COLUMN: Steve Solloway

Series victory tastes sweet but, yes, it lacks substance

Copyright © 2004 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

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BOSTON - The Red Sox beat the Yankees. In the final game of the regular season at Fenway Park, the hometown team beat the rival its fans despise the most.

Beat 'em bad. So bad, Red Sox fans howled and sassed the unfortunate ones wearing Yankees colors when the game was only two innings old.

So bad, some in the sell-out crowd might have felt a twinge of sympathy when New York Manager Joe Torre walked to the mound to remove another pitcher that was battered by Boston bats.

Next!

So bad, the day might have been oddly too satisfying. Remember what your mother told you? Eat that big jelly doughnut before dinner and it'll kill your appetite. Worse, it'll leave you feeling empty hours later.

Beat the Yankees two out of three? Beat 'em bad? For Keith Hough it wasn't enough. It's not enough for any Red Sox fan.

Hough appeared on Yawkey Way late Sunday morning resplendent in his hand-sewn Red Sox vest. He's from Brookfield, Mass., but his sister in Topsham, Maine, made it for him using a fine piece of cloth patterned with the Red Sox logo. She used miniature Red Sox batting helmets for buttons.

Mandy Shankle made it for a brother who embraces the heartbreak of this franchise because it will make him relish a World Series trophy even more.

Take two of three from the Yankees? That's been done. Beat 'em bad? That's been done, too.

Win a World Series? That's something else.

"I think they're going to do it," said Hough, repeating the phrase that has choked too many fans when October is done. He likes the Red Sox's pitching rotation. He likes the team's hitting.

Most of all, he likes the team's character, the way it keeps fighting back. He doesn't believe they'll quit.

Never mind that he was describing last year's team.

"There's one big difference," he said. "You can figure it out. Nomar's gone. This team is better without him."

Wow. Nomar Garciaparra, hero to so many kids throughout New England, couldn't have left too soon.

Hough's worry? All true Red Sox fans have something to worry about.

"I hate to say it, but I'm worried about the manager. I don't think he's up to it."

Terry Francona's ears have burned from the boos he's heard this weekend. His decision to leave Pedro Martinez in the game Friday night won't be forgotten anytime soon.

Hough and his nephew left to find their seats. Scott Fisher of Radnor, Pa., walked by. His Bernie Williams jersey was well worn.

Taking a little heat this weekend?

"A little. Ninety percent of the Red Sox fans are just kidding with you. The other 10 percent are a little hard to take. I deal with it."

He grew up in North Jersey, about an hour from Yankee Stadium. His first hero was Don Mattingly. Fisher looked a little young to remember Donny Baseball.

"I'm 22," he said, protesting. "I know who he is."

You ask him the same questions Hough heard. Win two or lose two. What does it mean? What does it matter?

Nothing, said Fisher. More grief from the Red Sox fans, but in the end, nothing.

He likes the Yankees' power. Likes that the Yankees have Gary Sheffield, but doesn't like that management gave up Alfonso Soriano to get Alex Rodriguez.

He doesn't like the Yankees' pitching. He likes that the Yankees are the Yankees, meaning that he doesn't have to carry any of the emotional baggage Red Sox fans drag around.

"This series really doesn't mean anything," said Fisher. "It's bragging rights, that's all. It's what happens next that means more."

In the clubhouses, the same words were said.

"I don't believe in sending messages," said Doug Mientkiewicz, the Red Sox first baseman. "It feels good to win. That's all."

But make no mistake. The players feed off the fans. Curt Schilling, the Red Sox big pitcher, said as much.

He felt the fans for every inning of every start, he said after Sunday's game.

"Every time I needed them they were there," said Schilling. "It keeps you on edge. In addition to being loud, they're smart. They know when to stand up, they know when to get up.

"They know the game."

The Red Sox beat the Yankees. Yesterday is done. Bring on tomorrow.

Staff Writer Steve Solloway can be contacted at 791-6412 or at:

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