Back In The Game

Then the Yankees won the next three games, two of them with ninth-inning rallies (with two out each time!) that seemed to foretell the city's destiny. Surely the country, still grieving, would have embraced such a fairy tale, but Arizona was not a party to such karmic conspiracy. The Diamondbacks laid out their version of real life (unforgiving and unsentimental, isn't it?) and won the next two games and the Series with their own comeback. It was not storybook by any means, but who could begrudge Arizona the championship after a World Series that had been so much fun?

It was, in these times of modest expectations, the best that sports could do—offer a little fun. That and the reminder, if you don't mind the summation: Never say the. We told you we could boil it down. Ninth inning, two out? Who knows how it's going to end, but you've still got another at bat, don't you?