It's a marathon...

There's an old sports cliche about the baseball season: it's a marathon not a sprint. Well, it looks like that same cliche can apply to any meeting between the Red Sox and the Yankees. Both games this weekend took 4 hours and 21 minutes. Yes, these games take a lot out of the teams - from the New York Times:

“Long games, a lot of pitching changes, a lot of runs, a lot of commercials,” Red Sox Manager Terry Francona said. “This certainly would age you. There’s that many pitches thrown, and it seems like every one of them is of consequence. It drains you.”

But they also take a LOT out of us fans. The pendulum swings wildly back and forth - the Sox fall behind, then the offense starts gearing up - lead change after lead change. Even the bottom half of the 9th offers no respite - it was during the 9th on Friday that Bay hit a two run homer to tie the game and send it into extra innings. Even yesterday, with a 16-11 lead, you still hung on every pitch, knowing that everything could change in a flash. The emotional roller coaster leaves you breathless, weak, spent, yet crazily singing and dancing - it's more intoxicating than the needed infusion of adult beverages!

Think about it: the winner of the Boston Marathon ran 26 miles in 2 hours and 8 minutes. He could have run four marathons in the time of the two baseball games - plus have time for a beer or two! And he probably would have had more energy at the end than I did!

So, I guess the best way to spend today is resting, napping, and recharging the batteries. Because game three kicks off at 8pm tonight - which means that it is likely the final out will be made after midnight....

Well it IS a marathon after all!