Can you take the pressure?

Call me crazy, call it Yankee fandom blasphemy, but is anyone else secretly hoping for a nerve wracking Game 7? The kind of game where you hang on every pitch, and remember for the rest of your life?

Think about it. A Yanks-Phillies rivalry would be instantly born, one that could be repeated over and over in the next few years in the Fall Classic. The game would be a nail biter on every pitch. That’s great World Series Baseball, and is the type of sports drama that lives on not only in the hearts of that team’s fans, but in sports lore forever. People still talk about the 1990 Super Bowl, nobody ever talks about 1986. Why? One game went down to the last second, the other was a blowout. The 1996 Yankees are remembered most fondly by Torre, many of his players and fans. They appeared to be dead in the water, down 6-0 in Game 4 after being completely blown out in Game 1 and outclassed in Game 2. Then a rally capped off by the Leyritz 3-run HR launched them into Baseball immortality, but not before another nerve wracking 1-0 Game 5 featuring the great Smoltz-Pettitte face off, a game that is still talked about to this day.

Given the match up, it’s fitting that this series should go down to the wire. They’re two great yet flawed teams, it would be a slugfest championship boxing match of two very similar fighters. Like Hagler-Hearns, both get in the ring with the similar skills and the same idea, which is to knock the other guy’s head off. Both teams have great lineups, decent starters and a shaky bridge to the closer. 7 game series typically shift from advantage-Pitcher to advantage-Hitters sometime around the middle of the set. The hitters just saw the starter a few days ago, so it’s more difficult to fool them the second time around. We saw that on Monday night, where AJ Burnett went from great to garbage in the span of just one start. As dominating as Cliff Lee was for the entire month October, even he gave up 5 Runs in Game 5 facing the tough Yankee lineup. It’s tough enough for a pitcher to go 3 times through a lineup, much less face that very same lineup just a few days later. As crafty as Pedro is and as battle tested as Andy is, it’s difficult to see either one faring any better tomorrow night. Andy is 37 and working on short rest, Pedro used every trick in the book to get Yankee hitters out. Most long time Baseball observers expect a slug fest tonight, and having seen both bullpens fail in this series it’s anyone’s guess who will prevail. The Yanks have Mo, but you have to get there with a lead.

Maybe I don’t mind because I’ve seen the Yanks win in 1977-78-96-98-99 and 2000. A younger fan might want to experience a few titles before getting to a point where he/she could appreciate the ups and down along the road to victory. Or maybe it’s because I’d still like our chances. If it did go to a tension-filled Game 7, I’m very confident that the Yanks would prevail. I’ll take my chances with CC Sabathia facing Hamels/Happ/Myers and the Philly bullpen at home. I think the Yanks would win, but they would dance on the edge of the cliff before getting there. You would be convinced the season is over in the 4th inning and planning the parade in the 5th, and keep going back and forth with each out. That’s the kind of drama that only a great World Series match up can give you, and we are on the verge of seeing it happen.

I say bring it on.

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25 Responses to Anyone else (secretly) hoping for a Game 7?

  1. crotch_jenkins says:

    No.

  2. TJ says:

    Nope. I say they wrap it up tonight.

  3. The Scout says:

    Absolutely not! If the Phillies keep it alive until game seven, they will have the momentum, the Yankees will be tight, and too many bad things can happen.

  4. Mitchell says:

    You got it right in the beginning. You are crazy. LOL.

  5. toby koby says:

    this is the stupidest thing ive ever seen on a yankee website ….you should be embarassed

    • daneptizl says:

      You’re the most deserving poster of a Cadillac Slam right now… and that move hasn’t even been invented yet.

    • Moshe Mandel says:

      I should dredge up some of your old comments, we will see who is embarrassed. Just because someone has an opinion that doesn’t match yours does not make it embarrassing.

      But I agree with the sentiments here- a thousand times no.

  6. Terri says:

    NO! No, no, no. Absolutely not. I can’t take much more of this. Like Cole Hamels, I need this season to be over tonight!

  7. Kareem says:

    No, too much can happen in a Game 7, close this bad boy in 6

  8. the other Steve S. says:

    I’m with the boyz. End it now.

  9. JD says:

    It’s stupidity like this that angers the Gods.

  10. TB says:

    How can it get better than Pettitte beating Pedro?! Would be a classic Yankees win.

  11. JGS says:

    not even slightly

  12. Frankie D says:

    If God gave me a guarantee that the Yankees would win a game 7, then yes, I secretly wish for a game 7. Especially since I cannot watch the game tonight due to prior engagements.

  13. Stephen says:

    I want to see a blowout – the bats come alive and the Yankees score 12 in the first inning. I don’t care if it’s a letdown ratings-wise, but it would be nice to be able to party at 9pm today rather than 1am on Friday morning.

  14. RJ says:

    Dude! Bad mojo. One game at a time. It ends tonight.

  15. EJ Fagan says:

    My favorite World Series of all time was the 2001 WS. The back and forth between the Yankees and Diamondbacks, in the backdrop of a Yankee dynasty and 9/11, made for some real drama. The kind of drama that only baseball can provide.

    This has been a pretty good World Series. A few comebacks, some close games, and a decent rivalry have shown up. But 2001 wouldn’t have been nearly as exciting had it not been decided in the final inning of Game 7.

    Look, I love baseball, and I love the Yankees. My ideal outcome? Arod hits a 2-out, walk off home run in the bottom of the 15th inning on Friday morning.

    But its also been a long time. I’ll take a win any day. A dramatic, 14th inning Game 6 World Series win is pretty awesome too.

  16. After 2004 how can you even stomach a 7th game? I don’t think I would be able to sit still the whole game, I agree with the majority 1 million times no, if it goes 7 I might have a heart attack (and if we lose oh god).

  17. Eric Schultz says:

    Hell no! My schoolwork has already suffered enough because of the playoffs, and I have a paper due Friday.

  18. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, but no. I don’t want this series to go 7 games. I’d much rather it end tonight.

  19. Joe O says:

    To answer your question the only people hoping for a Game 7 are Phillies fans or Yankee haters. For the record I think Yanks will win in a walk-off tonight and Jeter gets some pie in the face.

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