Every fair-minded fan knows the Red Sox and Cubs should have met in the World Series last year. And that Boston should have won. That way, the Red Sox would have their first title since '18 and the Cubs their first Series visit since World War II. No more hackneyed yammering about curses. We could just have enjoyed the jubilant scenes on Yawkey Way and Waveland Avenue, then let the good folks in both towns enjoy what they'd waited for.
Often in sports, when such moments are deferred they are ultimately denied. Just because the calendar turns, you don't get to return to the scene of the crime and make amends. That's why April has been so important, almost essential, to the Red Sox and Cubs. They could talk all winter about their improvements and renewed resolve. But it's all bunk if you fall on your face out of the gate. The Curse theme song just starts again.
Right now, baseball can smile for a while. The Red Sox swept New York in Yankee Stadium, holding the Bronx Banjos to four runs in three games. That's six Boston wins in seven meetings the last two weekends. Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman says his team is in "the abyss." Captain Derek Jeter, who's 0 for his last 25, joked that his parents don't even stay until the end of games. "If your parents walk out on you, you're not doing too well," he told the New York media.
And, as expected, George III is already on a plane from Tampa. Check that cat-o-nine-tails straight through to LaGuardia, please. The thumbscrews will be an overhead item, if you don't mind. Poor Don Mattingly, back in pinstripes. How was he to know that, with the Yanks, 19 games is considered a long tenure as the hitting coach?
Meanwhile, the Cubs are on a six-game winning streak, the longest in the majors. How is this possible? They won't even have Mark Prior back in the rotation until May. Yet their last six starting pitchers have all picked up wins with Matt Clement striking out 13 and taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning Sunday against the Mets. If the Red Sox can humiliate the Yankees without their best player, Nomar Garciaparra, why shouldn't the Cubbies be able to charge into first place without their ace? See, wasn't it a superb idea to get ex-Cub Greg Maddux as a rotation insurance policy?
Write this down so you can mock me later. By September, there will be serious discussions of whether the current Chicago rotation — yes, the Cubs — is the best five-man assemblage in history. At the top, Prior and Kerry Wood (3-1, 2.60) could be as dominant as almost any pair ever. But the famous tandems like Koufax and Drysdale or Johnson and Schilling didn't have three top arms behind them. Clement (3-1) and Carlos Zambrano (2-0, 1.29) would be fine No. 3 starters on most staffs. The key is Maddux, just 10 wins from 300. If his last sharp seven-inning start is a tip-off that he has one last true Mad Dog year left in him, then the Cubs are a truly special team.
All in all, spring things don't get much better than this. Besides the Red Sox and Cubs, the two most broadly appealing teams in the sport are probably the feisty champion Florida Marlins of Jack McKeon and the improbable low-budget Minnesota Twinkies. At the start of Monday, all four had 12-6 records and all were alone in first place.
If A.J. Burnett, coming off surgery, is as strong in the second half as he was in '02, when he was an emerging star, then the Marlins — rated even money in Vegas not to be a .500 team this year — can actually dream of a repeat.
With a start like this, it's going to be hard to prevent '04 from being one of baseball's most entertaining seasons. Thus far, however, the delicacy of the spring has been the Red Sox' complete trampling of the Yankees. If not for a great defensive play at a crucial moment by Yanks first baseman Travis Lee last week in Boston, the Red Sox might have swept the entire seven-game feast.
By Sunday night, the Yankees were a demoralized crew. All the more so because they'd been dominated not by Boston bats, an age-old and flawed Red Sox method, but by the superb and extremely deep pitching that had always been the Yankees' trump card during the Joe Torre era. "What a terrible weekend," summarized Torre. Now, the tables have turned. The Yankees have good pitching, except for a breathtaking vacuum in the fourth and fifth spots in the rotation. That makes the Red Sox' hurling clearly better. The gap may increase soon when Byung-Hyun Kim returns, allowing Bronson Arroyo, who neutralized Kevin Brown in two solid starts, to go back to long relief.
Who imagined Boston could ever have excess starters while Torre would be reduced to giving an "it's-yours-to-lose" spot in the rotation to Alex Graman. Go on, claim you know him. His dog may not remember him.
These seven April encounters have been worthy of their hoopla. Since they first crossed paths in Florida in March, they've tried to dope each other out. Both teams changed so much since last October that it's like facing an almost entirely new opponent. Both arrived under clouds of questions. The Yanks have had fears confirmed. The Red Sox have, in most cases, had their hopes answered.
The Yankees wondered if chronically injured Bernie Williams was in a terminal career slide. He looks awful (.167). Would Jeter be bothered that almost every insider in the game thinks he should be at second base for the good of the team so Alex Rodriguez can play shortstop? Sure seems like it. What about the BALCO Boys — Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield? Last year, they hit a homer every 13.9 at-bats. This year, they've averaged one every 30.5 at-bats. Gosh, how could that happen? Is it an April statistical anomaly?
Meanwhile, Boston has gotten palatable answers. What were Curt Schilling and Keith Foulke worth? Apparently a ton. Remember the '01 Series when Schilling said that the Yankees' famous "mystique and aura" were just a couple of exotic dancers? Well, he treated them with similar disdain in a winning start. In the bullpen, Boston got saves from Foulke, Mike Timlin and Scott Williamson in three wins over New York. Is that deep enough for you?
How much was "Cowboy Up" chemistry damaged by offseason maneuvers that offended the dignity of Garciaparra, Manny Ramirez and Pedro Martinez? So far, Manny is on fire (.392) and Pedro, though not nearly as fast as he was, has had excellent back-to-back starts. Only Garciaparra, who definitely is nursing a sore heel and perhaps a bruised ego, is a mystery.
Such questions have risen to an exponential power in New England because the whole Nation knows that the annual sardonic saying, "This is the year," has now been upgraded. With five stars, including Garciaparra, facing free agency this winter, the new Red Sox adage has become, "This is the year . . . or else." From owners to players to fans, all are on the same page. Write a great final chapter to this tragic-comic regional sage or burn the book.
If this Red Sox cast can't win it all, especially after the first-round standing eight-count they've just laid on the Yankees, then the 86-year wait to break the Curse of the Bambino may continue for eternity. As folks in Chicago can attest as they endure their 58-season Series drought, that just wouldn't be right.