A Script That Is Hard to Believe

NEW YORK —  Game 6 neared its end here late Tuesday night with the field surrounded by police in riot helmets, some with their visors down, all with billy clubs dangling at their hips.

While it spoke in part to the night had by a six-man umpiring crew that agreed on a few calls, it told as much about the century-old rivalry between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, the pressure on these Yankees to uphold the status quo, the desperation in these Red Sox to do something historic, and the weight that burdens them both.

They’ll take that to the American League championship series’ Game 7 tonight at Yankee Stadium, back to the landing ground for beer and water bottles thrust in anger and disbelief in the Red Sox’s 4-2 victory. They’ll take it to the television sets in Boston, where they watch games against the Yankees through slightly parted fingers, afraid to watch, unable to look away, settling for partially obstructed.

The Red Sox, left for, well, Red Sox, three days before, have tied the series at three games apiece. They’ve already made their history; no team had lost the first three of a best-of-seven series and even played a game to win it.

Not only will they play to go to the World Series, but they’ll be playing downhill, playing with chuckles and back slaps, even in this town, even in this stadium, not really believing it themselves. Who’d have thought it?

“Just having fun, man,” Red Sox first baseman Kevin Millar said. “Just having fun.”

A hard, cold wind blew across the old stadium, through the classic facades, pushing clouds of drizzle from left field to right, and a man dressed as an angel, “Ruth” on the back and “3” on the front, danced through the aisles.

Since 1918, the last time they won a World Series, the Red Sox have been dogged by failure, near misses, thin pitching staffs and bad luck. They’ve been the Chicago Cubs and worse, not as lovable, stuck as they’ve been in the same league as the most decorated franchise in sports, and just a three-hour train ride to the north.

A win tonight against the Yankees wouldn’t make it all go away; they’d still have to play the National League champion. But, a win tonight, a fourth over four taut October nights when they had absolutely no alternative, would help scatter decades of disappointment.

After coming five outs short in this same series a year ago, the Red Sox get their rematch. Their fans wanted the Yankees. That they have them is of some consequence to the Red Sox, but it was not requisite.

That Curt Schilling pitched with pin-holes in his ankle and Mark Bellhorn went opposite field for three runs against Jon Lieber, that they beat back more tense late innings from a team that seems to do this every year, well, they’ll chew on that this winter.

For now, if The Curse is to come, it will come unexpectedly. Then, it always does. It’s what makes it so special.

“We just want to go to the World Series,” Millar said. “We don’t care about anything else.”

If Tuesday night’s hunches are correct, the Yankees will give a baseball to Kevin Brown and the Red Sox will give another to Derek Lowe, or perhaps Tim Wakefield, bullpens at full alert. Brown has pitched once before in the series, and poorly, again. He was among the first to leave the Yankee clubhouse after Game 6. Lowe would start two days after he threw 88 pitches, and he was sent back to the team hotel in the middle of Game 6.

“My starting pitcher, we have not decided on that,” Yankee Manager Joe Torre said. “We’re going to take some phone numbers and make some calls later.... Obviously, there are a number of people we can choose from and it may be piecemeal or whatever going in.”

Brown, the moody, unpredictable former Dodger, won 10 games for the Yankees. He had a back injury and contracted a parasite and then angered the organization when he punched a wall in September, missing playoff preparation time in the final month.

Lowe, the pending free agent, was so inconsistent near the end of the regular season he was dropped from the Red Sox’s postseason rotation. But, as it happens, he could start two of the season’s three most critical games. If not him, then Wakefield, the knuckleballer who at times baffles the Yankees, at others gives up pennant-clinching, 11th-inning, crushing home runs.

“We’re going to make some phone calls also,” Red Sox Manager Terry Francona said. “I watched Joe’s press conference. We’re going to ... give us a little time. We’ll get some things figured out.”

Clearly staggered by the turn of fortune, having swung to win the series for three nights, emboldened and then swept away by 19 runs in Game 3, the Yankees tried diplomacy. They got themselves into this, they’ll try to play themselves out of it.

“It is what it is,” Alex Rodriguez said. “We’re one win away and so are they.”

Across the room, Derek Jeter stopped for a moment and shook his head.

“Nothing surprises me,” he said, and then he left, still waiting on that one last win.