October In August

October was once the 8th month of the year. The prefix “oct” as in "octagon", "octopus", and "octave" means eight. But the Romans added two months to their calendar in honor of Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar and placed them after June. Thus October became the 10th month of the year.

But the Roman Empire’s effect on our calendar isn’t the subject of this post. This year something that usually happens in October has occurred in August. I’m talking about the end of the baseball season. Oh there are plenty of games yet to be played and playoff spots to be won but that’s not what I mean.

You see I’m a fan of the New York Yankees and have been since 1973. For the past 13 seasons the Yankees season has ended in October. Actually one year it ended in November. It has ended with either a World Series Championship; as it did in 96, 98, 99, & 2000; a World Series defeat; like in 2001 & 2003; or elimination in the divisional round or championship series of the American League playoffs.

Seeing the Yankees lose the World Series to the National League is always heart breaking for me. I’m still not over Luis Gonzales series winning hit off of Mariano Rivera in game 7 of the 2001 fall classic. Witnessing their defeat in the league playoffs usually crushed me as well. 2004’s historic collapse at the hands of the Red Sox is infamous. But watching Joe Torre’s Bronx Bombers win in the playoffs and then take 4 World Titles was a wonderful thing.

There were moments of great comebacks in the late innings; walk off home runs; and more. All of the winning hits, strikeouts, and saves accomplished by a cast of heroes who shared the spotlight and won as a team. Right in the center of my most memorable moments is Derek Jeter.

His out-of-position relay to home plate to tag out Jeremy Giambi in game 3 of the ’01 divisional playoffs against the A’s is among the best defensive plays I’ve ever seen. Let’s not forget it was Jeter who hit the home run that sparked the “Jeffery Mayer” controversy at Yankee Stadium during the game 1 of the 1996 American League Championship Series. He also hit a walk off home run to win the first November World Series game in 2001.

This year as the month of August comes to an end the Yankees with a record of just 72 wins and 62 losses are for all intents and purposes already out of the playoff picture. There are many reasons for this and I won’t bore you with the details.

While they are not mathematically eliminated from contention; the evidence speaks for itself. The answer to the question of whether or not they can put together a string of wins in September and stage yet another miracle comeback is in their inconsistent performance up to this point in the season.

As a Yankees fan the phrase “playing out the string” referring to games played in September by a team not bound for the playoffs is strange for me to think about.

This past Thursday was the last game between the Red Sox and Yankees at the original Yankee Stadium. The Yankees came back and won in the game 3-2. Jason Giambi’s efforts (a 2-run home run and the game winning single) provided one last memorable moment at “the house that Ruth build” but only in the short term.

Bottom line is that it is almost a certainty now that Sunday September 21 will be that last game played in this Yankee Stadium. The stadium is “officially” going to be closed the first week of November about a week after this season's World Champions have been crowned. But this week’s 2 out of 3 series loss to their divisional rivals made it certain that there will be no post season baseball in the Bronx this year. Also for the first time in his 13 year career as a Yankee when the calendar turns to October Derek Jeter will find himself some where other than between 2nd and 3rd at Baseball’s most famous ballpark.

So as a Yankees fan it's very difficult for me to write this, especially while the calendar still reads "August". Wait til next year.