It’s December 31.
That means that Fire Brand has hit its fourth-year anniversary and it comes on the heels of what was by all designs a grand year for the Red Sox and a grand year for Boston.
Boston put itself squarely on the map as the current capital of the sports world with successes in baseball, basketball, football and soccer and brought home a second World Series title in four years (and if I may be presumptuous, four Super Bowls in seven years and a NBA title).
Along the same vein, MVN has made tremendous strides over the past year and we’ve got some great things planned for 2008 that we can’t wait for. MVN’s undergone quite a bit of layout changes and URL changes, but the one constant has been Fire Brand. We here at Fire Brand strive to present our opinions and analysis in a reasoned and thought-out manner consistently for readers to then analyze and promote discussion.
I’ve always thought that Fire Brand is a great place to talk Sox: It’s a focused, intelligent place with a large number of “Fire Branders” that help advance the discussion. Other Red Sox sites are fantastic and do some things better than we do; comedy, general observations… but for day-in and day-out analysis, I’m proud to say that I believe we have all made Fire Brand that destination.
I thank you all for taking the time (for some of you, every hour and for others just once in Fire Brand’s lifetime) to read Fire Brand, whether it was for one article three years ago and you have never returned to the ones that are constantly in the comments. I’m always glad when I give Fire Brand readers the opportunity to win something: Mike Onorato won the $100 NFL gift card for his idea of the Red Sox re-acquiring Hanley Ramirez.
So again and forever: Thank you.
Now, to unveil the 2008 Fire Brand of the Year award. Here’s a quick recap:
The Fire Brand of the American League is a Red Sox player who exhibits character under pressure, an unassuming man who leaves the spotlight for other people but makes his indelible mark on the past season’s Boston Red Sox. A piece most people take for granted, but whom we would have missed dearly.
The voting came down to Mike Lowell and Dustin Pedroia after narrowly nixing Jonathan Papelbon and Josh Beckett. We called in former Fire Brand writer Tito Crafts to help us figure out the winner. In Tito’s words:
When I look back on the 2007 season, the two key performances were definitely Dustin Pedroia and Mike Lowell. Papi was Papi, but we were expecting that kind of leadership going into the season.
Lowell’s numbers were better, but in terms of exceeding expectation the two players were on par. They both definitely put their stamp on the postseason, and both made countless big plays in the field.
But for me, it comes down to this: while Big Papi is really the Willie Stargell of this family, the offense is built around Manny Ramirez in the cleanup hole. Without his production the danger of the top of the lineup is wasted, Big Papi does not see as many pitches to hit, and the bottom of the lineup’s RBI abilities are underused.
We had a subpar Manny year, as he was hounded by injuries (especially in the second half) and came out of the gate slow. Mike Lowell picked up this slack. He provided another bat in the heart of the order that always provided a big hit when necessary, brought in runners in scoring position and added the occasional home run. He softened the loss of Manny Ramirez and provided a threat behind David Ortiz to ensure that Papi got his swings in. He fixed our lineup, and thus held the team together.
Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2008 Fire Brand of the Year winner is Mike Lowell. He joins the hallowed ranks of David Ortiz, Mike Timlin, Bronson Arroyo and Tim Wakefield. May he represent Fire Brand well.
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