Sox 99 – Division Series

The Red Sox ended the 99 season as the AL wild card, riding a hot September to finish 94-68. They finished 4 games behind the Yankees and 7 ahead of the Oakland A’s, their top WC challengers. It was the most wins for Boston since 1986.

The Sox were paced by two men with tremendous seasons. Pedro Martinez went 23-4, capturing a unanimous Cy Young. He accomplished the pitchers’ triple crown, topping the league in wins, ERA, and strikeouts. Pedro was first or second in 11 league pitching categories, and set an AL record with 13.2 strikeouts per game.  Nomar Garciaparra won the batting title at .357, and was third in slugging and OBP and fourth in doubles.

Their first round opponent was the Cleveland Indians, who went 97-65, 2 1/2 games over Chicago in the AL Central. They were led by power hitters Manny Ramirez and Jim Thome, and scored over 1000 runs to lead the league. Their pitching was also strong, paced by Bartolo Colon (18-5) and Charles Nagy (17-11).

All five Globe prognosticators picked the Sox in 5 behind Pedro and Nomar as the best-of-five series began on October 5. Things looked good early, as Garciaparra homered off Colon in the second and Mike Stanley drove Nomar  in with a fourth-inning single for a 2-0 advantage. But Pedro had to leave after four with a pulled back muscle, and reliever Derek Lowe was victimized in the sixth with a two-out throwing error by John Valentin and a Thome homer to tie it. It stayed that way until the ninth when Lowe hit Manny Ramirez with a pitch and was replaced by Rheal Cormier. A Wil Cordero single and Richie Sexon walk loaded the bases, and Travis Fryman electrified the crowd of over 45,000 with the winning hit off Rich Garces. Colon went 8 innings, allowing 5 hits and 2 runs and fanning 11. Paul Shuey pitched the ninth and got the victory.

With Martinez on the shelf, Sox chances dropped precipitously, and it got worse the next day. Staked to a 1-0 lead, Bret Saberhagen imploded in the third, permitting 6 tallies, climaxed by a three-run shot by Harold Baines. The Indians continued the onslaught with 5 more off John Wasdin in the third for an 11-1 advantage, and that would be the final. Again, a bad throw played a part, as Jose Offerman’s failure to turn a DP opened the floodgates. Nagy went 7 strong innings, allowing 5 hits and walking none.

Now one game away from elimination, the papers were full of gloom and doom, with headlines like “Grim Outlook for Red Sox” and descriptions like “your overachieving, hard-scrabble band of ballplayers have been reduced to late-night monologue fodder. It was their 18th loss in 19 postseason games dating back to 86. But the series still had to go back to Fenway, and Sox bats were warming up.