Empathy

To the Editors of The Crimson:

I feel sorry for Red Sox fans as they go into unhappy hibernation for the 68th consecutive year.

Bruce Hurst had already been selected series MVP. Marty Barrett had already been chosen the game's MVP. We who were watching on television had seen a graphic showing consumer prices in 1918, the last time the Red Sox were world champions.

And then the Mets won. They scored three runs after having two outs and nobody on. The greatest comeback in world series history. But let's face it, folks--cream rises to the surface eventually, and the Mets, with their penchant for drama, had simply waited until the last out of game six to show that they are the best team baseball has seen for along time. And the Sox proved once and for all that they are a run-of-the-mill squad that made it through the regular season and the league championship series on luck and luck alone.

They took a three-run lead in game seven, but they didn't fool me. Nor the Mets.

Roger Clemens? I didn't see him beat the Mets--maybe he's used to anemic American League hitters. Wade Boggs? His average against the Mets was even lower than Boston's winning percentage in games where they took big leads in to the ninth. Dwight Evans and Bill Buckner? Their defense in game six proved that they belong in the geriatric ward. Calvin Schiraldi? (I won't even answer that one.) Jim Rice? Did he play? Sure, Hurst and Barrett were good but hey--25 against 2 isn't quite fair.

The Mets, meanwhile, defy individualization. They are a great team. During the post-season they won every single game in which they had ever held the lead or in which they had ever rallied to tie. The last time a team won as many as 116 regular-and post-season games and walked off with the world championship? Never. Their fans stayed till the last out while the Boston fans could do nothing more civil than taunt Darryl Strawberry (for whom the Sox would trade their whole team) in the face of their own impending doom.

But buck up, Sox fans--your team rates to come this close again in 2054. Imagine the smile that will come to your lips when the announcers tell you, just when the game appears to be on ice, that a top-model Porsche was less than $50,000 the last time the Sox took the series to seven. William Cole, GSAS