Last night, I watched a World Series game for the first time this century.
alligatorSports editor and Boston Red Sox fan Phillip Heilman convinced me to overcome my annual baseball bitterness. His offer to buy the first round of beer helped.
But before last night, I hadn’t watched a World Series game since 1999.
Fourteen years ago, the New York Yankees crushed the dreams of an eight-year-old boy in Valdosta, Ga., by sweeping the Atlanta Braves in four straight games.
Since then, the Braves have not returned to the Fall Classic. Until they do, watching it just hurts. It’s torture.
Sure, I’d see highlights of the game on ESPN the next morning or come across updates on Facebook and Twitter while games were going on, but I always tried to shut it out.
Watching just reopened the wounds I suffered back when the Braves were bounced.
(Damn it, Fredi! Just release the Kimbrel!)
If only Tom Glavine hadn’t laid two eggs in his final two postseason starts with Atlanta in the 2002 NLDS against the San Francisco Giants. If only we hadn’t lost Chipper Jones, Martin Prado and Billy Wagner to injury in the rematch seven years later.
If only we didn’t run into the monster pitching duos of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling in 2001 and Kerry Wood and Mark Prior in 2003.
If only Bobby Cox wasn’t baseball’s version of Peyton Manning. Each guy was consistently great, but only won one title.
If only the Braves weren’t the first victims of Carlos Beltran’s postseason awesomeness in 2004.
Watching the rounds following Atlanta’s elimination was especially maddening when the team that ousted my beloved Bravos won the National League pennant.
Since I was first introduced to Major League Baseball in 1999, the teams that beat the Braves thankfully only reached the World Series in 2001, 2005 and 2010. I still haven’t forgiven those Diamondbacks, Astros and Giants teams.
Had I been around for the disappointments in the 1990s, I don’t know what I would have done to cope. Kirby Puckett and Jack Morris haunt my dreams.
(Also, I have burnt John Wetteland and Jim Leyritz effigies.)
So forgive my anger when I see Luis Gonzalez’s hit game-winning bloop single against Mariano Rivera replayed every year. When the Steve Bartman incident occurred, I viewed it as the Cubs simply getting what they deserved for ruining my October.
Roger Clemens got busted for performance-enhancing drugs? Too little too late, MLB.
This is my favorite game, and the Braves are my favorite team. If I sat here and told you what I’d trade for Atlanta to win another World Series, you would lose respect for me.
I guess I’m finally ready to move on and respond to Atlanta’s postseason failures in a mature manner. But if the Red Sox or the Cardinals bring in their closer for a two-inning save with elimination on the line, I swear…
Follow Joe Morgan on Twitter @joe_morgan.
St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina (right) walks away as Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz (center) celebrates with Jacoby Ellsbury (left) and Dustin Pedroia after scoring during the first inning of Game 1 of the World Series on Wednesday in Boston.
