Red Sox’ Top 10 Defining Moments of the Decade

Ten years ago, the Red Sox were losers.

My, how times have changed.

The last decade — save for a few gut-wrenching moments (but not nearly as gut-wrenching as the defining moments of decades past) — has been good to the most tortured, most unlucky, most cursed team in the history of baseball. It has been a decade of change for a team that couldn’t win a championship for 86 years but somehow managed to win two in the span of four years. It has been a decade that has seen a team spend well (most of the time), bring in the proper pieces for a championship puzzle (most of the time), and combine those players with homegrown superstars in order to produce a title for a city that never thought it would ever see the day.

During a decade in which the identity of everything Red Sox was drastically altered, it’s hard to pinpoint just 10 defining moments, but here are the most important, most crucial, most critical moments that shaped the current-day Red Sox — the anti-losers. Finally.

10. Red Sox learn how to cultivate homegrown talent
If you look at some of the most instrumental players in the Red Sox’ success over the last 10 years — Jonathan Papelbon, Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, etc. — they all have something in common: They all came up through the Red Sox' system. This is a tribute to the Red Sox’ scouting and development team; in the last decade, they’ve been able to pinpoint what it is that can accurately project a player’s chances for success in the majors. They’ve been able to identify talent when they see it, and they’ve been able to groom that talent in the minor league ranks until it is good and ready to debut at Fenway Park.

It also proves that the Red Sox haven’t been trigger-happy in dealing their prospects to other teams (except for one infamous case, but we’ll get to that later). Boston’s reluctance to trade away its premier talent has paid dividends, and let’s hope this is a trend that continues for the next 10 years.

9. Red Sox trade Hanley Ramirez for Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell
In the 2005 offseason, after the Red Sox were embarrassed in the first round of the playoffs by the eventual champion White Sox, the front office (sans Theo Epstein, who resigned for a little while) got right down to business. The brass knew it had to bring in a stud pitcher if the Red Sox had any hope of competing for a second world championship, and that’s where Josh Beckett came in.

Beckett — who became the youngest World Series MVP ever at age 23 when the Marlins won it all in 2003 — came to Boston in a package with Guillermo Mota and Mike Lowell. Florida reportedly would not trade Beckett unless the team agreed to take on Lowell and his massive salary – and with Lowell coming off a year in which he hit .236 with eight homers and 58 RBIs, the idea of paying him $9 million was unappealing, to say the least.

Of course, Beckett and Lowell would become the two biggest components in Boston's World Series run in 2007. Beckett finished the postseason with a 4-0 record and a 1.07 ERA, and Lowell was named World Series MVP after hitting .400 in the four-game sweep.

The downside is that the move cost the Red Sox Hanley Ramirez, who easily could’ve been one of the best shortstops in Red Sox history. In 2009, the former Rookie of the Year hit .342 with 24 homers and 106 RBIs.

Was the trade worth it? That debate isn’t likely to end anytime this decade.

8. Red Sox fire Grady Little, hire Terry Francona
Grady Little’s fate as the manager of the Boston Red Sox was sealed on the evening of Oct. 16, 2003, when he did not pull an obviously gassed Pedro Martinez in the eighth inning of Game 7 of the ALCS against the Yankees. The Red Sox blew a 5-1 lead in the eighth inning and ended up losing the series, and just a few days later, Little was done.

Then, in stepped Terry Francona. The former Phillies manager didn’t have much on his resume in terms of success at the helm of a major league ballclub, but something about him clicked in the Red Sox clubhouse. Perhaps it was his reputation as a player’s manager that earned his team’s unwavering trust; perhaps it was his refusal to air any of his grievances with the media; perhaps it was his self-effacing but somehow self-assured demeanor. His aw-shucks attitude doesn’t sit well with all of Red Sox Nation, but the numbers show it works: In five seasons with the Red Sox, he led the team to a 565-407 record, two World Series championships and four playoff berths. Under Francona, Boston has finished with fewer than 95 wins just once.

Francona was rewarded with a three-year extension in the 2008 offseason that will keep him in Beantown through 2011.

7. Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz throw no-hitters at Fenway Park
The feel-good moments have been quite abundant for the Red Sox in the last 10 years, but there is little that felt as good as watching two of Boston’s homegrown talents accomplish one of baseball’s most respectable feats within eight months of one another.

Buchholz’s accomplishment was special — the then-23-year-old no-hit the Baltimore Orioles on Sept. 1, 2007, becoming the third pitcher since 1900 to throw a no-hitter in his first or second major league start — but Lester’s left Fenway Park without a dry eye in the house. The 24-year-old was just 14 months removed from a bout with non-Hodgkins lymphoma when he silenced the bats of the Kansas City Royals on May 19, 2008. Red Sox fans and sports fans alike were all rooting for him, but nobody expected his story to take this kind of extraordinary turn. It was the first no-hitter by a lefty in Red Sox history since Mel Parnell did it more than 50 years earlier, but it was undoubtedly the most poignant no-hitter the franchise has ever seen.

Since then, Lester has cemented himself as Boston’s ace of the future, a workhorse, a strikeout machine and a staple in the history books.

6. The Manny signing and the Manny trade
It’s hard to pin the hopes and dreams of a franchise on one player’s shoulders — unless that player is Manny Ramirez. Former GM Dan Duquette signed the perennial slugger to a monstrous eight-year, $160 million deal on Dec. 13, 2000, giving the city of Boston the one thing it yearned for: a bona fide slugger who was exciting enough to fill up the ballpark, to give fans someone to love and cherish and immortalize.

Ramirez’s tenure in Boston was characterized by ups and downs. Half the time, the city hated him for sitting out critical games against the Yankees, for appearing to dog it on the basepaths, for claiming he wanted to be anywhere but here. For the other half, though, the city adored him. He was a lovable goofball who could drill a ball onto Landsdowne Street with more authority than any other hitter in his generation. He kept things entertaining with his infamous outfield gaffes. He had funny hair and he said funny things.

Of course, it all turned sour in 2008, when Theo Epstein & Co. came to the conclusion that the team chemistry would suffer irreparable damage unless Ramirez was sent elsewhere. So on July 31, he was sent to Los Angeles in exchange for Jason Bay in a deadline blockbuster deal. The numbers show that the Red Sox’ offensive production hasn’t suffered as a result — it actually has improved — but it certainly feels like something is missing (and David Ortiz would probably attest to that, too).

The Red Sox may never see another hitter of Manny’s caliber, so let’s choose to remember him for the good times, shall we?

5. Larry Lucchino, John Henry and Tom Werner buy Red Sox, hire Theo Epstein
The latest Golden Age for the Red Sox began in 2002, when the team was sold to New England Sports Ventures, headed by John Henry. Tom Werner became the executive chairman of the team, and Larry Lucchino served as president and CEO. One of the first moves on the agenda was firing Dan Duquette and manager Joe Kerrigan, hiring Grady Little, and — one year later — hiring a 28-year-old Yale kid named Theo Epstein as the youngest GM in MLB history.

Since 2003, the Red Sox’ growth has been astounding. They have missed the postseason just once, they’ve won those two World Series and they have completely changed their philosophy for evaluating talent. Epstein’s strategies — many of which are borrowed from the Moneyball king himself, Billy Beane — revolve around paying for solid defense and solid pitching, and patching up offensive holes with cheap players who have large upsides. Sometimes this works out well (see: 2004), and sometimes it kind of backfires (see: 2008, 2009). But one thing Red Sox Nation has never questioned since the new ownership group took over is whether the team is in good hands.

After all, how can the Nation argue with a group that brought Boston its first championship in 86 years?

4. The 2007 World Series
The year 2007 was the year the transformation of the Red Sox identity was solidified. A team that had once been characterized by its lovable loser-ness won its second championship in four years. Some even began discussing the possibility of a dynasty. These were no longer your grandfather’s Red Sox.

The 2007 squad was led by the same core as the 2004 team — Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz led the offensive charge — but few key offensive acquisitions paved the way for success in the playoffs. One was Dustin Pedroia, the eventual Rookie of the Year who rebounded from a horrendous start to hit .317 with eight homers and 50 RBIs. The spunky second baseman was no slouch on the diamond, either, submitting a .990 fielding percentage, and he characterized the new mentality of the Red Sox: gritty and hard-nosed with a team-first, me-later mentality. Mike Lowell also had a bounceback season, hitting a career-best .324 with 21 homers and 120 RBIs, and in his first year in Boston, the much-maligned J.D. Drew temporarily quelled the fury of Red Sox Nation with one particularly notable grand slam in Game 6 of the ALCS against Cleveland.

After winning the AL East for the first time since 1997, Boston swept the Angels in the ALDS for the second time in four years before falling into a tantalizing hole in the ALCS. This time, after trailing Cleveland 3-1 in the ALCS, the Red Sox rode Josh Beckett’s fastball all the way to a seven-game series win and swept the red-hot Rockies in the World Series.

3. The Heavyweight Battle: Jason Varitek vs. Alex Rodriguez
It’s hard to pinpoint one moment in the past 10 years and say, “This is when everything changed” — unless it’s this moment. If you had to pick one image to commemorate the Red Sox’ journey through the last decade, it would be this one. (Or maybe this one. No?) I firmly believe that had Jason Varitek not punched Alex Rodriguez in the face on July 24, 2004, the Red Sox would not be what they are today. That moment cemented the Red Sox’ legacy.

The game probably shouldn’t have been played in the first place — it had been pouring rain all day — but after a 54-minute delay, the Red Sox personally appealed to their manager and to the umpires and begged to get things started. The Red Sox were down 3-0 and hadn’t yet gotten a hit when Bronson Arroyo plunked A-Rod. A-Rod mouthed off and moved toward the mound, and when Varitek tried to interfere, A-Rod turned the fury on him. Varitek hit him and thus began one of the most memorable brawls in Red Sox history.

And there was still a game to be played.

Boston came from behind to take a 4-3 lead in the fourth, then went down 9-3, then came back to make it 9-8, then went down 10-8 in the seventh. By the bottom of the ninth, Mariano Rivera was on the mound, and the Red Sox were at risk of falling 10 1/2 games behind New York in the AL East. Then, in what would become Boston’s defining win of the regular season, Bill Mueller hit a two-run bomb off Rivera to carry Boston to an 11-10 victory.

The Red Sox of the future were born.

2. Red Sox lose to New York in Game 7 of 2003 ALCS
Every exhilarating win is accompanied by a debilitating loss.

Let’s get the loss out of the way first.

The 2003 Red Sox were a precursor to the 2004 Red Sox; they were spunky, they were laid-back and they talked about cowboys a lot. Theo Epstein’s debut team went 95-67 for a second-place finish in the East — right behind New York, as usual. But during the playoffs, it became evident that something about this team was magical.

In the ALDS, the Sox fell into a 2-0 hole against a stellar Oakland pitching staff that featured Mark Mulder, Barry Zito and Tim Hudson. Everything changed very early on the morning of Oct. 5. That’s when Trot Nixon hit a two-run walkoff home run off Rich Harden in the 11th inning to keep the series going. Somehow, Boston prevailed in five games and earned a date with the Yankees in the ALCS.

The ALCS went back and forth between the two teams and was punctuated by typical Red Sox-Yankee drama — spats between Roger Clemens and Manny Ramirez, brawls between Pedro Martinez and 72-year-old bench coaches. You know, the usual.

By the middle of Game 7 at Yankee Stadium, the Red Sox looked like they were headed for their first World Series appearance since 1986. It was the eighth inning,  Boston held a 5-2 advantage and there was one out. Then, Derek Jeter doubled to right. Bernie Williams singled to center. Hideki Matsui hit a ground-rule double and one run scored. Would Martinez come out? Of course not. Once he surrendered a bases-clearing double to Jorge Posada and coughed up the entire lead, though, he headed for the dugout.

Everyone knows what happened then. Extra innings. Aaron Boone versus Tim Wakefield. Bye bye, Red Sox.

But the next year …
 
1. Red Sox win their first championship since 1918
First, Theo Epstein convinced veteran ace Curt Schilling to waive his no-trade clause to come to Boston and win a championship. Then Varitek punched A-Rod. Then Epstein traded away Nomar Garciaparra — the face of the organization — and picked up three guys that not many folks in Boston had ever heard of: shortstop Orlando Cabrera, first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz and utilityman Dave Roberts. All of the pieces were almost in place.

The Red Sox were expected to do some damage in the 2004 postseason; they had a pitching staff led by Schilling and co-ace Pedro Martinez, they had a record-setting offense led by David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, and they swept the Angels out of the first round before aiming to pin some revenge on the Yankees for the 2003 debacle.

Things didn’t really go as planned. The Red Sox fell into a 3-0 hole, Schilling unveiled an ankle injury that could have KO'd him for the rest of the postseason and the offense was dead asleep.

Then came pretty much every moment the Red Sox are now famous for.

Kevin Millar walked. Dave Roberts pinch-ran and stole second. The Red Sox tied two straight games off legendary Yankees closer Mariano Rivera. David Ortiz single-handedly sustained the series with walkoff hits in Games 4 and 5. The world got its first glimpse at Schilling's bloody sock. A-Rod tried to slap the ball out of Bronson Arroyo’s glove in Game 6. Derek Lowe clinched Game 7 on the turf of Yankee Stadium. The Yankees watched from their own home dugout as Boston celebrated its first trip to the World Series in almost 20 years.

Oh yeah, then the Red Sox swept St. Louis for the title.

For the first time since the early 20th century, this decade’s story has a happy ending.

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Dec. 28: Bruins' Top 10 Defining Moments of the Decade

Dec. 29: Celtics' Top 10 Defining Moments of the Decade

Dec. 30: Patriots' Top 10 Defining Moments of the Decade