For the 3rd time in 9 years the Boston Red Sox are World Series Champions.
A year ago the Red Sox were sitting at home coming off a 69-93 season and a last place finish in the A.L. East. They had fired Bobby Valentine who proved not to be anywhere close to the right man for the job. Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, the two prizes of the 2011 offseason had been shipped to Los Angeles with embattled World Series hero Josh Beckett.
The Red Sox punted on the near future in favor of prospects, money, and most importantly the ability to automatically hit the reset button, or did they?
And so the Red Sox rebuilt their team and their image with high character veterans that promised to be more likeable than the team that had polluted the product in Fenway Park for the past two seasons. But, that was all it promised. Or was it?
The Red Sox strong April start featured stellar pitching from Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester, a bullpen that looked to be one of the best in the league, a few walk-offs, and a tragedy.
A Patriots’ Day that began with a Mike Napoli walk-off double against the Tampa Bay Rays was marred by the tragic events of the Boston marathon bombings.
But, out of tragedy and heartbreak people find hope, solace, and faith in each other. That’s what the 2013 Red Sox did that night in Cleveland after hearing of the events of that day. 23 of the 25 players had dinner together that night and a slogan was born. A slogan that stood would describe not only this team but a region, Boston Strong.
The slogan would grace the sleeves of their home uniforms, the jersey that would hang in their dugout, and the Green Wall in left that has been synonymous with Boston since 1912.
The Red Sox first game back at Fenway following the tragedy was a glimmer of what the baseball world would come to find out through the dog days of summer and into these cold fall nights.
On a day filled with so much emotion, the Red Sox found a way as they would so many times in 2013. Trailing 2-1 in the 8th inning to the Kansas City Royals, Daniel Nava came up with runners on first and third against Kelvin Herrera. He got a 1-1 fastball and hammered it into the bullpen.
The Red Sox won that day 4-3 and as Nava was greeted at the plate by new Red Sox Jonny Gomes and Mike Napoli, the team began to a coalesce. The heart of a champion began to form.
The Red Sox left the month of April at 18-8 and in first place. It felt like a dream and like all dreams eventually you have to wake up from them. The Red Sox weren’t as talented as the Rangers and didn’t have the starting pitching of the Rays or Tigers. It didn’t seem sustainable.
But, with every obstacle this team had an answer.
When a once deep bullpen was depleted with the loss of closer Joel Hanrahan and his replacement Andrew Bailey, they did not blink. They replaced two all-star relievers with 38 year-old Koji Uehara.
Uehara turned into a shut down closer. He finished the season with 1.09 ERA and .565 WHIP, while saving 21 games and allowing only 2 runs after June.
They just found a way.
It didn’t seem sustainable when Clay Buchholz was lost for three months with shoulder bursitis after beginning the season 9-0. With Jon Lester struggling, the Red Sox did not seem to be equipped for any sort of stretch run. But they didn’t blink.
John Lackey looked every bit the ace the Red Sox believed him to be when they signed him in 2010. Coming off Tommy John surgery, Lackey put together his best season in a Red Sox uniform to date. Lackey went 10-13 due to a lack of run support but finished with a 3.52 ERA, his best since 2007 and a career best 1.157 WHIP.
As the dog days of summer turned in to the cool nights of fall, these Red Sox never went away. A belief grew like the beards that would come to symbolize their October run, a belief that this team had in each other all along.
The Red Sox however still didn’t look the part of an October contender. A bullpen thinned by injuries, a high strikeout laden lineup, and a starting rotation whose members were the poster boys for the 2011 collapse.
With the Rays and Tigers looming the Red Sox seemed ill equipped to beat top notch pitching in October.
But the Red Sox bludgeoned Matt Moore and David Price in the first two games of the ALDS, touching up the left-handers for 15 runs in 11 1/3 innings.
Boston dispatched of the rival Rays in 4 games and still it seemed like a story that wouldn’t end in champagne and banners.
The Tigers awaited the Red Sox in the ALCS. A team stocked with power arms and a potent line up. But just as Boston exposed Tampa Bay’s weak bats it would expose Detroit’s leaky bullpen.
The Red Sox managed only one hit in their Game 1 loss to Anibal Sanchez and were stifled through seven innings in Game 2 against Max Scherzer. It looked as though the power arms of the Tigers would be an obstacle this Red Sox team could not overcome.
But, down 5-1 in the eighth the Red Sox found a way like they had all year. They loaded the bases against Jose Veras, Drew Smyly, and Al Albuquerque in front of David Ortiz. Ortiz pounced on the first pitch he saw from the newly inserted Joaquin Benoit sending it into the bullpen and sending Fenway into a frenzy.
The Red Sox saw the Tigers Achilles heel and exploited it.
A Shane Victorino grand slam off Jose Veras in Game 6 sent the Tigers home and the Red Sox onto the final chapter of their improbable run.
Standing in their way were the St. Louis Cardinals. A winning organization with strong pitching, a talented line up, and stable shutdown arms in the bullpen.
The Red Sox were resilient all year and that was never more apparent than in the World Series. A throwing error by Craig Breslow gave St. Louis the lead in Game 2 and the Cardinals bullpen took care of the rest. Trevor Rosenthal struck out Jonny Gomes, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and Daniel Nava in order on pitches of 98, 98, and 99 MPH.
The Red Sox beat themselves again in Game 3 when Saltalamacchia attempted to throw out Allen Craig at third base with the game tied at 4 in the bottom of the ninth inning. The ball tailed away from third basemen Will Middlebrooks whose dive could not corral the throw and into left field. Craig tripped on Middlebrooks as he trying to go home leading umpire Jim Joyce to call obstruction and award Craig home plate.
A loss that would have broken some teams, did not phase this Red Sox team. Down 2-1 they stormed back in Game 4 on the grit of a fatigued Clay Buchholz and a big swing from Jonny Gomes. They just found a way.
With the series tied at 2 the unquestioned leaders of this Boston team took control. David Ortiz and Jon Lester carried the Red Sox to a 3-1 Game 5 win.
A win away from total redemption, the Red Sox handed the ball to John Lackey in Game 6. Lackey delivered as he did all season allowing one run in 6 2/3 innings before being removed to a standing ovation at Fenway Park.
Lackey’s walk from the mound to the dugout symbolizes how special the 2013 season was for the Boston Red Sox.
The veteran right-hander begrudgingly tipped his cap to the fan base that once painted his as one of the main causes for the 2011 collapse. At the start of the year the thought of John Lackey getting a standing ovation at Fenway would have been given the same look that Bobby Valentine got when he pinch hit for Jose Iglesias with two strikes already on him, complete lunacy.
But this 2013 Red Sox team accomplished many things that some would have called lunacy along the way. That was capped off on Wednesday night when the Red Sox won the World Series at home for the first time in 95 years.
As the champagne soaks into the walls of Fenway, the banners are hung, and the off-season begins; the 2013 Red Sox will always be more than a pennant above the press box at Fenway.
The 2013 Red Sox journey restored the faith of a nation, helped to heal a region, and somewhere between Fort Myers in March and Boston in October the pariah’s of 2011 became the heroes of 2013.
As the saying goes heroes get remembered and the 2013 Red Sox legendary run will never die.
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