The only time I cried over baseball was in 2004.
As an Angel fan I wouldn’t say I was used to seeing my team win in the postseason. The only time they had made the playoffs in my lifetime was during the magical Disney movie-esque 2002 season in which they defied all odds to turn a 6-14 record into a World Series championship.
Sports pundits called it a Cinderella story. But as a 13-year-old male I scorned the Cinderella reference and saw the Angels’ season as more reminiscent of a modern-day Remember the Titans or a real-life Field of Dreams.
So while I wasn’t fully accustomed to postseason success I had never experienced the heartbreak of watching my favorite team be massacred in the playoffs— until 2004 the first and last time I cried over baseball.
I also cried when Angels’ pitcher Nick Adenhart died in April. I vividly remember receiving a text message from my buddy early Thursday morning during the first week of the season which said “I can hardly believe this but I saw on the news that Nick Adenhart was killed last night by a drunk driver.”
But that wasn’t a matter of baseball; it was a tragic instance of a young man and his two friends whose lives were stolen by somebody selfish enough to get behind the wheel.
Back to 2004. The Angels were down two games to none in a best-of-five postseason series against the Boston Red Sox. In game 3 which took place at the garbage heap known as Fenway Park the Sox had jumped out to a quick 6-1 lead and looked to be in position to run away with the series sweep. In fact I had already accepted this scenario and mentally prepared myself for an early Angels postseason exit.
The Red Sox were going to quietly and easily win game 3 and that was that. But it wasn’t.
In the top of the 7th inning the Angels rallied to score 5 runs on the heels of an opposite-field grand slam by Vladimir Guerrero. They had tied the game. And in my opinion the momentum had shifted. The fans at Fenway Park who just minutes ago were as confident as can be looked onto the field in horror and disbelief. I enthusiastically said to my dad who was watching the game with me on TV “That’s the series-changer. They’re going to come back and win the series.”
This newfound elation lasted for a total of 3 1/2 innings. David Ortiz slammed a walk-off two-run homerun over the Green Monster in the bottom of the 10th and suddenly that was it. The Angels were done for the year. Heartbreak set in.
And I cried. I’m not afraid to admit it. It was like my dog had been hit by a car; that’s how much time and energy I had invested into my team. Although the Angels had disappointed me before this time it really hurt. The emotional rollercoaster of game 3 coupled with the lingering highs of the team’s World Championship two years prior just killed me.
Plus there’s nothing more upsetting in baseball than watching the Boston Red Sox (and their fans) celebrate a postseason series victory.
On a side note I feel compelled to oust Red Sox fans for the morons that they are. Don’t get me wrong; there are many Sox fans I like and respect. Actually a few of my best friends are citizens of “the Nation.” And I realize that every professional sports franchise has its share of idiot followers. But I’ve been to hundreds of baseball games in my life and the Red Sox seem to attract more drunks and loudmouths to the stands than any other team. The Dodgers are a close second.
Anyway the 2004 playoffs started a string of Red Sox celebrations at the Angels’ expense. Two more times these teams met in the postseason over the next four years and both instances had the exact same result as 2004: the Angels sucked and the Red Sox dominated.
Even in 2008 when the Angels won 100 games and posted baseball’s best record during the regular season they showed up to the playoffs looking more like the Kansas City Royals or Pittsburgh Pirates than the ’27 Yankees. They couldn’t hit they couldn’t pitch and they couldn’t play defense. And for the third time in five years the Red Sox rolled over the Angels like it was nobody’s business.
So here we are today less than one week before the start of the 2009 MLB playoffs. And (surprise surprise) the Angels and Red Sox are slated to play each other in the Division Series. Again.
Many fans on both sides of the fence have already written the Angels off. The Angels are destined to lose to the Red Sox in the postseason they say. If the Angels are Superman the Red Sox are kryptonite. In other news the sun will rise in the east tomorrow Christmas will occur on Dec. 25 this year and Brett Favre will retire and un-retire next spring. It’s all part of the cycle of life.
But I believe that this season is different. Yes I know Cubs fans say that every year and look where it’s gotten them. But hear me out.
If you have followed the Angels as much I have this year then you understand exactly what they have been through to get here. The road to winning the AL West had plenty of speed traps and double-yellow lines.
For much of the season the Angels were without outfielders Vladimir Guerrero and Torii Hunter their lineup’s two biggest power threats because of injuries. They’ve also had to deal with unhealthy and inconsistent starting pitching and a bullpen that has been at points the worst in the majors.
Obviously the largest emotional roadblock was Nick Adenhart’s death which understandably halted the team’s winning drive during the months that followed. In the wake of losing a teammate winning meant nothing. It was no longer a matter of life and death.
But eventually in early June or so the Angels found a rhythm. They began playing as a team again. Their eyes were uniformly fixed on reaching the postseason. They started winning and quickly climbed to their familiar spot atop the AL West. All the pieces came together— all of them of course except Nick Adenhart.
“I think we realized Torii Hunter told Sports Illustrated’s Lee Jenkins, that Nick was looking down on us saying ‘Fellas come on let’s get it together. I want to win.'”
Maybe I’m biased but there’s something incredibly powerful about the 2009 Angels. Like I said this season is different. So maybe it’s only fitting that they will once again take on their nemeses the Red Sox in the first round of the playoffs.
Of course I’ve already accepted the possibility of another first-round exit for my Angels. After three consecutive series losses to Boston in the postseason how could I get my hopes up?
But the stakes are higher this year. Next week the Angels will be playing for more than a series win. They’ll be playing for more than a World Series berth and championship.
They’ll be playing for Nick.