Sunday, October 25, 2009

What I Drink Makes the Yankees Win

They say that one of the first signs of insanity is the belief that one can somehow influence completely random events. I will stand in exactly this spot with my feet angled at 45 degrees, and when the subway stops the doors will line up with my feet and I will get on first, and perhaps get a seat - that kind of thing.

Maybe I am going insane, but I like to think of it as healthy superstition. It's October, the time of baseball playoffs, and the Yankees are back in it. It is clear to me that my own beverage consumption while watching the games is impacting the results. If you can decipher the pattern, please feel free to indicate as much in the comments. I think I've got it figured out, but I will test my theory tonight during game 6. Here's what's happened so far:

Game 1 (Yankee Stadium) - I brought a 6-pack of Weihenstephan weiss bier, or wheat beer, to a friend's house. The beer is excellent - fruity, clean, thirst quenching, bitter and sweet at the same time. The Yanks play well, the Angels play poorly and make key errors, Yanks win.

Game 2 (Yankee Stadium) - I bring a bottle of Claux Delorme to another friend's house. We decant it, it's delicious. When it's gone we enjoy the previous night's leftovers - 2002 Stony Hill Chardonnay. The game goes into extra innings, and we drink a 375 ml of 2003 Suduiraut Sauternes. The Yanks dramatically tie the score in late innings during the Stony Hill, and win a thriller in the 13th inning.

Game 3 - (Anaheim) - I have the remnants of a cold, I stay home and listen to the game on the radio (we are prehistoric and do not have a television), I drink nothing. The Yanks waste a great pitching performance by Andy Pettitte and lose a game they could have won - key mistakes killed them.

Game 4 - (Anaheim) - I again bring a bottle of Claux Delorme, this time to a third friend's house. We begin by drinking his 2007 Pinon Vouvray Silex Noir leftovers, and then drink the Delorme, again, just delicious. The Yanks dominate the Angels, winning 10-1.

Game 5 - (Anaheim) - I go back to game 2 friend's house. Deetrane comes over too. I bring Delamotte Brut Rosé Champagne and we drink it as the Yanks quickly fall behind by 4 runs. My friend opens a 1995 Château Lafon-Rochet, from St. Estèphe. I'm skeptical of all things Bordeaux, but the nose is really lovely - very pure, which is not what I've come to expect. Bright red fruit on a cedar plank, vibrantly perfumed, really enticing. The palate is not as strong, a bit dilute in the middle and just not all that complicated, but at least it's not some spoofed up fruit bomb. Very drinkable and pleasing indeed. The Yanks stage a dramatic rally and take the lead in the 7th inning. The pennant is immanent. We finish the Lafon Rochet and Deetrane opens up a 2002 Panther Creek Pinot Noir Bednarik Vineyard. It's fine, but too much on the cherry cough syrup tip. The Yanks lose the lead, and then the game.

So what, I ask you, should I bring to my Bordeaux-loving friend's house tonight for the terribly important game 6? Suggestions welcome, although they will be Monday-morning -quarterback suggestions, as you'll probably read this Monday morning. Suggestions welcome anyway, and I'll let you know what we did tomorrow in the comments.

17 comments:

fillay said...

Glad to hear you're using your powers for good and not for evil. I'd offer to plug all the parameters of your choices into a regression model to pull out the critical factor, but I fear there's not enough time... I'm about to pull the cork on a Wyncroft riesling - Michigan wine to help Jeter get his mojo working. GO YANKS!

wineshlub said...

I think you were on to something with the Bavarian beer. After all, Colonel Ruppert's family was Bavarian, and their brewery was in that tradition.

Whatever you do, don't drink Brooklyn Lager.

Yule Kim said...

Please drink the most spoofulated Bordeaux possible --- better yet, a California Cab fermented with banana yeast and exposed to more sulfur than can be found in a volcanic eruption.

Or nothing at all if drinking the California Cab is too painful.

And thus evil shall be vanquished and good shall prevail.

Scott McCulloch said...

White = win Red = loss.

The Bordeaux Comeback was an anomaly, and the Yanks ended up losing anyway. And if I had to express the Weihenstephan as a wine, it would certaainly be white.

The Yanks won, so you must have been drinking something white, damn you.

Pettitte Chablis, perhaps?

Scott McCulloch

jason said...

get off that " anything but bordeaux " trend. it is so hip to say bordeaux is not good these days. when it is done well, it is amazing.
i had an o6 panther creek a few weeks ago and i had the same experience. it was hard to drink. it smelled like pinot for about a second then when down the wrong way of a one way. too bad.
just drink something tasty tonight dude.

Scott McCulloch said...

Oops. I mistook the Claux Delorme for a white. Forget the red/white take. How about this: When you start and finish the night with something European, the Yanks win. Finishing the night with American wine or (god forbid) not drinking at all, is a loss.
If I were you, I would have gone with what I know: Bernard Baudry. You are happy, and Chinon should be acceptable to your Bordeaux- loving friend. If it gets dicey in the late innings, you hand the ball back to Claux Delorme.

--Scott McCulloch

Asher said...

Well, I was drinking Fevre Chablis last night ('06 Fourchaume, which was great), and the Yanks won. Maybe Scott is on to something. Or maybe I just have more cosmic pull.

mikeweav said...

Certainly an interesting wine night last evening. We started with the dregs of a bottle from the night before and the Yanks promptly fell behind 1-0. Moving to a California wine, made in a Rhone style and following that up with an Oregon Pinot certainly seemed to get the mojo going. Following that up with a big California Cab (that would stand up to anything on the menu at Mo's steakhouse and can thusly be seen as a pro-Mo choice) clearly leads to Yankee victories!

More basically-- booze in the style enjoyed by friend #2= win, booze in the style enjoyed by deetrane = lose. Long and short is let friend #2 act as your sommelier for the series!

Susan B said...

Actually I think it was not the wine that controlled the Yankees' fate because it was clearly controlled by where I sat on the couch when they were playing. It is amazing how superstitious we all become when we want our team to win. Go Yankees!

Brooklynguy said...

fillay - when you have time i'd really like to see that regression model.

wineshlub - i hate to say it because of the hometown connection, but i don't really care for brooklyn lager either. too sweet, like most of their beer.

Scott - "Pettitte Chablis." that is BRILLIANT and I laughed out loud. (or LOL, like the kids today say.)

Asher - with Fevre Chablis you should probably watch football, Vikings games to be exact.

MikeWeav - i think that's it. the previous night's leftovers are the key. when we had leftover Stony Hill after drinking Claux Delorme, we had extra innings and the Yanks won. When I had leftover Pinon Vouvray before the Claux Delorme, Yanks dominated the whole way. In Game 6 we tempted fate by beginning with leftovers, but Stags Leap rhone blend. of course the Yanks trailed for much of the game. And you may be onto something with the Mo's steakhouse idea. One thing is absolutely clear - not drinking leads to poor play and tough losses.

Susan - couldn't the wine and your couch position somehow have interacted in some way in fluence the results?

Anonymous said...

Don't waste your wine on the Yankees. Phils in 6

Web designer said...

Recent growth in the wine industry has cannibalized some of the beer industry. While as a nation we could consume more, there is of course a limit. At that point growth of one industry will come at the expense of the other.Perhaps the point is, for most of us, there is a time to enjoy both.

Jason A said...

So, what are you drinking tonight?

Alex Halberstadt said...

The last time a team I rooted for won the series was in 1985, when George Brett and the Royals beat the Cardinals in 7. I think on the night of the decisive game six I had a Swanson's Salisbury steak Hungry Man TV dinner and a glass of tomato juice. (I was in junior high and that lineup seemed pretty exciting.) Since the I-70 Show-Me Series it's been crap. And I'd happily drink a double magnum of Mendocino County Catawba if only the Yankees—a team that never met a player it couldn't buy—would crash and burn. Go Mets!

Gregg Ushiroda said...

I had a 2006 Clos du Caillou Cotes du Rhone VV with beef stew as I watched Cliff Lee master the Yankees.

fillay said...

Just a quick note on the eve of Game 3 - please drink more of whatever it was you were drinking on Friday. As for Saturday's consumption - whatever you drank may have been tasty or even profound, but I would advise you to leave it in the cellar for a little while longer... GO YANKS.

Brooklynguy said...

hey fillay - i like it, and thanks! Friday it was German Pilsner, Saturday it was Peroni. Ztrust me - nothing italian shall pass my lips tonight.