Game 6
Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr.
If ABC’s Wide World of Sports was still on the air, the video clip of this incident would have been in the opening montage, along with the downhill skier Vinko Bogataj wiping out, symbolizing the agony of defeat. It was a moment when so many fans’ hopes and dreams burst into flames. From all outward appearances, they were a team of destiny, a Boston Red Sox team that would finally break the Bambino's curse, a cast of characters with just enough personality to endear them to their fans. There was the old man, Tom Terrific, Tom Seaver, the best right-hand pitcher of his generation, a 300 game winner and future Hall-of-Famer who was trying to fend off Father Time one last season for a chance at a second World Series ring. The was the quirky young third baseman, Wade Boggs, who might have been the most superstitious player to ever play between the white lines. Fans loved that he had to eat chicken before every game, had to wake up at the same time every morning, and had to take 150 ground balls during every infield practice. You could count on him taking batting practice at exactly 5:17 p.m. and wind sprints at 7:17 p.m. before every game, and had to draw the Hebrew word “chai” in the dust of the batter’s box before stepping in. Then there was skinny pitcher Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd who made Boggs look normal. A modern day Dizzy Dean, the kid was so crazy that he had been placed in the local psychiatric ward at mid-season when he found out that he was not going to be on the All-Star team. There was outfielder Mike Greenwell who wrestled alligators during the off-season. Steve "Psycho" Lyons wrote notes to opposing players with his spikes in the outfield grass. The star of the time was quick-tempered pitcher, 24-game winner Roger Clemens, who had just dominated the league the way no pitcher had in years. He was already dusting off his mantle where his first Cy Young and MVP award would go. Around them were solid men like Jim Rice, Dwight Evans, Rich Gedman, Al Nipper, Bruce Hurst, and Bob Stanley who had given their hearts and souls to Beantown for too many years to count. Still, the one player who characterized the hard-nosed, blue-collar town the best was the bad-kneed, 36-year-old first baseman, Bill Buckner, who had had a solid career with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs. The year before “Billy Buck” had achieved the amazing feat of playing in all 162 games and set a Major League record for assists with 184. The guy never complained, never griped, just went out and played as hard as he could. In 1986, he quietly hit 18 dingers and drove in 102 runs.
They breezed past the hated New York Yankees in the regular season by 5.5 games. Then squeaked past the deep pockets of Gene Autry’s California Angels in 7 games, even coming back from a 5-2 deficit with two outs in the ninth inning. They were the underdogs against the star studded New York Mets with the likes of Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, Gary Carter, Lenny Dykstra, and Keith Hernandez. The faithful sat back in amazement as their beloved Red Sox went into Shea Stadium, the heart of New York, the Evil Empire, and won the first two, 1-0 and 9-3. Returning home, they got pounded in the next two outings, 7-1 and 6-2. But solid Bruce Hurst, who had won Game One for them, closed down Gooden and the Mets, giving up only 2 runs in the victory. Who could believe in Curses when your team is one game shy of being World Champions and on their way back to New York with the unhittable Clemens taking the mound? They were up 2-0 early, but those Mets came back to tie it. The Sox scored in the 7th, but an inning later Clemens had to leave the game due to a blister on his finger and was replaced by the big Texas rookie Calvin Schiraldi, who had posted a 1.43 ERA, and was just looking for a chance to make the Mets, who’s farm system he had come up through, regret trading him. But that was not meant to be and Schiraldi gave up a run to knot the score. In the 10th, outfielder Dave Henderson jacked one out of the park to put Boston up 5-3, three outs away from being World champs. Up came the Mets, Schiraldi, after two innings of work was starting to tire; and he quickly gave up singles to Carter, Kevin Mitchell, and Ray Knight, but things were still under control, the boys from Beantown were still up 5-4. Manager John McNamara had called out to the bullpen to get the Stanley Steamer, closer Bob Stanley, up and ready to pitcher. He was used to that kind of pressure, with 123 saves under his belt as he walked to the mound to face Mookie Wilson. Rearing back, he promptly threw a wild pitch allowing Kevin Mitchell, to score the tying run. With every Red Sox fan on the edge of their set, Stanley fired another one. There was a collective sigh of relief in the stadium as Wilson swung and hit a slow roller down the first base line, the kind of play that even your Little Leaguer could make, Buckner charged the ball, bent down, and the ball dribbled through his legs out into the outfield, allowing Rat Knight to score, and the Mets to win.
Those events that happened 20 years ago are still fresh in my mind and almost every baseball fan in America. Maybe it is something primal, something about belonging to a tribe, but there is a special connection between a man and his sports team. While novelist Nick Hornsby has done a better job with this subject matter in Fever Pitch, writer Don DeLillo (White Noise) and director Michael Hoffman (Soapdish) tell the story of playwright Nicky Rogan who, although he might have written the best play of his life, might be experiencing his worst day. An acid penned critic, Steven Schwimmer (Robert Downey, Jr.), is expected to be in the audience. Everywhere Nicky goes Steven’s face is glaring back at him from every taxi cab to the New Yorker magazine, even his best friend, another playwright, Elliot Litvak (Griffin Dunne) insists on repeating every word Schwimmer wrote about his play. If that was not enough, his leading man has a parasite in his brain causing him to not remember his lines. Also, Rogan’s wife, Lillian (Catherine O'Hara), wants a divorce, his daughter (Ari Graynor) has grown distant from him, and his father’s (Tom Aldredge) health is failing, but the real reason that this is the worst day of Nicky’s life is that it is game 6 of the 1986 World Series and he is a lifelong Red Sox fan in the middle of New York. Over the years, the Sox have choked in such a spectacular manner, in such imaginative and unexpected ways that Nicky hates his team as much as he loves them. Like the past fate of his team, Nicky is a cynic and so is seemingly everyone around him. He identifies with his team. Maybe, just maybe, if the Red Sox can win, so can Nicky. He can end his downward spiral. Rather than watch his play’s opening night, the playwright finds himself in a neighborhood bar watching the Series. Will Rogan choke like his team?
Made for less than $1 million dollars and shot in just 20 days, this is a mediocre art house pic. Keaton is great and the dialogue is snappy, but at the end of the day it is like spending the day with the second born in your family, everything is negative. If I wanted negativity, I would just turn on Rush Limbaugh. I don’t need to pay for it.
Verdict: A C Grade Movie, but Nice to See Keaton Back