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Red Sox 2008 Outfield Review

By Mike ⋅ November 19, 2008 ⋅ 2 comments

When I handed the Red Sox their 2008 report card, I judged the outfield to be a B+. This group could have been an A+ unit if not for a number of issues. First and foremost, the Manny Ramirez saga, though short in peak duration, was the story of the season and wore on the [...]

Red Sox 2008 Infield Review

By Mike ⋅ November 12, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

In my report card, I gave the Red Sox infield a B+, citing the key contributions of some as a big positive, but the injuries as a weight around the infield’s neck. The unit was carried by Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, and Mike Lowell before his late season injury. David Ortiz, hampered by the wrist injury [...]

Red Sox 2008 Report Card

By Mike ⋅ October 27, 2008 ⋅ 7 comments

The Red Sox season is over, sooner than we all would like to have seen it end. It was an up and down season, with the Manny Ramirez saga captivating the Nation for a couple weeks in July. The Sox had key injuries to the likes of David Ortiz and Mike Lowell. They also had [...]

Red Sox Push Rays to Limit, Fall Short

By Mike ⋅ October 21, 2008 ⋅ One comment

The Red Sox opened the American League Championship series with a hard-nosed victory, but it was the only lead they would have in the series. Like last season’s team, they proceeded to drop the next three games, digging themselves a 3-1 hole. They battled valiantly to force the seventh game, even coming back from a [...]

Red Sox Down Angels Again; Face Familiar Foe in Rays

By Mike ⋅ October 8, 2008 ⋅ One comment

The Red Sox and Angels met in the postseason for the fourth time and like each previous battle, the Red Sox prevailed. The Angels won the third game of the series to stave off elimination for a day and broke the Sox’ 11-game postseason win streak in this series.
As expected, pitching dominated the series, but [...]

Beckett Injured, to Face Angels in Game 3

By Mike ⋅ September 29, 2008 ⋅ One comment

The Red Sox lost their first chance to clinch on Monday, but punched their ticket for the playoffs on Tuesday. After losing the series to the Rays the previous week, the division looked out of reach and the Yankees took the series opener to lock the Sox into a series with the Angels. The Red Sox [...]

With Playoffs Virtually Assured, Red Sox Aim for Division Title

By Mike ⋅ September 22, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

The Red Sox split this week with the Rays and Blue Jays, but that was good enough to get them into the playoffs (they have clinched at least a tie with the Yankees) and still within 1.5 games of the Rays for the AL East title. The Red Sox will wrap up the 2008 regular season [...]

Red Sox Close in on Rays as Rematch in Tampa Looms

By Mike ⋅ September 15, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

With the Red Sox facing the same pair of teams last week and this week, the column will have a slightly different format this week. Instead of looking at each series based on the calendar, we will focus on the series in aggregate by opponent, Tampa Bay and Toronto.
The Red Sox finished a good week strong to [...]

Red Sox on Fire as Limping Rays Come to Fenway

By Mike ⋅ September 8, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

The Red Sox are as hot as they have been all season, winning five of six games this week, and the rest of the regulars are about to get healthy. Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, and Kevin Youkilis (Youk missed another three games with his back) returned in this week’s Texas series and J. D. Drew is [...]

Despite Wins, Red Sox Lose Ground on Rays

By Mike ⋅ September 1, 2008 ⋅ 2 comments

The Red Sox continue to play good baseball, winning both series this week over the Yankees and White Sox, to extend their series win streak to four. However, the Rays continue to find ways to win, gutting out victory after victory (in front of an embarrassing 10,000 fans) and extended their division lead to 5.5 over the [...]

Red Sox-Yankees Showdown Looms after Successful Week

By Mike ⋅ August 25, 2008 ⋅ One comment

For the first time since the All-Star Break, the Red Sox showed conisistency in winning two series within one calendar week (Yes, they beat the A’s and Royals back-to-back in the beginning of August, but that spanned two weeks). The Red Sox took care of business against the bottom two teams in the AL East (Baltimore and Toronto) with a tough [...]

Red Sox Start Fast, Run Out of Gas This Week

By Mike ⋅ August 18, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

The Red Sox returned home this week and brought their uneven play with them. They had an offensive explosion against the weak pitching staff of the Rangers, but a rainout washed away the Blue Jays opener and took the Red Sox bats with it. They will head out on the road this week against an Oriole team [...]

Red Sox Lose Ground on Rays with Uneven Week

By Mike ⋅ August 12, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

The Red Sox opened the week with a tough loss to an inferior Royals team before taking the series. They traveled to Chicago for a gritty series with the White Sox and earned a tough split.
However, the Rays continued to play well and have already set a single-season franchise win record with almost two months remaining [...]

Red Sox Move on without Manny Ramirez

By Mike ⋅ August 4, 2008 ⋅ One comment

What a week! We had a sweep at the hands of the Angels before they added Mark Teixeira (I know he played in the finale, but the Angels won five of the six games in the past couple weeks without him). The Manny Ramirez saga played itself out with Jason Bay coming to Boston and immediately [...]