Posted on 09/25/2002 7:28:41 PM PDT by BluesDuke
Plans can change. Sometimes, maybe they should. Saturday in Seattle, they certainly should have.
Not very nice, Seattle Mariners. The visiting Anaheim Angels were in town Saturday, needing one game to clinch a postseason spot. Who comes out to throw out the ceremonial first pitch? An assassin from yesteryear: Dave Henderson, Boston Red Sox, Class of '86.
Talk about the hand that held the dagger thrusting it into the back of the sons who are not supposed to be visited with the sins of their fathers.
For those who spent their last two decades in cryonic confinement, Dave Henderson - now a Mariners broadcaster - sent the 1986 Angels from the threshold of World Series back to purgatory with one deadly swing.
With his Boston Red Sox down to their last strike before yielding the American League pennant, Henderson stood in against Angels closer Donnie Moore, fouled off one low forkball, and drove the next one over the left field fence for a two-run homer. The Angels tied it in the bottom of the ninth, but the game went to an eleventh inning and Henderson drove in what proved the game winner - also off Moore, this time with a sacrifice fly.
That got the Red Sox their incandescent chance to take the pennant by winning the next two games, the better to let the New York Mets do to them in World Series Game Six what they'd just done to the Angels. And Henderson also figured in that ultimate heartbreak - he ripped a three-run belt into the Boston bullpen in the top of the tenth, putting the Red Sox up, 5-3, before they got the Mets down to the final strike they refused to swallow without a nerve-strangling fight.
All Donnie Moore got for throwing that home run pitch was round after round of abuse enough (not from his teammates, who knew better than to think one pitch was enough to kill their pennant shot with two games to play) that enough who knew him think it drove him far enough out of his mind to his 1989 suicide.
Now, the Mariners sent Henderson out to throw out the first pitch, on a Saturday afternoon, in which the visiting Angels needed a win to clinch at least a slot, crowning the single most gripping pennant race in baseball this season. And all the Mariners can say about it is that they pre-planned the whole thing, and what's the big deal.
The sourpuss would say: You ever heard of sportsmanship up there? It isn't that difficult to arrange a slightly different first-pitch thrower within even the fewest days prior to the game, especially for a team looking to commemorate its 25-year anniversary.
Enough Angel fans believe in jinxes and curses (just like enough Red Sox fans) that surely some wondered whether somewhere, subconsciously, the Mariners - well enough in this year's American League West race, before enough untimely injuries, pitching inconsistencies, and a missing additional bat finally wrung them all but out - sent Hendu for Saturday's first pitch figuring a little bit of, "If you can't beat 'em, spook 'em."
"Just write down Hendu's not playing this year, so (the Angels) have a chance," he quipped after the Mariners won the game, 6-4. It wouldn't kill him to hire some new gag writers.
The sourpuss would continue that not even the New York Yankees would be low enough to wheel out Mookie Wilson to throw out the first ball, before playing the Red Sox in a game the Red Sox might need to clinch a postseason slot or better.
How about the next time the Kansas City Royals need a win to clinch, they're on the road, and their host club has a first-ball ceremony with the featured thrower being...Chris Chambliss? (1976 League Championship Series; Game Five, tied. Chambliss led off the bottom of the ninth against Mark Littell, swung on the first pitch, and bombed it over the right field fence, for the first pennant-winning walkoff since Bobby Thomson and the first Yankee pennant since 1964.)
Suppose the Oakland Athletics get as far as the League Championship Series this year, getting one win away from going to the World Series, and they're in the road ballpark to do it. Whom shall we get to throw out the ceremonial first pitch - Kirk Gibson, anyone?
The St. Louis Cardinals - just think of what they overcame already to get there this year: a Hall of Fame broadcaster dying after he watches what turns out the last game by a Cardinal pitcher who would be found dead in Chicago a few days later; a Hall of Fame outfield legend dying later in the summer. Imagine the Redbirds needing just one win to get to the Big Dance. Now on the mound to throw out the ceremonial first pitch: Don Denkinger.
(1985 World Series; Cardinals leading three games to two; Game Six, Royals Stadium, bottom of the ninth. Three outs from the Cardinals pulling the cork. Royals leadoff Jorge Orta - out on a chopper to the right side, first baseman Jack Clark picking it off and tossing to relief pitcher Todd Worrell covering for the out. Only Denkinger rules it safe - runner beat the throw, said he. Said every replay on earth: Say what? Runner beat nothing. Blown call. Cardinals implode. Royals win in the bottom of the ninth. Cardinals - with Denkinger, of all people, calling balls and strikes - melt down in Game Seven. Royals crown them 11-0. Cardinals carry rep as grousing chokers for years.)
"I've hit a lot of home runs in postseason play," Henderson said after Saturday's game. "The Angels just haven't been back, so it makes it a big deal." Pretty smug for a guy who makes his living broadcasting a team who hasn't won any pennants, either, in a few tries at the postseason.
Maybe jinxes and curses mean nothing, compared to overmanagers making the wrong decisions, players executing improperly, front office myopics making the wrong transactions or signing the wrong contracts.
But this night, for the properly managed, properly executing, far-enough sighted front-officed Angels, Troy Glaus did commit a throwing error leading to four unearned Seattle runs Saturday. And the Angels did pin Kazuhiro Sasaki to the wall in the top of the ninth, loading the bases on the Mariners' closer before he got Garret Anderson to pop out to left.
"Troy threw that ball away," Henderson said after the game. "That had nothing to do with me being here."
But suppose the Mariners needed the game to clinch, playing the Angels in Anaheim, and the Angels brought out one of the 1986 Red Sox to throw out ceremonial first pitch. Lou Piniella would toss more than any base he rips out of the infield over that one.
No...wait. This kind of mojo works in reverse, no? Calling Cursebusters, Inc. The Mariners and the Angels do end the season in Anaheim, next weekend. If the Angels are still trying to clinch that wild card spot at minimum, why don't the Angels just invite Hendu down to the field to throw out the first ball? Here you go - we'll just wave the bloody monkey in your face...and we don't just mean the Rally Monkey, either!
Then, they can go out and clobber the Mariners to nail down their postseason invite. Assuming, of course, that so valiant a season's drive isn't ending in their having hit a slippery enough slope that the Red Sox sneak into the wild card slot.
Why don't the Cardinals invite Don Denkinger along to throw out a first pitch somewhere in the postseason, especially if they get themselves to a game away from making the Series? Cardinal Nation forgives you, O Wicked Witch of the Midwest.
Maybe the Red Sox should think about reversing the mojo, too. If the Angels do end up slip-sliding away and the Red Sox slip-slide into the wild card, why don't the Sox just wave the Curse of the Bambino right in the spirits' faces? Just invite one of Babe Ruth's grandchildren, Johnny Pesky, Luis Aparicio, Bill Lee, Darrell Johnson, Bobby Sprowl, Mike Torrez, Bill Buckner, and other real or alleged goats of Red Sox past to throw out the first balls.
On the other hand, maybe the Red Sox aren't the ideal Cursebusters clients. With their kind of luck, one of those goats will throw out the ceremonial first pitch and it'll get hit unceremoniously onto the Massachussetts Turnpike.
Situation Update: Since losing Saturday and Sunday to a Mariners team determined not to go gently into that good grey season's night, the Angels through Wednesday have lost one to the Texas Rangers with two more to play against them.
They can still clinch the wild card with a Wednesday night win, especially if the Mariners and the Red Sox lose. But if the Angels lose yet the Mariners and the Red Sox win? Do we dare...?
They're really starting to try my patience!
Albert Pujols, Edgar Renteria, and Scott Rolen could be first-team NL at their respective positions this year (not that Prince Albert would beat out Bonds for LF, but he could make the starting OF). Eli Marrero has been a super-sub, and Miguel Cairo may be the best pinch-hitter in the league. Most of all, the pitching has been amazing, the way unexpected guys (Benes, Simontacchi) have stepped up when their mates have gone down (to injury or even death!).
Cardinal Nation has lost, this season: starting pitcher Darryl Kile; broadcaster Jack Buck (the most beloved man in St. Louis); HOF outfielder Enos Slaughter; and '80s WS hero Darrel Porter.
Andy Benes, whom I thought I could hit this spring, has added the splitter and come back from the pitching graveyard. Jason Simontacchi has come from out of nowhere to give the starting staff a huge boost. Walt Jocketty has picked up for next-to-nothing, and Dave Duncan has revitalized, pitching retreads Chuck Finley, Rick White, and Jeff Fassero, all of whom have come through big-time. Jocketty stole--and today the Cardinals signed to a long-term deal--Scott Rolen, the best 3b in baseball, tremendously talented all-around (slugging, fielding, throwing, baserunning).
This has the makings of a storybook year for the Cardinals.
They look absolutely anemic.
There ain't no Baseball...Either there is a strike or, I'm a Mets fan.....lol.
Yeah, maybe a little Zen baseball is in order. Embrace the curse, bend as the willow does...
(How about Livo, eh? That doubleplay to third from first was preternaturally vicious!)
1995, anyone?
The A's can't possibly choke this time, trust this M's fan on that - I have tickets to today's game at Safeco, and if you're talking about curses, that's one for sure. Kinda hope they don't clinch today in Texas, though - it's always nicer to clinch in front of your own long-suffering fans. Trust me on that one.
My point exactly. Bend like the willow (or the ash, or the maple...).
Ya think that thing with the black garter with the pink rose in front for the pitchers might have helped them?
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