Introspection

Mike:
It's become something of a cliche now, but Giamatti's "soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." is still the most eloquent capturing of the end of the season feeling for fans.

 

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Susan/Circle:
The "the game is meant to stop, and betray precisely what it promised."

 

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Susan/Circle:
And we have been betrayed alright. Sigh.

 

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Mike:
Damn you Dame Mutability, damn you.

 

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Susan/Circle:
Are we meant to drift away with the wrappahs, the programs, the Coke cups and peanut shells …?

 

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Mike:
Or do we live on forevah in the green fields of the mind?

 

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Comments

[steff66]

Bravo!

[LarryE]

Let's assume for a minute that we win Sunday's game, Lester wins game 4 and Becketts returns to form and wins game 5. If we are honest with ourselves, do we really think we had a realistic chance of beating the Yankees?

While it doesn;t get much worse (2003 the exception) than the feeling in the pit of your stomach that Sunday's game caused, I would MUCH rather lose to the Angels than lose to the MFY.

[louclinton]

Happy Birfday, Jerry Trupiano.

lc

[ParkerStPete]

My 11-year-old son takes a decidedly less poetic view: "I don't care who wins the NL but I hope in the AL someone drops a bomb on the stadium." My favorite non-baseball evocation of fall is still Frost's "My November Guest":

"My Sorrow when she's here with me,
Thinks these dark days of autumn rain
Are beautiful as days can be;
She loves the bare, the withered tree;
She walks the sodden pasture lane."

Etc.

[COD]

Our goal for the day is for somebody to say something witty or profound or interesting enough to inspire HB for one more strip. Then we have to keep delivering daily until HB realizes too late that he never took his hiatus, and that pitchers and catchers report next week.

[vermonter]

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and sorry I could not travel both I hope the Yanks get pounded good, their brand-new stadium fire and smoke...

[Steven Rockwell]

Bats, balls, pitcher's mound
Hidden from view by winter
There's always next year

[Harwich Rich]

Pa-diddle ;D

[Kaz]

Shipoopi, Shipoopi, Shipoopi,
The girl who's hard to get.
Shipoopi, Shipoopi, Shipoopi,
But you can win her yet.

[ogie oglethorpe]

Or, we can move on to the Pats and B's, as we pull for a Phillies-Angels series.

[h.b.]

*** HIATUS UPDATE ***

The beauty of the offseason is that the strips need not even have a loose connection to the most recent game.

This means I can stretch things out, diverge, ramble, really anything.

To that end, then, tomorrow's strip is mostly written in my head, so the hiatus is postponed for at least another day. Hah.

I *will* be taking Friday off, though, for sure, as I'm going out of town for a mini-vacation.

[Billy Mahty]

I say this not as a Yankees fan, but as a baseball fan: this season is not over.

[Rob in CT]

**Best Jim Backus / Mr. Magoo voice**

"Ah, h.b. You've done it again!"

[Kaz]

Just remember h.b.:

It's coming.

[ettubloge]

If it is Yanks-Dodgers, I root for LA. I can stomach an occasional stupid reminder from Manny in order to avoid hearing Yankee fans throwing "27" at me. Plus, the Bosox loss points out the feeble run-scoring ability of the line-up with no production from the DH (considered a hitting position). While Manny was ably replaced by Bay, we need bolstering (can we get Mauer?) to match the Yanks and Angels (and Philly to boot).

Go Phils!!!! Go Angels!!!!

[vancouversoxfan]

Brilliant strip, as usual, Mr b.

[Jeff in NC]

Billy Mahty - You are correct, the sesaon is not over. But it is a lot less interesting if you are not a fan of one of the last 4.

I have to root for the Angels even though I despise Scioscia (sp?). I find the Phillies to be as boring a sports team as there is. Manny and to a certain extent Frank McCourt makes all things Dodgers a problem for me.

However, my preferred WS matchup is Torre & Co. v. Yankees. Seems like a lopsided game to me, but the idea of Torre vindicating himself at the expense of the Head Evils of the Empire and all the fans who threw him under the bus... mmmmm.

[Natalie]

Rally monkeys and thundersticks or the root of all evil... I abstain. A great strip which fully captures the melancholy of the end of the Sox season. To fully wallow in my ennui, may reread Walker Percy's The Moviegoer.

[ponch in jerz]

Another strip tomorrow?

I approve. Cookies for everyone.

[Jazz Lunatique]

I will root for the Angels and Dodgers because the Angels aren't the Yankees and the whole Adenhart saga and because Manny Ramirez was a part of the 2004 and 2007 squads which brought me more joy than almost anything. Therefore he gets a pass on his shortcomings FOREVER and I will root for them forever (though Johnny Damon gives a serious challenge to that rule), and that sentiment includes anyone on those squads including Schilling. If I ever meet Dave Roberts, he gets a drink on me, as do they all. Bosox forever!

[louclinton]

For many years, more than I care to count, the season is over for when the Red Sox are done playing and Joe C reads the Giamatti piece to close out the broadcast. I have heard it read every year going back to when ken Coleman did it. Not much of an accomplishement, I'll grant you, but there it is.

I won't peek in, even for a minute. Your mileage may vary, of course. In fact I don't even care if the MFY win or lose.

lc

[Matt of CT]

fwiw: whoever is pretending to be CB Bucknor is goddamn awesome.

[RedStripe Nan]

h.b. thank you so much for the Giamatti reference and the link. A green field. In the sun.

[Lazlo Freem]

When I got this week's work schedule I was more than disappointed to see that I would be missing all 3 Sox games and the Pats game. Now I'm grateful to not have witnessed it. At least it was over quickly and rather painlessly for some odd reason. At least the Yanks are denied making us their bitches. If those mercenaries go the distance it may be a little empty having not gone through Fenway en route.

[Steve in MD]

Thanks for making it all a little more interesting, and more bearable at the end, h.b.

[Ed in PA]

Hey h.b., and all of you other chowda headz.

I just wanted to thank you all for the strips and comments over the past season. I never comment but wanted to let you know that this site has become a sort of daily therapy session for me over the past few seasons as the strips and comments always seem to be right on point with my own happiness or frustrations with our beloved Sox.

Thanks again h.b. don't forget about us in the off season.

[granular_serene]

thanks for a good season h.b.