E-Mail This Article to a Friend A season on the brink (continued)

Just when it seemed as if things couldn’t get much worse, the 56-46 Red Sox made a blockbuster deal at the trading deadline, parting ways with franchise stalwart Garciaparra in return for first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz (from the Twins) and shortstop Orlando Cabrera (from Montreal). In a separate deal, speedy outfield Dave Roberts was acquired from Los Angeles. The trade was a jaw-dropper, given Garciaparra’s standing among the fandom and in the community, but his chronic unhappiness was becoming a detriment to clubhouse chemistry, and all signs pointed to his free-agent departure come November anyway. When the dust had settled, the chiseled face (and nose) of the organization was gone, but in its place was a significant upgrade in defense, and the trade began to pay dividends almost immediately. One of the worst infield defenses in baseball all of a sudden became one of the least porous, and despite losing two games in Minnesota immediately after the trade went down, the team also knew that it was soon to embark on one of the most favorable stretches of the schedule. The month of August would see the team face a varied collection of non-playoff teams, including Tampa Bay, Detroit, Toronto, and Chicago, and players and fans alike knew that dominating those teams could give the Sox the bounce that could hopefully carry over into the truly challenging ledger that would await them in early September.

And that is where the road back to respectability began. Boston took two of three in St. Pete, two of three in Detroit, three of four at the Fens against the D-Rays, then proceeded to drop two of three — all one-run affairs — to the White Sox. Preparing to welcome Toronto for a three-game series at Fenway, little did the 64-52 Red Sox know that something truly extraordinary was about to unfold, and that the series loss to the ChiSox would be the last series they would lose to anyone for the next month.

A three-game sweep over the fading Blue Jays got things off to a promising start, and three more victories in Chicago’s South Side gave Boston a six-game win streak for the first time all season. After the Jays’ Ted Lilly spun a beauty in a 3-0 victory at SkyDome on August 23rd, Boston rebounded by taking the next six games of the seven-game road trip, stampeding the Tigers in four straight in Detroit to give the Sox 12 wins in 13 outings. But now the iron of the schedule loomed, and many wondered whether the competition over the previous month had adequately prepared the team for the likes of the Angels, Rangers, and A’s — the AL West powerhouses.

It had. Boston pounded Angels pitching for double-digit runs in the first two games of the crucial early-September series, and edged the Halos, 4-3, to complete the sweep on September 2nd. Next into town were the surprising Rangers, a team whose inevitable fall from the upper reaches of the West standings had long been expected but had yet to transpire. The Rangers had hung around because of surprisingly strong starting pitching, a solid closer, and one of the most feared offenses in the game, but their bats were muffled by Pedro in a 2-0 shutout on the Friday of Labor Day weekend. By the time the two teams had split the remaining pair of games, Boston had improved to 81-54 and had wiped out eight games of the Yankees’ lead in the AL East and now trailed by just two-and-a-half games. Yet another test would present itself, however — the first visit of the season to Network Associates Coliseum in Oakland, where the A’s were adamant about avenging their dismal showing at Fenway earlier in the summer (where they had dropped five of six). Alas, the Sox remained in command, pummeling the vaunted Oakland pitching staff all three nights and sweeping the series by a collective 23-7 score.

Boston had now won 24 of its previous 28 games, was 30 games over .500, and despite a disappointing split in a four-game visit to Seattle, the Red Sox were solidly in the wild-card lead and, even most surprisingly, back in the hunt for AL East supremacy as well.

Where did the turnaround truly begin? It’s tough to gauge, but one turning point was certainly the nationally-televised July 24th contest at Fenway against the Pinstripers, when the home team engaged in a bench-clearing brawl (after A-Rod didn’t take lightly to being hit by a Bronson Arroyo pitch) and rallied from 3-0 and 9-4 deficits to ultimately overcome the Bombers, 11-10 on a Mueller two-run homer off Mariano Rivera in the bottom of the ninth. If that wasn’t the true catalyst (and the Sox only went 5-5 in the wake of that stunning triumph), then the blockbuster trade that sent #5 to the Windy City certainly was. Either way, the aforementioned defense got better, the starting pitching improved (particularly sinkerballer Derek Lowe, who as of this writing had gone 5-2 since the deal), and the offense welcomed back a lot of its walking wounded. The one-two punch of David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez provided a solid MVP punch, Schilling and Pedro Martinez became the dominating tandem everyone figured they’d be, and role players like Bellhorn, Gabe Kapler, and Cabrera made big-time contributions while Kevin Millar and Johnny Damon shook off slow starts to become on-base machines.

As of this writing, four-and-a-half games stood between the Yankees and Red Sox as they prepared to renew their hostilities at Fenway Park this weekend. We obviously don’t know how the rest of the divisional race will play itself out, but as the two teams get back at it on Friday, it seems reasonably clear that they are both again headed for post-season play, and perhaps another Armageddon in October.

With all of the expensive improvements that the Empire Staters made to their already formidable line-up this past off-season, it became for many that much easier to join the growing ranks of the He-Man Yankee Haters’ Club.

On the other hand, for New England hardball fans, the dog days of August also became a splendid time to start loving the Red Sox all over again.

Buckle yourselves in; the Yankees and Sox are ready to tussle again. And again on Saturday. And again on Sunday.

And maybe, just maybe, even again.

Christopher Young writes the twice-weekly "Sporting Eye" column on this site.