzo drew a walk, and advanced to 2nd base on a wild pitch. With 2 out, Alex Verdugo hit a home run, so we wouldn't be shut out. Then Gleyber Torres, who had drawn 2 of the walks, grounded out. Dodgers 4, Yankees 2.

Two runs in the 1st 9 innings, 3 times. Only once in the entire World Series thus far have the Yankees put back-to-back hits together. This hitting is so pathetic, I can't even credit the Dodgers' pitching. The Yankee slash line is .186/.284/.294.

And the Dodgers' have not been that much better: .213/.296/.457. They've scored 14 runs, and Freeman has driven in 7 of them. Shohei Ohtani has been a bust, too, going .091/.286/.182. The Series has been there for the taking. The Yankees haven't taken it. This Series isn't being won, it's being lost.

The Yankees were so good in September and the first half of October. Now, it looks like they used up all their talent and luck just to get into the World Series.

Game 4 is tonight, at 8:00. Luis Gil starts for us. As of this writing, at 2:40 PM, the Dodgers had not announced their starting pitcher. I don't think it matters: The Yankees won't hit.

The season ends tonight. It ended with a Division title, 2 postseason series won, and a Pennant -- but also with one of the most pathetic World Series performances ever. Is that a success?

The Mets are no longer the New York team with the most recent Pennant. The Yankees are. And the Yankees are still the New York team with the most recent World Series win. But the Red Sox have won 2 World Series since the Yankees last won (and the Sox had to cheat to get them). Is that something with which we should still be concerned?

There's a chance we could lose both Juan Soto and Gerrit Cole to free agency. And if Hal Steinbrenner's commitment is to Soto 1st, he may not lift a finger to sign Cole 2nd.

And Judge may never get a better chance to win a World Series -- with this franchise.

It could be a long night. It will be a very long off-season.

October 29, 2014: The Madison Bumgarner Game

October 29, 2014, 10 years ago: For only the 2nd time since Bud Selig -- now, thankfully, overseeing his final game as Commissioner -- declared in 2003 that the League that wins the All-Star Game would have home-field advantage for the World Series, a Series goes to a Game 7. That means that the Kansas City Royals will host it at Kauffman Stadium.

And the 1st time was in 2011, and the St. Louis Cardinals won Games 6 and 7 to beat the Texas Rangers. And the last time the road team has won a Game 7 in the World Series was the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates, 35 years earlier. And that means that, despite most of the San Francisco Giants having at least 1 ring (2012) and many of them 2 rings (2010 and 2012), and the Royals are in their 1st World Series in 29 years, the Giants have no chance, right?

Wrong. The teams trade blocks of 2 runs in the 2nd inning, and in the top of the 4th, Pablo Sandoval reaches on an infield single, and advances to 3rd on a single by Hunter Pence. Michael Morse singles him home to give the Giants the lead.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy gambles, sending Madison Bumgarner out to pitch the 5th on 2 days' rest. "MadBum" gave up a hit, but, in a display that wouldn't have seemed so courageous as recently as the 1970s, didn't allow another baserunner until the 9th, retiring 14 batters in a row.

With 1 out to go, Alex Gordon hits a liner that rolls to the wall, and he gets to 3rd. Salvador Perez had already gotten the game-winning hit in the AL Wild Card game. But Bumgarner induces a foul popup that is caught by Sandoval, completing the longest save in World Series history: 5 full innings.

The Giants win, 3-2, and take their 3rd World Championship in the last 5 years -- their 8th World Series win, counting their New York period. The Royals would have to wait at least 1 more year. Gordon would have to wait 1 more World Series game to become a baseball legend.

Game 2 Was Worse

Game 2 of the World Series was worse for the Yankees than Game 1 was.

We were counting on 2 things: Scoring at least 3 runs in the 1st 9 innings, and Carlos Rodón pitching against the Los Angeles Dodgers as well as he did in the American League Championship Series against the Cleveland Guardians. Neither occurrence happened.

Tommy Edman of the Dodgers hit a home run in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Juan Soto hit one in the top of the 3rd. But Aaron Judge followed that by flying out. In the bottom of the 3rd, Rodón gave up back-to-back home runs to Teoscar Hernández and Freddie Freeman, making it 4-1, and that pretty much ended the game in the Dodgers' favor.

Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. The key word, though, is "can" -- not "will." Gleyber Torres led off the game with a walk, but was stranded by, among other things, an Aaron Judge strikeout. Anthony Rizzo drew a walk with 1 out in the 2nd inning, and was stranded. Judge struck out again in the 6th. Rizzo was hit by a pitch with 2 out in the 7th, and was stranded. Through 8 innings, the Yankees had just 1 hit, the Soto homer.

The Yankees did threaten in the 9th. Soto led off with a single, and a wild pitch by Blake Treinen got him to 2nd base. But Judge struck out for the 3rd time in the game. Giancarlo Stanton singled Soto home. Jazz Chisholm singled. Rizzo was hit by a pitch again, loading the bases with 1 out, and bringing Anthony Volpe to the plate as the potential go-ahead run. But Volpe struck out, and Jose Trevino flew to left to leave the bases loaded and end the game.

Dodgers 4, Yankees 2. The Yankees trail the World Series, two games to none.

You cannot score 2 runs in the 1st 9 innings twice, and expect to win the World Series. They will have to score big in Games 3 and 4, just to force a Game 5.

The Yankees did come back from 2-0 down to beat the Dodgers in 1956 and 1978 (and the Braves in 1958 and 1996) -- but then, the Dodgers did it to the Yankees in 1955 and 1981, and swept the Yankees in 1963. (For the Yankees' 8 World Series wins over the Dodgers, none of them was a sweep.)

And if you're looking to 1978 for inspiration, Game 3 will be started by Clarke Schmidt, as it was then by Ron Guidry. Schmidt is no Ron Guidry. Chisholm is a decent 3rd baseman, but he's no Graig Nettles, whose defensive play turned the tide. And nobody, not even Soto and Stanton, has been a Reggie Jackson this October. At this point, I'd settle for a Roy White, whose home run opened the scoring in Game 3 and started the comeback.

As they say in medical dramas, I'm not going to lie to you, it doesn't look good.

October 27, 2004: The Curse of the Bambino Is Broken

October 27, 2004, 20 years ago: The Curse of the Bambino is finally broken. Well, sort of. The Boston Red Sox win their 1st World Series in 86 years with a 3-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals, in Game 4 at Busch Memorial Stadium.

Derek Lowe ends up as the winning pitcher in all 3 postseason series-clinchers for the Sox, the 1st pitcher of any team to do so. (Andy Pettitte became the 2nd in 2009.) Johnny Damon hits a home run for Boston. Manny Ramirez is voted the Series' Most Valuable Player‚ as he leads Boston to the 4-game sweep with a .412 batting average and 4 RBI. The last out was Cardinal shortstop Edgar Renteria grounding back to pitcher Keith Foulke, who threw to 1st baseman Doug Mientkiewicz.

With the New England Patriots having won Super Bowl XXXVIII 9 months earlier, this win also gave Boston its 1st MLB-NFL double. They would achieve it again in 2018-19.

Some people had joked that the Red Sox winning the World Series would be a sign of the Apocalypse. Well, according to the Bible, one such sign is the Moon turning blood red -- and, in fact, there was a full lunar eclipse during the game. (Although this was hardly a surprise, as newspapers and news networks had mentioned it before nightfall.)

A sign held aloft at the victory parade in Boston sums it all up: "Our (late) parents and g'parents thank you." So many people said, "We wanted them to win it in our lifetime, just once." Well, as Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe, who has written more and better about the franchise than anyone, said in the following weeks, "There was no spike in the obits. We checked. All those people who said they couldn't die until the Red Sox won a World Series decided to live a little longer."

Of course, they didn't win it just once in those people’s lifetimes – except for those who died between October '04 and October '07.

And now that we know that the Red Sox are a bunch of lying, cheating, dirty, low-down, no-good bastards, we can tell the truth: They still haven't really won a World Series since 1918*. The Curse lives.

So all those Sox fans who weren't old enough to suffer through Harry Frazee, Johnny Pesky, Harry Agganis, Tony Conigliaro, Larry Barnett, Bobby Sprowl, Bucky Dent, John McNamara and Bill Buckner – though most of them did get through what Nomar, Pedro and Grady put them through – and showed more bastardry in victory than their forebears ever showed in defeat can kiss my 27 rings (well, 7 in my lifetime – for the moment), and then they can kiss my Pinstriped ass.

How I Can Be Both a Democrat and a Yankee Fan

Robert F. Kennedy and Mickey Mantle, 1965

People have asked me how I can be both a Yankee Fan and a Democrat.

The pairing doesn't seem to make sense. The New York Yankees, more than any other sports team in the Western Hemisphere, represent money and entitlement, just like the Republicans. And, just as the Republicans decided in 1964 that, if the Democrats don't want racists in their party anymore, we'll be happy to take them, the Yankees were slow to integrate: Of the "original" 16 Major League Baseball teams, the only ones that took longer than the Yankees (in 1955) were the Philadelphia Phillies (in 1957), the Detroit Tigers (in 1958), and the Boston Red Sox (in 1959).

In contrast, the Democratic Party has long stood for the underdogs, the poor, the victims of various forms of bigotry. If I'm going to be a Democrat, in a metropolitan area with 2 different teams, then I should support the team with the perennial underdog status: The New York Mets.

So... Why am I a Democrat? It was partly because of my family. My parents were both Kennedy New Frontier Democrats. My mother's parents were FDR New Deal Democrats. A teenager in the 1980s, I could have rebelled, gone with the "cool kids," and become a Reagan Republican. But too many of those kids had bullied me for my physical disability that made walking difficult. This gave me an affinity for the underdog groups, and for the Party that has stood up for them.

How c

And... Why am I a Yankee Fan? I can't credit most of my family this time: Both of my parents were Met fans while growing up in Newark, New Jersey. My father's parents, both from Newark, were fans of one of the previous New York teams that moved to California after the 1957 season, the now-San Francisco Giants. My mother's mother, from Queens, was a fan of the other New York team that moved away, the now-Los Angeles Dodgers, the team the Yankees are about to play in the World Series for the 12th time.

But my grandfather, who grew up first in Manhattan and then in The Bronx, was a Yankee Fan. He was old enough to walk down the street and watch the original Yankee Stadium being built. He sat in the Bleachers, and watched Babe Ruth, even before Lou Gehrig.

In 1977, my parents wanted to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary without, you know, the kid. And since my father's parents were not an option -- Grandpa was already dead, and Grandma was taking years to die -- they dropped me off with my mother's parents. While I was there, Grandpa watched the Yankee game. He got to me before Grandma did, before she could hook me onto the Mets. Thank God he did!

And how do I reconcile the two? How can I be a Democrat with the most "Republican" of baseball teams?

Actually, it's not that simple. Yes, the Yankees have had, as fans, Republicans such as Mayors Fiorello La Guardia, Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg. While the Mets have had Democrats such as Governors Hugh Carey and George Pataki; Mayors Robert Wagner, Abe Beame, Ed Koch and  Bill de Blasio.

On the other hand, the Yankees have had Democrats such as President Franklin D. Roosevelt; Governors Mario and Andrew Cuomo; Mayors David Dinkins and Eric Adams; and Senator Chuck Schumer. While the Mets have had Republicans such as Mayor John Lindsay.

It's worth noting that the 2 most corrupt Presidents ever, both Republicans, Richard Nixon and Donald Trump, have been known to show up at both teams' ballparks, depending on which one seemed to be better at the time. Front-runners, both of them.

My last live game at the old Yankee Stadium came shortly before the 2008 Republican Convention. In his private box, Giuliani had the Presidential nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona, who famously won a bet with Giuliani when the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Yankees in the 2001 World Series. When the DiamondVision camera focused on McCain, a war hero was admired even among people who didn't like Republicans, the near-sellout crowd cheered. When the camera moved over to show Giuliani, who had also run for President that year, but won no Delegates, and was no longer "America's Mayor," he got the hell booed out of him. Both of them laughed.

Although the late Yankee owner George Steinbrenner made a lot of appeals to patriotism, and got busted for illegal campaign contributions to Nixon (the men did reconcile), he also tried to cultivate friendships with the Mayors and the Governors. It worked better with some (Carey, the Cuomos, Dinkins, Giuliani) than others.

So the Yankees don't openly represent either ideology. They know they need to fill the luxury boxes with America's wealthiest, people who can actually afford those insanely priced tickets. But they also know their fan base is working people, in the City, people who ride the Subway to get to the game; and in the suburbs, people who ride New Jersey Transit, the Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North Commuter Railroad, and various bus lines just to get into the City.

"But," you may ask, "don't the Yankees represent the rich, and the Mets the poor?" Not really: There is plenty of crossover. As New York teams, both tap into both the rich and the poor aspects of the City. How could they not?

Everybody who's not from the New York Tri-State Area seems to hate New York. That's over 300 million people trying to gang up on about 20 million. Despite New York's size, there is an underdog mentality.

It's not the Donald Trumps and the Michael Bloombergs who make New York go. It's the taxi drivers, the bus drivers, the Subway motormen, the tollbooth workers, the pushcart vendors, the waitstaff, the shopkeepers, the repairmen (including auto mechanics), the garbagemen, the cops, the firefighters, the Con Edison workers.

The blue collar guys and gals. The people who work. The underdogs. The people who deal with crap similar to the crap you deal with. It's understandable that some of these people identify with the Mets.

But why should we root for a team that's as bedraggled as we are? We want someone who's gonna lift us up, and let us win along with them, and make us feel like New York really is "the greatest city in the world." The Yankees do that.

The great sportswriter Roger Angell was right: There is more losing than winning in life. He used that to justify rooting for the Mets. But he was wrong: Why not go with a team that gives you a better chance to end your rotten day with a good result?

To paraphrase Nick Hornby, from his screenplay for the original, British soccer, version of Fever Pitch, You don't get many Bucky Dent moments in real life; and you don't get very many of them in baseball, either. So when they do come, you cherish them. And what team, in any sport, has offered you more to cherish than the New York Yankees?

Given the nature of the New York Tri-State Area, and the nature of New England, it so happens that a solid majority of Met fans, and a solid majority of Boston Red Sox fans, the two teams that Yankee Fans hate the most, also tend to be liberal, and Democratic Voters.

Game 1 of the World Series: Great Game, Lousy Result

Game 1 of the World Series was played last night, at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. I had 3 concerns going into this Series:

1. There would be at least 1 game where the Yankees just didn't hit.

2. There would be at least 1 start where Gerrit Cole would not pitch like an ace.

3. There would be at least 1 game where the bullpen would blow it.

The next question was, if and when any of those things happened, how many times would the Dodgers take advantage of it, and win? If it was 4, then they would win the Series.

Last night, #2 didn't happen: Cole was fine. But #1 and #3 happened. The Yankees needed baserunners, and didn't get enough of them. Juan Soto drew a walk in the 1st inning, and was stranded. Anthony Rizzo led off the 2nd with a single, got to 2nd base, but got no closer. Gleyber Torres singled to lead off the 3rd, but was erased on a double play. Alex Verdugo, who went on to make 2 great catches, singled in the 5th, but was stranded. 

With the Dodgers leading 1-0, Soto led off the top of the 6th with a single. Judge struck out -- his 3rd of the game, and his 2nd with Soto on 1st. Then Stanton hit a long drive down the left-field line. If it was fair, it was out, and I wasn't sure until it landed: It was out. 2-1 Yankees.

Jazz Chisholm singled. But Rizzo struck out. Anthony Volpe was intentionally walked, and Austin Wells singled. Bases loaded. This could have been where the Yankees broke the game wide open. But Verdugo struck out to end the inning.

At the age of 32, Judge finally got his 1st World Series hit, a single, with 2 out in the 7th. But Stanton, who has been doing in this season what we had hoped Judge would do, flipped the script, and stranded him by striking out.

The Dodgers tied the game in the 8th. With 2 out in the top of the 9th, Torres doubled, and Soto was intentionally walked to set up the force play. Walking somebody intentionally to pitch to Aaron Judge? In the postseason, it works: Judge popped up.

The game went to extra innings. Thank God, no "ghost runner" in the postseason. Stanton struck out. But Chisholm stole 2nd. Rizzo was intentionally walked. Chisholm stole 3rd. Volpe grounded to short, and Tommy Edman, the Most Valuable Player of the National League Championship Series, couldn't make the throw to home plate, opting to go to 2nd base instead. Rizzo was out, but Chisholm scored, and Volpe was safe at 1st. Then Volpe stole 2nd. This could have been a big inning. Then Wells struck out.

If the top of the 10th felt like a return to the Joe Torre era, the bottom of the 10th was pure Brian Cashman "gutless wonder" baseball, with a bit of Aaron "Baboone" managing thrown in. After Luke Weaver got out of a jam in the 8th with only 1 run, and pitched a scoreless 9th, Boone brought Jake Cousins in to pitch the 10th. He got Will Smith to fly out, but walked Gavin Lux. (Sounds like the real name of a comic book villain.) Edman grounded to 2nd, and Oswaldo Cabrera, having replaced Torres, couldn't make a throw.

A 1-run lead, but men on 1st and 2nd, 1 out, and the next 3 batters are Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. Career OPS+'s, respectively: 157, 138 and 142. Career home runs? Ohtani 225 at age 30, Betts 271 at 32, and Freeman 343 at 35. Barring further injury, all 3 of them are likely to finish with at least 400, and Ohtani may well top 500.

Boone could have brought in Tim Hill, who has been very effective in this postseason. Instead, he (apparently) looked at stats only for Yankee pitchers against Ohtani, and brought in Nestor Cortés, who, due to injury, hadn't pitched since September 18. The Yankees have a history of unlikely postseason heroes, but this move looked really unlikely.

Ohtani sliced one into the left-field corner. It looked like a sure double, to tie or even win the game. Instead, Verdugo ran over and made a great catch, then managed to throw back and hold the runners. If Cortés had managed to get 1 more out, and the Yankees ended up winning the Series, it would have been a play that lived forever.

It lived just 2 more plate appearances. Boone made the mistake of ordering Betts walked to load the bases, and set up the out at any base. The next batter was Freddie Freeman, who has already won a World Series with the 2021 Atlanta Braves, and has been key for the Dodgers ever since. He hit a no-doubt-about-it game-winning grand slam, landing in the right field pavilion, roughly where the ball that Kirk Gibson hit to win Game 1 of the 1988 World Series landed, the 1st homer to be called a "walkoff." Dodgers 6, Yankees 3.

The Yankees were 1 out away from taking home-field advantage away from the Dodgers. But they lost this game because Boone made the wrong strategy choices, and because, in innings 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9 combined, they got only 5 singles and 2 walks, 1 of those intentional.

They needed to score 3 runs in the 1st 9 innings, and couldn't do it. Counting the postseason, the Yankees are 91-37 when they score at least 3 runs, and 8-34 when they don't.

So now, instead of needing to win 4 out of 7, the Yankees need to win 4 out of 6.

Great game, lousy result. But the last time I said that was after Game 3 of the American League Championship Series, and the Yankees won the next 2 to take the Pennant.

Do you know how many times the Yankees have lost Game 1, and still gone on to win the World Series? They did it in 1923, 1936, 1951, 1952, 1956, 1958, 1978, 1996 and 2009.

In other words, the Yankees have won the World Series despite losing Game 1 more times than any team except the St. Louis Cardinals have won the World Series. And 3 of those -- 1952, 1956 and 1978 -- were against the Dodgers. In other words, the Yankees have beaten the Dodgers in the World Series despite losing Game 1 more times than the Mets have won the World Series.

So there is hope.

Don't tell me the Red Sox have won 9. They have won 5. They cheated for their last 4

Don't tell me the A's have won 9. The Philadelphia Athletics (R.I.P., 1901-1954) won 5, the Oakland Athletics (R.I.P, 1968-2024) won 4, and the Sacramento Athletics, obviously, have won none.

Game 2 is tonight at 8:00. Carlos Rodón starts against Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

October 26, 1999: The Chad Curtis Game

October 26, 1999, 25 years ago: Game 3 of the World Series. Andy Pettitte did not have his good stuff, but home runs by Tino Martinez, Chad Curtis and Chuck Knoblauch helped the Yankees come from 5-1 down to send the game to extra innings. Curtis led off the bottom of the 10th, and knocked one out for a 6-5 win.

The following night, the Yanks wrapped up the sweep, the 25th World Championship, the title of Team of the Decade (it ain't about Division Titles, Braves fans), and the title, as NBC's Bob Costas said that next night, of "Most Successful Franchise of the Century."

Like fellow late 1990s Yankee Dynasty players Roger Clemens and John Wetteland, Curtis was among the most faith-vocal players of his era. Also like Clemens and Wetteland, he would later be accused of what would once have been quaintly called "morals charges," relating to his time as a high school athletic trainer in Michigan. He was sentenced to 7 to 15 years in prison, and served 7. He has not been employed in baseball since.

Top 5 Reasons the Yankees Will Win the World Series (And 5 Why They Might Not)

The 2024 World Series gets underway tomorrow night, at 8:08 PM Eastern Time, at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The National League Champion Los Angeles Dodgers will have home-field advantage in Games 1 and 2, and, if necessary, Games 6 and 7. The American League Champion New York Yankees will have home-field advantage in Games 3 and 4, and, if necessary, Game 5.

The Dodgers have the overall home-field advantage because they had the better regular-season record.

Top 5 Reasons the Yankees Will Win the World Series (And 5 Why They Might Not)

10. Might Not: Gone Stale. It will have been 6 days since they last played. Any momentum they had would be gone. In contrast, the Dodgers will be well-rested.

9. Will: Well-Rested. It could work the other way around: The Yankees will be well-rested, and the Dodgers, who last played 5 days earlier, could have gone stale.

8. Might Not: The Bullpens. Somebody has to be the bridge between the starting pitcher and Luke Weaver. And the Yankees have too many guys who don't look like it. One who did, Ian Hamilton, was hurt much of the season, was key in September and in the Playoffs, and is hurt again.

7. Will: The Bullpens. The Dodger pen isn't so hot, either. Evan Phillips led the team with 18 saves, and his ERA is 3.62. None of their relievers made the All-Star Game.

In contrast, the Yankees may finally have found their closer in Luke Weaver. As long as Clay Holmes is pitching no later than the 8th inning, I think we can trust him. And the rest of the bullpen did get better in September and October, including Holmes and Tim Hill.

6. Might Not: Questionable Ace. Gerrit Cole should be the Yankees' ace, like previous World Series aces Waite Hoyt, Lefty Gomez, Allie Reynolds, Whitey Ford, Ron Guidry, David Cone, Roger Clemens and CC Sabathia. But he has come up small in October before, including for the Houston Astros before he was a Yankee.

5. Will: The Dodgers Have No Ace. Clayton Kershaw is one of the best pitchers of his generation. He's going to the Hall of Fame, unless he does something stupid like bet on baseball or get caught using steroids. And his former reputation for failing in the postseason is gone. But he's injured, and unavailable.

And, of course, Shohei Ohtani has pitched, and very well, but is still recovering from Tommy John surgery, and won't be pitching again until at least Spring Training of next year.

Without Kershaw and Ohtani, the Dodgers have no ace. Their pitcher with the most wins was Gavin Stone, only 11. Their starter with the best winning percentage was former Yankee James Paxton, 8-2 for .800, but his ERA was 4.43, and probably won't make the Series roster. Their starter with the lowest ERA is Yoshinobu Yamamoto, at 3.00; with the lowest WHIP, Tyler Glasnow, 0.948, but he only went 9-6.

You can win a World Series with 3 good starting pitchers, but it helps to have an absolute shutdown artist. L.A. don't have one.

4. Might Not: The Dodgers' Killer Lineup. Here's their usual starting nine, with their OPS+'s for the season, keeping in mind that higher is better, and 100 is exactly average:

DH Shohei Ohtani 190

RF Mookie Betts 145

LF Teoscar Hernández 137

1B Freddie Freeman 143

SS Tommy Edman 101

3B Max Muncy 141

CF Andy Pages 102

C Will Smith 116

2B Chris Taylor 73

1 through 8 are strong. In 1 through 6, the only weak spot would appear to be Edman, but he was the Most Valuable Player of the NL Championship Series, and will likely stay in the lineup. And 1 through 4 are as good as any in baseball today.

But, perhaps, not better than...

3. Will: The Yankees' Killer Lineup. The Yankees are finally fully-healthy, with the exceptions of a couple of relievers. Here's their usual lineup:

2B Gleyber Torres 101

RF Juan Soto 178

CF Aaron Judge 223

DH Giancarlo Stanton 115

3B Jazz Chisholm Jr. 130

1B Anthony Rizzo 81

SS Anthony Volpe 86

C Austin Wells 103

LF Alex Verdugo 83

Let's be honest: While capable of the occasional big hit, Volpe and Verdugo are in the lineup for their gloves. Torres was awful from April through August, but has really come on from September onward. So has Stanton. Both got some big hits in the Playoffs. Rizzo is pretty much still playing hurt, but can still jack it out.

2,. Might Not: The Dodgers' Emotion. Fernando Valenzuela, Dodger legend, just died, between the National League Championship Series and the World Series. The same thing happened to Dodger player-turned-coach Jim "Junior" Gilliam in 1978. The Dodgers dedicated the World Series to Gilliam's memory, and wore Number 19 patches on their sleeves. It is likely that the Dodgers will now do the same for Fernando, and use that as an emotional boost.

1. Will: The Yankees Won't Care. Any more than they did in 1978: They lost the 1st 2 games in Los Angeles, then won the next 3 in The Bronx, and won Game 6 in L.A. This group of Yankees is running on their own emotion. They're locked in.

October 24, 2004: The Battle of the Buffet

October 24, 2004, 20 years ago: The Boston Red Sox take a 2-games-to-0 lead in the World Series with a 6-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Fenway Park. Curt Schilling, again wearing the Bloody Sock, gets the win. Orlando Cabrera‚ Mark Bellhorn‚ and Jason Varitek each drive in a pair of runs.

But, as disgusting as the Red Sox cheating their way to another win was, that wasn't the most disgusting sporting event that happened on this day. Not by a long shot.

Arsenal Football Club, of North London, had gone 49 straight Premier League games without a loss, a record streak for top-flight English "football" dating back to the founding of The Football League in 1888. Arsenal F.C. hadn't lost since Yorkshire team Leeds United beat them on May 7, 2003 -- 536 days. That included the entire 2003-04 season, making Arsenal the only "Invincibles" of the modern era.

Making it 50 straight games without a loss would have been great semantically, but more important was who they were playing in Game 50: They went into Old Trafford, home of the other dominant team of the era, Manchester United. Either Arsenal or Man U had won the last 9 League titles, and 13 of the last 16.

The game was scoreless going into the 72nd minute (out of 90, so, 80 percent done), mainly because

United's players, particularly the Neville brothers -- right back Gary and midfielder Phil, not the singing Neville brothers of New Orleans -- were kicking Gunners forward José Antonio Reyes into oblivion, rendering him too timid to shoot. He was, literally, intimidated.

In addition, United's Dutch striker, Ruud van Nistelrooy -- nicknamed Van Horseface due to an uncanny facial resemblance to Seattle Slew -- had a challenge on Arsenal defender Ashley Cole that was clearly worthy of a straight red card. So the Red Devils should have been down to no more than 10 men, possibly as few as 8.

But the referee for this game was Mike Riley, and he hates Arsenal. He gave only 2 cards to United throughout the match, a yellow each to the Neville brothers. Indeed, van Nistelrooy was retroactively given the punishment he would have gotten if, in fact, he had received a straight red during the game: 3 domestic games. (2 yellows, which equal 1 red, would have been a mere 1-game suspension.)

In that 72nd minute, United's young striker, Wayne Rooney, on his 19th birthday, executed a blatant dive in the 18-yard box, going down without being touched, in an attempt to be awarded a penalty kick. Instead of properly giving him a straight red card and sending him off, Riley called a foul on Arsenal defender Sol Campbell, who never even touched Rooney. It was a completely bogus call, and Riley awarded a penalty, which van Nistelrooy converted. Rooney added another goal that he didn't deserve to even be on the pitch for, in the 90th minute, and United had unfairly won, 2-0.

In contrast to the 2 yellow cards on United, Riley had actually given Arsenal 3 yellow cards -- and the alleged penalty foul by Campbell wasn't one of them.

The fireworks for this most dubious of games in the long and fractious history of Arsenal-Manchester United matches were hardly over at the final whistle. Despite being teammates on the national side, Campbell refused to shake Rooney's hand, a deserved mark of disrespect. Entering the tunnel to head to the locker rooms, United manager Alex Ferguson was hit in the face by a slice of pizza from the postgame spread in Arsenal's locker room.

The game became known as "The Battle of the Buffet" -- a 1990 match between the teams, featuring a fight, had already been given the name "The Battle of Old Trafford" -- and, as it turned out, the Arsenal player who threw the slice was 17-year-old Spanish midfield wizard Cesc Fàbregas. As it also turned out, this, not anything he did on the field from 2003 to 2011, was the best thing Fàbregas did in an Arsenal uniform.

It would be another 6 games before Arsenal would lose to a team that wasn't blatantly cheating, Liverpool, so it should have been 56 straight. In the end, none of those teams won the Premier League title in 2004-05: Chelsea did. Arsenal did beat Manchester United in the FA Cup Finals, while Liverpool won the UEFA Champions League.

From 2009 to 2023, Mike Riley served as the general manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited, the governing body for English soccer referees. Arsenal have not won the Premier League since 2004. That is not a coincidence, although Riley's influence over such corrupt referees as Mike Dean, Howard Webb, Phil Dowd, Anthony Taylor and Michael Oliver is just one reason.

Fernando Valenzuela, 1960-2024

Baseball has had many characters, many legends, and a few folk heroes. Fernando Valenzuela was all three.

Fernando Valenzuela Anguamea was born on November 1, 1960 in Navojoa, Sonora, Mexico. In 1981, the chunky, screwballing lefthander for the Los Angeles Dodgers was the hottest thing in baseball, He won his 1st 8 starts, with 5 shutouts and an ERA of 0.50. He was only 20 years old.

On May 15, 1981, I was traveling with my family to a weekend vacation in Williamsburg, Virginia. We stopped off at a rest area on the New Jersey Turnpike, and I saw the new Sports Illustrated. Fernando was on the cover, with the headline, "UNREAL!" No, the cover didn't jinx him: He was 7-0 at that point, and won his next start, before falling to 8-1. That night, in a totally unrelated development, Len Barker of the Cleveland Indians pitched the 1st major league perfect game of my lifetime.

"Fernandomania" made the Dodgers what they remain to this day: Mexico's favorite baseball team, despite the San Diego Padres playing a short drive from the border. The mania was tamed somewhat by the midseason strike, as he went just 5-7 after his amazing start. But he pitched a complete-game win over the Yankees in Game 3 of the World Series, helping to turn the Series around. The Dodgers won in Game 6; had it gone to Game 7, he would have started it.

He had his only 20-win season in 1986, and struck out a record-tying 5 straight batters in that season's All-Star Game, at the Astrodome in Houston: Don Mattingly, Cal Ripken, Jesse Barfield, Lou Whitaker, and the opposing pitcher, Teddy Higuera. Higuera, 3 years older, was frequently compared to Fernando: He was also a chunky Mexican lefthander who threw the screwball. He would go 94-64 in his career. Both men pitched 3 scoreless innings in that game, which the American League won, 3-2.

Fernando missed most of the 1988 season due to injury, but still got a 2nd World Series ring. He was released in 1991, and bounced around, signing with the Padres. In 1996, the Padres played 3 games in Monterrey, the 1st regular-season games ever played in Mexico. Fernando started the opener against the Mets, and benefited from a 15-0 lead. The Mets came back, and he left to a standing ovation. The Padres hung on to win, 15-10.

He should have retired after the season, having gone 13-8 with an ERA of 3.62, helping the Padres reach the Playoffs for the 1st time in 12 years. Instead, he hung on for 1 more year, going 2-12. His career record finished at 173-153. A member of the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame and the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame, the Dodgers retired his Number 34 in 2023.

He became a broadcaster for the Dodgers' Spanish network, bringing up memories of his struggles to learn English. It was said in 1981 that, "The two best lefthanded pitchers don't speak English: Fernando Valenzuela and Steve Carlton." (Referencing Carlton's refusal to talk to the media.) Manager Tommy Lasorda said the only English words he knows are "beer," "food" and "light beer." On The Tonight Show, Johnny Carson said, "Fernando Valenzuela learned another English word today: 'Million.'"

In 1981, Fernando married Linda Burgos, a schoolteacher from Mexico. The couple had 4 children, including Fernando, Jr., who played in the San Diego Padres and Chicago White Sox organizations as a 1st baseman.

In 2023, Fernando stepped aside from his broadcasting duties, due to ill health. He died yesterday, October 22, 2024, at the age of 63.

Generally, the Dodgers don't officially retire uniform numbers unless the player is in the Baseball Hall of Fame. They have made 2 exceptions: Fernando and Jim "Junior" Gilliam. Gilliam succeeded Jackie Robinson as their 2nd baseman in Brooklyn, played on 4 World Series winners, in both Brooklyn and Los Angeles, and in 1965, while still playing, was named only the 2nd black coach in the major leagues, after Buck O'Neill with the 1962 Chicago Cubs.

Gilliam died 1978, like Fernando between the National League Championship Series and the World Series. The Dodgers dedicated the World Series to Gilliam's memory, and wore Number 19 patches on their sleeves. It is likely that the Dodgers will now do the same for Fernando Valenzuela.