E-Mail This Article to a Friend A season on the brink Recapping the Red Sox in 2004 BY CHRISTOPHER YOUNG

It was unprecedented. On the morning of July 2, 2004 — just 77 games into a 162-game regular-season schedule — the Boston Red Sox were practically conceding the division to the New York Yankees. Barely three months into a season that had been launched in a typhoon of optimism, New England baseball fans (and in most cases the accompanying media) began to focus instead on the team’s wild-card chances. The wild card? On July 2nd?

Given the circumstances, the aura of resignation was strangely appropriate. The Red Sox had entered Yankee Stadium three days earlier five-and-a-half games behind their storied rivals, and then proceeded to get swept in three straight, with each loss more excruciating than the one before. The nadir was the night of July 1st, when the Sox staged a gallant late-game rally to tie the Pinstripers, had escaped some jams to extend the game into extra frames, and had even taken a 4-3 lead in the top of the 13th. But in the bottom of the inning, New York, in typical Yankee-esque fashion, had rallied for a pair of two-out runs off the bats of three of its most unheralded players to steal a 5-4 victory. With the win, the Bombers had established an eight-and-a-half game bulge in the East, had improved to 50-26, and had brutally demoralized the Bostonians, who headed for Atlanta with a record just seven games above .500. The series had displayed a number of the eerie characteristics of the epic seven-game ALCS that the two teams had waged just 10 months earlier, and though Aaron Boone wasn’t there to insert the dagger, the ending was the same.

And that unforgettable October night is where we’ll begin to recount the tale of the 2004 Boston Red Sox.

Once Boone put the finishing touches on the 6-5 11-inning victory in Game Seven, the Boston brass went to work in hopes of finding a way to ultimately dethrone the New Yorkers in the subsequent season. A cleaning-house wasn’t necessary, but certain modifications were imperative — apparently starting with the field manager. While Grady Little’s decision to leave on the hill a tiring Pedro Martinez in the critical eighth inning of Game Seven probably didn’t seal his fate, his decision in the aftermath to push for a long-term contract likely did. Out went the players’ manager; in came another players’ manager, only this time it was a skipper who had actually seen some previous major-league duty: former Phillies manager Terry Francona.

Boston’s infield defense had been somewhat shaky, so playoff hitting star Todd Walker was set free, and former Gold-Glove second sacker Pokey Reese was brought in, along with utility infielder Mark Bellhorn; the starting pitching needed a boost, so a convoluted deal was made to acquire former Sox farmhand and 2001 World Series Co-MVP Curt Schilling from Arizona; and since the bullpen situation early in the 2003 campaign nearly derailed Boston’s hope to even make the playoffs, a solid closer was pursued and ensnared: Oakland free agent Keith Foulke.

The team was by then unquestionably better, but a coup de grâce was needed. The cherry on the sundae was deemed to be reigning AL MVP Alex Rodriguez, whose huge salary could not assuage his disappointment at being on a perennial losing team in Texas. A deal was nearly consummated, but in the end the machinations needed to bring A-Rod to Boston could not be completed, and Manny Ramirez — the player due to be dealt to the Rangers — stayed in the Hub, as did shortstop Nomar Garciaparra, who would have also been dealt (to the White Sox) to open up the infield spot for Rodriguez.

And so it appeared that despite the failure of the teams to make the titanic trade, Boston still had the upper hand in the AL East despite the Yankees’ off-season acquisitions of pitchers Kevin Brown, Javier Vazquez, Kenny Lofton, and Gary Sheffield. Then, the Valentine’s Day Massacre: the announcement that the Bombers had secretly opened discussions with Texas and were able to make the numbers work (as if that was ever in doubt). In a stunning series of events, A-Rod would be coming to New York City in exchange for second baseman Alfonso Soriano.

The rich — in this case, the defending AL pennant-winners — had gotten richer, and had now added the game’s best player to an already star-studded roster. The cursing and sighing were universal throughout the baseball world: This just can’t be; followed by, How on earth can the Yankees lose?

But in spite of the New Yorkers’ windfall, Boston’s optimism continued unabated, and despite a lopsided Opening-Day loss in Baltimore, the Sox won 15 of their first 21. Included in those 15 victories were six wins (out of seven) over the supposedly-invincible Yankees, highlighted by a three-game sweep in the Bronx that dropped the Pinstripers to 8-11, four-and-a-half games behind the Sox. The Red Sox were sizzling, the Yankees were struggling, and as April ended, all was right in New England.

Then came May Day, and we’re not talking Sam Malone. Opening the season’s second month in Texas, Boston proceeded to lose three straight to the allegedly pitching-poor Rangers, and then moved on to Cleveland, where the team dropped two more. Neither the Rangers or Indians was expected to provide much opposition for the $125-million juggernaut, but by the time Boston had lost its fifth straight on the road trip, the Yankees had tied it atop the AL East standings. With both teams at 15-11, each team began to take a divergent path that would ultimately put some solid distance between the notorious foes. The Yankees would proceed to go 60-30 — an ungodly .666 clip — over the next three-and-a-half months, while the Red Sox would fall into a win-one-lose-one pattern over the same period, going 43-43 through the first week in August and at their worst point falling 10.5 games behind the Empire Staters.

Both teams had struggled with injuries over the course of the summer, although the Red Sox’ woes seemed more dire. Both Garciaparra and rightfielder Trot Nixon were damaged goods by the time spring training had ended, and while both had been listed as day-to-day coming out of camp, Garciaparra ended up missing the first 57 games, and Nixon eventually missed more than a hundred. In addition, the team had to make do for extended periods without the services of 2003 AL Batting Champ Bill Mueller, relievers Scott Williamson, Byung-Hyun Kim, and Lenny DiNardo, and infielders Reese, Bellhorn, Kevin Youkilis, and David McCarty. With all of those man-games lost to injury, one would have figured that the Boston fans would have been more understanding, but they were not. All they could see was the specter of the Yankees pulling away, and the Red Sox’ chances of a post-season berth — seen by many as the franchise’s last best chance at a title given the plethora of potential free agents — slowly slipping away.