E-Mail This Article to a Friend Take cover: The end could be near BY CHRISTOPHER YOUNG

Do you believe in curses? Do you believe in jinxes? Do you believe in magic? Well, maybe the Lovin’ Spoonful was responsible for the latter, but when it comes to sports fans, curses and jinxes are staples of their existence.

Well, maybe not all sports fans. After all, when was the last time a Yankees fan — deep in torment — turned to the heavens and cried out, "Why us?" or "What did we do to deserve this?"

I, for one, did not believe in curses for the longest time, although the possibility of one surrounding the local baseball franchise took hold around October 25, 1986, when a long-awaited baseball world championship was, for all intents and purposes, in the bag before gremlins, aliens, and Schiraldisauruses took over the 10th inning of Game Six of the ’86 World Series and deprived local hardball fans of the glory of seeing a then-68-year-old curse end. Never has a team been so close to post-season glory, only to have it snatched away by some greater force (and granted, its own ineptitude).

As the Boston Red Sox head into the three-game homestand that will likely determine whether they sink or swim against the Yankees in ALCS Redux 2004, few are conceding the fact that the Sox are cooked; nor are folks saying (yet) that the curse is alive and well, or that we should have all seen this coming. After all, a lot of you Sox fans out there were the ones clamoring to meet the Yankees on this very stage so that the predestined Boston World Series championship could rightfully trample its way through the Bronx en route to the Promised Land. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

The Yankees at this writing have held serve at home and won the first two games in the best-of-seven series, and in the process have seen their pennant hopes improve by virtue of the ankle injury sustained by Sox ace Curt Schilling, who is likely done for the post-season, whether or not Boston advances to the Fall Classic. Without Schilling, the Sox’ starting rotation is no longer far superior to the Pinstripers’, especially with the top-flight performances turned in by New York’s one-two punch, Mike Mussina and Jon Lieber, this past week. To paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen circa 1988, "I knew Curt Schilling. I served with him. He was my friend. Derek Lowe, you are no Curt Schilling."

No, we are not here to whine about the Red Sox’ perceived bad luck and 0-2 hole from which it will be will be so difficult to emerge against the powerhouse Yankees. At this point, the Empire Staters have come up with the clutch pitching, the timely hitting, and, well, the typical Yankee-esque style of play that has led them to six pennants and four world titles since 1996. They are to be admired and respected, and I, for one, do.

That is not to say the Red Sox have not contributed to their demise thus far. The team that scored more runs than any other team in baseball this season has gone scoreless for the first six innings of each of the first two games of the ALCS, and in fact didn’t even get a base-runner aboard until one out in the seventh inning of game one. This was the team that batted .282 throughout the season and battered the AL’s fourth-best pitching staff in the ALDS a week ago? This team couldn’t put even one run on the scoreboard for six straight innings each night against the 15th-best pitching staff in the majors?

And who, after all, were the frauds masquerading as Chuck Manson, John Wayne, and the New Todd Walker? Johnny Damon, leadoff man extraordinaire all season, to this point has gone 0-for-8 with five strikeouts; Kevin Millar had a key two-run double in Game One, but otherwise has gone 0-for-7 with two Ks; and Mark Bellhorn, batting lefty against all right-handers for the New Yorkers, is also 1-for-8 with a pair of whiffs. Add to that, last year’s batting champ (Bill Mueller) is hitting .143 and slugger Manny Ramirez’s at .250 with a pair of crucial misplays in left field, and you have a struggling team at the worst possible time.

But enough about excuses and sub-par performances. Whenever the Red Sox play the Yankees, Boston’s heretofore hair-raising stats and prior performances go out the window, and bigger forces come into play. "Superior talent" could be one such attribute, since the Bombers as everyone should know have the best team money can buy, particularly on offense. Throw in two of the most clutch pitching outings you’ll ever see — combined with a lack of patience at the plate, a Yankee Stadium–induced scared-right-out-of-the-box reaction, and an inopportune injury — and you’ve got a solid two-game domination by the home team. The Yankees lead, 2-0, and they deserve to; they’ve played better and have risen to the occasion.

Yet Red Sox Nation knows that perhaps there are those otherworldly forces at work. How else explain Schilling’s breakdown at the worst possible moment? (Long-time Sox observers know team history: that Ted Williams got hurt just prior to the ’46 World Series and performed poorly, and that Rookie-of-the-Year candidates Tony Conigliaro and Jim Rice both missed their first World Series appearances — in ’68 and ’75, respectively — when each was hit by a pitched ball just weeks before the series began. All three of those Boston entries lost in seven games.) I don’t know; could it have something to do with Schilling appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated exactly one month before his fateful game-one outing?

Oh, you don’t believe in the SI curse, is that it? Of course it’s a stretch, but let me give you a few other relevant examples. One year ago, two regional SI covers appeared nationwide on newsstands on a Wednesday morning in October. At that time, both the Cubs (leading their best-of-seven NLCS, 3-2, over the Marlins) and the Red Sox (trailing the Yankees in the ALCS, 3-2) had the cover boys: Kerry Wood for Chicago, Pedro Martinez for the Sox. The cover read, "Do You Believe?" The very night that the issue came out, the Cubs — just five outs from their first World Series since 1945 — blew a big lead and allowed Florida to force a decisive game seven at Wrigley. The starter in that deciding game? Wood. He loses, 9-6. Boston? The Sox rallied the next night to force a game seven in their series, and with — yep, Martinez — on the hill, Boston is also five outs away from a pennant when.... Well, let’s just say it turned out rather badly. The Marlins and Yankees advanced to the World Series, and the Cubs and Sox took their Sports Illustrateds (suitable for framing) and went home. Again.

Another sidelight: who do you think was on the cover of SI’s baseball-preview issue in March, with the caption HELL FREEZES OVER? The Cubs, and Wood, picked by the magazine to win this year’s series. Where are they now? Probably as likely to confirm the editors’ foresight as were their 2000 cover boy and headline: Pedro, and WHY THE RED SOX WILL WIN THE WORLD SERIES — REALLY!

So Schilling’s on the September 13th SI cover, with the rehashed caption, DO YOU BELIEVE? Sox fans believe: in the cover curse, and surgery.

Now, even worse. This week’s SI cover is the Patriots’ Tom Brady, engineer of the 19-game winning streak that unofficially broke the NFL record for most consecutive wins. Do you know that prior to the Pats’ victory over the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI, the team wasn’t on the cover of SI once that season? The Rams got top billing on the eve of that Super Bowl, and lost, 20-17. New England’s football team wasn’t even on the cover of the mag during all of last season (even during the streak which began in week five), except for a spot as the Bills’ opponent during Buffalo’s season-opening 31-0 thrashing. Even as the streak unfolded last season and reached 13 heading into Super Bowl XXXVIII, Bill Belichick’s bunch was notably absent — and the Carolina Panthers got the SI-cover shot heading into that Super Bowl (just as the Raiders did the season before their Super match-up with the Bucs).

The Patriots’ streak is now 19 heading into their showdown with the 3-1 Seahawks on Sunday, and SI decided that the Pats belong on the cover — for the third time in 2004 (post–Super Bowl 38, the NFL-preview issue on September 6, and now this — all with Brady). Think somebody wants this remarkable streak to end? Now?

But for New Englanders, it can be, and is, worse. Because sharing the cover with #12 in the upper-left corner is Mr. Five-Strikeouts himself, your favorite New Testament icon, the bearded one, batting .000 — Johnny Damon. BOSTON’S WILD BUNCH is the caption there, and with it our fair city has captured the dreaded double-decker cover jinx.

What does all this mean? Well, it could mean that this coming Sunday could forever be looked back on as "Black Sunday" in New England: the day the supposedly invincible Red Sox were knocked out of the playoffs again by the hated Yankees; and the day that the Patriots’ 19-game win streak came to an end by the likes of the unknown Seahawks.

Or what if an even worse teeth-gnashing development unfolds next weekend: the Sox have been vanquished by the Yankees in some typically excruciating fashion, and then the cross-town Jets come to town and deal the Pats their first loss in 55 weeks?

And then what will we have left? The remainder of the Patriots’ season (which admittedly won’t be too bad — knock on wood — yet still serves as a mere once-a-week event), and the upcoming Boston Celtics’ season. No Bruins, no Red Sox until spring, fiery free-agent negotiations, and no plans for a World Series championship parade. (And none of this would bode well for New Englander John Kerry’s hopes, either.)

Of course, all of this is a worst-case scenario, and things could indeed turn around for the Red Sox and their drive to win the pennant.

But thanks to Sports Illustrated, we have more than enough curses to go around, and that’s the last thing that this city and its baseball team needs right now.

Sporting Eye runs Mondays and Fridays at BostonPhoenix.com. Christopher Young can be reached at cyoung[a]phx.com