The2004 Boston Red Sox season was the 104th season in the franchise'sMajor League Baseball history. Managed byTerry Francona, theRed Sox finished with a 98–64 record, threegames behind theNew York Yankees in theAmerican League East. The Red Sox qualified for thepostseason as the ALwild card, swept theAnaheim Angels in theALDS, and faced the Yankees in theALCS for the second straight year. After losing the first three games and trailing in the ninth inning of the fourth game, the Red Sox became the first team in major league history to come back from a 3–0 postseason deficit, defeating the Yankees in seven games. The Red Sox then swept theSt. Louis Cardinals in theWorld Series, capturing their first championship since1918.[1][2][3][4]
October 27, 2003: The Red Sox declared that they will not exercise the club option for managerGrady Little or offer him a multi-year deal; ending Little's run as manager of the Red Sox.[7]
November 7, 2003: The Red Sox exercised its 2004 option onDerek Lowe.[8]
December 23, 2003: The Red Sox signed free agentPokey Reese to a base salary of $800,000 with a $200,000 signing bonus and a potential $600,000 performance bonus. The Red Sox also officially announced that they had signedEdwin Almonte to a minor-league contract and signedJason Shiell to a split deal contract that would pay him $303,000.[20]
January 7, 2004: The Red Sox formally signedBrian Daubach to a minor league contract.[21]
Following the team's exit from the postseason by the New York Yankees inGame 7 of the American League Championship Series, Red Sox managerGrady Little was fired from his position on October 27, one business day after the2003 World Series.[22] Little, who had a 188–136 record managing the Red Sox, received a $250,000 parting gift as well as $60,000 in performance bonuses.[23]
During the 2003–04 off season, the Red Sox acquired an ace starting pitcher, Curt Schilling, as well as a closer, Keith Foulke.[27] Many visitors at theirspring training atFort Myers, Florida, were very enthusiastic about the 2004 Red Sox team. Expectations once again ran high that 2004 would finally be the year that the Red Sox ended their championship drought.[28]
The Red Sox also played exhibition games againstBoston College andNortheastern University. The games were played as a doubleheader on March 5. The Red Sox defeated Boston College 9–3 and then defeated Northeastern University 7–0.[58][59]
May 15: The Red Sox acquired Henri Stanley from the San Diego padres in exchange for cash and a player to be named later. The Red Sox also recalledKevin Youkilis fromPawtucket and optionedMark Malaska toPawtucket.[73]
May 21:David Ortiz signs a two-year contract extension with the Red Sox through 2007.[74]
July 29: MLB suspended several Red Sox players for their participation in the infamous brawl on July 24. Catcher Jason Varitek was suspended for four games whilst outfielders Gabe Kapler and Trot Nixon were suspended for three.[92]
The regular season started well in April, but through midseason the team struggled due to injuries, inconsistency, and defensive woes, and fell more than eight games behind New York. A bright point came on July 24, when the Red Sox overcame a five-run deficit asBill Mueller hit a game-winning home run to right-center off Yankees closerMariano Rivera. The game also featured a now infamous brawl between Yankee superstarAlex Rodriguez and Red Sox catcher and captainJason Varitek.[112][113][114]
Red Sox general managerTheo Epstein shook up the team at the MLB trading deadline July 31, trading the team's wildly popular yet often hurt and disgruntled shortstop,Nomar Garciaparra, to theChicago Cubs,[115] receivingOrlando Cabrera from theMontreal Expos andDoug Mientkiewicz from theMinnesota Twins in return. In a separate transaction, the Red Sox also traded Triple-A outfielder Henri Stanley to theLos Angeles Dodgers for center fielderDave Roberts. With valuable players like Cabrera, Mientkiewicz, and Roberts in the lineup, the club turned things around, winning 22 out of 25 games and finishing three games behind the Yankees in the AL East and qualifying for the playoffs as the AL Wild Card.[116]
The team played its home games atFenway Park, before a regular season total attendance of 2,837,304 fans.[117]
Boston began the playoffs by sweeping theAL West championAnaheim Angels.[175] The Red Sox blew out the Angels 9–3 in Game 1, scoring 7 runs in the fourth inning. However, the Sox' 2003 offseason prize pickupCurt Schilling suffered a torntendon when he was hit by a line drive. The injury was exacerbated when Schilling fielded a ball rolling down the first base line. The second game, pitched byPedro Martínez, stayed close until Boston scored four in the ninth inning to win 8–3. In Game 3, what looked to be a blowout turned out to be a nail-biter, asVladimir Guerrero hit a grand slam offMike Timlin in the top of the seventh inning to tie it at six. However,David Ortiz, who was noted for hisclutch hitting, delivered in the 10th inning with a game winning two-run homer, offJarrod Washburn, sailing over theGreen Monster. The Red Sox advanced to a rematch in the2004 American League Championship Series against their bitter rivals, theNew York Yankees.
Despite high hopes that theRed Sox would finally vanquish their nemesis fromthe Bronx, the series started disastrously for them.Curt Schilling pitched with the torntendon sheath in his right ankle he had suffered in Game 1 of the ALDS and was routed for six runs in three innings.Yankee starterMike Mussina retired the first 19 Red Sox that came to the plate beforeMark Bellhorn broke it up with a double with one out in the top of the seventh. Despite theSox' best effort to come back (they scored seven runs to make it 8–7), they ended up losing 10–7. In Game 2, already with his Yankees leading 1–0 for most of the game,John Olerud hit a two-run home run to put the New York team up for good. The Sox were soon down three games to none after a 19–8 loss in Game 3 in Boston. In that game, the two clubs set the record for mostruns scored in a League Championship Series game. At that point in the history of baseball, no team had come back to win from a 3–0 series deficit (only the 1998Atlanta Braves and 1999New York Mets had ever gotten as far as a Game 6).
In Game 4, the Red Sox found themselves facing elimination, trailing 4–3 in the ninth with YankeescloserMariano Rivera on the mound. After Rivera issued a walk toKevin Millar,Dave Roberts came on topinch run and promptlystole second base, this being what many consider the turning point in the series.[176][177][178] He then scored on aBill MuellerRBIsingle that sent the game to extra innings. The Red Sox went on to win the game on a two-run home run byDavid Ortiz in the 12th inning. In Game 5, the Red Sox were again down late, this time by the score of 4–2, after aDerek Jeter bases-clearing triple. But the Sox struck back in the eighth, as Ortiz hit a homer over theGreen Monster to bring the Sox within a run. ThenJason Varitek hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Roberts, scoring the tying run. The game would go for 14 innings, capped off by many squandered Yankee opportunities, who were 1 for 13 with runners inscoring position. In the top of the 12th inning, knuckeballerTim Wakefield came in from the bullpen, without hispersonal catcher,Doug Mirabelli. Varitek, the starting catcher, had trouble with Wakefield's tricky knuckleballs in the 13th: he allowed three passed balls in the top of the 13th. The third and last of those gave the Yankees runners on second and third with two out. The Red Sox were spared, however, asRubén Sierrastruck out to end the inning. In the bottom of the 14th, Ortiz would again seal the win with a game-winning RBI single that brought homeJohnny Damon. The game set the record for longest postseason game in terms of time (5 hours and 49 minutes) and for the longest ALCS game (14 innings), though the former has since been broken.
With the series returning toYankee Stadium for Game 6, the improbable comeback continued, withCurt Schilling pitching on an ankle that had three sutures wrapped in a bloody white sock (red with a blood stain). He struck out four, walked none, and only allowed one run over seven innings to lead the team to victory.Mark Bellhorn hit a three-run home run in the fourth inning. Originally called a double, the umpires conferred and agreed that the ball had actually gone into the stands before falling back into the field of play. A key play came in the bottom of the eighth inning with Derek Jeter on first andAlex Rodriguez facingBronson Arroyo. Rodriguez hit a ground ball down the first base line. Arroyo fielded it and reached out to tag him as he raced down the line. Rodríguez slapped at the ball and it came loose, rolling down the line. Jeter scored and Rodriguez ended up on second. After conferring, however, the umpires called Rodriguez out on interference and returned Jeter to first base, the second time in the game they reversed a call. Yankees fans, upset with the calls, littered the field with debris. The umpires called police clad inriot gear to line the field in the top of the 9th inning. In the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees staged a rally and brought former Red Sox playerTony Clark, who had played well against the Red Sox since leaving the team, to the plate as the potential winning run. CloserKeith Foulke however, struck out Clark to end the game and force a Game 7. In this game, the Red Sox completed their historic comeback on the strength ofDerek Lowe's one-hit, one-run pitching andJohnny Damon's two home runs, including a grand slam in the second inning off the first pitch of relieverJavier Vázquez, and defeated the New York Yankees, 10–3. Ortiz, who had the game-winning RBIs in Games 4 and 5, was named theMost Valuable Player of the series.
Major League Baseball (MLB), theNational Basketball Association (NBA), and theNational Hockey League (NHL) are three major American sports leagues with best-of-seven games playoff series . Coming back to win a seven-game series when down by three games has only been accomplished by four NHL teams and only one MLB team in the history of the three leagues:
The Red Sox faced theSt. Louis Cardinals in the2004 World Series. The Cardinals had posted the best record in the major leagues that season and had previously defeated the Red Sox in the1946 and1967 Series, with both series going seven games. The third time would be the charm, however, as the momentum and confidence Boston had built up in the ALCS would overwhelm St. Louis. The Red Sox began the Series with an 11–9 win, marked byMark Bellhorn's game-winning home run offPesky's Pole. He later on said that he "just did what he needed to do." It was the highest scoring World Series opening game ever, breaking the previous record set in1932. The Red Sox would go on to win Game 2 in Boston, thanks to another sensational performance by the bloody-socked Schilling. The Red Sox won both these games despite making 4 errors in each game.
In Game 3,Pedro Martínez shut out the Cardinals for seven innings. The Cardinals only made one real threat, putting runners on second and third with no outs in the third inning. However, the Cardinals' rally was killed by pitcherJeff Suppan's baserunning gaffe. With no outs, Suppan should have scored easily from third on aLarry Walker ground ball to second baseman Bellhorn, who was playing back, conceding the run. But as Bellhorn threw out Walker at first base, Suppan inexplicably froze after taking several steps toward home and was thrown out by Soxfirst basemanDavid Ortiz as he scrambled back to third. The double play was devastating for St. Louis. The Red Sox needed one more game to win their first championship since the1918 World Series.
In Game Four, the Red Sox did not allow a run. The game ended asÉdgar Rentería, who would become the2005 Red Sox starting shortstop, hit the ball back toKeith Foulke. After Foulke lobbed the ball toDoug Mientkiewicz, the Sox had won their first World Championship in 86 years (this was the second time that Rentería had ended a Series, as he had won it for theFlorida Marlins in the1997 World Series). The Sox held the Cardinals' offense (the best in the NL in 2004) to only three runs in the last three games, never trailing in the Series.Manny Ramírez was namedWorld Series MVP. The Red Sox won Game Four of the series on October 27, 18 years to the day from when they lost to theNew York Mets in the1986 World Series, which was also the team's most recent World Series game loss.
The Red Sox performed well in the 2004 postseason. From the tied eighth inning of Game 5 of the ALCS against the Yankees until the end of the World Series, the Sox played 60 innings, and never trailed at any point. This was only the fourth World Series ever played in which the losing team had never held a lead, with the others being in1963,1966, and1989.
The Boston Red Sox are honored at theWhite House by PresidentGeorge W. Bush following the side's winning the 2004 World Series.
To add a final, surreal touch to the Red Sox championship title, on the night the Red Sox won, atotal lunar eclipse colored the moon overBusch Stadium to a deep red hue.[180] The Red Sox won the title about 11 minutes before totality ended. Many Red Sox fans who were turned away due to no tickets for the game were allowed to watch the final inning from inside Busch Stadium after being let in free of charge.
Fox commentatorJoe Buck famously called the final out, saying:[181]
"Back toFoulke.Red Sox fans have longed to hear it: the Boston Red Sox are World Champions!"
The Red Sox held a parade (or as Boston mayorThomas Menino put it, a "rolling rally") on Saturday, October 30. A crowd of more than three million people filled the streets of Boston to cheer as the team rode on the city'sDuck Boats. The parade followed the same route theNew England Patriots took following their victories in Super BowlsSuper Bowl XXXVI in 2002 andSuper Bowl XXXVIII earlier in 2004.
Following their World Series win, the Red Sox replaced the dirt from the field as a "fresh start." They earned many accolades from sports media and throughout the nation for their incredible season.
The Patriots win in the Super Bowl meant the Red Sox World Series win made Boston the first city to have Super Bowl and World Series champions in the same year in 25 years, when thePittsburgh Steelers wonSuper Bowl XIII, followed by thePirates winning the1979 World Series.[183] The Patriots winningSuper Bowl XXXIX in the ensuing offseason made Boston the first city to have two Super Bowls and one World Series championship over a span of 12 months since Pittsburgh in 1979–1980.[183]
After the Bruins won the2011 Stanley Cup Finals, which made Boston the first city to win championships in all four sports leagues in the new millennium,Dan Shaughnessy ofThe Boston Globe ranked all seven championships by the Boston teams (the Patriots in the Super Bowls played in 2002, 2004 and 2005, the Red Sox in 2004 and2007, the Celtics in2008, and the Bruins in 2011) and picked the Red Sox win in 2004 as the greatest Boston sports championship during the ten-year span.[184]
^Hohler, Bob (October 28, 2003). "Point Of No Return".The Boston Globe. pp. D1 & D10.
^Stout, Glenn; Johnson, Richard A. (2005).Red Sox Century: The Definitive History of Baseball's Most Storied Franchise, Expanded and Updated. New York, New York:Houghton Mifflin. p. 459.ISBN978-0-618-62226-9.
^Hohler, Bob (December 5, 2003). "Nice And Easy For Sox".The Boston Globe. pp. E1 & E6.
