When the Red Sox Won the World Series in 2004...

A Wednesday night in late October 2004, in a dorm's common room in Ithaca, NY, about 18 college students all focused on a low-def TV attached to a wall. On the screen, a ground ball bounced lazily up the middle to Red Sox closer Keith Foulke. After collecting the ball, he trotted a few steps toward first. As the ball left Foulke's hand and spun toward the waiting glove of Doug Mientkiewicz, time froze in my mind. It was happening. It was actually happening.

Until that moment, I feared the Red Sox would blow it somehow. That they'd find a way to lose Game 4, then the series, completing the worst collapse in the history of sports, because that's what I was convinced they had to do. In the years leading up to this moment, I had read and heard about Buckner in '86, and Dent in '78, and Enos Slaughter in '46. Aaron Boone's homerun the year prior was my generation's firsthand experience of The Curse. They must lose. That was the way of things.

Mientkiewicz would drop the ball, the Cardinals would rally in the 9th and win the game. The Sox would lose 4 straight, mirroring the 3-0 collapse of the Yankees in the ALCS, making the choke even more spectacularly painful. All that late-inning magic, all those stressful games, all of it a buildup to the biggest disappointment in sports history.

None of that happened.

Mientkiewicz caught the ball. Once I unfroze time, only a second had passed but it felt like more than a minute. Jumping around in jubilation in the common room wasn't enough. We ran outside to the quad, yelling, screaming, hugging. Our yells drew Sox fans from the surrounding buildings, who poured out into the night to join us. As the crowd grew, someone suggested we run to the fountains on the other side of campus. There, other groups of Sox fans from other parts of campus seemed to somehow know to meet us. It must have been some psychic connection, or some notion of a central location to gather. It wasn't coordinated on social media. Twitter didn't yet exist. We wouldn't know what Facebook was for another 2 weeks, when it swept across Ithaca College's campus in early November 2004.

Hours later, after we'd all returned to our dorms and our rooms, at about 1:30 a.m., a friend from North Reading came to my room and said he couldn't sleep. Neither could I. We decided to drive to Boston, along with our RA from Newton. We drove 6 hours. My friends slept, I stayed awake and watched the sun rise over Massachusetts, shining down on the home of the World Series Champs for the first time in 86 years. That's 1,032 months, 4,472 weeks, 31,411 days, 754,000 hours, 45.2 million minutes, 2.7 billion seconds.

2.7 billion seconds, and I still clearly remember that last second, the one I froze, as the ball and landed in Mientkiewicz's oversized first-baseman's glove. That moment felt like it lasted a minute. The feeling lasted longer. I can still go back to that moment and relive it, and feel that feeling again. It's great. Pure joy.

So yeah, it was pretty cool seeing the 2004 Red Sox back at Fenway Wednesday night.

Photo Credit:
Jared Wickerham/Getty Images

2013 BBS Awards: Team of the Year

This goes to the best team in Boston sports for the 2013 calendar year. And for the first time since the inception of the Boston Blood Sox Awards in 2006, this team will be honored by being named Team of the Year. The Patriots won this award in 2007. The Celtics won it in 2008. The Bruins in 2011...

And now in 2013, the winner of Team of the Year are the Boston Red Sox.

Expectations were low for the 2013 Red Sox. Simply finishing above .500 would have been considered progress.

The team was the most likable edition of the Sox since 2007. They were entertaining. They got big hits. They stole bases. They worked counts. They didn't like to lose. They hated losing. They didn't slump. They weren't satisfied with being above .500, or making the playoffs, or winning the division, or winning the AL. If there were another series after the World Series, the Red Sox would want to play, and would play to win.

After two of the most embarrassing seasons in recent Boston sports history in 2011 and 2012, the Red Sox redeemed themselves with one of the best years any Boston team has ever had.

BBS Awards: Red Auerbach Award for Best Coach/Executive

This award goes to the person off the field whose decisions and influence resulted in the most success on the field.

There were lots of great coaches and GMs in Boston this year. Obviously with a World Series winning team you have to consider Ben Cherington and John Farrell. With the Bruins going deep in the playoffs you must give Claude Julien and Peter Chiarelli some thought. With the Patriots doing well despite injuries, Bill Belichick deserves consideration. And Brad Stevens has gotten 110% from the Celtics.

But I think only one person had the most work to do, yet still reached the maximum level of success. He had to rebuild a broken team.

The winner of the Red Auerbach award for 2013 is Ben Cherington, GM of the Boston Red Sox.

The other guys I mentioned have all done great jobs. However none of their jobs were as difficult as Cherington's. Cherington had a blank team. There were no stud free agents available to bring in. As Cherington put together his team of decent, experienced players, I remember talking to my brother about how the Red Sox were "buying second place." I thought the Sox were trying to build an 85 win team, compete for a Wild Card spot, and keep the fans' hunger satisfied with snacks instead of a full course meal.

How wrong I was.

Ben Cherington took a last place team and gave it a chance. He added the right mix of veterans, leaders, followers, and solid ballplayers. And the team won.

BBS Awards: Game of the Year

This award goes to the most memorable, thrilling, important game in Boston sports in 2013. And this year had no shortage of great games. Obviously there was the Red Sox World Series run, and the Bruins went deep into the Stanley Cup playoffs. But one game stands apart for its drama, its impact, its thrill-factor, and its lasting imagery. It's a game that all I have to do is post one picture, and you'll know which game I'm talking about...

Game 2 of the ALCS between the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers.

Detroit had a 5-1 lead in the bottom of the 8th. There were 2 outs and the bases were loaded for David Ortiz.

He hit a Grand Slam that none of us will ever forget.

And in the 9th Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a single to left to win the game.

The game not only had excitement and memorable imagery, it had impact. The Tigers were 4 outs away from going up 2-0 in the series, sweeping two games in Fenway. Who knows how the series would have gone had the Tigers taken such a commanding lead.

Instead, David Ortiz tied the game and the Sox tied the series. They won 2 of 3 in Detroit, then clinched the series in Fenway.

And the rest is history.

2013 BBS Awards: Ted Williams Award for Red Sox Player of the Year

This award goes to the best player from the 2013 Boston Red Sox season. And what a season to look back on and remember.

The winner of this award is someone who in 2013 rallied both the team and the City.

The winner of the Ted Williams award is David Ortiz.

Honorable mentions to Jon Lester, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Koji Uehara.

Ortiz led the team in batting average (.309), homeruns (30), RBI (103), OBP (.393), SLG (.594), and OPS (.959). He was third on the team in runs (84), third in hits (160), and third in doubles (38). And that was just the regular season.

In the playoffs, he led the team with a .353 average, hit 5 homeruns, knocked in 13 RBI, got on base 50% of the time, slugged .706. All those numbers led the Red Sox. He scored the second most runs (12), and had the second most hits (18).

In an amazing year for an amazing team, he was the most amazing player.

Terry Francona Beats John Farrell for Manager of the Year

The Manager of the Year award was voted on BEFORE the playoffs. So before you unleash all that the rage, remember that John Farrell was not a World Series winning manager when this award was decided.

You can make the argument for either Francona or Farrell to win this. Both teams improved dramatically from 2012 to 2013. Both teams made the playoffs. Both teams surprised everyone.

This award is frequently bestowed on the manager whose team's success was the biggest surprise.

Which surprise was greater? Farrell and the Red Sox finishing with the best record in baseball? Or the Indians winning 92 games?

Both were pretty surprising. Vegas odds gave the Sox an over/under win total of 82.5 and the Indians 76.5 (source). The Sox were given 30 to 1 odds to win the World Series. Both teams far exceeded expectations.

The Red Sox did suck in 2012, but they also had a payroll twice the size of Cleveland's to help them improve. And star players like David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury. Farrell definitely changed the culture in the clubhouse, and was a key part to this team's turnaround.

Farrell did indeed do more than Francona, but he did more with more.

I still would have voted for Farrell. He was a key component to the rapid transition in Boston. The team shed diseased body parts, and Farrell was the healthy managerial organ replacing the gangrenous Bobby Valentine.

It's impossible for me to go back to before the playoffs and say who I would have voted for then. Because I didn't care about Manager of the Year back then.

And neither did you! So why does anyone care so much now?

Who really cares? Francona never won the award here despite winning two World Series. Now Farrell wins the World Series and we're finding something to be pissed off about. I'm sure Farrell would rather have the team ring than the individual trophy. We had a parade for the rings. Cleveland won't do shit for the MOY award.

So stop whining, Red Sox fans. Francona did a fine job in Cleveland, the Indians had a good year, it's hard to argue that Francona doesn't deserve the recognition, so shut up.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Mark Duncan

RED SOX WIN THE WORLD SERIES!!!

This is unreal. This team was picked to finish last in their division. Fans were hoping that they'd flirt with .500 and contend for a Wild Card spot. 108 wins later and it's duckboat time.

The bats finally woke up Wednesday night. Shane Victorino and Mike Napoli returned to the lineup. People not named David Ortiz got big hits. Victorino had a massive impact, going 2 for 3 with 4 RBI. Napoli hit an RBI single in the 4th. Victorino's 3-run double in the 3rd came with 2 outs. So Michael Wacha was only an out away from escaping that inning, just like he escaped the 2nd. Five of the Sox' 6 runs were scored with 2 outs.

It was only a matter of time before the bats woke up. And that the 22-year-old Wacha was knocked around. Who was going to adjust better after Game 2? Wacha to the veteran Sox batters, or the Sox batters to Wacha? The Sox lineup isn't loaded with stars, but it's packed with savvy players that know how to work at-bats and figure out pitchers.

The Cardinals did not figure out John Lackey. He wasn't dominant, but he made pitches when he had to. He allowed 9 hits in his 6.2 innings. He seemed to save his best pitches for the most important at-bats. He struck out Jon Jay with runners on second and third in the 2nd inning. He struck out David Freese to end the 4th, also with two runners on. Of the 9 hits he allowed, only 1 wasn't a single, and only 1 was allowed with runners in scoring position.

The Sox scored 5 of their 6 runs with 2 outs. Lackey shut the Cardinals down with 2 outs, at least until the 7th. Wacha's inability to get the third out and Lackey's ability to get it was the difference in this game.

What can you say about this team?

They never learned how to lose.

The 2011 and 2012 Sox found ways to lose. They seemed to go out of their way to lose. This team never learned how. They never lost more than 3 games in a row all season long. And they only had five 3-game losing streaks. Only one of those streaks came after the All-Star Game.

Losing was foreign to them. It was distasteful. They hated it. Once they lost they found a way to win the next day. They were 43-21 in games after a loss. That's a .672 pace, which would win 109 games in a 162 game season. In the playoffs they were 4-1 after a loss.

They found ways to win. When a reliever blew a save, the offense would rally. When the offense struggled to score, the pitching would bear down. Down 5-1 in the 8th against Detroit? No problem. David Ortiz will hit a Grand Slam to tie it.

Just magic. They made the city believe in them again. They made a cynic like me believe in them again. Faith restored.

I can't wait for Spring Training.

Photo Credit:
Greg M. Cooper/USA Today Sports