If These Walls Could Talk

by Jerry Remy

  Ortiz and Manny, one of the best middle-of-the-order combinations you’ll ever see, hit back-to-back homers in the fourth inning. After that they just scorched the Angels bullpen with seven runs in the eighth inning. The Red Sox sweep was one of three Division Series sweeps in the 2007 postseason.

  That enabled them to move on to face the Indians in the ALCS.

  This series wasn’t nearly as easy. In fact, the Red Sox lost three of the first four games and they were on the verge of going home. The resiliency of this team was surely tested. It was a bunch of guys who always felt confident, as if they had ice water in their veins.

  Game 1 was all Red Sox. Beckett again pitched well, and CC Sabathia pitched poorly in a matchup of potential Cy Young winners. After Travis Hafner homered off Beckett in the first and Manny knocked in Kevin Youkilis with a single in the bottom of the first, the Red Sox started to pull away. Lugo started Sabathia’s downfall with a ground-rule double. CC then walked Youkilis and hit Ortiz with a pitch, and then Manny walked as the Sox took a 2–1 lead. It got worse. Lowell doubled to score Youkilis. Bobby Kielty walked. When Jason Varitek hit a grounder where the Indians couldn’t turn the double play, Ramirez scored. The horse was out of the barn at this point. The Sox scored five more runs to take the 10–3 win.

  The roles were reversed in Game 2. The Indians took it 13–6. Curt Schilling just didn’t have it. He was gone in the fifth inning but the Sox got to Fausto Carmona to make it a 6–6 game after six innings. This game went into extra innings, but in the 11th, the Sox bullpen was blistered. The trio of Eric Gagne, Javier Lopez, and Jon Lester gave up seven runs.

  On to Cleveland, where in Game 3 the Indians continued their run with a 4–2 win. Daisuke Matsuzaka gave up all four Indians runs and Varitek provided the only offense with a two-run homer.

  The Sox bullpen was again a negative factor in Game 4. Manny Delcarmen, who had been a mainstay in the Sox bullpen all season, allowed four runs after he relieved Tim Wakefield in the fifth. The Indians scored seven runs in the fifth inning. The Red Sox didn’t quit. In the sixth they got three consecutive homers from Youkilis, Ortiz, and Ramirez, but that’s about all they could do in a 7–3 loss.

  They were faced with a daunting task. They were facing elimination.

  Manny made some headlines after this one. Now, Manny avoided the media like nobody else, but he made a comment that resonated nationally when he said, if the Red Sox were eliminated, “It’s not like it’s the end of the world.” You can guess what the media did with that one. The rest of the team was more confident in its ability to come back. All through the clubhouse, there was that feeling that they were capable of turning things around.

  While there were rumors about Beckett’s back being stiff, he took the mound for Game 5. Beckett showed no signs of discomfort while Youkilis drove in three runs and Ortiz two in a 7–1 win.

  Now the series returned to Fenway and there was more reason to believe the players when they said they could do this.

  This was the infamous J.D. Drew grand slam game. Drew was really a polished player able to do many things. He was a very good right fielder with a decent arm. He was a good base runner and very good hitter. But he just didn’t endear himself with the fan base. He had received a five-year, $70 million deal, and I think fans expected him to be more of a force. He just had that attitude that nothing bothered him and that he came off like he didn’t have that great fire.

  Schilling pitched better and allowed only two runs in seven innings. He was aided by J.D.’s grand slam in the first inning and the offense exploded for six runs in the third inning. The Sox won it 12–2.

  So now all the momentum was in Boston’s favor. Dice-K got the ball in Game 7 and allowed just two runs over five innings. Francona turned it over to the bullpen after that with Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon throwing two innings apiece. They won the game 11–2, fueled by a pair of two-run homers from Dustin Pedroia and Youkilis.

  It must be said that the Red Sox pitching really got better under John Farrell. The team had also acquired Matsuzaka through the posting system in Japan, submitting the highest bid of $51.1 million. They also gave Dice-K a six-year, $52 million deal. This was a big deal because Dice-K was the biggest thing out of Japan. He was hugely popular. Known for his famous gyroball, Dice-K brought with him an army of Japanese sportswriters who covered his every movement for a full season. He won 15 games, pitched 204⅔ innings, and struck out 201 batters.

  Tim Wakefield, who simply doesn’t get enough credit for all he did for this franchise after the Red Sox acquired him off the scrap heap in 1995, won 17 games.

  One of the interesting games was watching Schilling come within one out of a no-hitter in Oakland, and the only hit he allowed was after he shook off Jason Varitek. Schilling may have been on the other side of his career, but he managed to learn to pitch with finesse. He went 3–0 in October.

  The other memorable game on the pitching front came on September 1 when Clay Buchholz, making only his second major league start, no-hit the Orioles 10–0 at Fenway. That was remarkable to me. I’ve seen a few no-hitters as a player and broadcaster, but for a rookie to do that? Think about it. The greats like Pedro Martinez and Roger Clemens never pitched a no-hitter, yet this kid throws one in his second start.

  I remember there was debate apparently during that game between Terry Francona and Theo Epstein as to whether they needed to take Buchholz out, fearing he was throwing too many pitches. I don’t think taking him out would have gone over with the fan base, especially those people who were in the ballpark. Buchholz was simply strong and throwing with ease throughout the game.

  Buchholz was pressed into action when the 41-year-old Wakefield came up with a stiff back. The 23-year-old Buchholz got the call.

  Pedroia made a great play on a grounder by Miguel Tejeda behind the mound to save the no-hitter. Buchholz struck out nine and walked three. There weren’t many other potential hits out there. He put two batters on with walks in the fifth inning, but after that Buchholz was pretty dominant. It was a great kind of sideshow in the middle of a pennant race. The Red Sox, by this time, had gotten some nice contributions from rookies like Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury, who came up late in the season and contributed hugely.

  The important part of this ’07 team was the pitching. The Red Sox were second in the majors with a 3.87 ERA. While Dice-K was doing it in the rotation, Okajima did it from the bullpen as the lefty reliever. He did a great job as a setup man to Papelbon.

  Speaking of Papelbon, he had wanted to give starting a try again in spring training, but about halfway through camp, Papelbon realized it wasn’t going to work and he went back to the closer role. It was a great decision because he had a great year.

  And Francona did a great job managing Papelbon’s usage. He wound up saving three of the four World Series games against the Rockies. Papelbon saved 37 games and held opponents to a .146 average. He struck out batters at a rate of 12.97 times per nine innings.

  Pap was a little different, but what a competitor. He developed this Irish step dance that he would do, and it was hilarious. He was always ready and he was usually lights-out. It was about as good a performance as I’ve ever seen from a closer over a full season.

  And then there was Ortiz. I give him credit because he played all season with a bad knee. As someone who had 11 knee operations, I sympathized with the task of having to play every day under those conditions. He had hit 54 homers in 2006. You could tell there was something going on because by the All-Star break, David had hit only 14 homers and knocked in 52 runs. That changed in the second half, when I guess the knee started to feel better, and he hit .352 with 21 homers and 65 RBIs. In his last 16 games he hit .441 with seven homers and 19 RBIs. And then in October, he batted .370 with three home runs and 10 RBIs. His 14 walks gave him an on-base percentage of .508. Yes, Papi was back with a vengeance. I think he got sick of hearing what was wrong wi
th him.

  Also emerging was Pedroia, the rookie second baseman, who was impressing everyone with the way he played the game. He would win the Rookie of the Year award after hitting .172 as late as May 1. I’ve got to tell you, I had my doubts about him, but he proved me wrong. What a player.

  Youkilis became a heckuva first baseman. No errors all season. He also hit .288 with 16 homers and 83 RBIs. He had a 23-game hitting streak at one point.

  Lowell hit .324 with 120 RBIs. For a guy who was supposed to be washed up, he had his best year. He had a great series against the White Sox in August. And he came up biggest in the World Series, where he was named MVP.

  Ellsbury, another speedy guy, scored from second base on a wild pitch and hit .438 in the World Series after replacing a slumping Coco Crisp.

  One game that really stood out for me was Mother’s Day, when we trailed 5–0 and came up with six runs in the bottom of the ninth to win.

  Bobby Kielty had a big role in the World Series when he homered in Game 4.

  One of the heartwarming stories was Lester, 14 months after his diagnosis of cancer, pitching the World Series clincher. I remember the great photo of Francona going out to embrace him and the look the two gave one another. It was really special.

  “What a journey to go from where he was a little more than a year ago,” Epstein said after the game about Lester, “to winning the deciding game of the World Series.”

  Even though the Red Sox swept the Rockies, it wasn’t so clear-cut in Boston’s favor. The Rockies were the darlings of baseball. They had won 21 out of 22 games, including a one-game wild card playoff against San Diego, to get to the World Series. They swept the Phillies in the NLDS and the Diamondbacks in the NLCS. This team was on an amazing run.

  But the Red Sox also had their mojo back after their great comeback against the Indians. Beckett again pitched a gem in Game 1, allowing one run over seven innings. He struck out nine against a very potent Rockies lineup.

  Pedroia got the ball rolling when he homered on the second pitch of the game off lefty Jeff Francis. The Red Sox just torched Rockies reliever Franklin Morales for seven runs in the fifth inning and wound up with an easy 13–1 win.

  By Game 2 it was becoming obvious the Rockies hadn’t experienced this kind of pitching along their journey. Schilling allowed just one run over 5⅓ innings while Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon again teamed to finish off the game in a 2–1 win. Varitek and Lowell drove in runs for all the offense they needed.

  Jonathan Papelbon celebrates getting the final out of the 2007 World Series against the Rockies. (AP Images)

  Then it was off to Coors Field, where the elevation and air always benefitted the Rockies. But the Red Sox liked the air up there as well. They scored six runs in the third inning. Dice-K helped himself with two RBIs, matching Lowell’s production. The Rockies were trying to match the Sox when they scored five, featuring a Matt Holliday homer. But the Sox pulled away on rookies Pedroia and Ellsbury combining for three RBIs in an eventual 10–5 Sox win.

  It was hard to believe that the Red Sox could sweep this team and finish them off in their home ballpark, but that’s exactly what happened.

  Lester got the start with Wakefield down with a bad back. This was a scoreless game into the sixth inning. The Sox went up 2–0 with Ortiz and Varitek driving in the runs. Lowell led off the seventh with a home run and then Kielty hit a pinch-hit home run in the eighth. Okajima allowed a pair of runs but Papelbon closed the door over the final 1⅔ innings to save the victory.

  After an 86-year drought, the Red Sox had won two World Series in four seasons. Incredible.

  8. 2013

  All of the championships were special, but the one in 2013 was emotional. The season started with the Boston Marathon bombings right down the street from Fenway.

  We had played our 11:00 am Patriots’ Day game on April 15 and then the team bussed to the airport for a trip to Cleveland.

  The players could hear little explosions in the distance as our bus took off for the airport.

  Little did we know at the time that terrorists had set off bombs along the marathon route. A huge tragedy was in progress.

  The players got to Cleveland and played their series there, all along trying to get together as a team to contribute something in their own way. I think that really brought this group together. They had something to band together over and you just noticed it all season.

  The team wore black armbands and there was a banner hanging over the Red Sox dugout with the 617 area code.

  We were scheduled to play the Royals back at Fenway on April 19, but the city was on lockdown because they were searching for the bombing suspects. It was just a surreal situation. You saw video on TV of the city and it looked like a ghost town. It was a scary time, but they caught the second suspect in Watertown, not far from the NESN studios.

  This was a team like no other I had experienced. General manager Ben Cherington did an absolutely incredible job shaking off the last-place finish of 2012 and trying to regroup the team after the disaster of the Bobby Valentine year.

  Cherington brought in manager John Farrell, whom he acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays after he negotiated his release. Cherington brought in several new faces, veterans who had won in other places and who had perhaps not had the best of years in 2012 but hoped they would rebound.

  David Ortiz speaking to the fans after the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. (AP Images)

  What a chance he took. He brought in David Ross, a backup catcher in Atlanta. He brought in Shane Victorino, who was not re-signed by the Dodgers. He brought in Ryan Dempster, Stephen Drew, Mike Napoli, Mike Carp, Daniel Nava, Koji Uehara, and Jonny Gomes. And then he traded for Jake Peavy.

  My god. How can you have that many new faces and have it all work out?

  But it did. Uehara was a tremendous find. He was probably the third closer the Red Sox used because Joel Hanrahan was injured early and underwent Tommy John surgery. Then Andrew Bailey and Andrew Miller both went down with injuries and Uehara, who had been signed as a setup guy, became the closer. And what a run he went on, not to mention he became a fan favorite.

  I didn’t know what to make of this team for a long time. I didn’t know how good they were, but as time went on you could see there was something taking hold. Victorino and Gomes had the flare for the dramatic. Uehara was lights-out. Dempster was a really good back-end starter. Drew did a great job at shortstop and produced some clutch hits. Napoli hit some big home runs and played very well defensively at first base. Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit 40 doubles and was a very good starting catcher until the end, when Ross took over and became the rock of the team.

  Jacoby Ellsbury had an MVP-type season. Jon Lester was tremendous. When Will Middlebrooks had a poor sophomore season, young Xander Bogaerts took over at third base and did a fine job.

  Ortiz was a stud. Pedroia had a great year.

  Junichi Tazawa and Craig Breslow were dependable out of the bullpen.

  Jose Iglesias did a nice job playing all over the infield and then he was used as trade bait to get Peavy, who pitched some big games in the second half.

  Cherington never wanted Valentine but Larry Lucchino did, and that’s how that went down. After the last-place finish, Cherington gained more power and that’s when he made sweeping changes. Those changes started in late August 2012, when he was able to deal Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett, and Nick Punto to the Dodgers. That deal led to Cherington needing to bring in a lot of new players for 2013. And, man, did he nail it.

  This is a team that won 97 games and went 11–5 in the postseason beating tough opponents—the Rays, Tigers, and then the Cardinals in the World Series.

  On August 24, they beat the Dodgers 4–2 and moved into a tie for first. From that point on they went 21–10 and left the competition in the dust. They won the AL East division by six games.


  But they were also pretty dominant. In the playoffs they beat aces including Matt Moore, David Price, Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Anibal Sanchez, Adam Wainwright, and Michael Wacha.

  “I go back to our players understanding their place in this city,” Farrell said. “They kind of, for lack of a better way to describe it, they get it. They get that there’s, I think, a civic responsibility that we have wearing this uniform, particularly here in Boston. And it became a connection…I’m sure that everybody in our uniform, whether they are here going forward or elsewhere, they’ll look back on the events that took place and the way things unfolded as a special year. There’s no way we can say it any other way.”

  The Red Sox had to play a tough opponent in Tampa Bay in the divisional series. I was very impressed with the Rays’ pitching throughout the season. But the Red Sox took Game 1, 12–2. Lester gave up a pair of solo homers to Sean Rodriguez and Ben Zobrist before the Red Sox offense bailed him out with a five-run fourth inning when they started hitting doubles, one after another. Lester wound up going 7⅔ innings and allowed only three hits. It was really an excellent outing.

  Then in Game 2, the Red Sox touched up David Price for all seven runs in a 7–4 win to take a 2–0 lead. Ortiz hit a couple of home runs, one in the first and the other in the eighth inning. This was too easy. The Rays made it a bit of a challenge, but they knocked into a couple of key double plays to end both the seventh and eighth innings.

  Koji, who was such a treat to watch and a fun-loving free spirit, struck out the first two batters he was facing with that 88-mph fastball. Sox fans were all over Wil Myers when he took his position in right field after he’d misplayed a fly ball in Game 1.

  Alex Cobb pitched a pretty nice game for the Rays in Game 3 even though the Red Sox got out to a 1–0 lead. The Sox lost it 5–4. The Red Sox actually had a 3–0 lead, but Evan Longoria smashed a three-run homer and Delmon Young drove in the go-ahead run. The Red Sox tied it in the top of the ninth and then we saw something we hadn’t seen too often: Koji blowing a game. He had secured the first two outs, but Rays catcher Jose Lobaton blasted a walkoff homer.