Title Fight

The guys gathered around Juan Carlos’s coffee cart looked tired this morning.

“But it’s a good tired,” said Javier from Walton Avenue. “It’s the kind of weary satisfaction that a boxer feels the day after a big fight.”

Everyone nodded.

“Yesterday’s game turned into a toe-to-toe slugfest,” Javier said. “I sat in the bleachers and was emotionally exhausted when it was over so can’t even imagine what it was like to play.”

Javier took a bite of his donut and washed it down with a big swig of coffee. He swallowed hard and then fired off his game story.

“It looked like the ballgame was slipping away,” he said. “Then the Yankees climbed back into it and I thought Nady’s three-run homer in the seventh was going to be the game winner.

“But the Angels fought back,” Javier continued. “It took a flurry of hits, stolen bases and errors to finally finish them off in the eighth.

“These knock-down-drag-out games wear you out,” he went on, “but the Yankees need to keep winning at all costs. That’s the only way they’re gonna stay in the title fight.”

The guys nodded, again.