There are hundreds of photos available online today from last night's win over the Yankees and the subsequent celebration.
As an Indian fan living in New York the picture I love the most is the one above.
This kid is payback for everyone of us who has had bits of soft pretzel, with mustard, thrown at us for wearing an Indians jersey to Yankee Stadium (me).
He's payback for anyone who has had the words 'Cleveland sucks' sprayed at them by some drunken twenty-somthing idiot because they have a Tribe cap on (me - several times).
He's a hero to anyone who has had the full Yankee Stadium experience while rooting for the "wrong" team.
The kid is only about eight, so no one can touch him. The look on the face of the guy directly to the right of the sign is priceless. He would love to kill the kid, but he can't do anything because the kid is so young. If he were 12, he might be old enough by Yankee Stadium mores to get jeered. If he were 16 they might even throw things at him. Eighteen and all bets are off. But the kid in this picture has them all by the you-know whats.
For anyone who's ever gotten the royal treatment at Yankee Stadium - this one's for you!
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Here's my least favorite photo of the night. 
It was taken during one of Joe Torre's last walks from the mound at Yankee Stadium.
Word out of the Yankee front office today is that nothing has been decided about Torre yet, that there will be a "cooling off" period of a few days and then his status will be discussed.
But I heard Yankee GM Brian Cashman on local talk radio today and from the dancing he was doing it seems to me Torre's fate is likely sealed.
It sure seemed that way in the Yankee clubhouse last night, as described by Yankee radio broadcaster Suzyn Waldman - herself welling with tears as she described the scene to play-by play man John Sterling. (The part you want is about 1 minute 35 seconds into this clip).
I'm not sure that Waldman - in her professional capacity - should be crying on the air. But I am sure that the treatment Torre is getting is disgusting. One day he's being fired. The next it's up in the air - though probably it really isn't up in the air.
The man has managed the Yankees for 12 years. They've been in the playoffs all 12 years and have won four World Series - three of them consecutively.
More important, Torre seems to be as genuine and classy as they come. When I did a tribute to Phil Rizutto on the day he died I said there have only been two Yankees I've ever liked - the Scooter and Don Mattingly. You can add Joe Torre to that list.
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I was going to do an analysis piece with all the numbers just to see how close this series really wasn't. But Pat Tabler over at the DiaTribe is a master at that and so why reinvent the wheel?
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The national media, of course, is obsessed with the Yankee failure and its repurcussion, giving the Indians' accomplishment short shrift.
Not the case out on the Left Coast though - specifically in the L.A. Times.
The New York Yankees were the famous team in this series. They were the team with the glamour, the riches, the stars. But the Cleveland Indians were the best team in this series, the team that represents a city that would treasure a championship, as opposed to a team with an owner that considers it a birthright.
And at least one person in the ESPN sports empire thinks the Indians did baseball fans around the nation a big favor by preventing yet another Boston-Yankee smackdown.
That archival footage of Pedro Martinez slamming Don Zimmer to the ground? Stow it. Casual references to Grady Little, Aaron Boone and Dave Roberts' pivotal stolen base in 2004? Please. All the Athens vs. Sparta comparisons will have to wait until spring training, when the hype begins anew and Red Sox-Yankees tickets are going for $150 a pop.
The Cleveland Indians didn't do much for East Coast corridor baseball mania or the suits at TBS, but they can take satisfaction in knowing they've rescued a large segment of the American baseball-viewing public from another dose of Armageddon fatigue.
Amen to that!
Oh, and one more thing. Time to blow our own horn a little. NJ.com - the Web site for the Newark Star-Ledger - named Tribe Fan In Yankeeland blog of the day today. Click here for a look.
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4 comments:
mooses after thoughts
1. Did Shoppach really get hit by that pitch
2. Didn't Minkiewicz strike out on that check swing
3. Somebody asked Terry Pluto if he will be comfortable with Joe B pitching in fenway - plutos reply -" I am not comfortable with Borowski pitching in the Grand Canyon" - you got to to laugh at that one
4. Byrd or Westbrook in game 3. Check the stats Byrd is pretty good against Boston
5. Lets hope Bruce Froemming stays home for this series
6. Not much said about johhny peralta - batted 400 something and didnt play bad defense
7. Shoppach stroked the ball pretty good
8. Did Posada interfere with hafners swing in the eighth
9. Did you know Borowski had more 1-2-3 innnings than Rivera this year - 15 to 10
10. How many yankees will be back next year
11. Tribe has options with Gomez, borowski, nixon, byrd, delucci
who do they keep
12. Who was that kid rooting for the Indians - some Indians family member
13.Cy young is CC or Beckett
14. whats with the 8:30 starts
Why is Kelly refering to you as a "lonley Cleveland Indians fan"? You got us! You ain't so lonley. I thought I was lonley until I found this blog. Now you are my Tribe brothers. We must take in a game if the Tribe make the W.S.
My take on some of Moose's after thoughts.
1. He got hit. Replays showed it and his knuckles were red.
2. If Minkiewicz went any further he would have hit Shoppach in the head.
3. JoBo is Wickman minus 70 lbs. The guy should be a spokesman for heart medicine or indigestion medicine.
4. I say Byrd in Game 3. I like Westbrook, but he didn't get it done and Byrd did.
5. Froemming is the worst umpire I have ever seen. Had a strike zone the size of a postage stamp and was probably looking at some hot babe in the stands on the check-swing.
6. Mixed emotions about Jhonny. He seems to play to lax. I think there were 3 infield hits to him. Lets the ball come to him and throws to first with no zip.
7. Shoppach is a good catcher and would start for alot of teams. Great arm and good hitter for the small number of times he comes up to bat.
8. Did not look like it. I thought Hafner was complaining about Shelly "Sloth" Duncan having his foot directly on the bag.
9. Did not know that. Interesting stat. But I never seem to remember the 1-2-3's. It is the April 19th game that has burned a hole in my brain for the rest of my life. 6-2, 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th, no one on. It still bugs me to this day!
10. Who cares
11. DeLucci was a waste. Borowski-no way as a closer, Byrd-most likely yes. Nixon-I doubt it. Gomez-ditto
12. Had to be some family member. Right behind the dugout. Always nice to see Tribe fans at Yankee Stadium.
13. Cy Young should go to CC. Won 1 less game then Beckett, but had 8 no-decisions. In those 8 games his ERA was lower than his overall ERA. Plus he pitched more innings than Beckett.
14. The ALCS moves to FOX. I don't remember seeing any 8:30 starts. All games in AL start at 7 or 8.
Time to get some sleep. I was up way too late last night. But for good reason.
Two sales traders sit next to each other on the floor of the brokerage firm I work for.
One is an Indian fan, the other is a Yankee fan.
Yankee fan lost a bet and now has to wear an Indian jersey for the rest of the week, no name/number on the back but a sign tapped to the back that says:
I am not an Indian fan, I just made a bad bet!
shjLet me take a crack at moose's thoughts too.
I had a grad-school class Monday night and missed the first two innings, so I can't answer 1 & 2, which doesn't mean I can't answer no. 5 - it is way past time for froemming to sit around on the couch and get fatter.
No opinion of Hafner/Posada. Hard to tell something like that standing behind the plate, let-alone on TV
Shoppach will be gone the minute he is a free agent (which won't be for a while) unless the Tribe decides that Victor is too good a hitter to be allowed to get broken down physically after several years behind the plate and moves him to 1B permanently.
borowski is hard to watch - and to have on your fantasy team. let's hope they consider another option at closer next year.
Byrd or Westbrook? Toughest question of all. Won't they have to use them both anyway at some point?
Peralta did have a nice series and let's hope he keeps just trying to make solid contact. If he gets pull happy in the next round he will disappear. He wont be the SS next year. We're looklng at Asdrubal (ss) and Barfield (2b) , who I expect will have a much better year. Peralta will either be at 3B or gone. I don't like the way he plays either. Still he may be preferable to Marte, who I think is a bust. It will be interesting to see what they do. Whatever they do, they still have Casey Blake to bail them out if need be.
9. Your best point of all. A stat I wish I had had a few days ago to defend Borowski around here. (though he's hard to defend). Like Bobby, that April game is seared in my memory, since I was there. I still feel the thunderous noise of that crowd every time Borowski takes the mound.
10. the fewer the better
11. i'd keep gomez. he looks like he can hit coming off the bench and what will it cost them? can;t even remember the name of the guy who was the utility infielder for most of the year, but who needs someone like that again. I'm not sure you are right about Delucci. I think he is already signed through next year. I've already said they should go to someone else as closer. Byrd is damned good for a fourth starter. They'll be breaking in Laffey more as no. 5 so we don't need another hole in the rotation. Lee is clearly gone and you do have sowers for depth. I still think you stick with Byrd. Do you even have to ask about Nixon?
12. They kept showing Shapiro with his wife and kids on TV. It may have been his kid in the photo but I'm not sure about that.
13. CC for the reasons bobby mentioned.
14. I thoughtI saw mostly 7:00 starts with a few 8:10's sprinkled in. Let's hope the other series goes seven games as it is likely to get the later start times since they are west coast teams. If the NL series ends in four games all the remaining tribe games will get pushed to 8:30, whic I don't need.
It has been fun to find out there are other people in my shoes and chatting with you guys online. I plan to keep this blog going right through the winter and into next season so stay with me and pass the word. As to why I was described as "lonely" I'm not quite sure. Isolated or displaced might have been better. I'm just happy to get the mention though.
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