Picture it: it’s Opening Day in 1919. The scene is an optimistic one. The Boston Red Sox begin their defense of the World Series crown against their hopeless-and championshipless-rivals, the New York Yankees. And while we can only envision the past in black and white, the Red Sox boast on their roster the most colorful-and arguably the greatest-ballplayer of all-time: George Herman Ruth, “The Babe”.
Eighty-six years later, on a cold and misty Bronx night on Sunday, April 3, the 2005 Boston Red Sox set out on their first World Championship defense in so many years against the same, now 26-time-champion New York Yankees. The night began with ovations and boos, cheers for the Yanks and jeers for the Sox.
There was an eerie October feel in the air, and when the first pitch of the ’05 season was thrown, one could have been convinced that they had dozed through summer and that it was already playoff time.
Randy Johnson, the Yankees’ most coveted offseason acquisition, loomed tall on the mound and set the Red Sox down in order in the first inning, striking out two. Johnson is third on the all-time list for strikeouts, and he’s 41 years old, which by professional athletic standards puts him on life support.
Johnson, however, wasn’t the only 40-plus athlete featured in this game. This offseason the Red Sox also enlisted the services of a 41-year-old pitcher, ex-Yankee David Wells, the Red Sox’s opening-day starter.
Wells has had a tumultuous past with the Yankees. Returning to the scene of his 1998 perfect game, Wells sported his hero Babe Ruth’s #3-just months after the curse of the Bambino was lifted when the Red Sox mounted the most gritty and improbable comeback in sports history against their hated rivals in the American League Championship Series and then went on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series.
With so many competing subplots, one could have almost missed it completely when a baseball game broke out. The Red Sox drew first blood, scoring in the second inning. But that would be their last run besides a meaningless second in the ninth. Randy Johnson was impressive in his Yankees debut, striking out six in six innings.
The Yankees knotted the game at one in their half of the second. Jason Giambi, in his first regular-season at-bat since his admission of past steroid use, received a partially standing ovation from the supporting crowd and singled through the right side of the infield, setting the stage for the tying run to score on a sacrifice fly.
Wells collapsed in the third inning, giving up three runs, the last on a balk-an obvious mental breakdown. Pulled in the fifth with the bases loaded, Wells-a former Bronx favorite-left to a chorus of boos.
The Yanks added to their lead in the sixth and eighth innings. And when the Red Sox finally scored again in the top of the ninth, the game was quickly over. Yankees 9, Red Sox 2.
The Yankees were overwhelming in their victory. Johnson’s presence, as a bona fide starter, reassured Yankees fans that they now had the dominant starting pitcher they desperately lacked in last year’s postseason and that if they had had “The Big Unit” (Johnson) last year, the Sox would still be in their rightful place in the American League: second place.
The last few seasons have escalated the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry to levels of intensity not seen for decades. Arguably featuring the two best teams in baseball, the competition has taken on a life of its own.
Despite physical brawls and trash talk, the rivalry is bigger than any one of the players, even bigger than either of the teams. It’s larger than a game, a series, a season. Yet somehow, up until last year, it was always one-sided. With the Sox victory, the rivalry is finally legitimate.
The 2004 Red Sox lived out a magical season and have ensured enough ESPN Classic footage to last them ’til their next World Series crown-whenever that may be. Yankees fans must accept this.
After the Yankees’ victory on Opening Day, there was no champagne popping or ticker-tape parading. But one can’t help but feel that after a summer of baseball disarray and the insufferable Johnny Damon posing as a mainstay on the talk-show circuit, order has been restored to the baseball universe.
Yankees fans worldwide are inevitably counting the days until they can once again chant, “20-04!”