The Two Sides of the Extra Inning Coin

Wow...what a crazy two nights.  Two baseball games, 24 combined innings, and tension like you couldn't believe.  One night, jubilation.  The next, despair.  If two nights ever pointed out the ultimate highs and lows that sports can bring you, my last two experiences at Yankee Stadium for sure did.  Why do people like baseball? Because at the stroke of Midnight one team gets to be Cinderella...and the crowd rides the emotional highs and lows until the glass slipper fits the chosen team. 

Wednesday:
Down 1 going into the 9th inning...my rally cap is on and rubbing of my sisters Swisher cap is continually happening.  Good luck movements are happening all along the park, when IT happens.  Ibanez steps into the batters box, and two pitchers later its bedlam in the stadium.  As the ball soars over the fence, I find myself pounding my sister on the head, screaming up and down, and yelling at the top of my lungs.  The entire ball park has been reduced to a bunch of 2 year olds and we couldn't be happier!  I mean it couldn't get any better right?

Yes, it could and it did.  11th inning, Ibanez steps back into the batting box.  He couldn't do it again right?  Yep, he could and he did!  Screaming, "Oh My God" again and again, I just couldn't believe what I had just witnessed.  Tired?  No way! And neither was anyone else.  The subway car back to the apartment was electric, with everyone still chanting Lets Go Yankees, and talking a mile a minute about the latest Yankee Stadium magic.  Yankees were the team of Destiny, that's for sure. 

All it took was 24 hours for those good feelings to evaporate...

Thursday:
Extra innings...again.  As each batter came up and went quietly down, you could feel the tension of the crowd increase.  It didn't help that the Yankees didn't help release tension by giving the fans something to cheer about.  Was a base runner making it past 1st base to much to ask for?

When the orioles scored in the top of 13th, you could feel the air go out of the stadium.  No one was surprised when the Yanks went 1-2-3 up and down quickly in the bottom of the inning.  Walking out of the stadium to New York, New York blaring out of the loud speakers, I've never heard a quieter 40,000 + fans.  Had the magic really vanished that quickly?

Playoffs...its do or die.  And as a fan you can't ask for anything more.