2005 BOSTON RED SOX
A TEAM "FIT TO BE TIED" ...
 

The off-season between 2004 and 2005 was not kind to Boston. Pedro Martinez, the staff’s #2 starter behind Curt Schilling, departed via free agency. Schilling himself was hurt much of the year and inconsistent when he did pitch, the fallout from his epic “bloody sock” game in Yankee Stadium the previous October. Boston’s closer Keith Foulke fell apart physically.

The Red Sox crushed the baseball from the start of the season to the end. Eight of the nine lineup positions had players finish with an on-base percentage over .350. The one that didn’t, second base, was filled by August acquisition Tony Graffanino, who promptly hit .319 for the last month-plus.

Johnny Damon had a stellar first half, though injuries slowed him up after the All-Star break. Jason Varitek hit 22 home runs. Bill Mueller had a .369 on-base percentage, while Trot Nixon was at .357. Kevin Millar and John Olerud were a productive first-base platoon, churning out on-base percentage. All of that in of itself would have given Boston a nice offense. But that was only where it began. The duo of Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz were at their peak working together in the middle of the lineup. Manny hit 45 home runs and drove in 144 runs. Ortiz launched 47 bombs and drove in 148 runs. The numbers were astonishing and they covered for a problematic pitching staff.

No Boston starter had an ERA below 4.00, Tim Wakefield’s 16-12 record with a 4.15 ERA marked him the staff ace this season. Matt Clement started the year strong and was 6-0 at the end of May, but fell apart after the All-Star break. Bronson Arroyo was up and down. David Wells, their former nemesis when was with New York, pitched well down the stretch, but still had a 4.45 ERA for the year. Schilling fought with everything he had, an even volunteered for work as the closer when bullpen depth founded, he just never found the consistency, unable to string together consecutive strong starts. It was as though his body wouldn’t allow it, as he recovered from ankle surgery and he finished the year 8-8 with a 5.69 ERA.

It added up to a team that led the league in runs scored, but was 11^th in ERA. Nonetheless, they hung in with the Yankees, who never put their own pitching together.  It started on April 11th, with the Yankees lined up on the third base line, watching the Red Sox raising the 2004 pennant, won partly at their expense.  It was highlighted by Mariano Rivera getting cat calls from the Boston fans, only to win them over by smiling to the crowd, tipping his hat, and enjoying the moment.  They beat the Yankees that day, lost the next game and won the last game of that opening series on April 14th, by scoring three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to take the last game.

The Red Sox started off playing .500 baseball thru the end of April, but getting good outings from rookie Bronson Arroyo, Matt Clement and Tim Wakefield.  At the plate it was Johnny Damon, who was batting close to .400 at the beginning of May.  On May 10th, Fenway saw a dramatic ninth inning walk-off win from the bat of Kevin Millar, who made an error to put them behind in a game against Oakland, only to atone for it, with a game-winning homer in the bottom of the ninth.  Then the next night, on May 11th, it was Jason Varitek, who provided the fireworks with the second walk-off home run in as many nights, after Keith Foulke had blown Clement's lead. This was just the second time in their history, the Sox have won on walk-off home runs on consecutive days. The other time was back on July 21 and 22, 1935 when Wes Ferrell accomplished the feat. As the Red Sox closed in on Baltimore, it was David Ortiz with another trademark walk-off 9th inning homer, that beat the Orioles on June 2nd.  On the following night, June 3rd, it was Johnny Damon's bases-clearing double that won it for the Sox.

In June the team started 4 games behind Baltimore. But the month was all about pitching.  Matt Clement upped his record to 9-1.  Tim Wakefield got hot at the end of the month, along with David Wells and Wade Miller.  The starters had a 1.78 ERA, winning 12 of 13 games. Meanwhile the bullpen, anchored by Mike Timlin, Alan Embree, and Keith Foulke saved some much needed games. Boston took first place on June 24th and finished the month 17-9, in front by 2 1/2 games.

But as July began, the bullpen faltered. Keith Foulke couldn't hold a lead and Mike Timlin was called upon to close.  Tim Wakefield kept winning but Bronson Arroyo was undependable and Matt Clement cooled off.  Wakefield went 4-0 in his previous five starts with a 1.70 ERA.  While the pitching slowed, the hitters, led by Manny and David Ortiz kept hitting. Both had more than 20 homers by the beginning of July.  But as Manny kept swatting home runs, he asked to be traded. 

The Baltimore Orioles were caught on June 24th and the Sox had a chance to open it up, building up a 4 game lead on the Orioles after July 4th.  But they lost 3 out of 4 games in a series with Baltimore, as well as one with the Yankees. While the Yankees kept closing the gap, the Orioles started to fade.  New York was seven games out in the beginning of June and closed the gap to 1/2 game after the All Star break.

Curt Schilling came back to the team after his "Bloody Sock" ankle bothering him for the first half of the season. With Keith Foulke out, he closed out games with success. Schilling won a dramatic 10 inning game on July 26th.  It was a win that saw both the Sox and Devil Rays take the lead and lose it again.  But it was a game where all the Sox held their breath after Matt Clement got beaned with a line drive hit back at him.

The Sox picked up two key additions to bolster their lineup.  John Olerud came in to platoon at first base with Kevin Millar, and both played great ball.  Tony Graffanino was picked up from the Royals to replace the struggling Mark Bellhorn at second base. One highlight was Olerud's grandslam homer which won a dramatic game against the Twins on July 29th.

The trading deadline passed without much action.  Manny Ramirez stayed with the team and the drama around him wanting to be traded, was attributed to "Manny Being Manny".  He knocked in four runs and hit his 29th homer in a comeback win on August 2nd. On August 4th, Clement came back, but gave up six earned runs in an 11-9 win over Kansas City.  Meanwhile, Curt Schilling once again closed it out, his eighth save and sixth in the Sox previous seven wins.  Their lead over the Yankees increased to 5 1/2 games by August 10th, going 14-2 over a two week stretch.  In that time they batted .319 as a team, averaging 8 1/2 runs per game.

Going into September, the Red Sox had been in first place for 68 0f the last 69 days. The Sox had won 18 of the 19 games they played at Fenway Park, with a .327 team batting average and clubbing 28 homers, but with a team ERA of 4.92 

Matt Clement came back from his beaning and again found his groove.  He was 2-0 with a 2.18 ERA and two home runs allowed in five starts into September.  Mike Timlin established a new team record for appearances on September 3rd, while David Wells came back from a six game suspension and pitched a complete game on September 4th.  They still lead the Yankees by 3 1/2 games. 

But early September belonged to David Ortiz. On September 6th, Ortiz helped the team's most consistent starter, Tim Wakefield, win his fourteenth game and the seventh in his last eight decisions, with another walk-off home run.  It was the sixth time he had done it in his Red Sox career. Then on September 12th he knocked out his 40th homer in the 11th inning, to beat the Blue Jays, 6-5 in Toronto. He knocked out another a game winner in Toronto, two nights later, in the eighth inning on September 14th, to beat the Jays, 5-3.

The Red Sox faced the Yankees in New York in early September and lost 2 of 3, including a great effort by Tim Wakefield, losing a 1-0 duel with Randy Johnson on September 11th.  With the Yankees closing the gap to just 1 1/2 games, Wakefield then went nine innings, for the second time in his last three starts, on September 16th, as the Sox pulled out an extra inning 3-2 win over Oakland.

The Sox went into Tampa Bay with a slim 1/2 game lead over the Yankees. On September 20th the Sox bombed the Devil Rays, 15-2.  David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez each walloped two home runs in the game. It was Ortiz's seventh homer in his last five road games, giving him a team-record 27 road home runs for the season.  But the Sox lost the next day and the Yankees pulled ahead by 1/2 game in the standings.  To complicate matters even more, the Sox found themselves 1 game behind the Cleveland Indians for the wild card.

After a dramatic walk-off must win on September 29th against Toronto, where David Ortiz knocked in both the tying and winning runs, the stage was set for the Red Sox to meet the Yankees at Fenway Park, for the final three-game showdown of the season. There was more than A.L. East bragging rights on the line, there was playoff survival. The Yankees had a 1 game lead over the Sox, but the Cleveland Indians were tied with the Red Sox at 93-66 for the lone wild-card spot.

David Wells pitched Friday night’s opener on September 30th, and gave seven strong innings. Boston led 2-1 in the sixth, when Damon singled and stole second. Walks to Ramirez and Ortiz set up a bases-loaded walk, an error and a sac fly that brought home three runs. Boston won 5-3, pulled even in the A.L. East and took a one-game lead on Cleveland, who lost.

It was on Saturday, October 1st that things turned bizarre. Cleveland lost, and that meant the Boston-New York winner would clinch a playoff berth. The Yankees led the head-to-head series with the Red Sox, 9-8 coming into Saturday, meaning that a victory could clinch the season series, which was the tiebreaker. Thus, when New York won 8-4, behind Randy Johnson, they clinched the A.L. East.

The scene at Fenway Park was surreal. Fans and players were geared up for a best-of-three to settle the division. Yankee players had to be informed that they clinched the division. The Yankees earned it. They had trailed the Sox almost all year and were still 5 1/2 behind Aug. 10. But they won 16 of their last 20.

Boston still had to clinch its playoff spot and they did so easily on October 2nd. Curt Schilling pitched six strong innings and Manny helped break the game open in the fourth with a massive three-run home run (his 45th) to centerfield. The Red Sox won 10-1, clinched the wild card, and broke out their own champagne in a very quiet ball park.

Thus, one of sport’s greatest rivalries, which was then at its peak, ended not with a showdown, but with both teams celebrating on back-to-back days, each finishing with 95-67 records. The Yankees “won” the A.L. East, not by a Bucky Dent-like moment, as happened in 1978, but by the vagaries of a tiebreaker system.

The Red Sox opened the ALDS in Chicago and were dominated by Jose Contreras in Game #1, losing 14-2. David Wells made a great effort for the Sox in Game #2, but a costly error by Tony Graffanino gave the White Sox a second life.  Chicago quickly took advantage of the miscue and went on  to a 5-4 win. The Red Sox returned to Fenway in a must win situation.  But unlike 2004, there was no heroics.  Orlando Hernandez completed the sweep for the White Sox with a powerful Game #3 performance, 5-3.

The White Sox were an outstanding team, swept the Red Sox and continued  to a World Series title.