Silence Fini.

End blog silence, 2o October 0054.

Not even the mojo-iest of positive mojo maneuvers (the self-imposed gag order) could fully bring them back from the dead. Thursday night, I spent almost the entire game coming to terms with the end of the season. But almost as soon as I had finished wishing Gil Velazquez a happy birthday (I sort of felt badly about it because at that point it wasn't likely they would still be playing when it rolled around) Ortiz hit his home run. Then I started in on Cora's birthday and JD hit his home run. At the time, they seemed like lucky posts. They begged for me to shut up and let Cora and Gil do their work. Obviously, it was the wrong tactic. I probably should have started in on the November birthdays tonight.

A disappointing loss? Sure. A soul-crushing, rip-your-heart-out-and-have-Gregory-Hines-perform-a-tap-dance-on-it loss? Not really. It's not 2003. (Although, I suppose that's an unfair analogy-no matter how much they try to push a rivalry, Tampa Bay will never be the Yankees. Intellectually I know they're a good team but losing to Tampa Bay still feels like losing to Kansas City or Seattle.) There wasn't any saline-tainted beer when it was over. The loss wasn't foretold in the stars. They weren't victims of some cosmic, comic destiny. The loss just was.

My boys extended the season as long as they possibly could. They went out with a fight. And without becoming entitled, greedy Yankee fans, that's all that you can ask.

During the past seven months, they've played some very good baseball and they've played some atrociously bad baseball. It's been fun, though. Even when it was terrible to watch, it was fun. So, thanks for the good times. February really is right around the corner (and with the WBC, I think they get to start earlier.)