"What is a Champion to Do?" asks Nick Cafardo in his weekly On Baseball column. Cafardo wonders if the Sox can stay pretty much with the same roster and hope to repeat in 2014. Nick apparently thinks they can, though he reminds us that no team has been able to do it since the Yankees had a threepeat from 1998 to 2000.
Cafardo emphasizes the positive- a strong core of players, sufficient depth, a well-stocked bullpen, and talented youngsters like Xander Bogearts and Jackie Bradley Jr. However, he also mentions the "hunger factor". "Teams start the season," he states,'' with the best of intentions (but) it can be difficult to duplicate the same enthusiasm after a year when everything went right."
Let's examine 2008, the last time the Sox defended their World Championship. Their record was almost identical- 95 wins and 67 losses, only one game below 07. Their team ERA of 4.01 and batting average of .280 were comparable to the previous year. As for starting pitchers, Daisuke Matsuzaka had a career season at 18-3 and 2.90, while Jon Lester had a strong sophomore year with a 16-6 mark and 3.21 ERA. After that, things got a bit sticky, with Josh Beckett falling from 20-7 to 12-10 and 4.03. Tim Wakefield was close to .500, but no-hit hero Clay Buchholz imploded to 2-9 and 6.75, spending part of his season in the minors. The Sox tried others in the rotation such as Paul Byrd, Bartolo Colon and Justin Masterson, but none really worked out. The bullpen,however, led by closer Jonathan Papelbon and setup man Hidecki Okajima, continued to excel. The starting lineup included MVP Dustin Pedroia along with all-stars Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Jason Varitek and JD Drew.
The lowlight of the campaign was the behavior of Ramirez, who fought with Youkilis and had a pushing altercation with the team's 64-year-old traveling secretary. By July, he was failing to run out grounders and complaining of strange injuries. Tired of "Manny Being Manny", the Sox dealt him at the trade deadline to the Dodgers in a three-way deal including Pittsburgh. To replace Ramirez, the Sox obtained Jason Bay, who had a fine last two months, batting .293 with 9 homers and 37 rbi's.
Despite some bumps in the road, the Townies might have repeated as World Champs were it not for the shocking emergence of the Rays as a contending team. Long in the division cellar, they exploded with 97 wins to beat out Boston by two games. They continued their dominance in the postseason, taking the White Sox in 4 in the Divisional and shocking the Sox in the ALCS. Tampa Bay would pound Boston pitching for 43 runs and 61 hits and twice blow them out at Fenway by scores of 9-1 and 13-4. The Sox rallied with two wins to tie the series, but in game 7 at the Trop, Matt Garza outdueled Lester to eliminate the 07 champs.
If the Rays had stayed at the bottom,it is very possible that the Sox would have at least repeated as AL champs and possibly gone all the way. Sometimes it is not a lack of hunger or a rash of injuries that dooms a team, but an unexpected challenge from a traditionally weak squad. Will the same thing happen in 2014? We'll have to wait and see.
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