Omens? Curses? Ghosts? After the Yankees twice botched four-run leads and also rallied in the late innings to swipe the final two games of the series, all of the ``19-18!'' chants and all of the discussions about the Red Sox' futilely and perpetually chasing them seemed as apt as ever.
JACK CURRY, New York Times

Sick of it? I certainly am.

Or did Trot Nixon not realize he was playing right there on the Bambino's sacred right field turf when he let Bernie Williams' base hit go under his glove, allowing pinch-runner Enrique Wilson to score the tying run all the way from first base in the ninth? Nobody saw him, of course, but who among the sellout Stadium crowd would doubt the Babe didn't wake up from his celestial hangover and intervene at precisely the right time for the Yankees - as has been the case in this ancient rivalry for over 80 years now.
BILL MADDEN, New York Daily News

Who indeed? Certainly not your typical dipstick Yankee fan. Or your average New York media member, several of whom -- George King and Filip Bondy, most notably -- sometimes write as if their paychecks were signed by G. Steinbrenner. (At least Michael Kay actually has that excuse.)

After Pedro Martinez won 4-2 in the series opener, the Red Sox lost a pair of 9-8 decisions -- just another example of how things have gone for most of the last 80 years in this storied rivalry.
MIKE FITZPATRICK, Associated Press

Most of them. Except, of course, for 1946, when the Red Sox won the pennant. And 1948, when the Sox knocked the Yankees out of the race on the next-to-last day of the season. And 1967, when the Sox finished first and the Yanks finished ninth. And 1973, when the Yankees were favored to win the A.L. East but instead lost 14 of 18 to the Red Sox and finished fourth. And 1974, when the Sox swept the Yankees in a doubleheader at Shea Stadium and knocked them out of first place for good in a race they wound up losing by two games. And 1975, when the Yanks were again favored to win the division but lost three out of four to the Sox at Fenway in late June to fall out of first place for good, and three out of four to the Sox at Shea in late July to fall completely out of the race. And 1986, when the Sox finished off the Yanks -- and everyone else -- with a September sprint they are allegedly incapable of (capped by a 7-2 win in the Bronx on a Friday night that buried the Yanks once and for all). And 1987, when the Sox knocked the reeling Yankees out of the ring by winning two of three at Fenway from Sept. 7-9, dropping them 6 1/2 games out of first and out of serious contention. And 1988, when . . . well I've written about that before and, if you choose, you can peruse it again.

But you know what?

It doesn't matter.

And it really doesn't. Because as long as the Sox lose games to the Yankees the way they lost them Saturday and Sunday, as long as they continue to lose in a way that feeds the perception of Destiny's Darlings vs. Destiny's Doormats, as long as they pump air into the stereotype, then it's never going to go away. Never. And all the facts in the world, like the ones I listed three paragraphs ago, can't do anything to change this maddening, infuriating tide.

Because let's face it. If you were a typical dipstick Yankee fan, or a typical New York media member, what happened over the weekend to change your view that the Yankees will always beat the Red Sox when it counts . . . even though that's not, and has never, been the case? In fact, wouldn't you have come out of this weekend believing it more than ever? Do you honestly think that the fact that the Red Sox played the Yankees tough, that they twice erased big deficits and held leads going into the late innings, means anything? All it means is that they can't close the deal, they can't win games they're supposed to win. You never see the Yanks blow games like that, do ya?

Well, as a matter of fact, you do. Last Sunday in Cleveland, for one. Game Seven of the 2001 World Series, for another. Game Four of the 1997 ALCS, for a third. Games Four and Five of the 1995 ALDS, for a fourth and a fifth.

But you know what?

It doesn't matter.

And it really doesn't. Because until the Sox win it all -- and I mean the World Series -- and knock off the Yankees in the process, facts will be ignored and fiction will be repeated and this nonsense is never going to end. Never. Weekends like this will just make the chorus louder and louder and louder.

Which is why I thought Sean McAdam hit it right on the head this morning. It's not that the Sox have to give these games more weight than they actually have, but you can't sit there and shrug them off in la-de-da fashion when you lose. All the whining you do about the Curse of the Bambino crapola is all well and good, but this -- losing games to the Yankees at Yankee Stadium in this fashion -- is what feeds the beast.

It's not impossible to end this idiocy. The Patriots went nearly 20 years without winning a game in Miami, and all you heard was how they would never beat the Dolphins at Orange Bowl. Then they finally did -- in the AFC Championship game, no less -- and poof! That albatross was gone. Do you ever hear anyone talk about the Pats' futility in Miami anymore?

Or how about the Bruins, who went something like 45 years without beating the Canadiens in the playoffs? Then they finally won a series from Montreal and, poof! You didn't hear it anymore. Even after series like last year, when the Bruins lost in the playoffs to a Montreal team they really should have beaten.

No, it's not impossible. But the Sox have to win.

And as long as they lose the way they did this weekend, don't expect anything to change.