2014 in 8 Days: Top Red Sox Moments

(Photo by Charles Krupa/AP Photo)

by Dakota Antelman

The long and the short is that 2014 did not treat the Boston Red Sox too kindly.

They went 71-91 in their second season under John Farrell and failed to execute in any of the ways that helped them win a World Series a year ago. Their outfield was weak and much of the left side of the infield began showing signs of mechanical fatigue. 

The Boston bats died in 2014 and as injury reports ran manically through the rows of Fenway and the heads of fans, our lovely defending champions wallowed in a season of despair and mediocrity.

Thus is it no secret that this year's top Red Sox stories all took place off the field...

1) Jon Lester chooses Cubs over Red Sox

After low-balling Lester with a meager $70M contract offer back in Spring Training the longtime Red Sox ace was somewhat irked by the team. Further adding to the perceived lack of respect by the team for Lester was the fact that midway through the season they traded him to the Oakland A's.

That move made it easier for Lester to ignore the "hometown discount" when the negotiation period rolled around this off-season. It was with ease that he turned down a $135M offer from the Red Sox, signing instead a monstrous $155M offer from the suddenly invested Chicago Cubs just last month.

2) Red Sox unload at trade deadline

It cannot be stressed how much the trade that moved Lester out of Boston for the first time effected the negotiations after the season as well as the remaining games in the season.

On July 31st, Lester and charismatic outfeilder Johnny Gomes were packaged in a blockbuster deal to the Oakland A's. The Red Sox got two time home run derby winner, Yoenis Cespedes in return.

At the time the deal seemed somewhat decent as Cespedes brought with him a mega bat and at least an average glove in left field. As they unloaded their pitching though, the Red Sox were soon caught in a vicious cycle of blowouts and games gone to the bullpen by the 4th inning.

John Lackey, Jake Peavy and Felix Dubront were all sent packing at the trade deadline. The players they got in return, though promising did little in the second half of the season and at times began to raise some questions about Ben Cherrington's leadership scheme.

3) Red Sox ink $200M in contracts in one morning

In a time where those questions about Cherrington's ability were burning brightest, the GM jumped into the rebuilding phase quickly and with both feet.

Looking to remedy some run scoring problems from last season, Cherrington dished out $200M in contract money to sluggers Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez. The deals spawned immense questions about how the team would deal with the two in terms of their defense.

As it finally shook out, team sources suggested to multiple media outlets that Ramirez would spend time in center field and bat in the top of the order. Sandoval would be the starting third basemen for the Red Sox, effectively ending Will Middlebrooks tenure with the team as he did so. (Middlebrooks was traded just a few weeks after the Sandoval/Ramirez signings.)

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The new look Boston Red Sox: After historic trade deadline, the details of the Red Sox future are unknown

When the trade deadline passed Thursday afternoon, it was merciful because all within Red Sox nation could finally go to sleep without worrying about waking up the next morning to the news of another huge trade. And sleep was something they needed direly due to the fact that in the 48 hours preceding the January 30th deadline, the Sox had gutted their roster and completely changed the identity of a team that less than a year ago won the World Series. 

They traded Felix Dubront on Wednesday, moved Jon Lester and Johnny Gomes to Oakland Thursday morning and dumped John Lackey on the Angles a few hours later. Before all that they had also moved Andrew Miller to Baltimore while kicking Stephan Drew over to New York in exchange for third basemen Kelly Johnson. Coming to Boston as the other half of all those trades were Oakland slugger Yoenis Cespedes, Baltimore prospect Eduardo Rodriguez, as well as Allen Craig and Joe Kelly from St Louis and Kelly Johnson from New York. 

What all those names amount to is a revamped Boston Red Sox team and a proof that the front office is willing to try again to keep the sinking ship that is the Red Sox afloat.  

Nonetheless, it is hard to look at this slew of deals and not at least be skeptical. Going into their day off during Thursday's trade deadline, the Red Sox had a win-loss record of 48 and 60 and were 10.5 games out of a playoff spot and almost surely playing the kind of baseball that deserves nothing more than a last place finish. One of the biggest reasons this was true was not the Red Sox pitching but rather, the Sox batting. From almost day one, the first two thirds of the order which boasted many of the league’s best players were simply not hitting. Aside from David Ortiz who hit 25 home runs in the first half of the year, big stars who last year slugged their way to a championship ring have been flat out terrible. Mike Napoli and Dustin Pedroia have combined for just 17 home runs and 78 RBI's while Xander Bogarts, the man tasked with bringing power and speed to the left side of the infield has hit just stolen just 2 bases and hit just 8 home runs. These deficiencies in the Sox offensive arsenal have doomed the team more than any other aspect of the game has. 

In fact, it doomed the team so much that no matter how well anybody else played, they just kept on loosing because of their offence. At the deadline, they tried to reverse that by ripping their best pitchers off their roster and trading for some serious sluggers that could bolster their roster. 

Of the some 5 players who came to Boston as a result of Thursday's trades, 3 of them are guys who make their money because of their work at the plate. Yoenis Cespedes is the most impressive of these such players. Having played for just over 2 and a half years, Yoenis is by no means a David Ortiz or Melkie Cabrara type player. What he is though is a young kid with power and a sense of humor in the locker room. 

This season, Cespedes is batting .256 with 17 home runs and 67 RBI's  and is on pace for an explosive 107 RBI season that would dwarf any and all that have preceded this one. Nonetheless, those that have have been great. Cespedes has won the All-Star weekend Home Run Derby two years in a row and has displayed power from day one hitting a home run in just his second game. For a guy who had to escape Cuba in the middle of the night, Yoenis Cespedes is a calm, happy slugger on pace for a great career. 

But beyond him the Sox now have another big bat on their payroll. After he made his debut in 2010, Allen Craig hit 11 home runs in 75 games in his sophomore season. Catching the eye of the MLB as a whole with the power that he exhibited in those games, Allen Craig was promoted to full time first basemen for the Cardinals. With considerably more playing time in his future, Craig then buckled down and managed to churn out a reputation as one of the greatest hitters with runners in scoring position. After the 2013 season in which he drove in 97 runs, Craig had upped his average with runners in scoring position to .456. That is the third highest in MLB history. 

So with all these key players now in a Red Sox uniform, it seems that Ben Cherrington has completely reworked the core of his team. As we come out of the deadline flurry, deserving of recognition is the fact that Cherrington felt no sentimental feelings towards guys like Gomes or Lackey and do what really was best for his team. At least that is what it looks like right now. 

With Cespedes and Craig in town and Lackey, Gomes and Lester out, the Sox could go in a very interesting direction come next year. 

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Jon Lester, Johnny Gomes traded to Oakland: Sox get Yoenis Cespedes in return...Lackey to Cardinals as well

It was been a story line that was long ago written. Early Thursday morning, Jon Lester was traded out of Boston because of the Red Sox' inability to pay him the money his play had demanded. On this day, midway through a season that as seen the Red Sox flirt with glory but always sink back into the doldrums of baseball's standings, they have lost the only piece of their roster that would have had any chance of dragging them into contention in the last quarter of the season. Lester is gone. 

Two days ago, John Farrell made the announcement that Jon Lester would be scratched from his scheduled start on Wednesday night in Toronto to give the team more freedom to trade him. The move was one completed out of respect allowing Lester to get a full rotations rest before any trade that would likely also result in a start the next day for whichever team he was dealt to. But what Farrell's polite move also did was strike down any final hopes within Red Sox nation that Lester would ever play another game for Boston. 

Jon Lester will become a free agent at the end of this season and after the way that he played at the end of last season, resigning him even during Spring Training was a highly financially taxing task. So the Red Sox waited, stringing their all-star along indefinitely half hoping he would play poorly enough in 2014 to allow the team to resign him at a lesser price. That did not happen. 

In 21 starts for Boston this season, Jon Lester went 10-7 losing only due to poor run support not any fault in his on the mound performance. He whipped an ERA of 2.52 in a total of 143 innings pitched solidifying his work horse qualities and providing the team with on average a 7 inning start. Jon was a true ace of aces for qualities embodied by all those statistics and those statistics were only made better by his play to start this season. To sum up, Jon Lester played perhaps the greatest season of his career and that made it seem like a deal with him in free agency this winter would be impossible. So, in order to gain the best return for such a great player, the Sox went to the trade market, dealing their longtime pitching stud to Oakland for Yoenis Cespedes. Johnny Gomes also went with Lester to Oakland clearing left field space for Cespedes to play a starting role in the position. 

But today the story was not about Cespedes coming to town. It was about Lester leaving it and the media and the fans knew that very well. 

After he was groomed well by Triple A Pawtuket, Lester came to the big club in 2006 where he started 15 games. He impressed in those game earning a decision 9 of those 15 games winning 7 of them. Lester seemed to have a future in Boston after his glamorous start to his career but soon realized he would have to overcome more than competition within the system to earn a spot in the MLB. After feeling ill, midway through a midsummer game of that 2006 season, Lester flew to a Boston medical facility where he was tested and diagnosed with a treatable form of Lymphatic Cancer. He would miss the rest of the season and the first half of the successive one while he underwent intensive chemotherapy but eventually returned to baseball better than ever. 

Though Josh Beckett captained the team to a championship in 2007, it was Lester who started and was credited with the win in the series clenching game four of that year's World Series. When Beckett left town roughly four years later it was an underrated Lester who became the ace. Starting 33 games in 2013, Jon went 15-8, tearing it up in the second half of the year and guiding Boston to their second championship with him on the roster.  

Then, as has already been profiled, Lester played complete shutdown baseball in a 2014 season that saw very few moments of glory in Boston. 

All and all, the 2014 trade deadline completely revamped and reworked the Boston Red Sox in a completely unexpected way. But though the departures of John Lackey, Johnny Gomes and Stephan Drew were definitely notable, it was the end of he Jon Lester era in Boston that stole the show. 

Through all these years of dominance, the Sox been a team that has won not because of big money contracts but rather an evolution of talent gained through trades and draft picks. The loss of Lester will hurt but as he leaves, Bostonians must remember that huge players left the team after the 2004 and 2007 championships and yet the team always found a way to charter through the fog and come out on top. Let us hope that the same can one day be said for 2013. 

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Red Sox wreck Jays in possible season changing win: 14-1 final

Let me just throw some of these numbers out for you. Four RBI's and a home run for Stephan Drew, two long balls for David Ortiz, 3 hits each for Xander Bogarts and Mike Napoli, and above all, 14 runs for the previously offensively challenged Boston Red Sox. 

After the Red Sox closed out the first half with an abysmal last few weeks, the team has come out of the break with something to prove. In winning all four games since the break, the Sox have combined to score 27 runs. That statistic is a huge improvement upon the pathetic numbers turned out by the same players in the first half of the season. 

Regardless though, Monday was just that much better than even the three games before that that took place on it. 

Beginning early, the Sox chased Jays starter, Drew Hutchinson from the game after he recorded just 8 outs against them. In just that two and two thirds inning span of time though, the Sox were able to nurse 9 hits, a home run and 6 scores out of the under matched Hutchinson. A true measure of the Sox easy exploitation of Hutchinson's incapability to throw a ball past the Sox bats was thus: in less than 3 innings, Boston sent 17 batters to the plate forcing a total of 68 pitches by Hutchinson. When he was finally pulled in the third inning it evoked that feeling among Red Sox fans that went somewhere along the lines of "oh come on leave him in, we were having ALOT of fun!" For Jays fans, it was merciful none the less. 

But as the game resumed, things prove to get no better for the Jays and thus, no worse for the Red Sox. After Brad Mills managed to draw Christian Vasquez into a fly out situation, John Lackey worked past back to back doubles given up to start the bottom half of the 3rd inning with just one run against his name. Over the course of the night, things like this were commonplace for Lackey who though lackluster at some points (only three strikeouts) more than made up for such shortcomings by walking nobody and allowing just 1 earned run.

Therefore, with their defense playing a strong game, the bats came out even harder in the middle innings than they had in the first 3. After Brock Holt hit a lead-off double, David Ortiz came in to rake a 4th inning two run home run deep into straightaway center field. By that point the Red Sox held a whopping 8-1 lead over the sputtering Blue Jays and the game seemed out of reach. 

The weight of these statements were amplified one inning later when Boston nearly doubled its lead. Rattling off 5 straight hits to lead off the 5th inning, the Sox sent their power trio of, Dustin Pedroia, Ortiz and Mike Napoli to the plate having already scored 3 times in the inning. That should have been enough. But no, like that one really great kid in the youth soccer leagues, the Sox continued to shell the outfield stands with souvenirs. With a runner on at second base, Ortiz cracked his second home run in as many innings. Napoli made it double when he came up next in the order, placing his 12th home run of the season just over the right field wall. Reliever Brad Mills was pulled following the back to back homes runs and left the game having allowed 8 runs. Finally the Sox quit their bombardment notching just 2 more hits before the end of the game. 

Nonetheless, when they walked off the field Monday night, the Red Sox did so knowing that they had played their best ball of the year in the game. They plated 14 runners and tallied 18 hits. They chewed through a substantial chunk of the Rays pitching staff and drew within 5 games of .500 for the first time since May. 

Overall, the team was buzzing after the game.

"We're getting good offensive approaches over the past 10 games or so," said Red Sox manager John Farrell. "There's been good energy throughout and when David [Ortiz] is doing what he's capable of, it's the hub of what our offensive is."

John Lackey admired the ease with which the team scored and won Monday as well.

 "The guys swung the bats great tonight. it was a fun night, kind of fun to have them every now and then. The season can be a grind at times and it's nice to have a little fun," Lackey said. "The way they were swinging, I was trying to get quick outs and get our guys back in there, keep them in a rhythm."

Overall, this win was convincing. It proved that the Sox still have the DNA within them that won the World Series last year. As of now, they sit in 4th place in the AL East 7.5 games out of first and 6 out of the second wild card. The hole is deep but with 63 games left to dig out of it, so is the mountain of possibilities. 

Who knows, the Boston Red Sox could surprise us once again.

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Thrilling double header Saturday whispers of good and bad: Drew homers twice, Lackey dominates in loss

After Hurricane Arthur decided that we in Boston would rather get soaked in 10 inches of rain than watch a baseball game, the wallowing Red Sox compensated with a thrilling double header Saturday. Coming into the two game set with a win loss record of 38 and 47, the Sox saw Saturday as a chance to close the gap between themselves and the division leaders ahead of next weeks All Star break. 

The double header could help the Red Sox reverse some of the bad energy that has plagued the team for the better part of the first half by infusing the team with pride and a bit of momentum. 

At the end of the day the Sox had not done everything they wanted to. At the same time though, they had done things that no one expected prior to the double header. In winning game one with a score of 3-2 and loosing game two by a margin of 4-7, guys like Stephan Drew, John Lackey and Jon Lester played for contracts, statistical mediocrity instead of failure and reassertion as solid pieces of the Red Sox lineup. 

Beginning with Lester in game one, the Sox pitching pushed the limits of what defined a grey area in pitch count volume. Lester started the day with a win loss record of 9-7 going into his 18th game of the year. In a season marred by mediocrity and underperformance by men who were supposed pitching aces, Lester had remained a lonely bright spot for Boston, hurling a team high 122 innings pitched and an ERA of 2.73. Furthermore, in games that Lester lost, his shortcomings really had not been his fault. Much like John Lackey last year, Lester has often been given very little run support and seen his record suffer as a result of that.  

Though that was true once again in game one of the double header, Lester played good enough to not need such a petty thing as run support. Pitching 8 full innings with a hefty pitch count of 118 tosses, Lester allowed 5 hits and 0 earned runs striking out 7 and setting the stage for a stunning finish in the afternoon. 

With the game tied at 2-2 and 1 out in the 9th inning, Johnny Gomes stood on second base and took off running for 3rd as pinch hitter Johnathan Herrera cracked a broken bat single into shallow center field. Before the ball was even played, Gomes had rounded 3rd and by the time a wild through was caught about 10 feet to the left of the plate, Gomes had got there. Herrera logged his first career walk off to cap off a great performance by Lester and for once, the Sox fielders. 

Catcher David Ross praised his pitcher's pitch control. 

"He was really sharp today, throwing the ball to both sides of the plate [with a] down angle, great cutter, great breaking ball, had some phenomenal two-seam fastballs to get ground balls," Ross said. "Sometimes for me, Johnny can get a little rattled, but today he really kept his poise. We didn't really play well behind him, but he kept his poise, it was a very mature start for him today with great stuff."

Johnny Gomes hailed the fact that the team failed Lester again Saturday and yet as true aces do, he bailed them out.

"I really can't imagine the pressure of that along with the pressure of just trying to pitch your game and help your team win. If there's a book to be written, he's definitely writing about how to deal with it."

But beyond the thrill of game one, the Sox had to run back out onto the feild a few hours later. That game while ending with a different victor followed many of the same story lines. With a win loss record of 9 and 6, John Lackey pitched a strong quality start for the Sox but felt no run support and eventually fell apart late. Regardless though, Lackey hurled a very strong statistical outing 120 pitches, striking out 11 and allowing just 1 walk.  

Another similarity between game one and game two was the long balls lofted off the bat of Stephan Drew. Having spent his first 20 games as a 2014 Red Sox completely incapable of hitting baseballs, Drew came alive in both ends of the double header. With a batting average of .141, 2 RBI's and 0 home runs, Drew cast it all aside July 5th and lit up some fireworks of his own.  

Hitting balls out of the yard in both games, Drew finally married his fielding success with at least a measurable amount of power and offence. 

"It's a work in progress," Drew said. "Putting good swings on some pitches and getting some more results. That's a good feeling." 

His coach shared similar feelings about Drew's improvement.

"He's been working at some things, trying to get some timing. Good to see him get a couple of balls that he squares up to the pull side. It's not been a lack of work. It's not been a lack of effort by any means. Good to see him be in the mix here tonight and today." 

Now Drew's dominance was great, Lester and Lackey's strike out assaults were both admirable but the day was not without low lights. After the conclusion of game two John Lackey managed to stir up the emotions of the media. In reference to O's power threat Nelson Cruz's recent 50 game PED suspension, Lackey lashed out with pretty wild accusations.

“I’m not even going to comment on him,” Lackey said. “I’ve got nothing to say about him. There are things I’d like to say, but I’m not going to. You guys forget pretty conveniently about stuff.”

After those comments surface, O's manager Buck Showalter fired back in kind.

"There's so many insinuations, quite frankly, about people in every club. You usually don't hear those comments after a shutout or something," Showalter said. "I mean [Lackey's] doing really well. He's up throwing 93, 95 again and he's got one of the top ERAs in the American League, which with the DH means all of baseball. He's a good pitcher, so God bless him. He was good yesterday. Considering the timing of things, it's one of those things that you keep quiet about it and it reflects poorly upon the person who said it."

But perhaps the most stinging comment Showalter made in an interview with ESPN's Mike Lupica Show was that directed at the Sox other long ball hitters. 

"He might want to be more careful who he accuses of PED use. Just make sure he had no users on his team." 

But regardless, the Sox salvaged a promising performance Saturday at Fenway and that is a good thing.

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This is for you Boston: Part 1 - The Team

"This is for you Boston, you've been through a lot, this one's for you!" ~David Ortiz after winning the World Series MVP 

There are times in each of our lives when the happiness we feel cannot be described. But in this case the thing is in most cases what makes that kind of happiness so indescribably memorable is the negativity and horror that preceded it. Not a single person in Massachusetts escaped last April without bearing the newly opened scars solicited by the brutality of the Boston Marathon Bombings of April 15th 2013.

What happened that day killed 3 people and mutilated the bodies and minds of hundreds and even millions across this city and nation. You didn't have to be there in Copley Square, we all felt it, we all panicked and sat glued to our TV screens as Boston was shut down and the Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics cancelled all their games for the week.

"They killed an 8 year old, my son is 8 years old." David Ortiz was reported as saying in the dugout prior to his now famed "This if our f*****g city" speech.

But while the days separating us and that dreadful day turned into weeks and then months we never forgot but we did move forward turning instead to focus on a team that symbolized the spirit of this town. You can knock the Red Sox down but you will never take them out.

They were the only team in baseball without a losing streak longer than 3 games and never went almost 3 months without losing back to back home games. They came back in 27 games. They nabbed 13 walk-offs and above all lost just 65 games. When you look back, so many facets of this, longest season in Red Sox history made it memorable.

You had the beards which were spearheaded by a Mike Napoli who, despite his struggled clocked 23 home runs in 2013. You cheered as David Ortiz recorded his 7th career 30 home run season and you watched with glee as he began his near 10 game playoff tear following his Game Two ALCS grand slam. We watched Johnny Gomes who spent all year magically making something out of nothing en route to a spectacular 5 pinch hit home runs. His Red Sox were 8-1 in games he started in this playoff run.

And then there was the defense.

Boston sported 2 gold glove award winners in 2013 as Dustin Pedroia played what seemed to be a career year in the field committing just 5 errors in 160 games played. That translates out to about to just .031 errors per game. But in a similar fashion to David Ortiz, Peady lead by more than just example. He was a driving force in the clubhouse and knew from day one the potential that the Red Sox had cultivated in the offseason.

"He had faith in the team even in spring training. In mid-March, Pedroia went to dinner with his agents, Cherington and the team’s owners. They were discussing his eventual contract extension, but he made it clear, even then, that he expected the Red Sox to win – and win big." Fox writer, Ken Rosenthal said in an article the day after the Sox victory. 

As for Boston's other gold glove winner: Shane Victorino, he was as good if not better than Pedroia. But in in a different way.  

Shane notched 122 starts in 2013 and batted just 6 points shy of 300. He belted 61 RBI's in 2013 providing quite a security policy for leadoff hitter Jacoby Ellsbury. As for the defense that got him recognized in the postseason gold glove voting, he made a name for himself by plying right field the same way one would play center. That more often than not translated into running headlong into walls as if the simply were not there.  

Yet the Flyin Hawaiian always came up smiling. Apparently, he likes the feeling of broken ribs. He committed just 3 errors while being responsible for 264 of the near 1,700 that the Red Sox recorded in 2013. That is approximately 15% of team outs all recorded by a man who played just 110 games and spent that time in the outfield.  

He represented his city as well joining the ranks of supporting Bostonians with his post-game comments following Game Six. 

"We are affected in the tragedy, Boston strong" Shane Victorino screamed extending his fist high into the air thereby saluting his town. "That's all I'm gonna say!"

Yet while all the additions that the Red Sox made in preparation for what would be their 3rd Championship run in the past 10 years it was the subtractions that may have went the farthest towards bettering this team for the long run. Fact is, most Sox fans expected the run we saw this year...2 years before it happened. Between Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzolez and the expected excellence of the entire Sox pitching staff, the Red Sox were the overwhelming favorites to win it all in 2011. But as we know things did not work out that way. The 2011 Red Sox surrendered a 9 game September lead in the wildcard to miss the playoffs all together. As Bobby Valentine guided the Sox to a 69 win season in 2012, Kevin Youkolis was dished away to Chicago and nearly 200 million dollars’ worth of contracts were unloaded on LA via the famed Josh Beckett, Adrian Gonzolez and Carl Crawford trade.

Beckett and Gozolez in particular were the polar opposite of the surprisingly compatible clubhouse that existed this season. Fact is they would have scoffed in disgust if you asked them to grow a beard and as they did in 2011 they might have even killed the healthy team building themes that brought this 2013 club together.  

By completely erasing the bad names assembled on that so called 2011 "dream team" it made room for the actuall dream team of 2013. Sure there were the additions: Mike Napoli, Johnny Gomes, Koji Uehara, Shane Victorino, David Ross and even Mike Carp but as you look at the numbers it would be safe to say that what made this team so great was the resurgence of the talent they had already cultivated.  

That fact is highlighted best when you look at the gleaming numbers of the Red Sox starting pitching. 

The only difference in starting pitching personnel between 2011 and 2013 was the presence of Josh Beckett. Lester played in 2011, Buchholz and Lackey too. They all were there yet in 2013, those 3 Sox went a combined 33 and 24 through  73 starts in 2011 while flipping it all around 2 years later with 37 wins and just 22 losses. Not only were the 2013 Red Sox putting up wins but they were doing it in every single sort of situation that was put before them. They never quit and when they needed to any Boston starter could realistically be asked to play 8 innings and they would do just that. Much like the framework that guided the LA Dodgers to their spectacular mid-season turnaround over in the NL, the Red Sox relied on the relentless work of a whole host of aces to bring home the wins.

The 2013 Red Sox season was just 15 days old when the bombs went off but even then, even with just over 2 weeks of real game action under their belt, the Red Sox knew one another like family and were ready to take their city on their shoulders and do whatever was necessary to give their fans something to cheer for. 

They hit 178 home runs, came to bat 5651 times and won a total of 108 games over 7 months of near game per day action.  

Yet when future generations look back on this, the greatest statistical, team turnaround in the history of American sports, it will be that last win those last 6 runs and that Koji Uehara strikeout that is remembered. 

The Boston Red Sox are the World Champions but for the hundreds of human beings throughout this organization that has now won 3 titles in 10 years it cannot be stressed how much more occurred this year than could be summed up by those few words. 

"This is our F*****G CITY!" ~ David Ortiz following the Marathon Attacks

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Lackey hurls gem putting Boston into first postseason berth in 4 years: Sox win 3-1 over Orioles

John Lackey made one mistake among 113 model pitches. 

He left 1 pitch, one pitch out of so many where the hitter could capitalize and even while 99.992% of is pitches were all but perfect, we pouted and uttered some naughty words when that one mistake took away what could have been the perfect bookend to a career year for John lackey: a no hitter. After pitching the first 6.1 innings without allowing a hit, Lackey was just 7 outs away from becoming the first Sox since Jon Lester in 2008 to complete the No-no when Adam Jones capitalized on a stunning 0-1 pitch driving the ball to deep left field and earning the first of just 2 hits on the night for Baltimore. 

"Oh no" was a common exclamation around 9 PM last night but eve while that cry was omnipresent in Fenway park as Jones touched home, Sox fans soon recovered and tipped their caps to a man whom that had relearned how to cheer for. John Lackey pitched his best game as a Red Sox last night but what’s better is the fact that for the first time since 2009, the team that was will have handed him 15,000,000$ by the end of the year will be competing for the right to go to the World Series. 

"I mean, it's nice to be a part of going to the playoffs," Lackey said post-game. "There was a lot of hard work getting back to this point, for sure. To be back here and be pitching well again and being healthy, it's been fun."

But while last night's game officially ended a 4 year stretch with a lot more booing than cheering, the Sox are not celebrating yet.  

"We know where we're at," said Red Sox manager John Farrell. "We know what was pending. We still feel like the next step is a more important one than this. We know that we're in. We've said a few times that winning the East, that's been a stated goal since Day One of Spring Training. That's getting closer. I think that will be more the realization of where we've come from and where we are at that moment." 

Prior to tonight's match-up with the Jays, the Red Sox stand 9 games secure of the Tampa Bay Rays for the division lead and have lowered their magic number for clenching the division to just 1 game. With the next occurrence of either a loss for the Rays or a win for the Sox, that goal that they have worked so hard to realize will finally have been reached. 

In the court of public opinion, the Boston Red Sox have won the AL east but according to the math, nothing is truly set in stone and for that reason, no post game celebrations were held well, that is not post game celebrations involving the Red Sox players. For those who watched last night's game with either an open mind or one slanted in favor of the Sox, you could not help but yell in delight, jump on top of a chair and celebrate like you had just won a championship. 

Lackey hurled 9 innings of 2 hit ball, walking just 2 and lowering his season ERA by almost a full 10th of a percent. But what’s better is the fact that finally, a near perfect game by John Lackey coincided with an acceptable game by Sox batters.  

Whether it be a 2 run homer in the bottom of the 2nd inning by Stephan Drew or any of the 5 extra base hits that guys like Jarrod Saltilamaccia, Jackie Bradley Junior and without a doubt Drew who went 2 for 3 with a homer and a triple put up, Boston won. 3 runs was enough. 

"The remake of John Lackey, both physically and getting back on the mound and performing as he's done all year, mirrors that of this team," Farrell said. "It's somewhat fitting that to clinch a spot to get into the playoffs is with him on the mound and to go nine innings the way he did, like I said, very fitting."

John Lackey might very well go down as the MLB's best comeback player in 2013 but on a team that will likely finish the year having gone from last to first in just 1 season that title of comeback player should be amended to comeback PLAYERS of the year. What the Sox have done is spectacular but they will look to lock it all up tonight when it is as simple as this: you win the game and the division is officially yours. 

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Mighty Mike: Mike Carp rips game winning single in 8th inning - Red Sox drop Orioles 4-3

For 6 innings last night, it seemed that John Lackey was destined to be handed another difficult truth that he had become all to acquainted with of late. He hurls a very strong game, keeps his pitch count down, earn runs hovering around 3, but still the offence working for him cannot even break 1 run and when the night ends, he has no victory credited to his name.

For 6 innings it looked like that was the case but as has also been true in this 2013 season the Boston Red Sox were not so contempt at letting this one slip through their fingers.

As it stood, Lackey came to the mound at the end of the night having only allowed 3 runs on 7 hits. He had thrown just 92 pitches in over 7 innings of play but despite all this, he spent the majority of the night loosing 3-1. Why? Because of  mighty man named Chris Davis. With 47 home runs on the year, when  Davis saw Lackey leave a first pitch strike over the middle of the plate, the MLB's strongest hitter made him pay by belting a long ball over the monster to give Baltimore a dominant 3-1 lead.

But the deficit would soon evaporate as after Stephan Drew led off the 7th inning with a slicing double, Dustin Pedroia came to bat just a few batters later with Drew on 2nd and Jacoby Ellsbury on third. It was the 7th inning, Lackey had pitched so well but instead of leading the game like he should have, the Red Sox were down by 2 with just 2 and a 3rd at bats left in the game. Boston's pitcher watched intently from the bench. But even in this situation that could likely produce yet another loss or at best a no decision for Lackey, John was not fixating on statistics.

"I would like to have more wins than I have right now, but that's not the goal," said Lackey, who is 8-11 with a 3.19 ERA. "The goal is for the team to win games."

It seems strange but actually it is an obvious pattern. According to HIS win loss record, John Lackey is 8-11 with 5 no decisions on the year. If you subtract those no decisions and simply look at the record of the RED SOX in games that Lackey has started, Boston is 11-13. That can only mean that the large majority of those no decisions that turned into wins for the Sox went down as comebacks...which is exactly what happened last night. 

On the first pitch he saw in that crucial 2 out 7th inning at bat, Dustin Pedroia lined a screaming single into left field. Drew scored easily from third and after Jacoby Ellsbury had stolen second base he would come around from second to tie the game at 3. The comeback was in full swing. 

Amidst a double switch to start the inning and a pitching change after out one, the Sox would drop the Orioles in order come inning number 8 meaning that they were all fully charged to take on their second to last at bat of the game. 

Now things would not immediately get off to a good start as back to back strikeouts made it so that Jarrod Saltilamaccia came to bat in the 8th he was the one man standing between the Orioles and the 9th inning. But Salty didn't care. After a spectacular at bat that culminated with Saltilamaccia's working a full count, he got all of an 89 mile per hour cutter driving it high and far to left field. 

Red Sox fans jumped to the edge of their seats and NESN play by play announcer: Don Orsillo screamed the question all of Red Sox nation was asking at that point in time. "Dose it have enough?" 

At first it seemed like it didn't have enough but as the ball continued to rise one could picture that the next words out of the mouth of the voice of the Red Sox on NESN would be something along the lines of "GONE!" But then, at the lest second, the ball dropped just enough so that it firmly collided with a the Green Monster mere feet from its top. So here we were, the game was still tied and Jarrod Saltilamaccia had one more double in a season that had already yielded 34 for him. Salty is no sprinter so it seemed that in some way shape or form that Baltimore would eventually get out of the 8th with no damage done to the scoreboard. 

But after Tommy Hunter intentionally walked Stephan Drew, the Red Sox dugout was faced with a tough decision. The Red Sox had to get a hit here but with rookie Xander Bogarts set to come to bat, they cold not afford to allow nerves to come into play. According to Bogarts, manager John Farrell told him that if Drew walked that he would be pinch hit for. 

"I appreciated that he gave me a heads-up," Bogaerts said.

Fans booed as Bogarts walked out of the on deck circle only to be replaced by veteran: Mike Carp, but Xander was corgil. 

"Good luck." He supposedly said while shaking Carp's hand. Weather he needed Bogarts' wishing it or not, luck was on Carp's side as he soon weakly lined an RBI single over the dive of 3rd basemen Manny Muchado. 

"It's how we work as a team." Carp said. 

The Red Sox would go on to retire the Orioles in order in the top of the 9th inning, winning their 4th straight game, their 3rd straight series and putting them in a position to earn their first sweep in months.  

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