May 16, 2006: The Yankees Win a Game for Me (Or So It Seemed)

In the 2005 U.S. film adaptation of Nick Hornby's book Fever Pitch, Jimmy Fallon played Ben Wrightman, a high school math teacher, a baseball coach, and a fanatic Boston Red Sox fan. One of his students/players asks him, "You love the Red Sox, but have they ever loved you back?"

Fallon must be a good actor: In real life, he is a fan of the Red Sox' arch-rivals, the New York Yankees.

Those of you who read this blog regularly know that I am also a Yankee Fan. (I usually try to write that with capital letters: Capital Y, Capital F.) I have loved the Yankees since the 1977 season, for nearly 50 years.

Have they ever loved me back? One time, it felt like they did, and at a time when I really needed it.

May 16, 2006, 20 years ago: My mother and I returned to my grandmother's house in Brick, not far from the Jersey Shore, for the first time since her death, 5 days earlier. I was still in a daze, not really in the right frame of mind to go through the place, and to see what I wanted to take back home. It was once a house full of comfort for me -- my safe zone, my happy place. Now, it felt completely empty. Even her cat wasn't there: Mom had already taken him with her.

We were met outside by Grandma's across-the-street neighbor. Sadly, I can't remember her name. For 5 years, they had gone together to games of the nearby minor-league baseball team, the Lakewood BlueClaws (now named the Jersey Shore BlueClaws). Grandma was a Met fan, and a Brooklyn Dodger fan before that, but the neighbor was a Yankee Fan.

I told her not to watch the Yankee game: Apparently, having no connection to Grandma, the Yankees were also in a daze: Playing at the old Yankee Stadium, they fell behind the Texas Rangers, 9-0 after 2 innings. Starting pitcher Shawn Chacón had nothing, and reliever Aaron Small didn't have much more.

But the Yankees stormed back. Derek Jeter hit a home run in the 6th to give them an 11-10 lead. But Joe Torre trusted Scott Proctor to pitch the 7th, and, as he did so often, he blew it, making it 12-11 Rangers. The Yankees tied it in the bottom of the inning, and then Mariano Rivera allowed a run in the 9th, making it 13-12 Rangers. In the bottom of the 9th, Johnny Damon singled, and Jorge Posada hit a home run. Final score: Yankees 14, Rangers 13.

It was the first time I could remember feeling good since it became clear that Grandma wasn't going to make it. And, for the first time, I felt like the Yankees had actually won a game just for me.

But I've always felt a little guilty about telling the neighbor not to watch the game. Hopefully, she's since seen it on the YES Network's Yankees Classics.

The next day, Arsenal lost the UEFA Champions League Final, under dubious circumstances. And I knew nothing about it at the time. I'm glad I didn't: Being an established Arsenal fan, and then losing that right after Grandma's death and funeral, might have been more than I could bear at the time. I guess God knew I wasn't ready for it.