Red Sox media (and Dave Portnoy) really couldn't handle Fernando Cruz celebration

When Fernando Cruz entered Wednesday's Game 2 of the Yankees' Wild Card series with the Boston Red Sox, the stakes could not have been higher. Two men were on with nobody out after a sequence of quick walks. The game was tied. A loss would end the Yankees season. New York went 4-9 against Boston this season, and was 1-9 against the Red Sox in their 10 most recent postseason contests against them.

The Red Sox were threatening to do what they do best these days: bully the Yankees at Yankee Stadium, taking free bases with aplomb. Cruz, a lifelong Yankee fan and a 35-year-old journeyman running on fumes, was the only thing that stood between a chance at triumph and certain disaster.

When asked this spring who he'd most want to dine with, dead or alive, Cruz said his mother, who'd passed in 2021, so that he could tell her he'd become a Yankee. That is the athlete and the man we were dealing with here.

In a whirlwind inning that threatened not to end, Cruz recorded the first out on a popped-up bunt, the second on a weak fly ball, and the third on a thunderous Trevor Story smack after Alex Cora's coaching staff and players had handled an infield single incorrectly. His celebration sparked the Yankees' momentum. He let out several yells with the force of a generation's trauma potentially beginning to turn. To us, it was legendary. To Bostonians, it was excessive.

But ... even if you genuinely believe Cruz crossed a line, in a moment of petulance ... why would you say it out loud?

Oh. Right. Him.

Red Sox fans, Dave Portnoy despise Yankees reliever Fernando Cruz's exciting celebration

Oh, boy. Now we're in the "grading outs" phase of bargaining. Let me guess, Dave: Cruz didn't "do a god damn thing" to retire Ceddanne Rafaela because Rafaela got himself out. Nick Sogard is a light-hitting utility man, that doesn't count either. And the final out of the inning? He's lucky he kept it in the ballpark. He has no right to escape wriggling out of first-and-second, no outs. No right.

Now, I don't know this for sure, but something tells me he'd have been a huge fan of "letting the kids play" if Ceddanne Rafaela had tied the game with two outs in the ninth and thrown his bat to Mercury.

It may not have literally been Game 7 of the World Series, but it had roughly the same stakes. The Yankees' title chances were on the line. One well-placed single, and their season more than likely ends. A grand slam? See you in Cancun. This obviously mattered, and Cruz obviously did something — plenty — to prevent it from mattering.

You ever notice that the celebration police tend to come out in droves whenever a New York team is experiencing a little too much joy? That can't be the reason. No way. It's got to be a totally unbiased and equitable take that would apply to any professional sports team or fan base.

Was it "over the top"? Of course it was! It was also energizing. Those two things are not mutually exclusive — unless your fandom is on the wrong end of it.

Not now, Unbiased Mets Fan! We don't have time for you! The playoff teams are talking!

Look. I'm sure it was no fun for Red Sox fans to watch the wildness of Cruz's gyrations. Personally, I hated whenever Jonathan Papelbon would whip around and stare with his puckered-up mouth, or spin and fist pump after securing strike three. But I mostly hated it because it meant my team had come up short. I wanted to smack the smirk off his face — metaphorically, with singles and homers. But I was powereless to do so.

It's natural to feel that way, in the moment. But the next step should be recognizing the hypocrisy of that feeling, and acknowledging the reality that, if a Red Sox pitcher had done this against the Yankees, his face would be on a Barstool t-shirt by tomorrow with the caption, "Local Boston Man F***s 50,000 New Yorkers".

Do they still do baseball merch at Barstool? Haven't checked in a while. Not sure if Dave still follows the sport. The outcome of Game 3 might determine that. Hopefully, the Yankees have some more celebratory exhales planned, but they'd better check with Dave first to confirm they earned them.