Last year, though no Yankees' fan would like to admit it, you kind of felt like the Yankees' All-Stars were sabotaging themselves. If the AL won, your division rival was going to benefit.
This year, only the stereotypical arrogant and elitist fan of any of the big three AL East teams would feel like last night's game could only benefit their own team. The Yankees, Rays and Red Sox are all legitimate contenders, benefiting in different categories and against different teams this year, but nonetheless containing enough pieces to make a World Series and possibly win it. The Rays have an elite offense, a bullpen with upside and the most dynamic and athletic team in the division with a solid core of starting pitching. The Yankees have what I consider the best and deepest offense, a solid front of the rotation with big upside in the back and a revamped, well above-average bullpen (except against the Angels). The Red Sox have a good offense, great rotation, the best of the three bullpens (at least right now even with recent struggles) and the deepest team in terms of Major League ready talent. All three can play their share of defense. Any of those three descriptions could translate to a playoff spot and success in the postseason.
So watching last night was kind of fun in a "this is a rare treat" kind of way. I watched the game with my friend Tyler (a Sox fan), my roommate Steve (a Yankees' fan), Tyler's girlfriend, Kristin, (a Yankees' fan) and my other roommate, Dave (also a Yankees' fan, though if you ever meet him make sure you tell him he likes the Brewers). Normally, if the Sox were playing the Yankees in 2009, Tyler could humiliate all four of us. If it was a normal game or Julio Lugo was starting at shortstop, we'd probably let Tyler have it. The fact of the matter is Yankees and Red Sox fans never agree, never share the same ups and downs and barring some mathmatical inconvenience, never root for each other.
Last night was a rare exception. Tyler was ecstatic when Derek Jeter scored two runs. He pulled for Teixeira to drive in a run in that first inning. I was pulling for a successful appearance from Tim Wakefield (which never came), for Jason Bay or Kevin Youkilis to torch the opponent, and for a clean Papelbon outing. We both rejoiced over seeing four or five Yankees and Red Sox players joking around in the dugout, or Rivera and Wakefield talking about 80 years of two combined pitches in the bullpen. Most of all, when Rivera did what Rivera does, and nailed down a big save to end the game we all celebrated simultaneously. We even high-fived over Barlett's nice play at shortstop and Crawford's MVP grab in left to save Papelbon from being the Goat.
We were all on the same team and we all had the same goal. If I knew of an actual Rays fan (maybe "Mike" who commented here last year) I would have been sharing some alcohol with them too. Because when the AL won home field advantage, despite whatever difference it actually makes or who reaches the World Series, we know we just did our own teams a favor, and we needed the enemy to help us out. Yesterday we were all on the same team.
Those moments rarely happen so it was a nice and refreshing change of pace.
It's a quality reference point to an exciting season so far.
I'm happy I got to freely root for the Red Sox and Rays yesterday.
Now here's to a disaster of a second half for the Yankees' arch-rivals.
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