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Boston Globe:
Sox-Yanks pitching matchups > Sox do it again > Wake Comments
were doctored > Robinson's legacy set in stone > Thumbs |
Boston Herald:
'Tek good in pinch > Heckuva first game > Cora corralled >
Schilling offers a far-from-Curt response > Chamberlain to miss
Sox |
ProJo:
Varitek's 9th inning homer fuels comeback > Ailing Cora could be
put on the DL > Schilling insists: I won't play for Yankees >
Wrapup |
Hartford Courant:
Farnsworth comes up big in Yankees win > ESPN settles with
Reynolds > Phillies beat Astros > Tigers rally past Twins |
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It's Red Sox vs. YankeeZZZzzzzz: Rivalry's Buzz Takes a Beating
38Pitches: 'Umm, no.' | Wilbur: Space Shot | Yankee Swap
Video: Big Papi Explains Reason for Hitting Woes
Oct 31, 2006:
Oct 30, 2006:
He's Gone Belli Up
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(AP Photo) |
Beer-League Mirabelli Files for Free Agency
Wake's Going to Have to Deal with Another Good Catch
Because Theo Learned a Lesson from the
School of Bard Knocks
Nixon, Kapler Join Mirabelli in Free Agency
Oct 29, 2006:
Oct 28, 2006:
Oct 27, 2006:
Two Years Ago Tonight, There Were
No St. Louis Blues for the Red Sox
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(Getty Images Photos) |
One More Time...
Remember When They Won It All?
Happy Mannyversary.
"I don't believe in curses, I think you make your own destination."
-- 10.27.04, 2004 World Series MVP Manny Ramirez
2004 World Series: It's Been a While
Sox, Cries, and Audiotape
"This is for anyone who ever played for the Red Sox, anyone who ever rooted for the Red Sox, anyone who has ever been to Fenway Park. This is bigger than the 25 players in this clubhouse. This is for all of Red Sox Nation past and present. I hope they're enjoying it as much as we are." -- 10.27.04, Theo Epstein, Red Sox GM
The Original Rolling Rally ...
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(Boston Globe File Photo) |
Took Place on a Ryder Truck 20 Years Ago
Will There Be a 'Third Place in the AL East' Excursion Soon?
Globe: A Thrill in the Air in '86
World Series Game 4: Paper Tigers Pushed to Brink
15 Minutes Are Up for
'Twenty Good Years'
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(NBC Photo) |
Werner and Henry Teamed Up on a New Sitcom
And Now It's Gone Faster Than the 2006 Red Sox
' "We have to make the best of these 20 good years," [Red Sox owner John] Henry recalls saying.
"Not too long after, Werner came out with the script for a new sitcom that will premiere on NBC this week. The title: 'Twenty Good Years.'
"It may be the first time that two Red Sox owners have jointly dreamed up a television series, but that's only because they have not been at it that long. The two now are so close that they e-mail back and forth for hours during the middle of the night -- astonishing, considering that just five years ago, they barely knew each other, and each harbored his own dream of being the primary face of the team." -- 10.8.06, Behind the scenes, Werner juggles Sox, sitcoms, Boston Globe
Here's an Idea... How About Spending More Time, Energy, and Money
to Make Sure the Boston Red Sox Return to Respectability
Before Another 86 Good Years Go By?
Oct 26, 2006:
From the PawSox ...
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(Jeff Suppan BDD Photo / Bill Chapman) |
... To Taking On Michael J. Fox
Boston Globe Series Notebook: Suppan is the Opposing Pitcher
"The ad in which Suppan appeared was in response to one that aired during Game 1, in which actor Michael J. Fox offered support for Democratic senator Claire McCaskill, a proponent of the amendment...
" 'Amendment 2 claims it bans human cloning,' Suppan says in the ad, 'but in the 2,000 words you won't read, it makes cloning a constitutional right. Don't be deceived.' " -- 10.26.06, Boston Globe World Series Notebook
Oct 25, 2006:
Same Old, Same Old ...
Timlin's Coming Back for $2.8 Million
as Red Sox 'Rebuilding' Continues
Can an El Guapo Signing Be Far Behind? A Tim Wakefield Extension?
You Can Hear the Stampede to the Virtual Waiting Room for '07 Tickets Now
Gammons Still High on Josh Beckett
""The 16 wins were fine, but the 5.01 ERA and 36 gopher balls were a major disappointment to the Red Sox, who thought the 26-year old would be a No. 1 or 2 starter. The stuff is there; it's just that in New York and Toronto they can hit 97 mph gas into the streets. Next year he will make the adjustments, use his four-seamer, dominate down and away to right-handed batters and mix in his changeup better.
"Heart is not an issue, and Beckett finally crossed the 200-inning level. Now he has to learn to pitch, and the important thing is that he wants to be great." -- 10.21.06, Peter Gammons, ESPN Insider blog (by subscription)
Oct 24, 2006:
Remembering When the Sox Used to
Beat Around the Busch in October
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(BDD Photo / Bob from Erie) |
And Wishing the Tigers Much Soxcess in St. Louis
"In early 2005, when the new stadium was being built, the Cardinals advertized a 'stadium brick paver' program where you could purchase a customized brick to be placed in the sidewalk around the stadium. I got together with a few friends and we purchased this Sox tribute brick. I recently learned they placed the brick right in front of Gate 1 - a main entrance at Busch." -- 10.24.06, Bob from Erie, Penn.
Bradford: Schilling Teaches MIT a Thing or Two
Wilbur: A Pine Mess | Extra Bases: No Japan for Tito
Collegian: Rogers is Just Another Player in a
Cheating-Friendly Environment
Oct 22, 2006:
Oct 20, 2006:
Extra Bases: Francona to Manage All-Stars in Japan
It's a Mag Job
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(Getty Images Photo / Nick Laham) |
Former Padres Hitting Coach Hired by Red Sox
Extra Bases: Dave Magadan's Officially On Board
"Philosophically, as a hitting coach, I like to keep it simple. Every hitter has got his own personal quirks at the plate and as a hitting instructor you’ve got to work within the framework of each hitter. There’s not just one way to hit. I’m a hard-worker, I believe in looking at a lot of video, being prepared, learning the pitchers we’re going to be facing. When I was in San Diego I did all of the advance scouting for our hitters on the pitchers that we were going to be facing."
"When a new pitcher comes into a game, [it's important to] give your hitters an idea of how they’re going to be pitched in a game," said Magadan. "David Ortiz probably isn’t going to be pitched the same way as an Alex Cora, so I think you’ve got to know your hitters and know what little bits of information they need about that pitcher that’s going to try to get them out that day." -- 10.20.06, Dave Magadan, Red Sox hitting coach
Molina Blast Sends
St. Louis to Motown
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(Getty Images Photo / Al Bello) |
We're Stuck Watching La Russa and the Cards
as Mets Can't Capitalize on Chavez Catch Momentum
Soup Was On Again as Birds Take Game 7, 3-1
Carlos Bel-trance: He Likes to Watch
Eric Wilbur: White Hot Stripes
Oct 19, 2006:
OFFSEASON REPORT by Gary Jacobs
The Finest LCS
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(Boston Globe File Photo) |
OCT. 19, 2006 -- It was a pulse-pounding, amazing, improbable comeback, wasn’t it? It had a little bit of everything: clutch performances from players who failed to impress during the regular season; stars overcoming injury; timely late-inning home runs; a lucky bounce or two; a ninth inning where the Sox, backs against the wall, dismantled the other guy’s lights-out closer; and when it was all said and done, the Red Sox would come together at the mound in a joyous throng and celebrate having won the American League Pennant. It would go down as the greatest comeback in Red Sox' history.
2004? Nope. Try 1986.
Before The Idiots, before John Henry and Larry Lucchino and Theo Epstein, before Dan Duquette, before The Curse, even before “25 men, 25 cabs,” there were John McNamara’s 1986 Red Sox, who overcame a 3-1 deficit in the ALCS – and a 5-2 deficit in the ninth inning of Game 5 – to the then-California Angels for the right to represent the American League in the World Series.
We all know what came 12 days later: defeat as humbling and draining as can possibly happen in the world of sports. Any self-respecting Red Sox fan felt a duty to obliterate the memory of that crushing season from his memory.
But if, instead of spitting the bit in epic, tragic fashion, the Red Sox had been able to close the deal 20 years ago, children from Springfield to Salem would be schooled in the magical summer of 1986, and its just as magical autumn, whose climax came not in the World Series, but the week before in the LCS, just as in 2004.
And now that 2004 has come and gone, bringing with it redemption and neutralization of all the bitterness of past years, the story of the 1986 ALCS deserves - needs – to be told, needs to find a new audience 20 years after the fact, to acknowledge heroic deeds and to remember just how close the Red Sox came to bowing out of the playoffs without even a chance at glory.
* * *
The 1985 edition of the Boston Red Sox defined mediocrity; they finished a perfect 81-81, 18 ½ games behind AL East leading Toronto, good for fifth place in the seven-team division. With an average attendance of 22,057 (which meant there were around 12,000 empty seats in the park every day), it’s safe to say that Red Sox fever was not exactly running wild in the streets of Boston. Though there were some exemplary individual performances – Wade Boggs won the batting title with a .368 BA, and Dwight Evans won yet another Gold Glove – expectations for the ’86 squad were low.
Indeed, the 1986 campaign promised to show little difference from the previous year. The team made few wholesale changes; the only really big move came in November of 1985, when the team worked a multi-player trade with the New York Mets, which distilled into the Sox sending Bob Ojeda and receiving Calvin Schiraldi and Wes Gardner. A few minor trades and some tentative dips in the free agency pool later (Mark Clear to the Brewers for Ed Romero, for example) and the team was done tinkering. Of the nine starters of the ’85 squad, all but one played the majority of the ’86 season (Romero, replacing Jackie Gutierrez at short, was the only new face on the starting nine).
One big difference was the emergence of future Hall-of-Famer Roger Clemens. In 1985, he missed most of the season with a shoulder injury. It’s difficult to conceive of it today, but by opening day 1986, few of baseball’s cognoscenti knew what Clemens would be able to bring to the Red Sox – especially given his poor spring training performance that year (he finished the vernal tune-up with an ERA over 10). He was fourth on the depth chart behind Hurst, Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd, and Al Nipper.
It was Clemens’ transcendent performance against the Seattle Mariners on April 29 that provided the first clue that 1986 might be a special year. In front of a now-inconceivably small crowd of 13,414, Clemens toed the rubber and proceeded to strike out 20 of the 30 batters he’d face, setting a major-league record.
In a town where the Celtics were still a juggernaut – on their way to winning yet another NBA championship and occupying the hearts and minds of the casual fan, Clemens and his otherworldly performance sent a thrill up the spine of Red Sox fans everywhere. Indeed it apparently did wonders for the Red Sox as well; before that game started their record stood at 8-8. They finished their home stand 6-2, went on an eight-game west coast trip, also going 6-2, and came back winning another home stand, 5-1. By May 21 their record stood at 26-13, good for a .667 winning percentage and a well-established lead in the AL East, one which they wouldn’t relinquish for the remainder of the season.
By October 5, 1986, despite dropping all four games of their final series with the second-place Yankees, the Red Sox closed the season with a 95-66 record, outpacing their closest competition by 5 ½ games. Clemens would finish with a 24-4 record and a 2.48 ERA. For the first time since 1975, the Red Sox were going to the postseason.
More...
Oct 18, 2006:
Memorializing The Way They Were
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(BDD Photo Illustration) |
("The Way We Were" by Barbara Streisand)
Memorializing,
Like you leaving in my mind
Misty water-colored memorializing
Of the way we were
Scattered players,
The ‘04 team we left behind
Digs we gave to one another
For the way we were
Can it be that it was all so awful then?
Or has time re-written every line?
If we had the chance to screw it up again
Tell me, would we? Could we?
Memorializing, may be beautiful and yet
What’s too painful to remember
We simply choose to forget
So it’s the gorilla
We will remember
Whenever we remember...
The way we were...
The way we were...
Lucchino, Epstein Memorialize GM Deal
Boston Red Sox President Larry Lucchino: "Do we have an agreement that memorializes an agreement? Yes."
A Look Back: The Theo Epstein Saga Timeline
'We'll Say Nothing! NOTHING!'
Red Sox Media Liaison Sergeant Schultz
Addressed the Print People Yesterday
“The Red Sox front office declined to answer questions yesterday concerning a number of topics, including payroll, their interest in Japanese righthander Daisuke Matsuzaka, whether they were going to deal Manny Ramírez, their free agents, and pitcher Jon Lester, who was stricken with cancer during the season.
"Lucchino and Henry both declined to speak about threshold tax and the team's payroll because both of them indicated there are currently ``sensitive" basic agreement issues being discussed in New York. The basic labor agreement expires at the end of this year.” -- 10.18.06, Nick Cafardo, Boston Globe
Oct 17, 2006:
Signed, Sealed ...
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(Boston Globe Staff Photo / Jim Davis) |
But When's the Last Time He Delivered?
Theo Finally Signs, But Is '07 His Last Chance to
Rebound After Breaking Up the '04 Champs?
Oct 16, 2006:
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