NEW YORK -- The curse of The Bambino prevailed shortly after
midnight Friday as the New York Yankees triumphed over the Boston
Red Sox in the 11th inning.
"We love it," said Yankee fan Bob Ennis of Brick, N.J. "The
curse is alive and well."
Late in the game, with the Red Sox up 5-2, it appeared the curse
would be broken. But in the eighth inning, the Yankees scored three
runs to tie the game and homered in the 11th.
The stadium was electric Friday after Yankee Aaron Boone hit the
winning run, giving the Yankees one of their most dramatic
comebacks in recent memory.
Yankees fans waved photographs of Babe Ruth -- aka The Bambino --
and signs that read "The curse of the Bambino lives."
"It's awesome," said Tom Baniani of New City, N.J. "This is
the best thing; we will always be the best."
Dejected Red Sox fans bowed their heads as they filed out of the
stadium, but they didn't blame the loss on the curse.
"I'm completely and totally crushed," said John Cooney, of
Boston. "It happens every year. They just have a better team."
According to baseball lore, the curse started after the 1918
season, when the Boston Red Sox won their fifth World Series with
the help of Ruth.
Two years later, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee traded the Babe to
the Yankees to help finance the building of Fenway Park. The
Yankees went on to dominate baseball, winning 26 World Series, and
the Red Sox have suffered in baseball purgatory since.
Many Yankees fans brought good-luck charms to the game to keep
the curse alive.
New Yorker Freddy Schuman, 78, had crafted a pan painted with a
four-leaf cover that he banged with a spoon. The makeshift drum was
attached to a sign that read "Freddy Sez Yanks in Seven, don't
look glum-chum."
William Arroyo, 31, of Newark, N.J., stood outside Yankee
stadium and propped open a casket holding a black-robed skeleton in
effigy of Boston Red Sox star pitcher Pedro Martinez, surrounded by
skulls and crossbones.
A head shot of Martinez -- one of Yankees fans' most hated foes -
was plastered to the skeleton's skull. A tombstone at the base of
the casket carried the Red Sox logo and the words "1918: RIP."
"It happens every year," said Red Sox fan Karl MacGibbon of
Goffstown, N.H. as he left the stadium. "It's always New York."