By Bill Murphy
If anyone has read Dante’s Inferno, there are nine circles of hell, this year’s American League Championship Series was my tenth circle of hell, It was the Boston Red Sox vs. The Houston Astros. As a die-hard New York Yankees fan watching this series hurts. On top of that, it hurts that both my predictions for the American League Division series were wrong (I had the Rays in four and the White Sox in five ). As a Yankee Fan, I intended not to watch this series, but as a sports Journalist, I must watch it to give you the best content I can give you. Asking me who I wanted to win is like asking me would I rather eat Spam or dog S**t.
The Houston Astros, where do I start? We all know that in the 2017 and 2018 seasons, the Astros were stealing signs while using trash cans and other signals and using technology. It got to the point where Jose Altuve was allegedly wearing a device under his jersey. Something that puts salt in the wound was in the three seasons that this was speculated. This was during the season that the Astros beat the Yankees in both the 2017 and 2019 ALCS. If it were just an ordinary loss under normal circumstances, I would’ve just brushed it off and moved on. Still, knowing that it was done by cheating thanks to the outcome of the MLB’s investigation that was launched into this, it makes me even angrier that this happened, knowing they beat my beloved Yankees. On top of that, I have to say watching this season when the Astros returned to Yankee Stadium and hearing the fans chant Fk Altuve was music to my ears.
Now the obvious one, to save you time reading this, I am just going to say in good conscience as a Yankee fan, I can not root for the Boston Red Sox. Over the past 17 years, I had to see the Red Sox win four world series titles. Two of those, they beat the Yankees in the playoffs. There was, of course, the 2004 American League Championships Series when the Yankees were up to three games to none. Then a David Roberts stolen base, Big Papi, bloody sock, and Damon Grand Slam later they were going to the world series and breaking the curse of the Bambino. Then 14 years later, they beat the Yankees again in the American League Division series and eventually beat the Dodgers in the World Series. Then, this season, the Red Sox beat the Yankees in the one-game wild-card playoff, in which the Yankees just played a crappy game, especially the play that cost Phil Nevens his job. Thankfully, with the Red Sox losing, that didn’t happen again and giving Alex Cora his first postseason series loss as Red Sox skipper.
As I said in the opening, I was not excited about this series. In comparing who is the spam and who is the Dog S***t, I think it is easy to say that the Astros were my spam. Not that I am excited that they won, but at least it’s not the red sox. I will be rooting for whoever wins the NLCS.
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