SB Nation - Jonathan Van Every

OTM's Top 10 Red Sox Moments of 2009: Honorable Mentions

Randy Booth — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:00:16 -0000

by Winslow Townson - AP

Nomar Garciaparra's return to Fenway Park is one of OTM's honorable mentions in its list of top Red Sox moments of 2009.

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Although the Red Sox's 2009 season didn't quite end like we had all wanted, there were some good moments last season. Nothing that ends with a playoff win, of course, but good moments nonetheless.

Today we start our top 10 list for top Red Sox moments of the season. Today is the honorable mentions; moments that received votes that could not crack our top 10 list. Our No. 10 moment will be posted tomorrow.

After the jump, find all six honorable mentions.

April 30 & Aug. 27: Jonathan Van Every and Nick Green aren't just position players

Check this off in the "you don't see this every day" column. You might not remember Jonathan Van Every 10 years from now, but if you do, you'll probably remember this game. In a blowout game, Van Every -- an outfielder -- came in and pitched for the Sox. He recorded two outs, allowed a hit and a walk but damn! If he didn't stop the bleeding! You'll have a better chance of remember Nick Green in 10 years. If you do, I hope you remember the shortstop's two inning of scoreless relief on Aug. 27. He faced nine batters and walked three of them, but I'll take two scoreless innings and no hits from a shortstop on the mound. Green's post-game money quote? "My fingers were as slick as crap."

May 20: David Ortiz hits his first home run of the season

One day after I posted an article about the Red Sox perhaps looking for a new designated hitter, David Ortiz did something he hadn't done since September of 2008. Hit a home run. And it was beautiful. It was 163 at-bats into the 2009 season for Ortiz before he hit that home run to left-center field. He would go on to hit 28 more home runs in the season and proved to be one of the best hitters in baseball from June 1 on. OTM user pedrewkilis may have said it the best: "It was like lemon lime Gatorade after 3 days in the Sahara."

June 12: Daniel Bard's first save is impressive

Daniel Bard's first career save wasn't just your normal save. He didn't just come into the ninth inning and work three outs. Nah, not like that. Instead, he came into the 13th inning against the defending World Series champions Philadelphia Phillies with a three-run lead and faced the heart of their order. This is how it went down:

After a leadoff walk, he struck out Jayson Werth, struck out Ryan Howard, hit Raul Ibanez (99MPH in the arm. That is a dent in the morning), and capped his first career save by striking out Shane Victorino. All three batters looked ugly in their Ks.

I'm not a man with an amazing memory for specifics. But I still remember how ugly the at-bats were by Werth, Howard and Victorino. Howard especially. That was just sweet.

July 6: Nomar Garciaparra returns home

If you shed a tear when Nomar Garciaparra came home in July, no one is going to blame you. Nomar received an amazing standing ovation when he was announced. It was just one of those moments where you're happy to be a Red Sox fan. Not every team does this for their former stars; Red Sox fans, well, we do that for guys that weren't even stars (see: Roberts, Dave). After the game, Nomar was appreciative: "You don’t know how things are going to play out," Garciaparra said. "There’s no script for that one. I think what you saw out there was just pure emotion, from the fans, from myself."

July 17: Julio Lugo is designated for assignment

If Ortiz's first home run was a sigh of relief, Julio Lugo's designation for assignment was a sigh of "finally!" Lugo's tenure as a Red Sox was officially over on July 17. The signing went down as a bust, but at least the Sox got rid of him. Lugo brought his crappy defense (-53 UZR/150 in 32 games with the Sox) to the Cardinals, while still getting paid from the Red Sox. But hey, at least he was gone, right?

Aug. 7: Red Sox, Yankees battle to 15 innings before A-Rod walk-off home run

A "top moment" doesn't necessarily have to be a good moment. The Red Sox and Yankees battled in a scoreless game for 14.5 innings before Alex Rodriguez hit a walk-off home run against Junichi Tazawa. It was Tazawa's professional debut. Heck of a way to start, huh? Despite the loss, it was an amazing game to watch. It was another Josh Beckett v. A.J. Burnett pitcher's duel, where either could have earned the win.

Over The Monster's No. 10 moment of the Red Sox's 2009 season will be posted tomorrow morning.

Brave New Pawtucket

Ben Buchanan — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 11:00:40 -0000

More photos » by Paul Beaty - AP

Huzzah! Finally, an SBN-hosted picture I can use! (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

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About 50 days ago, I wrote a piece on upcoming roster changes for the Pawtucket Red Sox that would be necessitated by a surge of players from below (see: The Pawtucket Roster Crunch). Things have turned out slightly differently. Promotion from within has certainly occurred. Aaron Bates had already moved up by then. Mark Wagner has since, and Junichi Tazawa recently joined the ranks in McCoy Stadium. Victor Martinez' acquisition will likely force Kottaras back down also (he should clear waivers) once the dust has settled. I expect the denizens of this site are already plenty familiar with those names, though, so let's focus elsewhere.

Equal pressure has come from outside the organization. By trading Julio Lugo and Mark Kotsay, the Red Sox acquired Chris Duncan and Brian Anderson. These acquisitions have of course required counter moves. Joining the ranks of the departed are outfielders Freddy Guzman, Jonathan Van Every (who left earlier due to a season ending injury, signing with Pittsburgh), and Paul McAnulty, as well as catcher Carlos Maldonado.

Two once highly-touted prospects whose careers had fizzled over the last few years, Duncan and Anderson now provide organizational depth at the AAA level with hopes of maybe reigniting the spark that a few years back had promised long successful MLB careers.

Major League success has always eluded Brian Anderson. Despite once being named a top-30 prospect in all of Baseball, Anderson has never batted well for average, has only once managed an OBP over .300 (this season at .322), and has only once slugged over .400 (last year and .436). His career average line in 782 professional at bats is an ugly .225/.288/.364. So far, in his short AAA stint, Anderson has been average. He's homered twice in 25 at bats, and has 7 hits for a .280 average. He's only walked once, however, leaving his OBP at a lowly .308, and that looks particularly ugly next to the 6 strikeouts. Earlier this year, with AAA Charlotte, he posted similar average and on base numbers, just without any power to back it up. It would be more than a little bit wishful to expect Anderson to turn it around at this point and live up to his 1^st round pick status, or anything close to it.

Chris Duncan, on the other hand, has experienced quite a bit of success in the majors. In his first season in the majors in 2006, Duncan was on fire, hitting 22 home runs in only 280 at bats en route to a line of .293/.363/.589. He followed this up with a solid, if unimpressive in comparison 2007, where he nearly matched his home run numbers, but in an extra 100 at bats. His high strikeout rate caught up with him somewhat, lowering his average to .259, but where he nearly doubled his strikeouts, he also nearly doubled his walks, keeping his OBP fairly consistent at .354. Duncan has been hampered by injuries in the last few years, though, starting with a hernia in late 2007, then a herniated disk in his neck in July of 2008. In recovering this year, Duncan posted a career low OPS of .687 in 260 career at bats. Duncan typically struggles tremendously against lefties, but has hit righties very well over the course of his career.

For the Red Sox right now, Brian Anderson is the one most likely to contribute, and could actually see time with the team reasonably soon. While Josh Reddick is more than making use of his time in the majors, the Sox are certain to want to make sure he gets ample playing time, so if the regular cadre of outfielders ends up healthy anytime soon, he could quickly be recalled to AA—or pro/demoted to AAA—to assure him a standard 4 at bats a game. In such a situation, the Sox would likely want to have a 5^th outfielder on the bench, and Brian Anderson can provide a solid glove at all three positions. Duncan lacks the range the Red Sox would be looking for, and so for now will most likely have to make the best with his opportunity in Pawtucket. If he can get himself healthy, his ceiling could be fairly high though, if unlikely to be reached. If he can also work out his problems with lefties to a point where he's at least respectable against them, Duncan has a slim chance of being a future contributor to the team. If not, he's more likely to be traded elsewhere to act in a platoon role. Still, at the moment he has quite a bit more long-term potential than Brian Anderson.

Thursday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:08:26 -0000

More photos » by Morry Gash - AP

5 months ago: Milwaukee Brewers' Ryan Braun (8), Mike Cameron and Frank Catalanotto (27) celebrate after the Brewers' 5-4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in a baseball game Wednesday, July 8, 2009, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

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Some things to read while finding a better place to propose.

Today, the Brewers have a different kind of proposal for Manny Parra: something like, "Would you please try not to make us wish we'd left you in AAA?" Parra makes his return in a few hours, and the Brewers are hoping he'll be more like the pitcher they saw in AAA (sub-3 ERA) than the one they sent down (13.50 ERA, allowed opponents to hit .408/.478/.694 in his last five starts). To make room on the roster for him, the team designated Chris Narveson for assignment. Narveson will almost certainly clear waivers and accept an assignment to AAA, but the Brewers wouldn't be much worse off if he didn't. (Also noted in FanShot.)

The Brewers will also have bench coach Willie Randolph back for today's game. Randolph was suspended for a game for coming onto the field to argue his ejection in Tuesday's game. Coaches are not allowed to do that, even if Bill Hohn's mustache is blocking their view. (Also noted in FanShot.)

They're also one day closer to having Dave Bush back. Bush is scheduled to throw 3-4 innings in a rehab start Friday for the Timber Rattlers. If all goes well, he's still scheduled to return to the big leagues on July 20.

Is Prince Fielder MLB's fastest big man? The Brewers would have squandered three bases loaded opportunities last night if Fielder hadn't legged out an infield single in the eighth. For his part, Fielder called the performance "panic speed."

As the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline approaches, we'll stop for a moment each day to take a look at the rumors and notes:

Ken Rosenthal is reporting that, along with Roy Halladay, the Blue Jays are also considering trading outfielder Alex Rios, who has over $60 million remaining on a contract that runs through 2014. Assuming the Brewers can afford him, he'd be a nice long term replacement for Mike Cameron.
Mark Bowman of MLB.com thinks the Braves' demands for Javier Vazquez will be similar to the Indians' asking price for CC Sabathia last season. He argues that Vazquez is pitching better than Sabathia was at the time of the deal, and is under contract for an extra year.
Mark Mulder's agent says he'll be ready to audition for scouts in a week to ten days, and thinks he can quickly return to big league form.

And in the minors:

Over at The Hardball Times, Jeff takes a look at the defensive stats for some college shortstops who were drafted to the big leagues over the last two seasons. 2009 Brewer draftee Josh Prince ranked right around average, but 2008 draftee Michael Marseco, all 130 lbs of him, was 17 runs above average defensively in college.
Minor league attendance is holding steady across the country, but the Midwest League is up 2.5% through June, likely due to a couple of new parks and increased interest in the Timber Rattlers. The Pioneer League was also up 18% in June, but that only covers about a week's worth of games.

Continuing Bullet Pointpalooza with a look at Power Rankings:

Beyond the Box Score dropped the Brewers three spots to 17th, but they're still the highest ranked team in the Central.
MLB FanHouse dropped the Brewers from #7 to #11.

Normally I present the Power Rankings without comment, but the Brewer note in the FanHouse ranking caught my eye:

If the Brewers don't find someone to back Yovani Gallardo soon, they might find themselves behind both the Cardinals and the suddenly surging Cubbies in the standings.

The "suddenly surging" Cubbies, huh? Yes, the Cubs did just take three of four from the Brewers at home. If you remove that series, though, they're 4-9 since June 22 and 10-15 since June 9. That doesn't sound like "surging" to me.

Around baseball:

Blue Jays: Released B.J. Ryan, but will still have to pay him over $10 million over this season and next.
Mariners: Are expected to sign Alex Cintron to a minor league deal.
Red Sox: Designated injured outfielder Jonathan Van Every for assignment.
White Sox: Designated reliever Jimmy Gobble for assignment.

Ballot box stuffing has been an accepted practice for years, but do the teams themselves cheat to give their players an edge in the Final Vote? Hall of Fame writer Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News seems to have caught the Phillies in the act:

WHAT I WOULD like to do right now is walk into the media dining room and kick out the plugs on three computers. Fans are voting for the final roster spot for the All-Star game and the Phillies are in an all-out campaign to get Shane Victorino on the team.

The Phillies have three young men in the dining room sitting at laptops punching in Victorino’s name every few seconds. And they are doing it non-stop, nearly around the clock. So when Victorino wins you’ll know it wasn’t a fan vote at all.

The Man v. Machine argument continues today as well. Over at Beyond the Box Score, tbsmkdn makes the case for human umpires, arguing that manager arguments with umpires are one of the best parts of the game. I don't think we're watching the same game.

Meanwhile, ESPN's coverage of the Home Run Derby will feature Ball Track, a system designed to tell you immediately if a ball will be a home run, if waiting a few seconds to see where it lands takes up too much of your time.

Oh, and I can't decide on today's bigger anniversary: the non-conclusion of a meaningless exhibition game in 2002 or Tyler Houston's three home run game in 2000. So I'll give you both.

Drink up.

The Pawtucket Red Sox Roster Crunch

Ben Buchanan — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:08:01 -0000

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For some, it's just a stop on the way to the majors. For others, it has been home for years. With a surge of new talent on the way from the Portland Sea Dogs, Boston's AAA-affiliate Pawtucket Red Sox are about to have a major roster shake-up.

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When doing Minor Lines on an average night, Pawtucket is the least interesting team to look at. The notable names on offense, up till the promotion of Aaron Bates, were all guys who were likely to be bench players at best in their career. Chris Carter, Dusty Brown, Jeff Bailey, Jonathan Van Every. Talented ball players who often rank amongst the elite at AAA, but can't seem to take the next step and enter the world of the Majors.

Portland, on the other hand, is perhaps the most interesting team. Lars Anderson and Josh Reddick were the obvious standouts coming into the year. Wagner has exploded onto the scene with Aaron Bates. Ryan Kalish was promoted after only a month in Salem to start the year, and has slowly but surely begun to adapt to the tougher competition (.308/.325/.385 in June vs. .133/.212/.233 in May). Even less noticeable guys have performed, as 26-year-old Bubba Bell was promoted to Pawtucket today.

When a player is promoted in the minor leagues, much like in the Majors, there always has to be a counter move. Someone has to be traded, released, sent to the DL, promoted or demoted in order to make space. With such a large wave of players having legitimate shots at Pawtucket, and such a large amount of guys seemingly stuck at AAA, the Red Sox are faced with an obvious problem. Who stays, who goes, and what do we do with those who go?

Dusty Brown and Carlos Maldonado share duties behind the plate. They both share similar skill sets—good defensively, mediocre offensively—but Maldonado is a 30-year-old recent signing while Dusty Brown is a 26-year-old who has spent the last 8 years in the Red Sox farm system. Brown could also possibly carry some value down the line as a backup catcher once Wakefield decides to hang up his glove, so when Mark Wagner inevitably comes knocking, expect Maldonado to get the boot.

If Jorge Jimenez makes the jump sooner rather than later, the Sox will have an interesting choice. The PawSox have 3 players who can all play 2B, SS, and 3B in Gil Velazquez, Angel Chavez, and Travis Denker. Velazquez and Chavez are similar players. Both are older (29 and 27 respectively) with good gloves and mediocre bats. Chavez is better offensively, while Velazquez can also play all outfield positions. Travis Denker is something of a defensive liability, but is only 23 and has a somewhat better bat. The organization will probably elect to keep Denker due to his age and offense, but the choice between Chavez and Velazquez is harder. With the value the Sox put on versatility in the minor leagues, though, Velazquez seems to have an edge up.

The most crowded positions, though, are the 1B/DH and Outfield positions. Pawtucket currently rotates a trio of Jeff Bailey, Aaron Bates, and Paul McAnulty through the corner outfield and 1B positions with Jeff Natale, Freddy Guzman, and Chris Carter (usually at the DH) getting occasional turns. Currently on the DL, Zach Daeges and Jonathan Van Every are also often slotted in. Sometime next year, though, it's not at all unlikely that a majority of these spots will be filled by players currently in Portland. Lars Anderson and Josh Reddick will replace Jeff Bailey and Paul McAnulty in the starting group. Kalish will take over at center field, with Reddick seeing some starts there too.

If the Sox think they can get value for any of the guys currently in the group, they'll likely ship them off. Jeff Bailey, Chris Carter, and Jonathan Van Every are the most familiar names on the list, and the ones most likely to get some small returns. On the other hand, they're also the ones most likely to start the year with the Major League club. Depending on the future of Rocco Baldelli, Nick Green, Julio Lugo, and Mark Kotsay (not to mention David Ortiz), the Red Sox could quickly find themselves in need of a new 4^th outfielder or backup middle infielder. Bubba Bell would likely be one of the top candidates for a trade. It seems Bailey and Carter might again be fighting for a job next season, but without a spot at Pawtucket to fall back on. And if the Sox resign any of their current backups or add a few veterans in the offseason, then there could be no room for anyone.

Over the last few years, Pawtucket has stagnated a little. Aside from a few major players moving up (Pedroia, Ellsbury, Lowrie), there has been an established core of AAAA position players who every so often get their shot at a cup of coffee. Now, the core seems destined to be broken up. Already, Chip Ambres was traded to the Mets and Sandy Madera was released. For some, the change will mean new opportunities. Whether with the Red Sox or another team, some of them certainly have the ability to at least be major league backups. For others, it will be just another move in a long series of moves in their long minor league careers. And for some more it may just be the end of the road. But for the Red Sox, it will mean a vast well of talent on the very edge of the making the Majors, and a much more interesting PawSox box score.

Trades: Oh the Realities!

Allen Chace — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 07:48:01 -0000

More photos » by Darren Calabrese - AP

Contemplating a bad pitch, or an imminent move? (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darren Calabrese)

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The title is a bit tongue-in-cheek. I don't mean to rein in Randy. I kind of mean to rein in everyone else with some "facts" with regard to trades, real and imagined.

1. Adrian Gonzalez isn't walking through that door. Hey. I love the dream as much as anyone, and it's ridiculous to say that he's untouchable or unavailable. But when his "availability" is contingent on us sending San Diego 8-12 of our top 20 prospects, it starts to lose a little bit of its luster. I'm not interested in that kind of deal, and I very much doubt that Theo would be interested in said deal as well.

2. If Adam Dunn walks through that door, it will most likely mean that someone else who has meant a lot to this organization over the last several years will have played his last game as a Red Sox. I'm not saying we won't be brought to the point of considering this, I'm just saying that the Sox aren't going to trade for Dunn and use him in the field more than once a month or so. Somewhat ditto for Victor Martinez and Mark DeRosa in that they make a lot more sense on a team that doesn't have David Ortiz than one that does.

3. When it comes to defensive upgrades at SS, Jack Wilson is more likely than anyone else. This is partially good, because Wilson's relatively high salary for an all-glove no-hit SS means that Pittsburgh will probably be receiving the baseball equivalent of a wooden nickel.

4. We can imagine that many of our minor leaguers have trade value, but here are the ones who actually do: Lars Anderson, Clay Buchholz, Michael Bowden, Nick Hagadone, Ryan Kalish, Luis Exposito, Stolmy Pimental, Josh Reddick, Mark Wagner, and to extend a bit to the bigs, Justin Masterson and Daniel Bard. Here are examples of minor leaguers with negligible or no trade value: Jonathan Van Every, Kris Johnson, Dusty Brown, Travis Denker, Chris Carter, and Jeff Bailey. Neither list is all-inclusive, but a good rule of thumb is this: If you can easily imagine parting with the player, then it's probably easy for the opposing club to decline such a trade, unless they would have monetary reasons to do so (the aforementioned Wilson.).

5. Nick Green and Julio Lugo provide acceptable offense from the 9 spot and the SS position in general. Names like Miguel Tejada and Michael Young make no sense for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that neither would solve the actual problem at SS: fielding.

6. While Miguel Cabrera is a fantastic pipe-dream, that Detroit firesale we were hearing about all winter won't come to fruition as long as the team is performing this well. Adam Everett could be available, I suppose, though I imagine Detroit would look for an NL team first if they make that decision. Ditto for Texas, who would have no real motivation to trade a player like Omar Vizquel right now. He might be a bit of a luxury for them as a utilityman, but he's a very affordable luxury for a team in 1st place.

7. Jed Lowrie is coming back. My hope is that they're going to be conservative in getting him back on the field, but he will be back, even conservatively, probably by the end of the month. Wilson might be the only appropriate acquisition we could make happen by then.

8. Me no wants to trade with Oakland. This isn't a fact, I suppose, but Billy Beane very rarely loses trades. The team, if any, that gets Matt Holliday from him this summer could very easily live to regret it. On that note, however, Matt Holliday is probably the reason that the Sox haven't been as aggressive extending Jason Bay as some think that we should. If Holliday can turn it on and prove he can hit in that big park in Oakland and in the AL, then the Sox will probably make a push for him in the offseason. Say what you want about Bay being a better player, but Holliday is definitely better defensively, and I have to imagine that's something going through the minds of everyone in the FO.

9. We're not getting a prospect back from Brad Penny. A role player is likely, one who would fill the hole of good defensive SS or of reliable RH 4th OF. That's still a good trade, because in a hypothetical world, we'd need that role player more than we would need a 5th starter when we still have Smoltz, Buch, and Bowden yet to start games in the MLs this season.

10. We've got some albatross contracts, just like many other teams. Spin it however you want: Julio Lugo and David Ortiz have negative value. If they depart, it'll be for nothing but some contract relief. Possibly. We're not going to be unloading J.D. Drew or Daisuke anytime soon either. Drew is a positive offensively and defensively, despite his real or imagined fragility and contract status. Daisuke would be giving up far too soon on an intriguing if still sometimes (all right, often) frustrating starting pitcher whose CONTRACT (not total cost, CONTRACT) is very reasonable from the Sox' point of view.

11. If a BIG move is coming this summer, it's probably going to involve something few of us would be emotionally ready for, such as the previously alluded to release of David Ortiz or a possible trade of Jonathan Papelbon. React in surprise if you must, but Paps will be 29 to begin next season, and while I don't think he'll be actively shopped, we're kidding ourselves if we believe that Theo wouldn't be prepared to go with Saito or Bard or maybe even Masterson in the closer role if someone puts a great offer on the table for Paps, who is looking for top dollar at every opportunity.

12. I guess that's all. Maybe I'm blowing smoke as much as the next guy, but I think it's important to be reasonable and thoughtful when thinking about trade rumors, especially this early in the season.

Game 22: Red Sox 6, Indians 5

Ryan — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 05:01:33 -0000

More photos » by Tony Dejak - AP

Kelly Shoppach scores the Indians' final run of the game on a two-run homer.

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The Red Sox charitably allowed the Indians back in the game last night. Tonight the Indians returned the favor.

Fausto Carmona is trending in the right direction. For a span of three innings he was the dominant pitcher from 2007, throwing pitches that couldn't have been put into the air by a catapult. At one point he retired twelve in a row, and the game was slowly but surely edging towards a solid victory for the Indians. Carmona took a 5-0 lead into the sixth and got the first two batters of the inning to ground out. But Jason Bay, who had been a force all series, drew a seemingly innocuous walk. Two doubles later, the lead was three, still a decent margin, but now within striking range.

The Indians had had opportunities to build a bigger lead early in the game, and perhaps knock starter Jon Lester out of the game quickly, but after Shoppach's home run with no one out in the fifth, he settled down to retire the next nine batters and hand over the game to the bullpen with a surmountable deficit.

The game was still firmly in hand as the eighth started; a three-run lead is a pretty safe lead with six out to go, as the FanGraph attests. Even after Boston got runners on first and second, the odds were in Betancourt's favor to leave at the end of the inning with the lead. But Mark DeRosa's bobble of a possible double play opened the door wide for the comeback, and the two singles later, the game was tied. A day after a couple of botched force plays handed the Indians a victory, the Indians let Boston back in the game.

Once the game was back to even, Cleveland was at a disadvantage thanks to a lack of back-end options. Kerry Wood wasn't going to pitch on four straight days, and Tony Sipp wasn't available after throwing in two straight. It fell to Jensen Lewis, who had given up the game-scoring single, to pitch multiple innings.

The Indians were only going with a two-man bench thanks in part to yesterday's short outing by Anthony Reyes, for instead of replacing the injured Travis Hafner with a position player, the Indians needed to add one more arm to the bullpen for just this one game. So Kelly Shoppach was the DH for this game, the first time either catcher DHed all season. When Victor Martinez walked with one out in the ninth, he would have been taken out of the game in favor of Trevor Crowe had the Indians had even a three-man bench. But since the game was tied and removing Martinez would have meant losing the DH, Wedge had to let him run for himself. The way things played out afterwards, Crowe wouldn't have scored, but who knows how he would have affected Okajima's pitches to Shin-Soo Choo.

After the Indians failed to score in the eighth and ninth innings despite a couple good opportunities, Lewis came out for the tenth, and almost pulled off a 1-2-3 inning. With two outs, Jonathan Van Every stepped to the plate, a former Indians prospect who had lots of power but had trouble making contact. Unfortunately he connected on a high fastball and crushed his first major-league home run far over the center field fence. And for the second time in three games, the Indians lost a game in which they had gone into the ninth tied, a situation that normally favors the home team.

Next Up: Pavano vs. Galarraga, Friday at 7:05 PM.

via www.fangraphs.com

Highest WPA		Lowest WPA
Victor Martinez	.196	Grady Sizemore	-.309
Ben Francisco	.189	Rafael Betancourt	-.249
Fausto Carmona	.181	Jensen Lewis	-.215

Red Sox finish season 95-67

Randy Booth — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:30:58 -0000

One of the best moments of the season -- and most deserving. (via d.yimg.com)

After battling through every sore shoulder, pulled muscle, numb hand the Baseball Gods could possibley throw their way, the Boston Red Sox finished the 2008 campaign with an impressive 95-67 record.

I don't think anyone expected this after the first month of the season. Curt Schilling went down early and everything seemed to follow. Julio Lugo, JD Drew, Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, David Ortiz and Mike Lowell all missed significant portions of the season (Schilling is done for the year, Lugo we probably won't see in the playoffs).

Yet the Sox battled and beat adversity. Names like Jonathan Van Every and Jeff Bailey popped up out of nowhere and contributed. Players like Kevin Cash and Sean Casey stepped up and produced. It was a season full of ups and downs, but as the playoffs approach the Sox can only be up.

The Red Sox might even have an MVP on their team once results are announced. Dustin Pedroia was great all season long and could earn the honor. No one can argue with these numbers by the scrappy second-year player: .326 batting average, .376 on-base percentage, 17 home runs, 54 doubles, 20-for-21 in stolen bases, Gold Glove-calibur defense and No. 1 in "Biggest Mouth with the Biggest Bite."

His competition may even be his own teammate: Kevin Youkilis. Some will say Youkilis was more important to the Red Sox this year with his 115 runs batted in, but both would get my vote if mine actually meant something. Youkilis -- not Ortiz or the departed Manny Ramirez -- led the Red Sox with 29 home runs. He batted .312 with a .390 on-base percentage. Unlike last season, Youkilis did not tire towards the stretch-run of the season and his stats prove that.

On the mound, Jon Lester was everything we've ever thought he could be. With Beckett battling injuries all season long (and now he has an oblique injury), Lester stepped up to the plate -- well, mound -- and delivered. His 3.21 earned run average helped lead him to 16 wins and 6 losses in 33 games. At just 24 years old, the sky is the limit for the Red Sox's newest addition to the "Big Game Pitcher" category.

Lester had an amazing season, but let's not forget Matsuzaka who some may argue had a better season. Followers here at Over The Monster know Matsuzaka's numbers are a little skewed (or, in reality, should be a lot worse): 18-3 with a 2.90 earned run average. Great numbers, but I can speak for every Red Sox fan when I say we were never really comfortable with Matsuzaka in a game. The problem? Walks. He allowed 94 free passes in 167 innings and, somehow, barely ever got burned. Pitchers around the league curse him for his ability to get into jams and get out of them. Nevertheless, outside of the walks, his stats are gorgeous. One stat that doesn't get mentioned a lot is one he leads the league in: opponent's batting average. His .211 batting average against is tops in baseball, a whole 10 points better than San Francisco's Tim Lincecum (perhaps the NL's Cy Young winner).

Another successful season deserves another pat on the back for manager Terry Francona. Once again, Francona battled through the setbacks and coached this team to the best of his ability. His handling of pitchers and the lineup seemed spot-on for most of the season and I know it won't be any different for the post-season.

A great season that can only get better with 11 victories in the post-season. Go Sox.

(OTM reader Question of the Day: what was your favorite moment of the 2008 season?)

Poll

How do you grade the Red Sox's 2008 season?

A

42 votes

B

94 votes

C

6 votes

D

1 votes

F

19 votes

162 votes | Poll has closed