OT: Dreaming of Game 7

by Spidey on Oct 21, 2007 10:30 AM EDT

IT'S GAME 7!!!

We have had just one other game 7 in Indians history. Granted, the outcome was not in our favor, but it was against the Marlins- the first expansion team to be in the World Series; not an adversary we expected. Now we have the game 7 we have always dreamed about.

Many of you probably share my story. I spent hours in the backyard playing baseball with neighbors and by myself, imagining this very moment in my mind. I never worried about games 1 through 6 - it was always game 7. Game 7! I didn't dream of Games 5 or 6. It was always Game 7. And there were only two worthy opponents in those boyhood dreams: the Yankees and the Red Sox. I look back on countless afternoons tossing the whiffle ball and dreaming up ninth inning scenarios leading up to the home run against Goose Gossage or Roger Clemens... Seven-Five score in the ninth inning; two outs and no one on base; a cheap single; then, a walk after fouling off countless pitches; all leading up to the 3-2 fastball launched into the bleachers... I have been looking forward to this game all of my baseball-loving life. (In fact, I have been looking forward to this post-season all of my life - we have faced both the Red Sox and the Yankees!).

So, I am not going to let the disappointments of the past couple games diminish this dream. I am not going to let the "warts" of baseball's current scandals prevent me from enjoying this moment. I'm not going to let all of the doom-and-gloom Cleveland talk on discussion boards and in the media ruin this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Here's to the dream. Here's to the anticipation of Game 7 glory. And here's to the Tribe - a team that I would always want as teammates in my backyard dreams.

Let's Go Tribe!

(NOTE: This may be a little too sappy for the board, but I think it merits it's own diary because every red-blooded baseball fan likely shares this experience. I hope it gets at the essence of the game. As I sit here pinned to the computer, struggling, while my wife screams at me (literally) for wasting time, I am trying to make sense of this....)

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Re: OT: Dreaming of Game 7

We've faced the Yankees and Red Sox in the postseason, not the offseason.

But there is something very special about Game 7. I'm excited!

by JulioBernazard on Oct 21, 2007 10:40 AM EDT reply actions

Re: OT: Dreaming of Game 7

Thanks for catching that.

by Spidey on Oct 21, 2007 10:57 AM EDT up reply actions

Re: OT: Dreaming of Game 7

Great post.

If there is poetic justice in this sporting world, then here are the reasons why the Indians will win.

Just when you thought it was more sporting torture, it's finally ecstasy.
This team has absolutely earned this. Looking down and out in August, they stormed to the best record in the league.
They beat the good teams down the stretch. Sweeping Detroit at home said so much about this team. From Hafner's blast off Verlander, to Peralta's game-tying homer, they brought the big hits when we were just betting for them.
This team is filled with the most likeable kinds of players in the game. Most of them came up through our farm system; the prize free-agent signing has become the most lampooned closer in the game, even though he's finished off so many of our great wins.
As underdogs, we took down the Mighty Yankees. As underdogs, we've pushed Boston to the limit. There is no better way to prove yourselves than by doing what these guys have done.
GRIT (obv)

So here's to a chance at glory. Here's to Jake. Here's to the guys -- the ones who are struggling, and the ones who are not -- who got us to this point. Let's do this.

by tabler84 on Oct 21, 2007 10:55 AM EDT reply actions

Re: OT: Dreaming of Game 7

I am all about this sentiment as long as the game is well contested. That is what made last night so dissappointing. I want it to be close in the 8th-9th (or Tribe up BIG).

By the 3th inning last night, I was flipping to football and wondering if we should be sitting Hafner for game 7.

by doowop on Oct 21, 2007 11:10 AM EDT reply actions

Re: OT: Dreaming of Game 7

there's hope. all season, this team has played mediocre baseball when they needed just a little more to dominate, and then came back to play lights out when they had no other choice.

compare july through mid-august (when the division was ours and we didn't want it), to mid-august through september (when we had to street fight the tigers to take it). and compare that to the last week of the season (when home field was ours for the taking, and we couldn't take it).

now compare games 1-2 with the yanks (when everyone said we were over-matched), to game 3 (when the series was entirely in hand). and then compare that to game 4 with yanks (who were going to crush paul byrd and force a final game with the winter lion pettite).

now compare game 1 against the sox (when our confidence was sky high), to games 2-4 with the sox (when mastny retired the heart of order and westbrook and byrd forgot they were going to get crushed). and compare those games to 5-6, (when all we needed was .500 ball with cc and carmona on the mound to finish them off).

now it's game 7.

and there's every reason to believe the sox will win going away. they're older, more experienced (yes, that $100 million in extra payroll does have benefits), have the momentum, and are at home.

its exactly the type of game that we are almost certain to lose, especially after losing the last two.

in other words, it's exactly why i think the tribe just might do it.

Asdrubal: Spanish form of "Hasdrubal". Means "Ba'al helps" from Phoenician azru "help" combined with the name of the god BA'AL.

by jonnykilbane on Oct 21, 2007 11:26 AM EDT reply actions

Re: OT: Dreaming of Game 7

Cool post!

by JulioBernazard on Oct 21, 2007 11:47 AM EDT up reply actions

Re: OT: Dreaming of Game 7

We are going to win tonight. We all have to believe.

Regardelss of the results, this was an absolutely unexpected, fantastic year full of the typical emotions, frustration, joy, melancholy, etc.

Emotion aside, we are a perfect example that money doesn't always equate to success in this league. Rather, intelligence, GRIT, and clubhouse chemistry. I love this team win or lose tonight. And here's hoping that Pronk gets back to his devastating self either tonight or in '08.

GO TRIBE!

-Bo

by bodiaz74 on Oct 21, 2007 11:51 AM EDT reply actions