Yankee Tragedy

  

Ever since the ancient Greeks dramas have been classified as either tragedy or comedy. To put it simply in a tragedy things start out well for the hero but then end badly. From Oedipus to Hamlet that has always been the case. On the other hand, in a comedy things start out badly but end up well. It is not a question of laughs. There are very few laughs in Dante’s Divine Comedy, but the hero eventually goes from the depths to the heights.  

I thought of this the other night while watching the NY Yankees blow a five-run lead in the fifth inning of the fifth game of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was not the loss of the game and the Series that was tragic, but the individual tragedies involved. Just as in dramas of old it seemed as if the gods or fate were involved in bringing down not just one but three Yankee heroes. 

The Yankees had lost the first two games in Los Angeles and when they lost the third game at home in Yankee Stadium, it seemed like all hope was gone, especially since Aaron Judge, their best player and league MVP, was not hitting. Nevertheless, they won the fourth game 11-4 sparked by a grand slam home run and base running antics by Anthony Volpe, their young shortstop. Moreover they would have their ace pitcher Gerrit Cole on the mound for game five.

As in all tragedies game 5 started on a high note. Judge broke out of his slump with a two-run homer in the first inning. A couple of innings later he made a spectacular catch against the wall to add to his hero status.  By the fifth inning the Yanks had built up a 5-0 lead. Cole was cruising along, and all seemed well but fate intervened to bring down the mighty.

In the top of the fifth with a runner on first Judge dropped an easy fly ball that any little leaguer could have caught. To say this error was inexplicable would be an understatement. Now there are runners at first and second with nobody out. Still, Cole induces the next batter to hit a grounder to Volpe at shortstop. He attempts a force out at third but throws the ball in the dirt for another error. Now the bases are loaded with no one out. 

Let’s stop for a moment to consider the tragic fate of Anthony Volpe. Since the days of the legendary DiMaggio, Rizzuto, and Berra the large Italian American community in New York’s metropolitan area has always loved the Yankees. Volpe came from an Italian American family and he and his family had always loved the Yankees. His play in the series had brought him to the top of the world but one errant throw brought him down. 

Years ago while listening to a Yankee game being broadcast on the radio by Tom Seaver, one of baseball’s greatest pitchers, and Phil Rizzuto, the legendary Yankee shortstop. A player had just made an error and Rizzuto asked Seaver how he would react as a pitcher. Seaver said that rather than being angry at his teammate, he felt that it was his responsibility to bear down and get out of the inning without any further damage.  In other words, it was his job to protect his teammate from blame.

Incredibly, Gerrit Cole did just that. With the bases loaded and no one out, he struck out the next two batters, including Shohei Ohtani, the Dodger MVP. Then Cole induced Mookie  Betts to hit an easy grounder to first base but then commits his own error by failing to cover the base for the throw. Who knows what could have been going on in this great pitcher’s mind after this misplay? Two hits later and the score was tied. 

In front of 50000 fans and millions of TV watchers, three fine players had fallen from the heights. Even Shakespeare would have been hard pressed to write such a tragedy.

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