Faithful

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Copyright © 2004 by Stewart O’Nan, Stephen King

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2004063398

ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-7244-5

ISBN-10: 0-7432-7244-7

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Notes

1

The Boston Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy.

2

Where it festers.

3

In the first two meetings of this year, we beat them by scores of 6–2 and 5–2, and the Yankees’ big off- season acquisition, Alex Rodriguez (who Red Sox fans see, rightly or wrongly, as a player stolen out from under our very noses by George “I’ll Spend Anything” Steinbrenner) went 0 for 8. Well enough. In the third game, however, The Team That Will Not Die is leading the Sox 7–3 in the fourth inning.

4

Shaughnessy again: “…only three collapses approximate this one: the 1915 Giants led the Boston Braves by fifteen games on the Fourth of July and finished ten and a half behind; the 1951 Brooklyn Dodgers led the Giants by thirteen games August 11, got tied on the final day of the season, then lost the playoff; and the 1964 Phillies led the Cardinals by six and a half games with twelve to play, then lost ten straight. The Giants, Dodgers and Phillies eventually won championships. The Red Sox…” Well, do we need to finish that? Fuck, no, we’s fans.

5

Who went to the unusual length of issuing an apology after the game—fat lot of good it did us.

6

Who will not be eligible for the win today, I’m happy to report.

7

When Zim was the Red Sox field general, Sox pitcher Bill Lee once called him “the designated gerbil.”

8

Harvey Frommer and Frederic J. Frommer, Red Sox vs. Yankees: The Great Rivalry (Sports Publishing/Boston Baseball, 2004). This is a Boston-biased book, but most of the color photographs show celebrating Yankees and downcast Red Sox…wonder why.

9

Ibid.

10

The Yankees won today’s game, 7–3. The final game of the series will be played tomorrow at 11 A.M. (it’s the annual Patriots’ Day game in Boston), and with today’s win and tomorrow’s matchup—Boston’s Bronson Arroyo versus the Yankees’ Kevin Brown—the Yankees have an excellent chance of earning a split… curse them.