And alas we are done: Whistle mercifully blows on Red Sox season

Well at least we were better than Bobby.

The Red Sox 2014 season came to an end Sunday afternoon with the Sox dropping a 9-5 decision to the equally lackluster Yankees. The Sox finished 25 games out of first place in the AL East with a record of 71 and 91. For those keeping track, that is just two more wins than were amassed by the self-deprecating 2012 Red Sox.

For those who have watched this season, the apparent similarities between the two campaigns would be seen to go far beyond the win-loss records. The Red Sox lost great pitching cornerstones this season in John Lackey and Jon Lester just a few months after letting Jacoby Ellsbury drop into a mega money contract with New York. Though good at times, the overall pitching capabilities of the Sox were unimpressive this year. Boston logged a team ERA of nearly 4.00 while chucking wildly inaccurate attempts at sly pitches.  

Their offence was no better, hacking at pitches all year long and evidently loosing that never-say-die attitude that won them the World Series last season.

Such were common themes from day one of the 2014 regular season just as they were in 2012. Such were also common themes in day 180 of the 2014 season, just as they were in 2012.

The Red Sox began their final game of 2014 with a lengthy ceremony honoring the retiring Yankee captain – Derek Jeter. The ceremony included many of Boston’s top cops of sports the most notable of which being the greats Bobby Orr, Troy Brown and Paul Peirce of the Bruins, Patriots and Celtics respectively.

Following the ceremony, Boston fell behind in swift fashion (cue first theme) when they allowed a two run triple to Ichiro Suzuki. Immediately following that, in Jeter’s final at bat an understandably non devout effort by Mookie Betts to snag a low chopper allowed the Yankees to sneak in an extra run.

Jeter left following the RBI to a standing ovation, hugs from his teammate and a lingering farewell with Red Sox first basemen Mike Napoli.

Sox pitcher, Clay Buchholz exited the game 4 innings later, closing out his season with an 8-11 record. That winning percentage of 42.1% was his worst as a starting pitcher.

Hitting behind Buchholz were new Red Sox, Mookie Betts and Dan Butler who, in the 7^th inning broke the Yankees shutout with a combined 5 RBI’s on two doubles.

Then it all ended. The Sox were handed their 27^thout of the ball game and, as Derek Jeter said goodbye to baseball, the Red Sox said goodbye to many of the fans who signed on this year expecting more than a last place finish.

After 6 months of shortcomings and 5 months of knowing that the season was going nowhere the 2014 Red Sox season ended without fanfare.

“Dan Butler flies out to left fielder Chris Young,” read the scorebook from Sunday’s game. The 2014 Sox jumped off the bat with all the potential in the world. They died, fell from the sky and found themselves tucked away in baseball lore, an afterthought of epic proportions.

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Rusney Castillo praised for professionalism, confidence in MLB debut

Red Sox fans were finally treated to the long awaited debut of Cuban star Rusney Castillo Tuesday night.

Ever since the team signed the 27 year old outfielder to a whopping 72 million dollar contract last month, fans had been eagerly awaiting their first chance to see the star in a big league game. Castillo was said to be the kind of player that could play a huge role in this franchise going forward and fans were excited to see if that was true. And yet ever since Castillo’s ETA to the MLB was announced last week, Red Sox fans had been further weighed down by the question that seems to always go hand in hand with these kinds of contracts. What if? Sox fans asked ahead of his debut, what if we overestimated him?

Those worries were an omnipresent emotion that seemed to crawl in between the questions, tweets and predictions fired off as the prospect of Castillo’s debut drew closer and closer to its becoming a reality.  

As a result, PNC Park in Pittsburgh was packed to capacity Wednesday playing host to journalists, Pirates fans and Red Sox fans alike, the majority of whom were there to see Castillo. Their able bodied, able talented subject of their showering in anxious admiration did not disappoint. Needless to say, he did not shock fans either.

Playing 8 innings out in left field, Castillo made just one play on the baseball, snagging an easy put out in the 5^th innings. At the plate, he went 1-4 logging his first career hit in the 4^thinning on a sharply hit grounder to second base.

1 hit is not spectacular but judging by the fact that that 1 hit was struck during the biggest game of Castillo’s career, he has no reason to hang his head; and he is not.

"I'm pretty satisfied with that being my first game; obviously you would like a better outcome in terms of winning the game, but I was pretty satisfied with my overall approach and the way I stepped in today and had some results," Castillo said to translator Adrian Lorenzo after the game.

Castillo has shown that he has the skills to step in and made a big impact on this team once he builds some chemistry with the staff and his teammates. He said Wednesday that he feels he is in a good place as a ball player.

"Yes, yes, I've been pretty happy with the way things have worked out, not just with the success on the field but the relationships I've been able to develop with the coaching staff and clubhouse staff and teammates." He said.

In a lost season that sees the Red Sox on pace to finish with virtually the same record as they did two years ago under Bobby Valentine, Rusney Castillo is quickly showing both adaptability and sheer skill in his new club. After playing with poise and a cool head Wednesday, this player deemed worth 72 million dollars by his coaches is winning immense praise from those coaches and GM’s.

Ben Cherrington, the mastermind behind the August deal for Castillo was among the most impressed with Castillo’s professionalism.

"I don't think it's the results that you learn from. It's just watching him around the team, pregame, interacting with people, questions he asks, all that stuff has been positive so far,” Cherrington said. “Even if you just start with the time he was in Miami, and the showcase and go from there, the signing, the minors, being in Fort Myers, Portland, Pawtucket, he's met a lot of people and played games in a lot of different places, and he's handled it all well."

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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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Red Sox and Rays start playing dodge-ball at Fenway: Umpires lose control in game where benches clear and 3 batters hit

Last year when Ryan Depster drilled Alex Rodrigiuez with a pitch, it was a bit of a revival of the nasty bench clearing brawls we saw between Boston and New York back in the early 2000's. However, when the Red Sox and Rays brawled on May 25th and then followed it up with an even rougher game 5 days later, that pegging of A-Rod suddenly looked petty.

The game started with fire. With 2 outs in the first inning, David Ortiz walked to the plate and stood in against former Cy Young winner, David Price. Price proceeded to drill a 95MPH fastball right into the Sox slugger's spine. Immediately, home plate umpire Jeff Kellog emphatically warned Price, the Rays bench as well as the Red Sox bench and Ortiz ferociously stared down Price as he began his trot towards first. 

But the fun was not done, even for that inning. As Ortiz finished delivering his death stare to David Price, John Farrell emerged from the dugout and began barking at a crowd of umpired between home plate and the pitcher’s mound. Before Farrell said anything though, he was ejected and we had ourselves yet another vicious baseball game. As the game dragged on though, Price proved that he seemed to be on a mission to turn this baseball game into a dodge-ball game. With 2 outs in the 4th inning, Price pegged Mike Carp with another 90MPH+ fastball and drew both teams out of their dugouts. Immediately, David Ortiz jumped into the scrum and began screaming and shoving Jose Molina in an attempt to get at Price. Also erupting during the fight was Rays bench-warmer Sean Rodriguez who despite being on the other side of the pile than the Red Sox was absolutely fuming. And yet as the umpires convened again, Price was not tossed. Acting manager Torey Lovullo however came out, got ejected after he spiked his cap and then started screaming at the officials of this game. Probably for good reason, the Red Sox got absolutely whacked by the umpires Friday night in Boston and nobody was happy. 

But anyway, with Lovullo gone, the Sox moved on to their 3rd  manager of the night: Brian Butterfeild. Miraculously, we made it to the 6th inning before anything more developed. With 1 out and 1 ball thrown to Evan Longoria in the 6th, Brandon Workman chucked a rising fastball behind and about 2 feet ABOVE Longoria. The pitch was without a doubt at least a bad attempt at a bean-ball and finally, the umpires recognized that. Workman and Butterfeild were both sent packing and suddenly we ended up with hitting coach Greg Coulbern acting as Boston's 4th manager of the night.

Coulbern would manage for all 5 innings between the Workman debacle and AJ Pierzynski's walk off triple in the 10th inning. But after dotting their opponents with baseball sized bruises and screaming copious amounts of profanity, the Sox and Rays took to the microphones after the game to further attack one another. One of the most blatant of this verbal attacks was made against David Price by David Ortiz. 

"It's a war," Ortiz said after the Red Sox victory, "It's on. Next time I see him, he better put his gloves on. I have no respect for him anymore."

Ortiz also eluded to the fact that Price may still be angry about last year’s wild card round when Ortiz shredded him with multiple home runs. He hinted that Price's lingering hatred is a sign of bad sportsmanship.

"I had a lot of respect for the guy, man," he said. "It is over now. I have no more respect for him. Last year, we kicked his butt in the playoffs and he went off talking crap about everyone. We go to talk on the phone after we kind of straightened things out. He was upset, and then I let him know how I felt. Later on he called me and apologized because he knew he was wrong. Everything was cool, so the first at-bat of the season against him, he drills me." 

John Farrell then came to the podium and cast a heavy eye on the umpires for allowing Price to stay in the game after the Ortiz bean-ball. 

"David's a heckuva pitcher," Farrell said regarding Price. "He comes in with two hit batters and eight walks on the year. He's got the lowest walk rate in the American League. And when he throws a ball and hits David Ortiz in the back, there is intent to that. They can dispute that all they want. There is intent to that pitch. As emphatic as Dan Bellino's warning was, it sure seemed like Dan Bellino felt there was intent as well."

He then started talking about how in the world Price survived the Mike Carp hit batter incident 3 innings later. Farrell obviously disagreed with the umpires' handling of the warning system and why a second warning was not issued after Carp was hit. 

"I disagreed with it," Farrell continued. "He took the ball out of our hand, and after [Red Sox first baseman] Mike Carp got hit with a ball up around his neck and they didn't make a move, then the umpires allowed this game to escalate even further. When we have four people ejected and also three players hit by pitches and they have none, that's a hard one to figure out," Farrell said. "He threw at Ortiz and hit him in the back. There's intent to that."

Umpire Dan Bellino defended his decision in the Carp incident while not speaking directly to the Ortiz handling.

"Again, if we feel there was intent to hit the batter, he would have been ejected," Bellino said of Price after the game. "We felt the pitch was certainly inside, but not intentional, so that's why he stayed in the game."

All and all, Friday night was a dark night for the umpiring universe. In a game with bean-balls galore, post-game comments of great foreboding nature, 4 umpires let a game get out of control and possibly set the stage for Ortiz's little feud with David Price to turn into the war he declared against him. 

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Red Sox doing the wrong things in search for wins: Bench clearing dust up Sunday afternoon is culmination of that

This weekend was a hard one for Boston Red Sox fans. On Sunday, former Red Sox star, Josh Beckett hurled the 9th no hitter in Dodgers history while 2 other 2012 Sox, Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez continued through rather successful starts to 2014. On the other side of the country, the Boston Red Sox were angry and not too willing to simply stretch in the 7th inning.

Boston was trailing 8-3 after Craig Breslow lost all control and allowed the Tampa Bay Rays to score 7 runs in the 7th inning and suddenly, Yuneal Escobar of the Rays decided to try for 3rd base. He made it there without contest and the play was ruled defensive indifference. As the Boston Globe's Nick Kafardo wrote after the brawl, "the Red Sox thought the Rays were piling on". Now is not the time to discuss the sportsmanship of base stealing in the late innings of a lopsided game but regardless, the Escobar and Sox backup catcher David Ross began barking at each other with Escobar removing his helmet and pointing at the Sox bench.

To put things simply, before anything more transpired between Escobar and the bench, he was distracted. Johnny Gomes came barreling in from his position in left field to shove and throw punches as Escobar and 3rd base coach Tom Foley. Both benches then emptied and more punches were thrown by Mike Carp, Jose Molina and Sean Rodriguez. In the end, Gomes, Escobar and Rodriguez were all ejected from the game as a result of the brawl and the Red Sox would eventually lose the game by a score of 8-5 less than a half hour later. So what is the outcome of all of this?

Well once again, Johnny Gomes proved to the world how committed he is to his teammates. Gomes said after the game that he had no problem with the stolen base but once Escobar started fighting his away around his 3rd base coach and screaming at Ross and the Red Sox bench Gomes felt like he had to get involved.

He said of Escobar, "He was yelling at our dugout. He kept yelling, took his helmet off, and continued to yell. I don't know, I don't have much patience, don't have much time right now to be in an arguing match. He can take the bag all he wants, you know, but yell in my dugout, point in my dugout, take your helmet off and basically challenge our whole dugout, I'll have a problem with that."

Gomes also saw that yelling at Escobar was not working. He employed a different media to get his message across.

“I figured the hands-on approach was a little more appropriate,” Gomes added.

There you have that fact to answer some of your questions about the outcome of this brawl but on top of that there are questions as to how this brawl might have united the rest of the team.

"Everybody enjoys a little dustup once in a while,” said Red Sox bench coach Torey Lovullo. “I think our guys came together. We stuck up for each other. Personally, I think it could be what we needed.

“We showed some emotion. Our guys got their point across.”

But in a way, this fight seemed like an easy way out. The Boston Red Sox are currently in the midst of their longest losing streak in 20 years and are surely frustrated about the abysmal appearance of their win loss record. While fighting may temporarily reverse that anger and/or infuse the fan base with a bit of excitement, it is so much easier to run out and fight than it is to buckle down and win a ball game and in truth, it has been this mantra of taking the easy way out that has pinned the Sox in this undesirable position.

What the Red Sox need to do now is realize that this little shoving match is not the WWE smack-down that many have portrayed it as and that they need to focus on the aspects of baseball that matter. Those aspects include actually putting the bat on the ball, throwing strikes and making plays in the field when they matter. And beyond that, they need to just shut up and grind through the rest of this losing streak. This is a case where throwing punches or plunking an opponent with a fastball will do nothing to boost the morale of this stumbling baseball team.

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That's more like it: After a so-so month of April the Red Sox are finally at .500 gain...and they are only getting better

For the first time in almost a month, the Boston Red Sox have the same number of wins as they have losses. After an April of shortcomings where lack of run production coupled with inaccuracy and lack of stamina on the part of the team's pitching, the past week or so of games have whispered that May would not follow the same template. 

In their first 7 games of April, the Sox have gone 4 and 3, twice dragging games out past the end of the 9th inning and on three occasions did they amass more than 5 runs in a game. Perhaps the most stunning display of offensive power at least came in the team's series with Oakland.  In the 3rd game of the month back on May 3rd, the Sox sent a shaky Clay Buchholz to the mound against an equally shaky Oakland team devoid of any bullpen talent.   

After Buchholz retired the first 6 of 7 batters he faced, the former Sox stud ran into trouble in the 3rd and 4th innings but did not completely loose it as the Sox were able to not only stay in the game but, through 3 innings hold onto a 2-1 lead. Over the course of the next 3 innings, the Red Sox sank, all be it briefly, back into their pattern of leaving runners in scoring position. Between the 3rd and 6th innings, 4 Red Sox reached base. None of them scored.  But all was made better in the 6th inning when, with the bases loaded, Sox 2nd basemen, Dustin Pedroia, smacked his first home run of the year effectively putting the game out of reach for the Athletics. In true irony, the homer was Pedey's 100th of his career and it lofted him up into an esteemed club of Sox players with 100 homes runs and 100 stolen bases. 

"That's a moment I'll always remember -- being on base as he hit his 100th, and it also being his 500th RBI," said Sox centerfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. "That was special. After a tough day yesterday, to come back out the way we did today, play the ball we were capable of, it feels good." 

The game was immediately hailed as a revival of the Red Sox ideals and the mantra of play that they have won with such proficiency and dominance. Little did those who were labeling the game as such know but less than 24 hours later, the Red Sox would duplicate their feat once again. In the middle game of the 3 game set with the A's, home runs by David Ortiz and David Ross coupled with a first inning grand slam by Johnny Gomes helped seal the series victory while almost overshadowing one of the greatest games in Jon Lester's career. The Sox southpaw pitched 8 innings of 1 his baseball walking 2 batters and shutting out A's for the entity of his time in the game. But all of those stats are rendered mute by the historic number sitting in the strikeout column. Out of the 26 batters Jon Lester faced, he struck out 15 of them. To put that in perspective that is a whopping strikeout percentage of 57%. 

Sox manager John Farrell was impressed.

"Just the combination of power and command was impressive," said Farrell. "He was locked in seemingly from the first pitch of the game. He maintained his stuff throughout -- four pitches for strikes, and three of those on both sides of the plate. So he was in command from the start." 

Though the home field dominance would end momentarily in the rubber match of the series with Oakland, the Sox got things back together in dramatic fashion against the Reds at the midpoint of this past week. In the team’s longest game of the year, the Sox and Reds battled it out for 12 innings. The length of the game was mainly prolonged by stunning defensive work by Dustin Pedroia and Shane Victorino who were constantly diving around for balls that seemed like sure base hits fresh off the bat. 

Perhaps the most stunning of these plays was made by Victorino in the top of the 9th inning. With the game tied Tucker Banhart got behind a fastball from Koji Uehara and lifted it high and deep to right field. In true loyalty to his nickname, the Flyin Hawiian tracked the ball down and hauled it in before it left the yard.

"If there's anything that's going to stay in the ballpark, there's always confidence that Vic is going to get under it," said manager John Farrell. "Barnhart puts a good swing on a ball off of Koji [Uehara], but Vic seemingly is all over the field on defense."

Unfortunately for Boston, the Reds matched them when they were on defense and the game remained tied.

However the stalemate was finally ended in the final minutes of May 6th when Sox newcomer Grady Seizemore crushed a hard line drive off the left-center-field wall, scoring Dustin Pedroia from 3rd and ending the game on a high note. 

                                                                      

I was pretty psyched," said Sizemore. "It was a good feeling. I try not to get too emotional out there, try to keep it on the same level, but right there, I let it out a little bit." Seizemore in particular has been one of the most impressive bright spots in Boston sports right now. After he was signed as an afterthought during the off season, the former all-star made his first appearance since 2011 as the opening day starter for the defending World Series Champions back in April for the Sox. Since then he has exhibited truly magical drive for victory and statistical success. The walk off single was just a culmination of that. 

"He has been doing great," said David Ortiz. "He's not out there every day, but every time he is, he does something special. I think as the season goes, you start getting more confident and more comfortable and things start getting better, especially in a player like him."

It seemed the only bad part of the late game on Tuesday was the fact that the Sox had to play again the next day in the rubber match of the series on Wednesday. Though they started slow however, all would end well in that game as Boston rallied in the 8th inning to grind out yet another 1 run victory. 

As bad as April was for this team that is expected to challenge for the AL East crown come September, May has shown the true identity of the Boston Red Sox. Once again they are a gritty team with an omnipresent obsession with professionalism and camaraderie.

The only thing different between the 2013 Sox and the May 2014 Red Sox is the fact that there are a few less beards on the bench. 

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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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David Ortiz finally cracks the code on Detroit pitching: 8th inning grand slam and ensuing walk-off evens ALCS at 1-1

David Ortiz has hit 15 career postseason home runs. 

Fact is, series have been won off of balls hit by his bat. Hopes have been dashed and tears have drawn as a result of moments solicited by Papi but in the baseball world, it seems that we must rank the best. The only problem with that is yet another laughable tenancy we Sox fans seem to harbor without question. When it comes to memories of walk-offs and clutch plays, our memories are about as good as Dory from Finding Nemo.

Sox fans live in the present and dub each new walk-off, each new comeback or no hitter the greatest of its kind. The only difference is that on this Columbus day morning we know that what happened last night might actually be.

At close to 11:30 last night the vacant living room that I was watching the game in was one that even with just 1 body in it was filled with an atmosphere that had only recently come to this series. In game one, Anibal Sanchez shut down the Sox holding them hit less through 6 and bringing them to the brink of history. To that point, no team in MLB history had ever thrown a combined postseason no hitter. With just 2 outs to go in the game, the Sox would keep lat list empty by breaking up the no-no with a single. 

But nevertheless, coming that close to absolute failure on a stage as high as the ALCS raises questions, doubts and above all some looming fears.  

All three of those emotions and mental actions were present following game one but by the 7th inning of game two, the latter part of that list had turned from petty fears born from overreaction to ones that screamed justification for their being. 1 night after Sanchez, the Sox once again saw the Tigers hold a no hitter through 5 innings and even once it was broken up watched as starter Max Scherzer continue without a hitch. By the time he departed the Tigers held a 5-1 lead. Boston had complied just 2 hits and to that point in the series had just 1 extra base hit on 3 connections. Scherzer had struck out 13 Red Sox to move the team total to 30 through just 16 innings and unlike the night before when Anibal Sanchez left with just a 1 run lead, the 4 point advantage for Detroit seemed all but untouchable. 

Until something more magical that fairies or unicorns seemed to finally side with the Red Sox. It cannot be fully explained but like they had all season long, Fenway Park and the fans within it seemingly willed the ball to collide with Boston's 8th inning bats as over the course of just 16 pitches the game went from one with   ONE out in 8th to one with the bases loaded with JUST one out in the 8th. What’s better is the name that came to the plate as he attempted to tie the game with 1 swing of the bat. That name was David Ortiz, owner of countless postseason walk-offs and tying blasts. Boston was one clutch hit away from tying the game and in all likelihood the series.  

"I didn't go there trying to get a grand slam I just wanted a hit." Ortiz said but nevertheless as he tried for a hit, he got the slam.  

At first look, the ball looked short and Sox fans begged for it to come down but as it hung in the air, our aspirations turned from single to homer. Tori Hunter moved back reached up and tumbled face first into the Sox Bullpen all in a desperate effort to snag that baseball. As he rose to his feet, head bloodied and ball lying harmlessly on the ground, we knew that he had not. The game was tied, 5-5. 

"Unbelievable," said third baseman Will Middlebrooks. "I mean, I know I've said unbelievable probably about 100 times. I'm pretty numb right now. I'm pretty speechless." 

Tori Hunter who was helped to his feet after flipping into the bull pen said that he was "ticked off" after the game. 

"I'm [ticked] off," Tigers right fielder Torii Hunter said. "The one guy you don't want to beat you, he beat us. One of the best hitters in postseason history. And this guy, he hit the ball out of the park and ties the game up and they end up coming back and winning the game. That's the way it goes. We're all [ticked]." 

But when you think about it, it was not Ortiz's slam that served as the bee in Hunter's bonnet. No what had him so mad was what happened in the 9th inning. 

After Koji Uehara came bounding into the game in the 9th to retire the Tigers in order, things got hairy once the Sox came to bat. During the lead off at bat held by pinch hitter Johnny Gomes, the Sox left fielder soon found himself down in the count 2-1. Yet for Gomes, that second strike was far better than the alternative, an out. With a ball and a strike, Gomes struck the ball high but foul in the direction of the stands by 1st base. As Prince Feilder ranged over, the hungry arms of fans along the line flew forward and stretched for the ball. Feilder did the same and so, a strife occurred. The ball clanged harmlessly off the glove of Feilder and so, Gomes' at bat continued. 

Gomes got lucky with the Feilder play, but once he clanged a seemingly harmless single into the mitt of the shortstop, it became evident that that luck was not done assisting the Red Sox. After diving for first base, Gomes hopped to his feet and turned to second as Jose Iglacias skyed the ball high over 1st base. 

As Saltilamaccia was batting, Gomes advanced to 3rd on an untimely wild pitch. 

3 pitches later, Salty connected and Johnny Gomes knew it. As he took off from 3rd, Gomes was pumping his fist and screaming in delight as he touched home and the sped off to join the pile assaulting Jarrod Saltilamaccia in shallow left field.  

After almost 2 full games of failure, strikeouts and lack of any contact whatsoever the Sox finally broke through in the 8th and 9th inning last night. With grand slams and clutch singles the Sox many of whom watched the Patriots nip the Saints at the buzzer continued one heck of a weekend in Boston sports. 

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Sox take ownership: Boston beats Toronto 6-3 - clench AL East pennant

From worst to first.  It's a phrase that has been thrown around time and time again but what’s better is the fact that among all the 3 page articles, all the hours of talk show time devoted to the subject it is that 4 word saying that might capture the story of this 2013 better than any other. In one season the Boston Red Sox went from that pathetic team that was making the cover of SI for all the wrong reasons to one that had made history. 

At 10:30 PM last night, Koji Uehara fanned Bret Lawrie recording the 3rd out of the 9th inning, and completing run that had never been made in the history of Red Sox baseball. They had officially gone from last in the east in one year to first in the next. 

They won 6-3 over the Blue Jays last night snagging their 94th victory one night after their 2013 season win totals equaled those in the 2012 loss column. John Farrell became only the 7th Red Sox manager to lead his team to the playoffs in his first year and Jon Lester earned the win in this one. That win was the 100th in his career. 

"They have a great team over there, they really do," said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. "They ran away with a good division. It's not even close right now."

Lester hurled 7 innings of 5 hit ball allowing just 1 run and 2 walks. Of course, it was win number 100 in his career but also his 15th on the year. This was his 5th 15 win year in the past 6 seasons. 

"The biggest thing is," Lester began to say before Andrew Bailey emptied a bottle of champagne on his face, "God, that's cold. We don't give up." 

"I wanted to finish the game, but obviously that didn't work out," Lester said. "I've never been able to be on the mound in a game like this. To be there in the end and have everybody dogpile you; I'm a little disappointed I only went seven." 

Unlike Lackey who hurled a minuscule 113 pitches in the near no hit complete game 2 nights ago, Lester had already thrown 123 pitched by the end of the 7th inning so his day was without a doubt done. The reason for that high pitch count was the sheer drama that the Jays invoked almost all night long. From the 1st to the 9th inning it seemed that the bases were always loaded for Toronto but riding an equally omnipresent storm of double plays Lester always seemed to find a way out of the jam. The only problem there was the fact that among the 7 innings he pitched, 5 of them involved more than 20 pitches for Lester. 

"These guys are unbelievable," Nieves said of Lester and the pitching staff. "They have seen death in their own eyes. It's no big deal now. It's no big deal. I think when you've seen the worst, you expect the best after that."

The Sox would add 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th inning as David Ortiz tacked on a 1 run 0 out single that scored Jackie Bradley Jr. and moved Daniel Nava to 2nd. 1 batter later after Mike Napoli grounded into a 4-1-3 double play, Mike Carp smacked up a screaming 2 run single that scored both Nava and David Ortiz. 

Before long, Koji Uehara was into the game starring down the barrel of what would go down as his largest save of the year. Before long, those 5 outs had been notched, the Sox were AL East champions and as they mobbed each-other just to the right of 3rd base, Fenway roared as they watched a scene 4 years in the making. 

Just proud of this group," Sox GM: Ben Cherrington said as he wore a tee shirt bearing the words "WE OWN THE EAST" across the chest. "But we're not done; we're going to keep playing." 

They sprinted back to their locker room, proudly wherein the shirts that they subliminally wanted to advertise. They donned their ski goggles to keep the nearly explosive wine out of their eyes jumped around and celebrated for a while all before they returned to the field. There, Koji jumped atop the dugout roof and high five-d fans. Clay Buchholz ran along the foul lines dousing fans in campaign and Johnny Gomes stood by 1st base and punted 5 to 10 beers into the crowd. 

Amidst a celebration 4 years in the making, we hooted with laughter jumping for joy and realizing the pennant win nearly 6 years in the making. With just under 10 games left in the season, the Boston Red Sox have 94 wins. They have flipped the tide from just one year ago and the greatest part of this all is that there is still time for the Sox to snag number 100. 

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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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