section15	Male 57 years old HAVERHILL, MA
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At around 9:54 pm,   the Red Sox clinched a playoff berth and officially eliminated the New York Yankees from post-season contention.   All around Red Sox world,  people are celebrating.   It's a subdued party;   there is the regret that the division crown has likely eluded us this year.     The Sox will not have home field advantage in the first two rounds.

On the other hand -- there is good news.   The wrecking crews can now go to work,   ripping down Yankee Stadium.    The owners of the Yankees will still be around.

Anger is flying through New York now.   Fans' comments = "Disgusting.... petty..... classless....  "     And,  I have to agree,  that it is disgusting,  petty,  and classless of Yankees' ownership to "accidentally on purpose" omit any mention of former manager Joe Torre in Sunday's shlocky circus in the Bronx.

While Yankees fans aren't overly upset over Roger Clemens' conspicuous absence from the festitivies,   many were livid that one of the four greatest Yankees managers wasn't even mentioned.

Kat O'Brien reported in Newsday that the all-too obvious omissions were not intentional,  if you believe the following quote from a Yanks mouthp- uh, spokesperson =

"Yankees media relations director Jason Zillo, on behalf of the organization, attempted to squash those thoughts: "A lot of great Yankees weren't mentioned [Sunday]," Zillo said. "There was absolutely no slight intended, and perhaps, looking back, they should have been mentioned."

Yeah, right.   Sure.   And to make matters worse,   little Hank blasted the fact that his Yanks didn't go to the playoffs,   but golly,  gee whiz,   those nasty Dodgers,  from that weak division,   ARE going.   It isn't fair!   And he takes extreme care to state that he has no animosity toward Joe Torre.

http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080923&content_id=3535497&vkey=news_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy

Phew.    The Yankee greats -- Gehrig,  Ruth,  Stengel,  McCarthy,  Mantle,  Maris,  et al -- they're not laughing,   they must be crying now.

Am I happy that the Yankees season ended the way it did?    Yes.    Am I horrified at what happened last night?    MOST CERTAINLY.

My pleasant memories of Joe Torre as a Yankee are topped by their win in the 2001 ALCS -- shortly after 9/11,   and nearly everyone was cheering for the Yankees to win,   as I was.    New York had to go on.    And the most poignant scene that I remember was that of Rudy Giuliani and Joe Torre,  on the field,   arms around each other like a couple of schoolkids,   showing us that we MUST all go forward.

That's my memory of Yankee Stadium.    Even the Steinbrenners couldn't screw that one up,   and they can't take away the memory of that moment.