New York State of Mind

I spent the past day and a half in New York City. I drove down last night and by the time I got checked into my hotel and over to the ESPN Zone it was close to 9:00. On the way down I started thinking about heading over to Yankee Stadium and scalping a ticket (if I was in Atlanta I could just go over the boxoffice). Once it got to be 8:00 - I put that idea out of my head.

Last night Times Square was as dead as I've ever seen it. When I got to the ESPN Zone I was able to get one of the big leather seats down front with no waiting. When the ESPN Zone first opened they had these big leather recliners that had speakers built-in so that you could chose the TV feed you wanted to listen to. Those bigger older recliners have now been replaced with fewer more traditional leather seats. Don't get me wrong - these seats are still very comfortable but they are not space-age cool like the old ones.

Obviously, the Yankees / Twins game was on the two munga-big screens. That was a good game but I started getting antsy for the game to end because it was getting close to 10:00 and I wanted the Red Sox on the big screens.

The crowd was mostly Yankee fans but Red Sox fans were well represented. It didn't take long for a chant of "1918" to break out. (As an aside - my room number was 1917 and the room next to me was 1919. I checked the floor and there was no room number 1918. I took that as a good omen.)

The Yankee game went into extra innings which forced the Sox game to stay on the smaller screens. It was strange because for every out in either game there was a loud cheer. If the Red Sox made an out - the Yankee fans would cheer. If the Yankees made an out - the Red Sox fans would cheer.

By 11:30 I was pretty beat so I headed back to the hotel. By the time I got into my room the score was tied 3-3. I put the TV on sleep timer and almost immediately fell asleep.

This morning Sportscenter dutifully filled me in on what I missed. Here are some additional thoughts about the playoffs:

- I think it is very significant that Mariano Rivera blew the save. Keep in mind that he also blew a save in the last Red Sox series. He is now beatable. Before he used to be automatic.

- People should get off Pedro's back. He has been the best pitcher in baseball for years. This year he was maybe the third best starter in the AL and people are complaining about that? The way I look at Pedro is right now he's about the same as what Greg Maddux was at the same age. Take a look at what Maddux was able to do at age 31 and beyond.

- I keep wondering if Larry Walker is the first Canadian to hit two HR in a playoff game.

- The best scenario would be for the Red Sox to sweep and for Johan Santana to pitch the final game of the Yankees / Twins series. I don't care who wins that series - I just want to insure that either way - Santana will be unable to pitch two games against the Red Sox (obviously if the Twins lose then Santana gets zero starts against the Red Sox). Santana is the only thing between the Red Sox and the World Series.