Marlins Stay Alive, Yanks Beat Sox
The baseball playoffs are down to the wire, with nerves raw as fans and players hang on to their hopes and World Series dreams.
Some are doing so more gracefully than others.
There was no trouble at Fenway Tuesday as the Yanks beat the Red Sox 4-2 to gain a 3-2 lead in the American League championship series, but some fans at Wrigley Field got ugly - turning on a fan who deflected a ball as a Cubs player attempted to catch it - as the Marlins beat the Cubs 8-3, tying the NL series at three games each.
Both series continue on Wednesday - the AL at Yankee Stadium and the NL at Wrigley.
The Cubs haven't won the World Series since 1908 and the Red Sox haven't won it all since 1918.
Even if Chicago and Boston don't succeed in shaking the Billy Goat and Bambino curses blamed by some for their amazing championship droughts, the teams can nonetheless claim to have broken some records this year.
The suspense of the 2003 playoffs saw baseball's television ratings soar Monday 38 percent higher than those for Monday Night Football. That's the first time a baseball league championship game has outpaced football - traditionally TV's ratings king.
Suspense continues outside the ballparks as well, as authorities in Boston continue their probe of Saturday's bullpen fight at Fenway, with no decision yet on whether to file charges.
Tuesday, Karim Garcia of the Yankees and Red Sox players Pedro Martinez and Manny Ramirez all appealed the fines they received as a result of Saturday's fighting at Fenway. Garcia was fined $10,000, Martinez $50,000 and Ramirez $25,000.
Marlins 8, Cubs 3
Chicago Cubs supporters showed up for a night-long party at Wrigley Field on Tuesday, only to have their raucous celebration snuffed by a late-inning rally that left them cursing one fellow fan.
In a stunning eighth-inning turnaround, the Florida Marlins took advantage of left fielder Moises Alou's run-in with a fan on a foul fly and an error by shortstop Alex Gonzalez to score eight runs in an 8-3 victory Tuesday night, forcing the NL championship series to a Game 7.
People who minutes earlier had been dancing and singing the praises of their home team suddenly turned their wrath on the fan who grabbed for the fly ball. Obscene chants echoed from inside the stadium and from the surrounding streets, where thousands had gathered to celebrate what they hoped would be the Cubs' first trip to the World Series since 1945.
Ballpark guards escorted the man, who was wearing a Cubs hat, from his seat along the low outfield wall and into a security office as the game ended. He covered his face with a sweater as he walked past fans who pelted him with cups of beer and shouted obscenities. Some chanted "Kill him."
Jim Cuthbert, 33, of Lombard, said he was sitting about 15 to 20 rows behind the fan and was kicked out after approaching to berate him.
"My wife was hanging on to my arm. I was going nuts. That idiot. We were five outs away," Cuthbert said.
Fans outside the ballpark at first couldn't believe what they were hearing on radios or watching on portable televisions.
"I hope he gets an escort out," said Mary Krueger of suburban Niles, who watched the mishap on a portable TV while standing on Waveland Avenue behind Wrigley's outfield wall. "One more night, that's all."
But for other fans, the sudden turnaround brought back fans' worst fears of the Cubs' many previous late-season collapses.
"I've seen this movie before," said Torey Stern, 39, of Chicago. "I saw it in '84 with the Padres, 'in 89 with the Giants and in '98 with the Braves. The movie ends the same."
Earlier in the game, people jammed the many bars in the Wrigleyville neighborhood surrounding the stadium and thousands more packed the streets, waving signs, chanting and dancing. Some bodysurfed across the top of the crowd on Waveland Avenue.
Fans began to stream outside of the stadium immediately after the game, talking to friends on cellular phones about the defeat.
"Look at how silent everyone is," said Ray Shannon, 52, of Brookfield, Wis., who watched the game from the rooftop of a nearby building. "We were up on the roof high-fiving and pouring beers on guys and suddenly somebody turns the lights out. It's shock theater."
As they filed away from what was supposed to be a major victory party, some spoke of the legendary Cubs curse. As the story goes, the owner of a Chicago tavern put a curse on the Cubs when he and a goat were denied entry to a 1945 World Series game against Detroit. The Cubs went on to lose that series 4-3; since then, it's been one heartbreak after another.
Yankees 4, Red Sox 2
David Wells is a longtime, die-hard Babe Ruth fan, and he's doing his best to keep The Curse alive.
Wells worked his way out of trouble to put the New York Yankees on the verge of another World Series, beating the Boston Red Sox 4-2 Tuesday for a 3-2 lead in the AL championship series.
The Boomer, who once wore one of Ruth's caps during a game, sent the Yankees back to the Bronx with two chances to extend Boston's perennial heartache to 85 years.
"I believe in it," he said, meaning the curse that's haunted the team since Ruth was sold to the Yankees in 1920. "That's just my opinion."
New York headed home with Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens rested and ready for the final two games of the series, which continues Wednesday at Yankee Stadium. One win would give the Yankees their fifth AL pennant in six seasons and sixth in eight years under manager Joe Torre.
"We never get overconfident," Yankees captain Derek Jeter said.
Boston planned to start John Burkett, 0-6 against the Yankees in his career in the regular season, against Pettitte in Game 6, holding Pedro Martinez back for a seventh game rather than pitch him on three days' rest. But knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, who has both of his team's wins, said he thought he would be available if the Red Sox wanted him in relief.
"It'll be tough," said Game 5 starter Derek Lowe, who dropped to 0-2 in the series.
Still in the minds of the Red Sox is the first-round win over Oakland, when Boston lost the first two games, then won three in a row.
"The clock is ticking on us right now," Red Sox manager Grady Little said. "This isn't something we've never been through before. We were through this about a week ago."
Karim Garcia, who cut a knuckle in Saturday's bullpen scuffle with a member of Boston's grounds crew, was inserted into New York's lineup just before gametime and hit a two-run single in the second. Boston fans taunted Garcia in the ninth with a sing-song chant of "Jailbird."
Alfonso Soriano followed Garcia's hit with an RBI single - it was the first time either team scored as many as three runs in an inning during the series - and later made a fantastic backflip that helped stifle a Boston rally. Hideki Matsui added a run-scoring grounder in the eighth.
Boston went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and is batting .250 against New York, just .230 in the playoffs. The Red Sox put runners on second and third with one out in the third and loaded the bases in the fifth but didn't score either time. Garciaparra ended the third with a strikeout and Ramirez closed the fifth by grounding into a forceout at third.
Despite its failures, Boston is confident Martinez will get to pitch against Clemens in a Game 7.
"That's the way it's going to be," first baseman Kevin Millar said. "Now we've got to find a way to get it even up."