1999 BOSTON RED SOX ...
THE ALL STARS, AND PEDRO'S HISTORIC YEAR ...
 

Pee Wee Reese		Joe DiMaggio		Arnold Earley		Catfish Hunter
Died: Aug 14th		Died: March 8th		Died: Sept 29th		Died: Sept 9th
Eddie Stanky		Birdie Tebbetts		Early Wynn		Wilt Chamberlain
Died: June 16th		Died: Mar 24th		Died: Apr 4th		Died: Oct 12th
Carl Sumner		Joe Adcock		Norm Zauchin		Marion Motley
Died: Feb 8th		Died: May 3rd		Died: Jan 31st		Died: June 27th
Al Schroll		Faye Throneberry		Walter Payton		Tex Aulds
Died: Nov 30th		Died: Apr 26th		Died: Nov 1st		Died: Oct 13th
Tom Herrin		Payne Stewart		Johnnie Wittig		Rod Shoate
Died: Nov 29th		Died: Oct 25th		Died: Feb 24th		Died: Oct 4th
Riley Smith		Randy Heflin		John Badaczewski		Steve Sinko
Died: Aug 8th		Died: Aug 17th		Died: Dec 12th		Died: March 1st
Vlad Guerrero Jr		Fernando Tatis Jr		Trevor Lawrence		Brayan Bello
Born: March 16th		Born: Jan 2nd		Born: Oct 6th		Born: May 17th
		Bailey Zappe		Wilyer Abreu
		Born: April 26th		Born: June 24th

In mid-November of 1998, after a long contract dispute, Mo Vaughn walked away from the Red Sox and signed with the Anaheim Angels for $85 million. Then the Red Sox decided that money was no object. They overpaid for free agent José Offerman and then tried to get Albert Belle and Bernie Williams. But Williams used the interest that Boston showed, to get leverage in his negotiations with the Yankees. Unable to replace Vaughn, the Red Sox turned toward their pitching staff and signed Pat Rapp and Mark Portugal.

The 1999 season demonstrated that in baseball, the line between mediocrity and respectability is deceptively thin. Manager Jimy Williams decided on a strategy of going with his hottest players, platooning them, and hoping for the best. The best was Pedro Martinez, who pitched just like Joe Wood did in 1912 and Roger Clemens in 1986. When Pedro pitched, the Red Sox were the best team in baseball. The lesser Sox played over their heads and made important injuries to players like Tom Gordon and Nomar Garciaparra seem irrelevant.

Brian Daubach played like he was an All-Star until mid August. Brett Saberhagen pitched like he was the reincarnation of Lefty Grove. Pedro's brother Ramon, returned from soldier surgery and even José Offerman made the All-Star team.

By opening day the Red Sox seem more interested in the 1999 All-Star Game at Fenway Park and plans for a new ballpark, than winning a world championship. But nobody told that to manager Jimy Williams. Although most observers picked the apparently punchless Red Sox, to finish third and fourth in the division, the Sox performed above expectations all year long, raising the hopes of longtime fans.

In Kansas City, Pedro muddled through six innings and 119 pitches, striking out nine, then accepted pick-me-ups from all quarters as the Sox won their opener for the eighth time in the last 10 years. Playing against his former team, Jose Offerman had four hits in five trips -- a triple, a double, and two singles.

The Sox went on to sweep the Royals, with Bret Saberhagen and Tim Wakefield pitching outstanding games and rookie Trot Nixon belting out his first major league home run. Unfortunately however, it was not a good series for Nomar Garciaparra. Nomar pulled his hamstring on a slide into second.

Pedro won his second game in Tampa. In one stretch he struck out 9 of 15 batters and allowed just three hits, two of them infield singles.

The Sox (6-1) opened at home on April 13th with a 6-0 win against the White Sox.  Bret Saberhagen pitched his second shutout. For the sixth time in seven games, Sox pitchers limited the opposition to three runs or fewer.

JASON VARITEK

Nomar returned to the lineup on April 17th, but the Sox lost Tom Gordon, who hurt his right elbow with a look that caused catcher Jason Varitek to sprint to the mound in the ninth inning, followed almost immediately by manager Jimy Williams, pitching coach Joe Kerrigan, and trainer Jim Rowe. Gordon, who underwent X-rays in spring training, hurt the same inner part of the elbow that bothered him in camp.

The Sox then went 1-4 to finish up their first homestand, losing games to teams like the doormat White Sox and Devil Rays not only because of a lack of power, but also because of a lack of consistency throughout the order.

The Sox left for Detroit and Pedro (3-1), rang up 10 strikeouts for the second straight game and set down 13 in a row, until a ball dropped in front of center fielder Darren Lewis, winning 1-0 on Troy O'Leary's home run. The Sox lost 2 of 3 in Detroit, having only scored only five runs in their lost five games.

Back at Fenway on April 25th, the Red Sox led 3-1, with two outs in the ninth, and Pedro surrendered a single that made it 3-2. Jimy Williams came out, but stuck with him, and Pedro struck out David Justice with his 137th pitch of the day, a 95 mile-per-hour fastball, to seal a Red Sox victory over the Cleveland Indians. It was his first complete game of the season, improving his record to 4-1 with a 2.21 ERA.

The Sox ended the month of April with a 11-11 record in 3rd place. Jose Offerman (.341 BA) led the team in batting. Rookie Trot Nixon had two doubles, scored twice, and walked on April 30th, in his encore to a three-walk and a home run performance two days before in Oakland. But the Sox ended their road trip going 2-5, losing 12-11, in a 10-inning loss to the Oakland A's on May 3rd, one in which the Red Sox blew a 7-0 lead.

With Tom Gordon entering his third week on the disabled list with a sore pitching elbow, the Red Sox, who opened the season with five straight wins were now a game under .500 (12-13) for the first time. More bad news as Bret Saberhagen was also shelved on the DL with a sore right shoulder.

On the positive side, Nomar Garciaparra (.324 BA) hit safely in his last seven games, and had two or more hits in six of his last nine games, and had four doubles and eight RBIs in that span. Also, Jason Varitek. established himself as Red Sox starting catcher. With teammate Scott Hatteberg (elbow) on the disabled list, Varitek settled in nicely, starting 16 of the last 18 games. Jose Offerman was the Red Sox' most consistent player. He led the team in average (.355 BA), hits, doubles (he was leading the league), stolen bases, total bases, and multihit games. He had at least one hit in 25 of the Red Sox' 29 games and had 14 multihit games.

Back home, with thunderous ovations from the sellout crowd dwarfing the mixed reception Mo Vaughn received coming back as a member of the Angels, Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez (6-1) struck out a career-high 15 in eight innings and combined with temporary closer, Tim Wakefield, shut out Vaughn's Angels, 6-0, on May 7th.

The Red Sox swept the Angels and on May 10th, punished the Seattle Mariners, 12-4. Nomar Garciaparra (.327 BA) hit three home runs, including two grand slams, and drove in 10 runs. Then on May 12th, facing the Mariners lineup that includes several of the premier hitters in the game, Pedro put on another dominating performance in a 9-2 Red Sox victory.  Pedro ran his record to 7-1, the best mark in baseball, and matched his career high with another 15 strikeouts, which he reached in his previous outing. The Sox concluded their homestand winning 6 of 8 and finding themselves only 2 1/2 games behind the Yankees.

In Toronto, Juan Pena (2-0), a 21-year-old right-hander, displayed the same unflappable poise that  he possessed in his major league debut on Yawkey Way, shutting out the Blue Jays on six hits through seven innings in a 5-0 win. Then in the series finale, rookie Brian Daubach smashed a three run ninth inning home run, to bring the Sox back from a 4-3 deficit.  The Sox took three of the four game series and were only 1/2 game behind the Yankees.

The Sox then returned home to face New York in an early season showdown.  In the first game on May 18th, it was once again Pedro, as the Red Sox moved into sole possession of first place in the American League East with a 6-3 win, which dropped the Yankees a half-game back. The Sox, who had not been alone in first place this late in a season since winning the division in 1995, had won 10 of their last 12. Pedro (8-1) gave up ten hits and racked up eleven strikeouts and became the first pitcher since the Nolan Ryan to have seven consecutive games of 10 strikeouts or more.

Pedro had thrown more pitches than any pitcher in baseball this season, 1,119 in nine starts, including 136 in seven innings in in his win over the Yankees. His total was 36 more than Randy Johnson in the same number of starts, averaging 124.33 pitches a start, which also leads the majors. He had not thrown fewer than 106 pitches, and not fewer than 125 in each of his last six starts.

In the second game of the series, 6-0, as rookie Brian Rose pitched the finest game of his young major league career.  He shut out the Yankees on six hits through seven innings, walking just one and striking out three. 

TROT NIXON

The Sox concluded the series, 1/2 game in first place. As closer, Tom Gordon, came off the DL, Scott Hatteberg was then lost with nerve problems in his throwing arm, making Jason Varitek the every day catcher.

On May 22nd the Sox beat the Blue Jays behind John Valentin, Trot Nixon and Tim Wakefield, for their 13th win in the last 16 games. Over that same period, the club rapped out 10 hits or more 14 times.

In the next game of the series, as Tom Gordon picked up his 50th straight save, Pedro's streak of consecutive innings, with at least one strikeout, ended at 33 as he failed to register a punchout in the third inning of the Sox 10-8 victory over the Jays. Pedro had struck out 57 over the 33 innings. He fanned six in the game, ending a string of seven games in which he had 10 or more.

At Yankee Stadium on May 25th, the Sox, won for the 15th time in 18 games and third time in four meetings with the Yankees, winning, 5-2, behind rookie Brian Rose (2-0). The Sox had a season high 2 1/2 game lead in the A.L. East, but lost the next two games.

In Cleveland, on May 28th, the Sox clubbed five home runs among a season-high 18 hits. First, Mike Stanley hit a three-run home run, then Nomar Garciaparra hit home runs in consecutive innings, the second time following rookie Brian Daubach's first-pitch home run, and Jason Varitek hit the longest home run of the night, a 437-foot drive into the right-field seats, to complement his two doubles. The next night, Nomar helped make Pedro Martinez (10-1) the majors' first 10-game winner with a tiebreaking, three-run home run in the a come-from-behind, 4-2 win. The Red Sox swept the Indians the next game, to give them a 12-4 record in a two-week test against the iron of the American League and a 19-8 record for the month of May, the team's best month in nearly three years.

On May 31st, the Sox staged a strange come-from-behind win over Detroit at Fenway, and finished May 19-8, with a 1 1/2 game lead over the Yankees.

June started with a come-from-behind win over Detroit on June 1st thanks to two rookies. Trot Nixon hit a game tying homer and Brian Daubach slugged out a homer that was the game winner.

On June 4th, inter-league play continued when the Braves came to town to face Pedro Martinez. Pedro raised his record to 11-1 with his ninth straight victory. He became the majors' only pitcher with double-digit wins. Pedro, who lowered his earned run average to 1.91, best in the majors, struck out 16 batters with at least one batter in every inning, and ended seven of his nine innings with a K.

The Red Sox offense then began to fall off. Jose Offerman who was batting .351 nearly a month ago, and in 32 games had scored 21 runs and driven in 18 while racking up 20 extra-base hits (15 doubles, 4 triples, 1 home run), was batting .283, and his production had fallen off. In his last 13 games, he had one extra-base hit, a double, and has driven in one run. He was 4 for his last 23. Rookie Trot Nixon had one hit in his last 19 at-bats (.053). Catcher Jason Varitek was 4 for 32 (.125) in his last 10 games. Mike Stanley was batting .167 (4 for 24) in his last seven games. Third baseman John Valentin had two RBIs in the last 14 games. Center fielder Damon Buford was batting .176 (6 for 34) in his last 13 games, and was 3 for his last 18.  Even Nomar Garciaparra had just 2 RBIs in his last seven games.

When Pedro lost a game in Montreal on June 9th, the Sox fell back into second place, having lost five straight games, after a run of 22 days in first place. The Sox went 1-6 on their road trip and returned to Fenway 1 1/2 games behind the Yankees.

On June 14th, the Sox staged a dramatic come-from-behind victory over the Twins.  In the bottom of the 9th, down 3-2, Darren Lewis slugged a homer over the wall to tie the game, and the next batter, Jeff Frye hit one into the screen in center field, for a walk-off 4-3 win.  John Wasdin (6-0) was the recipient winner of the Sox victory.  On the next night, June 15th, the Sox came from behind again to give Pedro Martinez his 12th win.

With Tom Gordon on the DL for the second time and now joined by Jeff Frye, who tore the cartilage in his surgically repaired left knee. Back at Fenway, Pedro scattered six hits and struck out 10 while allowing just one run before departing after eight innings against the Rangers on June 20th winning 5 to 2, while John Wasdin went to 7-0 when the Sox came from behind to beat the Rangers on June 21st, 5-4.  The Sox took 3 of 4 from both the Twins and Rangers and caught the Yankees for first place.

In Baltimore on June 23rd, Bret Saberhagen returned from the DL brilliantly and shut out the Orioles 5-0. On June 24th, Troy O'Leary's 16th home run jump-started the Sox to a 2-1 win. For the month, O'Leary (.295 BA) led the Sox in home runs and led in RBIs with 16, and was leading the team with 45 RBIs.

On June 26th, The Sox tied a club record with 11 runs in their first at-bat en route to Pedro's 14th win against the White Sox. Nomar Garciaparra extended his hitting streak to 12 games, during which he batted .535 (23 for 43) with four home runs. Mike Stanley, who had 0-for-27 and 1-for-13 streaks earlier this month, was 8 for his last 15 (.533) in his last four games. Rookie Brian Daubach was hitting .315 with nine home runs and 29 RBIs in just 149 at-bats.

Bret Saberhagen won his fourth game of the season on June 28th and, for the third time in nine outings this year, he allowed nary a run nor a walk in the same game. He had thrown 12 1/3 scoreless innings in his last two outings as the Red Sox scored a 14-1 romp over the Chicago White Sox.

On June 30th, John Valentin went on the DL with a concussion, joining Jeff Frye, Scott Hatteberg and Tom Gordon. Against the Devil Rays in two games at Fenway, the Red Sox, sitting in second place in the AL East, now 3 games out, simply were outgunned by the fourth-place Devil Rays (11 games worse than Boston in the standings at 34-44). Red Sox pitching was flat-out bad.

The Sox took off for Chicago as July started, and on July 2nd, and in contrast to the rest of the staff, by breezing through the White Sox, 6-1, Pedro went to 15-2, tying Roger Clemens's club record for most wins before the All-Star break, while lowering his major league-best ERA to 2.02. Nomar Garciaparra, needed just one pitch to extend his hitting streak to 17 games. Nomar was hitting .531 (34 for 64) during the streak, lifting his overall average to a career-best .366.

Nomar, who trailed Derek Jeter by 30,655 votes in balloting a week ago, won the starting American League All-Star shortstop race by 20,446 votes over Jeter. He became the first Red Sox shortstop to be voted an All-Star starter since 1977, when Rick Burleson nosed out Bucky Dent of the Yankees by just over 7,000 votes, and the first Sox player to be elected a starter since Wade Boggs in 1992.

On July 7th, after being named the starting pitcher for the American League All Stars along with Jose Offerman, Pedro suffered his 3rd loss in Tampa. Pedro's 14 strikeouts were the most seen in the 1 1/2 seasons since they opened the doors to baseball in Tropicana Field. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays came from behind to edge Pedro and the Red Sox, 3-2, on a night Pedro said he felt like he had no-hit stuff.

The Sox lost 3 of 4 to Tampa and 2 of 3 to Atlanta and limped in the All Star break, 49-39, four games behind the Yankees but three games ahead in the wild-card race. Pedro had posted a stellar 15-3 record and the Sox had jockeyed their rotation so he could start the All-Star Game.

On July 9th Ted Williams came back to visit children with cancer at the Dana Faber Cancer Institute and to meet the man who inspired the Jimmy Fund when it all started in 1948.  Ted flew into Boston, traveled through the tunnel that bears his name, and met with Einar Gustafson -- the real "Jimmy" -- plus dozens of new patients who had a better chance of survival because of Williams and an army of Jimmy Fund doctors, nurses, technicians, administrators, and fund-raisers.

MARK McGWIRE

It had been 38 years since the All-Star Game was played at Fenway Park. Pitcher Don Schwall was the only Sox player to appear in that game, and he gave up the National League's only run in a 1-1 tie that was called after nine innings because of rain.

Five Sox players were on the 1941 AL team: Joe Cronin, Dom DiMaggio, Bobby Doerr, Jimmie Foxx, and Ted Williams. Williams won that game with a ninth-inning home run that is widely considered the most dramatic moment in All-Star history.

It was the Mariners' Ken Griffey who won the Home Run Derby and defeating Milwaukee's Jeromy Burnitz, 3-2, in the third and final round. But it was Mark McGwire, tearing through the ball time and again who will be remembered for his multitude of moonshots.

Pedro in a word, was magnificent in the All Star Game. In a pitching performance that rivaled one of the All-Star Game's most legendary moments Pedro struck out the side in the first inning, then struck out two more batters in the second inning, as the American League beat the National League, 4 to 1.

Pedro's victims were Barry Larkin, Larry Walker, and Sammy Sosa in the first inning, Mark McGwire and Jeff Bagwell in the second, all arguably future Hall of Famers. Sosa is the biggest star in Pedro's native Dominican Republic, and a close second here to McGwire, whose Home Run Derby performance Monday night will forever remain a part of Fenway lore.

After the All Star euphoria, the Sox lost 2 of 3 to the Phillies and were anxious to have Pedro pitch them to yet another victory. But the Florida Marlins pounded him for nine runs and 12 hits in less than four innings on July 18th. However the Red Sox rallied from 2-0, 5-3, and 9-5 deficits and somehow came up with an 11-9 victory.

The Sox lost 5 of 8 games played at Fenway after the All Star break and slipped to 6 games behind the Yankees and tied with Toronto for the wild card slot. Meanwhile Pedro was found to be suffering with a sore shoulder. Specifically, suffering from an inflammation of two muscles in the back of the rotator cuff.

On July 24th at Tiger Stadium, rookie Trot Nixon matched his home run output for the season, hitting three round-trippers to lead the Red Sox to an 11-4 pelting of the Tigers as the Sox hit seven homers, one shy of the team record. Not since Fred Lynn's three-homer, 10-RBI game here in 1975 has a Red Sox rookie hit the trifecta.

But the Sox lost two of three in Detroit and fell 8 games behind the Yankees. Now without Pedro, the paranoid fans signaled it as the beginning of the inevitable collapse. In addition, Tom Gordon was lost, needing season-ending surgery to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.

Although their greatest need was pitching, Sox management ignored the available arms.  Instead they took their budget and committed nearly $10 million to acquire designated hitter Butch Huskey from Seattle and two pitchers that were coming off arm trouble, Kent Mercker and Rod Beck. Huskey won two games with his bat in his first week on the team. Mercker proved to be a better move than the alternatives and Rod Beck, in relief, was almost perfect in his first half-dozen times on the mound. (It would be noted that the Red Sox signed only 20 of their 50 picks in the amateur draft, presumably because they couldn't afford to sign anymore.)

On July 31st, the long-anticipated return to Yawkey Way of Roger Clemens in all his pinstriped glory was trumped this afternoon by a ninth inning bloop single by John Valentin that scored Jose Offerman, in a 6-5 Red Sox win over the New York Yankees. The Sox took 2 of 3 from the Yankees.

For the month of July, rookie outfielder Trot Nixon led Boston regulars with a .393 average and also led the club in on-base percentage (.470) and slugging percentage (.768). Despite batting in the ninth spot, Nixon also led the club in runs (14), tied Mike Stanley and Jason Varitek for most home runs (4), and tied Troy O'Leary in extra-base hits with 12. The five starters used most in the month all had high earned run averages: Pedro (5.03), Bret Saberhagen (5.46), Mark Portugal (6.00), Brian Rose (7.34), and Jin Ho Cho (7.59).

It was on August 3rd, against Cleveland, Pedro returned. He was limited to five innings and 78 pitches because of his time spent on the disabled list with a tender shoulder, and Jimy Williams looked to his bullpen to take the Sox home. It didn't happen and the Sox lost, now trailing the Yankees by 6 1/2 games.

In Anaheim, Brian Daubach, who singled, doubled, and scored three times, was one of three Sox players to have three hits as they beat the Angels for the second straight time on August 7th.  Daubach, widely mocked as a possible replacement for Mo Vaughn when he signed as a minor league free agent last winter, completely outplayed the former Sox slugger since June 1st. Daubach batted .319 in 44 games since that date, while Vaughn was batting .250. Daubach had 10 home runs and 32 RBIs in that span; Vaughn's numbers were 5 and 26, respectively.

In the final game of the Anaheim series, Pedro pitched another 5 innings in his comeback and got his 100th career win, as the Sox took 3 of 4 from the Angels. But after a win in Kansas City, Bret Saberhagen (9-4) said his shoulder is noticeably weaker than last year, his first full season after coming back from reconstruction surgery. His two stints on the disabled list, left him needing to build up his arm strength again each time, as if he were going through spring training all over again. He admitted his career could be over at any moment.

The last season of the century had its own controversy. On August 14th, Pedro showed up late for work and when his teammates complained, Jimy Williams benched Pedro and started relief pitcher Bryce Florie. Although Pedro got the win in relief, he was ticked off and over the next few weeks told general manager Dan Duquette that if the team wanted to get rid of him, he was ready to go.  But when his teammates did not rise to his defense, Pedro backed off and quieted down.

Brian Daubach was named American League Player of the Week on August 16th, by hitting .408 since the All-Star break, with 10 home runs in 26 games. He had 14 extra-base hits in his last 10 games. That night he blasted a 9th inning walk-off double to give the Sox a 6-5 win over Oakland.

After getting hit hard by the Oakland Athletics, pitcher Bret Saberhagen admitted that the pain in his shoulder had increased noticeably. Pain that initially was confined to one spot now encompassed the entire area. Inflammation spread and every time Saberhagen threw the ball, he dealt with an unstable shoulder.  Tim Wakefield (3-6) replaced him in the rotation.

The Sox split the series with the Athletics and headed to Texas where they were swept by the Rangers. The loss dropped the Sox, losers of four in a row and five of their last six, a game behind the Oakland in the wild-card race, and 8 1/2 games behind the Yankees in the A.L. East.

In Minnesota on August 24th, Pedro returned to form. He struck out 15 batters in a 7-1 victory over the Twins. It was the 13th time that he reached double figures in strikeouts this season, breaking the team record set by Roger Clemens in 1988. He struck out 10 or more 21 times in two seasons with the Red Sox. At one point he struck out seven batters in a row, one short of another Clemens team record set on the 20-strikeout night of April 29, 1986.

The Sox returned to Fenway and came from behind to beat the Angels twice.  On August 28th Jose Offerman delivered a tie-breaking, eighth-inning RBI double that gave the Red Sox a 7-6.  The night before (August 27th) it was Troy O'Leary that delivered the game winning hit. Rookie Trot Nixon singled in each of his first three at-bats, giving him five straight hits in two games and scored three runs., as the Sox completed a sweep of the Angels, 7-4, but they still remained 8 1/2 games behind New York.

As Kansas City moved into Fenway to close out August, it was Jose Offerman once again, who banged out four hits in helping a very healthy Pedro win his 19th, 9-1. Pedro gave up just four hits, and was 3-1 with a 1.74 ERA in five starts since coming off the disabled list at the start of the month.

But the Sox now were without John Valentin. The third baseman, who already had missed three of the last five games with a sore left knee, departed after four innings and admitted he may be finished for the season. In 12 games since August 15th, Valentin's play had declined noticeably. He was batting .122 (5 for 41) in that span, with more than twice as many strikeouts (11) as hits (5) and as many errors (2) as RBIs.

After limping home from Texas and Minnesota, as if by magic, the Sox became a dangerous ball club, aggressive and well balanced. Timely hitting and strong starting pitching were carrying the Olde Towne Team, but it was stingy defense and a bona fide closer that preserved a series sweep over the Anaheim and three straight against the Kansas City Royals. Newly acquired closer from the Cubs, Rod Beck, brought a breath of fresh air and confidence missing since the loss of Tom Gordon. The Sox had won six straight, trailed the Yankees by 6 1/2 and led Oakland by 2 games in the wild card as September started.

On September 2nd, the Sox welcomed Pedro's older brother, Ramon, to the rotation. It was a 61-pitch adventure that a crowd of 31,387 was eager to witness. Ramon gave up four runs, walked two, and allowed five hits, which is the bad news. The good news is the long fluid motion and the velocity was also present. But Ramon could have used more support from his teammates than he received in the 4-2 loss to Kansas City at Fenway Park in the finale of a seven-game homestand.

With three weeks remaining in the season, the Sox embarked on a make or break twelve game road trip to Seattle, Oakland, New York and Cleveland. They responded by playing their best baseball of the season.

After losing the first game Seattle in the bottom of the 9th inning, Pedro shutout the Mariners, 4-0, to win his 20th game, becoming the first sox pitcher since Roger Clemens in 1990, to reach that mark. Pedro struck out 15 batters and struck out someone in every inning he pitched, fanning the side in the seventh, and whiffing each Mariner at least once, with nine of his last 12 outs coming on strikeouts. The Sox then rallied behind Jason Varitek's three-run home run during a five-run eighth inning which carried them over the Mariners, 9-7. The the bullpen helped the Sox make it 3 of 4 as they nailed down a 3 to 2 nail-biter on September 6th.

After a split with Oakland, that let the Sox take a three game lead in the wild-card race with 22 games left, they headed to Yankee Stadium 5 1/2 games behind. 

In the first game on September 10th, Pedro (21-7) was king of the hill. Pedro vaulted to yet another threshold of greatness in his season for the ages, by throwing his second career one-hitter, while striking out a career-high 17, including 12 of the last 15 batters, the last five in succession.

In the second game, one in which seven home runs were hit, five errors were made, and 349 pitches were thrown by 12 pitchers who walked 16 batters, the Sox were not assured of victory, despite twice holding five-run leads, until first baseman Mike Stanley squeezed his glove around a throw from Jose Offerman on Bernie Williams's game-ending one-hopper to second, to preserve an 11-10 win.

In the third and final game of the series, an unflappable team that has been undersold all summer won, 4-1, to complete a stunning three-game sweep of the Yankees in the Bronx and registering their first-ever win over Roger Clemens. With 19 games left, the Sox trailed the Yankees by 3 1/2 games. In the last 13 days, the Sox shaved five games off a Yankee lead. They are as close to first place today as anytime since July 16th, when they were three games back.

The road trip ended on September 15th as the Sox took two of three from the Indians. Home runs by Jason Varitek, the ironman catcher who barely had enough energy left to circle the bases, and rookie Trot Nixon in the 13th inning lifted the Sox to a 6-4 win over the Cleveland Indians, who will be their first-round playoff opponents if matters remain status quo.

The Sox returned home and bombed the Tigers, 14-1 and then on the next day, September 18th, it was 9-1. Nomar Garciaparra (4 for 4, .359) cracked a two-run homer, Jason Varitek cracked a three-run homer, Troy O'Leary cracked the 100-RBI mark, and Bret Saberhagen cracked the Tiger bats. Saberhagen joined Pedro in the double-digit win category (10-5), allowing only two singles. It was his second outing since serving a stint on the disabled list with a sore right shoulder. He was given a standing ovation as he headed to the dugout after his six innings, in which he had faced one batter over the 18 minimum. He'd thrown 82 pitches, 54 for strikes.

The Sox completed the sweep of the Tigers with a 7-3 win on September 19th. Nomar singled and homered in four trips to raise his league-leading average to .360, had 9 hits in 12 at-bats, including two home runs and two doubles, in the three-game sweep of the Tigers, who were outscored, 30-7, over the weekend. Nomar was hitting a major-league best .429 (27 for 63), with 7 home runs and 20 RBIs, for the month, in which he led the team in all three categories.

Excitement began to build in Boston. The Sox had won eight in nine games, ten in twelve, and 20 in 23, and it pushed the Sox to a season-high 25 games over .500. They were closer to overtaking New York in the American League East than Oakland was to overtaking them in the wild-card race.

On September 21st, with 12 strikeouts in a 3-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays, Pedro (22-4) struck out his 300th batter, shattering Roger Clemens' season record for strikeouts (291 Ks) by a Red Sox pitcher, while joining Randy Johnson as the only pitchers in big-league history to strike out 300 in both leagues. Pedro lowered his major league-leading ERA to 2.11 with his 11th career shutout, and his 300 strikeouts were 116 more than the runner-up in the American League, Anaheim's Chuck Finley.

The Red Sox dependence on Pedro increased as the playoffs approached. But the ball club's everlasting problem was the way they reacted to pressure and their shortcomings were revealed during the season's final days. The Sox turned to a six man pitching rotation to save some arms for the playoffs, therefore delivering the division title to the Yankees and settling for the wild-card. All their momentum was suddenly lost. Conditions quickly deteriorated and some veterans were angry and the team chemistry was shot when Mark Portugal, who was second on the team and innings pitched to Pedro, was released.

Then Nomar Garciaparra went down after being hit on the wrist on September 24th in Baltimore, in a stupid bean ball war between the two teams. It would prove to be the most inconvenient HBP for Boston since Ted Williams was hit by Mickey Hatcher just before the 1946 World Series.

On September 25th, Pedro's older brother, Ramon Martinez attempted to make a comeback with the Sox after rotator cuff surgery and won a major league game for the first time in 15 months.  Then he pitched six shutout innings at Baltimore.

On the night the Red Sox clinched at least a tie for a playoff spot, September 27th, the sellout crowd of 33,477 attending the Sox' final regular-season home game was treated to Pedro's 23d win and 12 more strikeouts in eight innings, giving him 312 for the season.

The Red Sox opened the ALDS in Cleveland on October 6th. Pedro, who had a history of late-season fatigue, pulled a muscle in his lower back in the fourth inning. He finished the inning and then left the game, taking with him the apparent hopes of the Sox. The Indians seized the advantage against Derek Lowe, who gave up just one hit in four innings. Lowe had retired 31 Indians batters in a row, including the regular season, until John Valentin threw away Ramirez's two-out grounder in the sixth. Thome followed by blasting a 434-foot home run over the right- center field fence to tie the score at 2-2. Travis Fryman then singled home Manny Ramirez for a 3-2 walk-off win in the bottom of the 9th inning.

Game #2 was lost early, as errors and a weakened Bret Saberhagen were ineffective against the Indians' onslaught.  The Tribe won 11-1 and pushed the Sox back to Fenway on the brink of elimination, up 2 games to none.

But the Sox stormed back winning Game #3 at Fenway, 9 to 3. Ramon Martinez only gave up a run in the fourth and left to a standing ovation in the sixth, an ovation that would have been sweeter had he been able to hold onto a 2-1 lead. But the Indians pushed across the tying run before he left. Ramon, who struck out six and allowed just five hits while throwing 96 pitches, was saluted as much for his gallantry and grace as his excellence.

On a night that was both historic and hysterical, the Red Sox pummeled the Indians, 23-7, in Game #4. The Red Sox put 18 runs on the board in the first five innings. Men have been playing postseason baseball since 1901 but no team in playoff history scored as many runs as the Red Sox did tonight.

Game #5 was a wreck of the ballgame and a beautiful mess, as each team desperately tried to lose for the first three innings. The Indians came up to bat in the fourth with the score tied at 8 to 8. Pedro shocked everyone by taking the mound and got the team off the hook by ripping one of his best ever individual postseason performances, mesmerizing the Indians for six hitless innings. Troy O'Leary hit a grand slam off Indians starter Charles Nagy in the third inning and followed it with a three-run homer off Paul Shuey that broke an 8-8 tie in the seventh to eventually win the game and the series 3 games to 2.

Then the Yankees, as always, stood between the Red Sox and getting to the World Series. For while the Red Sox played the Yankees better than anyone else in the playoffs, they played the way they always have against the Yankees whenever it mattered. And the Yankees played the way they always did against the Red Sox. If any Red Sox fan had forgotten the pain their club could cause, they were reminded as October came and went.

In both games, two early leads by the Red Sox dissipated and they lost in the late innings at Yankee Stadium. In Game #1, the Sox led 3-0 but the Yankees rallied back and tied it up.  The game went into extras and Bernie Williams delivered a 10th inning walk-off for the pinstripers.

Game #2 was ugly for the Sox, as they once again could not protect their 2-1 lead, going down by a 3 to 2 score. The Sox left 13 runners on base in the game and were 1 for 13 with runners in scoring position.

Down 2 to 0 in the series they came back to Fenway Park. Game #3 was billed as the matchup of the century between Pedro Martinez and Roger Clemens. Pedro gave the Red Sox fans one glorious day, as he beat the one-time hero into submission, and romped to an easy 13 to 1 win.

But it was meaningless in the end, as the Yankees reacted in a businesslike manner and went back to playing the old Red Sox in Game #4. Bret Saberhagen pitched well but the Red Sox threw the game away in the eighth inning on a key play with a phantom tag by Chuck Knoblauch on José Offerman. Then in the ninth-inning, with the game apparently lost, manager Jimy Williams blew his stack and got thrown out of the game. Some of the fans threw plastic bottles onto the field and play had to be stopped, embarrassing everyone.

The Yankees slapped the Red Sox down in the finale, Game #5, as the Sox again left men on base and again failed to catch the ball, running out of pitching and failing at every critical moment and at the most crucial at bats.

1999 will be remembered as Pedro's best year. Pedro was remarkable, mixing one of the game's best fastballs and the best changeup, with a devastating curve. He had impeccable control and it any time in the count, demonstrated an unmatched feel for pitching, that often made it appear as if he were able to read the hitter's mind and throw precisely the pitch that the batter was least prepared to hit. Sometimes it became like watching an older kid mowing down little leaguers. Nevermore was this shown than against the Yankees, when he struck out 17 and gave up only one hit.

Yet the season still ended in classic Red Sox fashion, as Boston watched New York win their 25th World Series.
 

 The All Star Gala at Boston's Fan Pier

 The All Star Futures Game, The All Star Celebrity Hitting Challenge & The Home Run Derby

 The 1999 All Star Game