2007 BOSTON RED SOX
A POWERFUL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM ...
 

The 2007 Red Sox might have been the most talented of Boston’s three recent World Series winners. But since it’s sandwiched between a Championship 86 years in the making (2004) and one that was inspired by a tragedy (2007), we can’t be blamed for overlooking how good this bunch really was. The club’s final record of 101-61 suggests this team actually underachieved.  This club was remarkably consistent from start to finish. They never had a losing streak of more than four games and those streaks only occurred three times throughout the season.

The hundred-million dollar man, Daisuke Matsuzaka, struck out 10 and banked his first win on April 5th, beating Kansas City, 4-1. Lavish contracts brought a couple of other new faces to the team in Julio Lugo at shortstop and J. D. Drew in right field.

The Red Sox started off hot.  In April they were 16-8 and in May they were 20-8.  They took over first place on April 18th and, this time, they never left  there for even one game for the rest of the year.  By the end of May, they were 10 games ahead in the A.L. East. For the final 110 games of the season a new Red Sox record was established with consistent play and yet with nothing longer than a five-game winning streak.

There were close calls. On April 20th, the Yankees held a 6-2 lead after 7 1/2 innings. Down to their last six outs, the Red Sox scored five times in the eighth, giving Mariano Rivera a loss.

On the April 22nd, New York’s Chase Wright was left in long enough to give up four home runs in a row, to Manny Ramirez, J. D. Drew, Mike Lowell, and Jason Varitek. These were no 320-foot shots down the line. Estimates calculated a grand total of 1,711 feet, more than 427 feet on average.

A great come-from-behind win was the "Mother’s Day Miracle." On May 13th, Baltimore was leading 5-0, with the Red Sox batting with one out in the bottom of the ninth. They scored six runs and won.

In Daisuke Matsuzaka’s first Red Sox season, he won 15 games, with 12 losses and a 4.40 ERA. He struck out 159, and became the all-time Red Sox rookie single-season strikeout leader. Second baseman Dustin Pedroia batted 10th in the league (.317),  added a lot of spark, and was voted American League Rookie of the Year, with 24 of the 28 first-place votes. It was later learned that he’s played the last several weeks of the season and throughout the playoffs with a broken hamate bone in his hand, which required surgery in early November.

Mike Lowell led the Sox in RBIs with 120, driving in more than David Ortiz, who led in homers (35 to Lowell’s 21) and out-hitting Lowell, .332 to .324. Manny Ramirez was solid but not spectacular, sub par by the standard he’d set for himself.  He had 20 homers and 88 RBIs.

Despite the upgrades, the incumbent players provided the biggest contributions. Josh Beckett delivered his best season (and postseason) in a Boston uniform. Mike Lowell won the World Series MVP. Jonathan Papelbon was made the closer and had the best season of his career. Tim Wakefield won 17 games, second best win total after Beckett. Curt Schilling was effective.  On June 7th he came close to a no-hitter.  He had a fitting end to his career by leaving the game with the lead in the World Series.

There was a trade that didn’t work out however.  Just at the trading deadline, the Sox acquired reliever Eric Gagne, giving up David Murphy and others. It looked like a good deal on paper, though Gagne pitched so poorly that there were even bumper stickers printed reading "Gagne is a Yankees Spy". On August 14th, after being booed by the fans, Eric Gagne came through with three clutch strikeouts in the ninth inning, before Mike Lowell tied a game against the Devil Rays with a homer and Coco Crisp lined a walk-off base hit.

They swept the White Sox at the end of August, outscoring them 46-7, before heading into New York to face the Yankees with an eight game lead over the second place contenders.  They were then swept by the Yankees in New York.

On September 1st, Clay Buchholz made his second start for the Red Sox at Fenway, and he pitched a no-hitter against the same Orioles, 10-0. He’s lucky he wrapped it up with 115 pitches. Anxious to preserve a very promising young arm, the Red Sox weren’t going to let him go any higher on the pitch count.

The Red Sox kept rolling along and winning while the Yankees kept pace.  On September 12th, David Ortiz did what he does best, the dramatic walk-off game winning home run, to keep the Red Sox five games ahead of New York.

The Yankees came to Fenway Park and took two of the three games and the Sox then lost three in Toronto. The Sox lead shrunk to just 1 1/2 games ahead of the Yankees.  After losing four straight games, Josh Beckett stopped the skid by winning his 20th game on September 21st. The Red Sox held on to clinch with just two games left in the season on September 28th.  They won 96 games and became champions on the strength of superstars and bit players, of high-priced sluggers and Filene's Basement relievers. They were melded by young upstarts thirsty to establish themselves and older veterans determined to enhance their legacy.

Chemistry is often a fleeting concept. Sometimes it manifests itself in the personalities of a few; other times a team adopts a mantra, like the "Idiots" of 2004, that takes on a life of its own. But there ways other than slugging whisky in the clubhouse together, to establish camaraderie. You can hail from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, or Madras, Ore., or Kyoto, Japan, or Hyde Park, Mass., and discover the common ground of winning with the right leadership.

And that's precisely what this team did, in spite of their diverse backgrounds and approaches to the game. Whether it was Jason Varitek representing the textbook professional or Manny Ramirez signifying the carefree eccentric, these players discovered a way to embrace each other's values.

It began with the smallest of gestures, like Schilling vowing to learn Japanese to make Daisuke Matsuzaka's transition to this culture and this baseball team easier. It ended in the final game of the World Series, with David Ortiz draping his massive arm around Matsuzaka in the dugout, imploring him to wave to the fans in the stands of Coors Field with a piece of gum blown into a huge bubble perched atop his cap. The smiling Japanese pitcher obliged, beaming with joy.

It was "Big Papi" at his finest, defusing pressure and creating a sense of belonging. His personality raDaited that way throughout the clubhouse in 2007.  The slugger pointed to the manager as a catalyst. Terry Francona demanded accountability and enforced it behind closed doors. He promised his players he would never chastise them publicly, but he expected professionalism in return. He approached his job with honesty and compassion, but without ever allowing his compassion to stand in the way of a difficult decision.  As an example: When it was time to play without the DH, he sat Kevin Youkilis and plugged Ortiz into his spot at first base. When discussing this move, manager Terry Francona said Youkilis probably would see some time in late innings as a defensive replacement.

The manager dealt with a number of difficult personnel decisions in leading this team to a championship. He sat veteran center fielder Coco Crisp in favor of the rookie, Jacoby Ellsbury, who had but 33 major league games under his belt. He left veteran Tim Wakefield off the World Series roster when the two of them determined the knuckleballer's health was too uncertain. He bypassed pitcher Julian Tavarez altogether, who served as an everyman and ate up innings in the regular season.  None of those players became a distraction by expressing their displeasure, a rarity in today's world of large contracts and still larger egos.

When Jonathan Papelbon was on the mound putting the finishing touches on this satisfying season, Mike Timlin stood in the dugout next to Jon Lester, a 23-year-old kid who was simply overwhelmed by what was about to happen. Lester fidgeted nervously, jumping up and down like a small child waiting for permission to eat an oversized lollipop.

When Colorado's Seth Smith struck out and Papelbon gleefully threw up his hands and tossed his glove into the air, the old pitcher and the young pitcher in the dugout quickly embraced.  Then they sprinted to the mound together, to enjoy the moment with their team of champions.  That was the story of the 2007 Red Sox team.