2013 BOSTON RED SOX
"BOSTON STRONG" - THE ROAD TO REDEMPTION ...

This page is dedicated to all the Boston Marathon bombers' victims and especially:

Krystle Campbell
(May 3, 1983 - April 15, 2013)
Martin Richard
(June 9, 2005 - April 15, 2013)
Officer Sean Collier
(January 6, 1986 - April 18, 2013)
Lu Lingzi
(August 17, 1989 - April 15, 2013)
 

They may have been the most over-achieving team in Major League history.  Back in April, nobody gave the Boston Red Sox absolutely any chance of winning the American League East or the World Series. Nor did anyone think they would be a playoff team and thought they would be lucky to break even for the season. 

Jon Lester had a bad 2012, when the team won a paltry 69 games, and finished in last place; Clay Buchholz had a history of injury problems; John Lackey was just coming off Tommy John surgery and the year before he was the worst starting pitcher in all of baseball; Felix Doubrant was an unknown quantity, and the newly acquired Ryan Dempster was an innings eater, someone who needed a lot of runs to be successful.  And that was just the starting rotation.

At first base was a converted catcher and his hip deterioration was at issue, so much so that the Sox pulled back a multi-year contract and instead gave him one year.  Rock-steady Dustin Pedroia was at second base, a questionable Stephen Drew was added to a long list of players who the Sox had tried in the past decade at shortstop, and a questionable Will Middlebrooks was slated to play third.  Jacoby Ellsbury in center field was fine defensively, but he, too, has had injury problems with issues remaining on the field.  Left field was going to be a platoon between Jonny Gomes and Daniel Nava, neither of them exactly up to the status of previous left fielder sluggers the Sox had play there, and right field would be manned by a spunky, but less than powerful Shane Victorino.  Jarod Saltalamacchia was returning as the catcher, but he isn't exactly an all-star.  David Ortiz was returning as designated hitter, but questions arose about his injured heel that kept him sidelined for so long, as well a his age. Could he continue to perform at his high level?  He started the season on the sidelines.  There was a weak bullpen, questionable starting pitching ,and unknowns up and down the lineup. 

The goal in the beginning was simple. Try to erase the sour taste of the most miserable baseball summer Boston had seen in decades. It took all of one game to start doing that.  The Red Sox stormed into Yankee Stadium, with razor-sharp focus on opening day, and not only won, but did so with a passion.  Jonny Gomes scoring from second on an infield hit, seemed to set the tone for the weeks and months ahead. Not only would the Red Sox play with an intensity, not seen in previous couple of seasons, but they would win and more importantly, never quit.

After poor starts in 2010 thru 2012, the manager the Sox actually traded a player to Toronto get.  John Farrell, got this year's edition off on the right foot, winning five of their first seven.  It was no longer just about recovery from the wreckage of the last-place finish of 2012.

Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz got out to terrific starts.  Thru mid-May, both pitchers were undefeated.  Mike Napoli, although he struck out too often, had a tremendous impact when he did hit the ball and set a new RBI record for April and the team was off and running. 

The Red Sox showed right out of the gate they could compete with anyone and relished doing so.  The Sox started taking two out of three from the Yankees and doing that twice more against the Rays, the favorites among so many in baseball as the team to beat in the division.  The Sox curiously would find a way to come from behind time after time.  In Toronto, on April 5th, Mike Napoli was particularly big. The first baseman drove in three runs, including a two-run homer in the top of the fifth that gave his team a 4-1 lead.  The Jays chipped their way back from that 4-1 deficit and completed the comeback when Jose Reyes drilled a solo homer to tie the game in the seventh against Junichi Tazawa. But there was no deflation. Jonny Gomes and Dustin Pedroia got hits, putting runners on second and third with one out.  Then it was Napoli's turn. His grounder was enough to get a run home and put the Sox ahead for good.

At the end of their first homestand the Sox would enjoy their first walk-off celebration of the season.  Shane Victorino stroked a single, scoring Jacoby Ellsbury, to beat the Rays in 10 innings on April 13th.  Two days later, on Patriot's Day April 15th, the Red Sox walked off with another win over the Rays.  Mike Napoli clubbed one off the Green Monster, scoring Dustin Pedroia, to beat the Rays in the bottom of the ninth, 3-2.  However, the one on Patriots Day was immediately followed by a sobering dose of reality. As the team left Fenway Park and headed to Logan Airport for a trip to Cleveland, the unthinkable news came out. There had been a bombing at the Boston Marathon, in which three people were killed, and hundreds were injured. It was a situation that rocked the city.

The team used the tragic Boston Marathon bombing as a catalyst, knowing that sports aren't the answer to such devastation, but can certainly help ease the pain.  At the suggestion of Gomes and Jarrod Saltalamacchia, the Red Sox put a uniform in the dugout every night that read "Boston Strong" with the number of the Boston area code "617" on the back. Already motivated to become one of the baseball's biggest surprises, the Red Sox now had an additional chip on their collective shoulders.

When the Sox returned home to face the Royals on April 20th, as an American flag unfurled down the face of the Green Monster and a tribute to the bombing victims played on center field screen, David Ortiz let the fans know ... "This is our f--king city and nobody is going to dictate our freedom. Stay strong."  The fans roared as Ortiz walked off the field.  Following that stirring pregame ceremony, the Sox got yet another stellar start from Clay Buchholz and a clutch come-from-behind three run homer from Daniel Nava to notch their seventh consecutive win.

They ran into that rough patch, losing three straight to Texas early in May and lost six out of seven when the Twins also played them tough.  The Red Sox lost three of the four games they played against the Minnesota Twins in early May, but in the first game of the series, on May 6th, Stephen Drew had four hits, including the game-winning double with two outs in the bottom of the 11th to give the Sox a 6-5 win.

On May 16th, Will Middlebrooks, down to his last strike, and his team down two runs in the ninth inning, hammered a game winning double against the Tampa Bay Rays.

On May 25th, Dustin Pedroia stepped into the batter's box with two outs and the game tied in the eighth against the Indians at Fenway.  After falling behind 0-2, Pedroia drove the ball high off the Green Monster for the go-ahead RBI double as the Red Sox finished a wild 7-4 win.

The next game, on May 26th, Jacoby Ellsbury, belted a walk-off two-run double with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift his team to an improbable 6-5 victory over the Indians.

David Ortiz sent the Red Sox faithful home happy on June 6th.  In his 19th walk-off hit with the Sox, Ortiz took the first pitch he saw over the right-field wall for a three-run homer to break a ninth-inning 3-3 tie with the Rangers and giving the Sox another come-from-behind 6-3 victory.

Early on, Buchholz helped carry the team.  He reeled off a 9-0 record and a 1.72 ERA, and looked like a prime contender for the American League's Cy Young Award.  It seemed in those heady early days he only thing that could stop him was an injury.  Unfortunately that's exactly what happened.  After his start on June 8th, Buchholz wouldn't pitch again for more than three months. 

On June 10th at Tropicana Field, The Red Sox looked like they would blow away the Rays after taking a 6-0 lead before Tampa Bay even came to bat, but the Rays kept chipping away, to tie the game 6-6.  The game then looked like it would be over in the 10th, as the Sox took an 8-6 lead. But Tampa Bay just would not quit, and Jose Lobaton hit a solo home run to make it 8-7.  The Red Sox finally broke free in the 14th, to give themselves another two-run lead.  Franklin Morales came in for the 13th and back out for the 14th to pick up the win in a truly wild affair from Tampa Bay.   

On June 18th, Jonny Gomes punted his helmet after providing a 3-1, walk-off win in the bottom of the ninth, with a two-run blast into the Monster seats against the Rays.

It was Jonny Gomes again on June 28th,  as he raked an RBI single to left with one out in the seventh that snapped a tie and helped fuel the Red Sox to a 7-5 victory over the Blue Jays.

The night of June 30th, after the Sox blew a one-run lead in the top of the ninth against the Blue Jays, they came back in the bottom of the inning. With two on and one out, Shane Victorino hit would could have been a game-ending double play, but first baseman Josh Thole couldn't handle the hard hopper and Jonathan Diaz came around to give Boston the 5-4 win.

Then Gomes got the Fourth of July fireworks started early, bashing a walk-off solo homer against the San Diego Padres on July 3rd,  over the Green Monster leading the Sox to a 2-1 victory.  If it seemed like Gomes keeps coming through in the clutch, it's because he had. It was his third pinch-hit homer.

July 11th marked another comeback in Seattle as Daniel Nava hit a go-ahead RBI single in the 10th inning to give the Red Sox the win over the Mariners, 8-7.

The injuries took their toll on the team, but each time players from within the organization got called up and contributed.   Joel Hanrahan was originally supposed to be the closer, but he would undergo Tommy John surgery after just nine appearances.  Andrew Bailey was next, and his season was over thanks to surgery immediately following the All-Star break.  General manager, Ben Cherrington, made a superb depth move over the winter with the acquisition of underrated Japanese righty Koji Uehara.  He had pitched great as the set-up man, and Koji was appointed to the closer's role on June 21. That would be one of the key moves of the season by Farrell. 

Not only did Uehara flourish as a 37-year-old closer, but he turned one of the most dominant seasons of any reliever in Red Sox history. Without an overpowering fastball, Koji beat teams with his firm control and smarts. In mid-September, Uehara retired his 37th consecutive batter and pitched his 29th consecutive scoreless inning.  That streak set a Boston franchise record and put him within eight outs of Mark Buehrle's major league record.  His WHIP of 0.57 in 74.1 innings set the record for a pitcher with 50 or more innings pitched.  In the second half of the season, he registering a 0.28 ERA.  During a 26-game stretch  not a single runner of any sort crossed the plate against Koji.  His final season 1.09 earned run average was the lowest for a Red Sox pitcher with at least 70 innings since Dutch Leonard had an 0.96 in 1914.

The team looked like bearded hillbillies, but the beards became their good luck charm and the fans embraced it, as tugging each other's beard became the team's trademark.

Daniel Nava was having a career year, hitting over .300  Victorino, the human baseball target, managed to get his way on base one way or the other all season despite battling injuries, and Papi was still his magnificent self.

On July 21st Mike Napoli came to the plate in the 11th inning.  He didn't miss his opportunity and belted a home run to straightaway center field to end a wild night at Fenway Park as the Red Sox beat the Yankees, 8-7.

On July 31st, Stephen Drew played the role of early-morning hero at Fenway Park, belting a bases-loaded RBI single down the line in right, with two outs in the bottom of the 15th inning, capping a 5-4 win over the Mariners.

On the very next night, August 1st, the Sox trailed by five runs, 7-2, when Daniel Nava walked to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning, and the hopes of a second consecutive walkoff win were too remote to consider.  By the time the Red Sox batted around the order, and Nava came up again, the score was tied, the bases were loaded and there was still only one out. Nava lined a long single over the center fielder to bring the Red Sox players out of the dugout for the increasingly familiar celebration.  The Sox had scored six runs in the bottom of the ninth to win it 8-7.

Ben Cherrington felt that one impact move was needed to put a good team over the top. So he acquired veteran pitcher Jake Peavy in a three-way trade with the White Sox and Tigers, which sent defense of whiz, José Iglesias, who had hit over .400 for most of the young season, to Detroit.  Almost instantly, it became apparent why Cherrington felt he could trade a solid young player like Iglesias for Peavy. Not only was Peavy under contract with Boston for next season, but his competitiveness was a perfect fit for his new team.  Two days after, on August 3rd, Peavy reeled off a gem in his debut, stifling the Arizona Diamondbacks.

On August 6th, The Red Sox were down by five runs after two innings to the Astros.  But the Red Sox were not bothered at all and  pounded out 15 hits, scored their second highest run total of the season, to overtake the Astros, 15-10.

The next night, August 7th, Stephen Drew played the role of hero again. Down by two runs in the ninth inning, he launched a towering shot that just cleared the right-field fence, and another come-from-behind Red Sox win, 7-5.

At the All-Star break, the Red Sox were in possession of a 2 1/2 game lead in the American League East.  Some critics pegged them a .500 team because, coming out of a post-All-Star break skid that turned a 58-39 into 75-55 and falling out of first place at the end of July and losing 8 of 12 between August 8th and 20th.  

The Red Sox used the Los Angeles Dodgers series as a catalyst. In the three-game series at Dodger Stadium, against hottest team in the majors, the Sox took two out of three.  On August 25th it was Peavy again, dominating the Dodgers, pitching all nine innings and limiting them to just one run on three hits.  The Sox went to Los Angeles tied for first place and two weeks later had a nine game lead on the Rays, winning 17 out of 21 games.

On September 4th against the AL Central leading Detroit Tigers, the Red Sox hit eight home runs for the second time in club history to defeat the Tigers 20 to 4.  This exhibition came on the heels of Jon Lester pitching a strong seven inning, nine strikeout outing, the night before before against 19 game winner, Max Scherzer.  

Even future hall-of-famer Mariano Rivera couldn't hold down the Red Sox.  On September 5th, at Yankee Stadium, the Red Sox were down to their final out against Rivera and the bases were empty in the ninth inning.  Mike Napoli, down to his team's last strike, went the other way for a single to right-center.  Quintin Berry came on as a pinch-runner and stole second, moving to third on catcher Austin Romine's throwing error.  Then it was Stephen Drew, who smacked a single and sent the game into extra innings.  The Sox rolled on, beating the Yankees, as Shane Victorino knocked in Jacoby Ellsbury with the winning run in the 10th inning, to give the Sox a 9-8 victory before a stunned crowd.  

The next night, September 6th,  the Red Sox roared back in a furious comeback.  The Sox trailed, 8-3, after six, but Mike Napoli lofted a game-tying grand slam with two outs in the seventh inning.  For the second night in a row, it was Shane Victorino who came up with the hit that broke the Yankees' spirit in the late innings.  This time, he clubbed a two-run homer to left in the eighth to snap an 8-8 tie.  The Sox would go on to win 12-8.

In September 13th's 8-4 win over the Yankees, the author of the game's signature moment was Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who swatted a grand slam over the Red Sox bullpen with one out in the bottom of the seventh.  The shot by Saltalamacchia snapped a 4-4 tie. This one was a crusher for manager Joe Girardi's team, considering they had just come all the way back from a 4-0 deficit.

Manager John Farrell proved to be a master in managing the pitching staff, and afforded Lester some time off right around the All Star break and helped him turn the season around.  Even when situations called for other players to be in the lineup, Farrell somehow used his instincts, and more often than not, ended up being right.  To show how resilient Farrell's troops were, the Sox never had a losing streak of more than three games and had only five of those. 

On September 19th, John Lackey flirted with a no-hitter as the Sox guaranteed themselves a trip to the post season, but the team wanted to win the American League East.  That goal was realized the next night.  But would they allow Oakland to take the best record in the American League and foil their chance to have home-field advantage at Fenway Park?   They went through all of those foolish tiebreakers as if they might actually come into play.  But the Red Sox went to Baltimore after splitting with Colorado, and beat a team that had played them as well as any team in the league this season.  After two of the poorest Septembers in the team's history, this September, after going 16-8, the Red Sox had gone from worst to first. 

Imagine if they had Buchholz the whole time?  Imagine if Buchholz, who finished with a 12-1 record and a 1.74 ERA, had won 20 games?  In Buchholz, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Lester, David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia, the Red Sox had six players who far exceeded their contributions of a year ago. The same was true for Daniel Nava and Craig Breslow, two fringe players who claimed larger roles. 

The changes up the middle were telling. Ellsbury, the center fielder, played in only 74 games in 2012 and was a below-average hitter. He returned healthy and hit .298 with 48 extra-base hits and 52 stolen bases.  Saltalamacchia hit 25 home runs in 2012 but had a .288 on-base percentage. He matured into a well-rounded hitter in 2013, hitting .273 with an .804 OPS. His 40 doubles set a franchise record for catchers.  Pedroia raised his on-base percentage from .347 to .372 and was able to play in 19 more games. His slugging percentage dipped because of a thumb injury. 

For David Ortiz, it was simply a matter of healing. He was having a strong 2012 season before a strained right Achilles' tendon derailed him. Once Ortiz returned this season, so did his production. In Nava's case, more playing time unlocked his potential.  Lester was perhaps the biggest project. Once an All-Star and the staff ace, the lefthander was 9-14 with a 4.82 earned run average in 2012 and had grown weary of getting mixed messages from a revolving cast of pitching coaches.  Farrell and pitching coach Juan Nieves made adjustments to Lester's delivery that restored both the bite of his pitches and his confidence.

When it finally came to a close, a bunch of fun-loving, scraggly-looking guys you'd probably see singing, “Don’t Stop Believing,” in some downtown Boston bar on Karaoke Night, high-fived and beard-tugged their way to an incredible turnaround with 97 wins, and the team’s first division crown since 2007.

But it's not easy to win a World Series.  The Sox dusted the field in the American League East, then blew past the Tampa Bays Rays, the Detroit Tigers, and the estimable Cardinals in an 11-5 postseason onslaught. The Sox were dominant. In the playoffs they bested star hurlers Matt Moore, David Price, Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Anibal Sanchez, Adam Wainwright, and Michael Wacha.

Firstly, the Sox had to beat Tampa Bay and their top pitchers Matt Moore and David Price in the A.L. Divisional Series.  If not for Jose Lobaton's ninth inning walk-off homer for the Rays, in Game #3, the Sox won it without much of a threat in four games.

For their reward, the Sox got to face a Tigers pitching staff that featured Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer in the A.L. Championship Series.  The Sox pitchers went toe-to-toe against the Tigers' starters, but it was the bullpen of Tazawa, Breslow, and Uehara, that cemented it for the Sox.  It was a series with dozens of freeze-frame moments, none more memorable than David Ortiz's iconic blast into the Red Sox bullpen in Game #2, that brought the Sox back from a 5-0 deficit in the critical second game. The photo of inverted Torii Hunter and the celebrating Boston cop will be the signature moment of this series, maybe of the entire season.  How fitting it was that the Sox advanced to the World Series on another come-from-behind grandslam homer from Shane Victorino in Game #6.

Then came the young rocket arms of the St. Louis Cardinals, and once again, the Sox rose to the occasion.   The first three games saw some things that left fans scratching their heads.  In the first two games at Fenway, both teams played sloppy ball.  Dropped balls, wild throws, and a reversed call played big parts in the outcomes of both games.  The teams then went to St. Louis with the Series tied and strange plays continued to be meaningful.  The third game ended with an obstruction call on Will Middlebrooks and the fourth game ended with a runner picked off first by Koji Uehara. 

Through it all, Jon Lester, David Ortiz and Koji Uehara dominated the postseason.  Lester was 4-1 with a 1.56 ERA, giving up two earned runs or fewer each time out.  David Ortiz hit 11-for-16 (.688) with a 1.948 OPS, two home runs and six RBIs and was named World Series MVP.  After being named ALCS Most Valuable Player, Koji Uehara participated in five World Series games, earning a win in one and saving three others.  In Game 5 he tied the record for most saves in one postseason with seven.

They were a turnaround team like the 1967 "Impossible Dream" Red Sox. They could have been dubbed the "Improbable Dream".  They became the first team since the 1991 Twins to go from last place in their division to a World Series title in the span of a year.  Everything worked. This Red Sox team was not as talented as the 2004 or 2007 teams. The "Bearded Brotherhood" was a classic example of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.

They hired a new manager, a new coaching staff, hired seven free agents and it all worked out.  They were a team of unmade beds like the 2004 Red Sox.  And on the big stage, where so much went wrong in 2012, the 2013 Red Sox emerged as a trendy team and won the whole thing.  It was a team of destiny, one that we will likely never see together again as some will opt for the lure of big dollars and go elsewhere via free agency. 

In a year when, Aaron Hernandez, defamed the "Patriot Way", the beloved Celtic, Doc Rivers left town along with future Hall of Famers Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, and Tyler Seguin was told by the Bruins to grow up elsewhere, this group gave Boston its third World Series championship in a decade at a time when the area needed it most.  They may not win another one for a while, but that's fine, because the memory of this one, will last for a long, long time.