| | | Let's face it: Anyone clueless enough to be writing about Game 7 of the World Series the day after David Halberstam weighed in on the very same subject must've been riding shotgun with Nate Newton. Following a guy like Halberstam is like following the Pope at Midnight Mass or Mike Brown at Soldier Field.
|  | | Why did Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling get to hold the World Series trophy? Their damp T-shirts hold the answer. |
But really: Have you stopped thinking about that ninth inning yet? (I mean, when you weren't snapping up Youppi dolls on eBay?) Me, living in Southern California, where there's an SUV for every Heisman candidate, I've been thinking about what sunk the Yankees at game's end. And I keep coming back to The Weather ...and The Play.
First, The Weather. Screenwriter Robert Towne -- who wanted to cast Pat Riley in the "Tequila Sunrise" role eventually played by Kurt Russell (Riles reportedly was nervous about kissing Michelle Pfeiffer, and who can deny that at such a moment we'd all be concerned about The Winner Within?) -- once envisioned a sequel to his "Chinatown" in which the actions of gumshoe Jake Gittes would've been bracketed by two real-life events from the late '40s: the institution of no-fault divorce in California ...and the last measurable snowfall in L.A. County.
Yes, snow in L.A. -- apparently, it really happened. Next to the "Magnolia" frogs, what could be weirder than that ... unless it's rain in Arizona ... during Game 7 of a World
Series ... in November ... in a stadium with a retractable roof ... that they won't close? I thought there was something wrong with my set.
Has there ever been a more bizarre weather moment in a more significant baseball game? (No.) By the ninth inning, at least on my TV, it seemed to have stopped. Did that mean The Weather was no longer a factor? (See previous answer to ostensibly rhetorical question.)
|  | | Mariano Rivera tried to do a little too much in the ninth inning of Game 7. |
Now, The Play. You know The Play: That moment in the ALDS with Oakland that Derek Jeter magically materialized along the first-base line to retrieve an errant relay throw from right field and shovel-pass it to Jorge Posada in time to tag out Jeremy Giambi. It was a great, heads-up piece of work by Jeter, no doubt about it. It was also the most conspicuously, incessantly praised fielding play in recent memory ...a classic case of a great player exceeding his role within the team, trying to do even more than anyone could've expected him to do.
But you know what I think? More often than not, that's a recipe for trouble. Think of the young quarterback who forces a long pass into coverage and gets intercepted, or the linebacker who over-pursues and gets caught out of position. Remember when Chris Webber called the timeout that Michigan didn't have in the NCAA final? Recall that in the final seconds, he decided to bring the ball up himself. He knew he was a great player, and he wanted to come through for his team -- he just tried to do a little too much. (In the book "The Perfect Storm," I think Sebastian Junger calls it getting "task-saturated.") In that sense, Jeter's was a dazzling play, but a dangerous example.
Which brings us to Mariano Rivera.
Even before Game 7, Rivera seemed to be taking on excessive responsibility for the Yankees' performance. For the first time anyone could remember, he addressed the team, declaring that they would win Game 7, but that either way, they would be safe in God's hands. Thoughtful, stirring words ... just a little out-of-the-box for Rivera.
|  | | Derek Jeter's play in Oakland might have had a negative impact on the Yanks in the long run. |
So, ninth inning: Mark Grace gets a hit, and that gets the crowd back into it ... but otherwise, big deal, right? Then Grace is replaced at first by pinch runner Dave Dellucci, who is said to currently be dating Gena Lee Nolin. (Gena and I did a Rock & Jock together, and I can say that she is the only "Baywatch" performer I've ever worked with who complimented me on a magazine profile I'd written about Don Henley six years earlier. So I've got her back, and as a result neither I nor management will be responsible for
the jokes you'll no doubt be making about Dellucci's "getting to second base," "scoring" and comments of that nature. Really, you should be ashamed.)
Anyway, Damian Miller comes up to bunt, and ... well, here we are. It is time for Rivera's Jeter moment. When Miller bunts, Rivera knows what the safe play is: an easy throw to first to get the sure out. But Rivera is a great player -- more to the point, Rivera is a great fielder -- and so, like Jeter two weeks earlier, Rivera wants to make The Play: He wants to get the runner at second. He is quick enough to field the bunt in time, he certainly has a strong enough arm to beat Dellucci ... what can possibly go wrong?
Of course. The Weather.
Does Rivera have time to consider that while it might have stopped raining, the ground must still be damp ... or has he become task-saturated? Rivera would
later say that he never got a good grip on the ball. Was that because the ball was wet from the infield grass? His throw tails away from Jeter,
everyone's safe and, as Rivera would later note, "I think that was the key to the game." Which isn't to discount the subsequent heroics of Tony Womack or
Luis Gonzalez. (You do realize, though, that if Jeter is playing in his normal position, Gonzalez is out easily.)
Believe me, I'm not looking to point fingers. I'm just fascinated by, and in admiration of, all the decision-making that goes into these amazingly dramatic moments. I was bummed when the Yankees lost, but I realize now that it was a lot more exciting and emotional that way, even if Mark Grace + Mike Morgan + Bobby Witt still don't quite = Ray Bourque. As was said that night at the Emmys, there are no losers here. (Come to think of it, at the Emmys, there weren't any winners there, either. Most people blamed The War, but I'm blaming The Weather.)
Chris Connelly writes a weekly column for Page 2. "Unscripted with Chris Connelly," the TV show airs at 5 p.m. ET, Monday-Friday on ESPN.
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