ESPN Mag delivers all-Boston issue

Posted by Chad Finn, Globe Staff
http://www.boston.com/

Sweet rings, sweet cover about Boston's winnahs, and sweet distraction from the submerging Red Sox. Or as Kevin Garnett put it in a classic commercial for ESPN Mag back in the day before he was part of the Boston sports scene, it's tastefully done.

While the suspicion here is that this week's all-Boston issue will include more references to "Beantown'' than most true Bostonians would ever actually say -- that would be one or greater -- a glimpse at the table of contents suggests it should be appealing overall even to the most parochial Boston fan.

Hey, anything with an article about Boston sports titled "Decade of Dominance" is off to a good start as far as I'm concerned. Also, Bill Simmons -- Grantland Sports Guy these days -- returns to the magazine to write a back-page piece on why the issue was a bad idea.

I know there's a punch line there, but I'm not finding it. So let's consider five other articles included in the issue, in order of appeal:

The Front Office Diaries -- A look inside the thinking of the Red Sox farm system featuring the scouting reports on some of the team’s best homegrown players, such as Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Clay Buchholz, and Jonathan Papelbon. Sounds like required reading for those howling without context or a clue that Theo Epstein should be fired.

How to Rob Fenway Park -- Chuck Hogan’s novel “Prince of Thieves” was turned into “The Town,” a well-reviewed and wholly Boston movie directed by and starring Ben Affleck. (Jeremy Renner, a Modesto, California native, had the most accurate Boston accent in the movie, however.) Following the movie’s release, there was a string of copycat bank and armed car robberies utilizing techniques seen in the movie. But no one has tried to copy the film’s heist of Fenway Park -- yet. Other than perhaps John Lackey every fifth day.

Bruins in the Bean -- This photo essay will show why the Stanley Cup champion Bruins are the most Bostonian of all the pro athletes in the Hub, with vignettes of their daily lives and what they love about Boston. No wisecrack here. Could not agree more with the premise.

Debating Boston -- Artie Lange (a Yankees fan) and Denis Leary face off to argue that Boston’s sports teams are awful and amazing, respectively. Then they rip apart the other’s view. Kudos to ESPN for going with two legitimately funny personalities to rep the two fan bases rather than, say, Billy Crystal and Lenny Clarke.

Who Does Tom Brady Think He Is? -- An examination of why Tom Brady is hard to relate to and "insufferable." Presumably co-bylined by Terrell Suggs and Bridget Moynahan.

Regarding that last article, I'm going to do what Brady does so well: pass. But I am looking forward to checking the issue out. It should arrive in subscribers' mail boxes today or tomorrow and is available on the newsstand Friday.

Mount Champions

From: http://www.weei.com/

In 'Bottom Of The 33rd,' A Look At Baseball's Longest Game

by Linda Holmes

from http://www.npr.org/

Listen to the Story

Weekend Edition Sunday

[6 min 41 sec]

• Add to Playlist
• Download
• Transcript

Harper

The cover of "Bottom Of The 33rd."

This Sunday on Weekend Edition, Liane Hansen talks to Dan Barry, author of the new book Bottom Of The 33rd: Hope, Redemption And Baseball's Longest Game. The book is all about a minor-league game that took place — or, rather, began — on April 18, 1981. It was suspended after 32 innings, tied at 2-2, at four in the morning on April 19, Easter Sunday. It resumed two months later, when the Pawtucket Red Sox finally beat the Rochester Red Wings 3-2 in the bottom of the 33rd inning.

Now, when you hear "minor league," you might assume this game involved a bunch of nobodies you've never heard of, but as Barry notes, not only was superstar-to-be Wade Boggs responsible for tying the game back up at 2:00 in the morning at the one point where it threatened to actually end, but among those who played all 33 innings was Cal Ripken, Jr., who went 2-for-13.

Barry talks in the interview about the fact that when the game was suspended, there were roughly 19 people still in the stands, who had spent eight hours in the cold. When it resumed for what became the final inning, it had become a well-known game and Major League Baseball was on strike besides. So it attracted a lot of attention, meaning that 6000 people showed up, all of whom could claim to have attended baseball's longest game, but few of whom had stuck it out on Easter morning, 1981, until just after four.

The game, he notes, is only more compelling as a story because minor league baseball doesn't carry the assumption that a major league game does that everyone involved has already, in a sense, "made it." Barry says that there's "an undercurrent of aspiration" and "a touch of the tragic" in a league in which many of the players will, in fact, never become the successes they dream of being. But because they won't, he says, "we learn at a minor league game that it is the journey to cherish, not necessarily the conclusion."

Best Beckett ever? Why Sunday's outing may have been pitcher's best with Red Sox

By Alex Speier

from http://www.weei.com/

The question was obvious: When was the last time members of the Red Sox [2] had seen Josh Beckett [3] be this good?

The answer was meant to reflect the fact that, in eight overpowering innings of shutout baseball, the right-hander was better than he was at any point in a lost 2010 season, or in an unimpressive first start of the 2011 campaign last week against the Indians. But the answer was more far-reaching. On Sunday, in his 4-0 victory over the Yankees [4] (recap [5]), Beckett was quite simply as good as the Sox have ever seen him.

Ever. As in ever.

The claim seems like something between hyperbole and blasphemy. After all, Beckett was singularly dominant in his remarkable rampage through the 2007 postseason.

That October, he logged a complete-game four-hit shutout with eight strikeouts against the Angels, a one-run, 11-strikeout outing against the Indians and a one-run, nine-strikeout performance against the Rockies in the World Series [6].

In 2009, he enjoyed his longest sustained run of excellence with the Sox, producing six starts in which he did not allow an earned run, including his only two regular-season complete-game shutouts (one against the Royals, another against the Braves [7]) in Boston.

Even so, it is not unreasonable to say that Beckett was even more impressive on Sunday than in any of those starts. For validation of the thesis, one needed only to ask the man who has been on the receiving end of Beckett’s best games in Boston.

“Best I’ve seen him. As far as [being] complete, absolutely,” Varitek said. “[It was] eight strong, perfect innings.”

Beckett had total mastery over his full repertoire of pitches on Sunday night. Rarely one to get carried away when breaking down his outings, even he acknowledged that he featured a special pitch mix.

“I just felt like I never did get into like a pattern,” Beckett said. “I felt like I was throwing everything.”

He leaned primarily on a 93-95 mph four-seam fastball that he powered down in the strike zone, helping him to record 11 outs via ground ball. (The Yankees [4] managed to produce just three fly balls or line drives during Beckett's eight innings on the mound.) He also featured the biting two-seam fastball that sends left-handed hitters jolting backward and then dives back over the inside corner of the plate (Beckett punched out Mark Teixeira [8] looking at just such a pitch in the first inning).

To those, he added a hammer curveball that he could either drop into the strike zone or bury in the dirt for swings and misses. And, finally, he featured the changeup that he worked to refine for the 2011 season.

That was the pitch that Beckett used for the most pivotal play of the game, a double-play grounder by Yankees leadoff man Brett Gardner that ended a first-and-second, one-out threat in the third inning.

“Right from the very beginning he was commanding all his pitches,” Sox manager Terry Francona [9] said. “And especially, when he opens up the plate with that two-seamer to the lefties, it seems like it opens up the entire plate. He commanded his breaking ball. He threw it in all counts. He established it to where they couldn’t sit on a pitch, because he was changing speeds going back and forth.”

He got swings and misses on every one of his pitch types, using each to record at least one strikeout. As he blitzed through the Yankees [4], retiring the final 14 batters, New York’s hitters started heading to the plate with a blindfold and cigarette, resigned to their impending failure. Beckett needed just nine, eight and eight pitches to plow through the sixth, seventh and eighth innings (respectively).

Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira [8] would acknowledge after the game that his team could do little more than tip its collective hat.

“They said he might have been hurt last year — he looks fine now,” Teixeira said. “[Beckett had] four pitches — fastball, cutter, curveball, changeup — throwing them all for strikes. Fastball was 94-95 again, which we hadn’t seen in a while. And his location was great.”

So were the results. Indeed, they attested to an outing that — especially given the depth and talent of the Yankees [4] lineup — was as good as, if not better than, anything he’d done with the Sox. It may well be the case that Beckett has never had such a diverse pitch mix working so perfectly for him. The line suggested as much.

This marked the first time that the Sox had held the Yankees to as few as two hits since Pedro Martinez [10]’ historic one-hit, 17-strikeout complete game at Yankee Stadium [11] in 1999. It was the first time since 2002 (again, a Pedro special, this time against the Rays) that a Sox pitcher tossed eight or more shutout innings, allowed two or fewer hits and struck out 10 or more batters.

In the 34 career outings in which Beckett had pitched eight or more innings, he had never before allowed as few as two hits. Until Sunday night, as a member of the Red Sox [2], he had never struck out as many as 10 batters in a game in which he did not permit a run.

The contest was a reminder of who Beckett can be. Varitek suggested that the right-hander remains capable of performing to the level that defined his 2007 and 2009 peaks.

“His stuff’s the same. Absolutely,” Varitek said. “He’s worked real hard to get back to where he was at. … He’s strong, he’s powerful and he’s good.”

Beckett offered a tantalizing glimpse on Sunday. The Sox need not be resigned to the idea that he is now just a back-of-the-rotation starter.

But ultimately, the dominant outing against the Yankees may mean little if Beckett cannot back it up. He was mindful of that fact when asked whether he had any game that would compare to Sunday’s outing against the Yankees in 2010.

“If I do, I can’t remember,” he said with a shrug. “That’s kind of me, moving forward to whatever is next and what I have to do tomorrow. I’m not really looking back.”

Where Sunday ranks among Beckett’s Red Sox [2] starts matters less than what it means going forward. It gave the Sox a much-needed victory, and also served as a reminder of what Beckett can be.

It was not so long ago that the 30-year-old was viewed as the anchor of the rotation. On Sunday, he offered a demonstration of how he achieved that status.

“That was the type of game that an ace throws,” Sox general manager Theo Epstein [12] said. “That was great to see. That’s an understatement. It was exactly what we needed.”

The Red Sox: The Team to Beat in 2011

Booker Smith

From: http://www.splicetoday.com/

Anthony Shea

If they can just get their lineup in order.

As long as the Boston Red Sox are going to have the highest payroll in MLB next season—pending a blockbuster move by the Yankees—they might as well keep the wallet open. General Manager Theo Epstein had made some key additions, but there are still holes to fill and problems in the lineup that need to be addressed. The pitching staff is short on lefties while batting order is riddled with them. Boston’s current 25-man roster is the obvious favorite in the AL East—on paper—but there’s still the possibility of implosion. Principal owner John Henry, ever mindful of his franchise’s revenue stream, can’t afford to have his $180 million club sink to the middle of the standings again this year.

The Red Sox feature a ferocious batting order. The problem is that most of those strong batters are left-handed, leaving the offense open to strikeouts from late inning lefty specialists and southpaw starters. One more right-handed power bat would balance out the lineup; for example, Josh Willingham was a perfect fit for Fenway Park before he was traded to the A’s last Thursday, and now his bat will wilt in the endless, dark dungeon that is the Oakland Coliseum. The Diamondbacks’ Justin Upton also seemed like a genuine fit, but apparently Epstein was against including star reliever Daniel Bard in any potential trade. (The addition of Bobby Jenks may have changed his tune.) If the Snakes were willing to accept a package consisting of Jacoby Ellsbury, Bard, Felix Doubrant and few other prospects, Epstein should have jumped on the offer. Upton is still a young athletic center fielder with enormous upside, and players of his caliber don’t come along very often. He would flourish at Fenway Park and benefit from the deadly lineup surrounding him. As a righty, Upton also fills the immediate hole in an otherwise stellar lineup.

Although the team didn’t make it to the playoffs last season, Sox fans had a lot to be happy about, including Clay Buchholz’s breakout. In 173.2 innings he pitched to a 2.33 ERA and 17 wins, but held a 1.20 WHIP and only struck out 120 batters. The reduction in strikeouts is easy to live with if it means that fewer runs are allowed, but the 67 walks he surrendered killed his overall innings pitched. So far, Buchholz has had an up and down career, but it appears Epstein has total faith in him. But would it be all that surprising to see him regress to a 3.50 ERA and average only five innings a game? The Brewers are constantly looking for pitching, and rumor has it that they’re still in the hunt, even after acquiring Shaun Marcum and Zack Greinke within the last couple of weeks.

At one time, Baseball America ranked Buchholz the best pitching prospect in the minors and now considers him one of the most promising starters in the majors. His skill-set isn’t in question: the general consensus is that he has the makeup of an ace, but does he have the mental ability to pitch adequately in Fenway Park? With five more years of team control left, his value is at an all time high, but he’s not always the most confident of pitchers. Milwaukee’s star outfielder Ryan Braun had a disappointing year—by his standards—and a change of scenery may suit him well. A Buchholz and Ellsbury trade for Braun matches up well for both teams. Boston gets a middle of the order right-handed masher with a team friendly contract and Milwaukee receives another young ace and a speedy and athletic, if injury-prone, center fielder. That said, the deal would lean towards the Red Sox side, so maybe a couple prospects would have to be added in, or maybe even Bard.

Epstein’s had a terrific off-season, dramatically improving the Red Sox, but with some more tinkering he can increase the possibility that the team goes wire-to-wire in 2011, leaving the Yankees in the dust.

Derek Jeter With The Red Sox? Imagine That!

From: http://www.totalprosports.com/

298diggsdigg

219Share

Exactly one month ago our "Picture of the Day" featured Derek Jeter in a Red Sox uniform with the title "What if..."

It appears as though the New York Post has been thinking the same thing lately as the Yankees have told their 36-year-old free agent shortstop to feel free to shop around if the $45 million they offered him is not enough.  And anyone who follows baseball knows that if there is one team that may actually outbid the Yankees for an All-Star player, it is the Boston Red Sox.

So that once again leaves us all asking the question, "What if?"

'75 Red Sox World Series hero: "I played every game high"

From: http://www.boston.com/

Bernie Carbo was out of major league baseball by the age of 33, but now stays connected with the game by running a fantasy camp each year in Mobile, Ala. (Stan Grossfeld/ Globe Staff)

boston.com — Bernie Carbo launched the greatest pinch-hit home run in Red Sox history. He admitted he was high on drugs during the 1975 World Series. Now he has cleaned up his act.

Click here for this fascinating article

Nomar Garciaparra heads to TV studio after retiring -- as a Red Sox

From: http://content.usatoday.com/

Nomar Garciaparra, whose career tailed off because of injuries after leaving Boston, retired after 14 seasons today, signing a one-day contract with the Red Sox before heading for the TV studio.

Nomar Garciaparra played 8 1/2 seasons in Boston and was a reserve for the Oakland Athletics last year.

CAPTION

By Jim Rogash, AP

"My tank's empty," Garciaparra said at a news conference in Fort Myers, Fla., shown on MLB.com. "It wouldn't have felt like a retirement if I couldn't have put this uniform on one more time."

The two-time American League batting champion will now don a jacket and tie as a member of ESPN's baseball crew, appearing mostly on Baseball Tonight.

Garciaparra, a six-time All-Star, says in recent years he's spent more time talking to younger players. Working on TV, he says, "is another way to pass on the knowledge. … I love talking about the game."

The infielder, who played 8 1/2 seasons in Boston before a 2004 trade to the Chicago Cubs, was a reserve for the Oakland Athletics last year, appearing in just 65 games, hitting .281 with three home runs and 16 RBI. He also played for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

"I hope to have a long career in broadcasting," Garciaparra said. "But it's not easy, and I've never thought it was." As potential role models on TV, he cites Harold Reynolds and Orel Herchiser as having done "a tremendous job" on-air.

Garciaparra, 36, exits with a .313 career batting average, with 229 homers, 936 RBI and six All-Star game selections, five as a shortstop for the Red Sox.

-- By Mike Dodd and Michael Hiestand

First Skate at Fenway Park

Posted by Matt Pepin, Boston.com Staff
From: http://www.boston.com/

(Bobby Orr, Milt Schmidt, and Terry O'Reilly / Reuters)

Years ago, Ray Bourque got the chance to take batting practice at Fenway Park.

Cranked four over the Green Monster, he said.

But what would he have said if someone that day had told him one day he'd go ice skating at Fenway Park?

"You're crazy," Bourque said Friday after being one of the first to go ice skating on the rink that has been constructed at Fenway for the NHL's Winter Classic on Jan. 1.

"But I really think the NHL has a great thing going here. Never would I have thought I would see a rink in the middle of Fenway Park," said Bourque, who played 1,518 games from 1979 to 2000 for the Bruins and had 1,506 points and 395 goals.

It was hockey weather indeed at the historic ballpark on Yawkey Way, and Bourque was one of many Bruins legends who donned sweaters with the spoked B and skates despite extremely chilly temps.

The lineup included Cam Neely, Ken Hodge, Terry O'Reilly, Rick Middleton, Bob and Don Sweeney, and Bobby Orr. A youth hockey team from Somerville also participated, and even Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek laced up a pair of loaners and tested the ice.

"It's nice. The ice is only going to get better," Bourque said. "It's a special place to play that game. I'm jealous."

The significance of the Winter Classic not only coming to Boston but involving two of the city's historic franchises was not lost on Neely, who played 525 games for the Bruins from 1986 to 1996.

"Two organizations that are kind of original within their respective sports, it's kind of neat to see them come together like this," Neely said.

Many players were asked if skating outdoors at Fenway brought back memories of playing outdoor hockey as youths.

"It's similar, but different," Neely said. "We're used to skating with a bunch of trees around you and you've got to watch out for leaves in the ice, but it does bring it back, skating outdoors."

One current Bruin, Milan Lucic, also attended, although he did not skate because he is still recovering from an ankle injury. However, he said he'll give his teammates -- who begin a three-game road trip tonight in Chicago -- some intel on the rink, including sun glare and other issues they may have to deal with on gameday.

The Red Sox' swing doctor

Slumping sluggers could soon get help from MIT Media Lab researchers.

Larry Hardesty, MIT News Office

A player at the Boston Red Sox preseason training camp is wired with sensors developed by the MIT Media Lab, which gauge the forces he exerts when he swings the bat.
Photos: Joseph Paradiso and Alexander Reben

On Wednesday, the Boston Red Sox reached Major League Baseball's postseason playoffs for the sixth time in seven years. But whether or not they go on to win another World Series, when the Sox report to spring training next year, they could be spending some time in the trainer's room with members of the MIT Media Lab.

For three of the last four years, Professor Joseph Paradiso and other members of the lab's Responsive Environments Group have been strapping sensors on players at the Red Sox preseason camp to gauge the physical forces they exert when they swing a bat or throw a ball. So far, the researchers have been working mainly with minor-league players, trying to determine what kind of useful information they can extract from the sensors. But next spring, Paradiso hopes to gather more data on more players engaged in a wider range of activities.

If trainers could wire up a hitter when he's on a hot streak, and then again when he's in a slump, they might be able to determine how the mechanics of his swing have changed and how he can fix them. "There's many areas where this technique will have a meaningful influence on how things are perceived and how data is interpreted," says Eric Berkson, one of the Sox' team physicians. As a doctor, Berkson is particularly interested in how the technology could be used to identify behaviors that can lead to injury. "And then, using the same technology, we can try to find better ways to figure out when someone's able to come back from an injury and make sure they don't injure themselves in that process," he says.

The Responsive Environments Group's work with the Sox grew out of a project to allow dancers' movements to control the music accompanying them — "a very Media Lab thing," Paradiso says. While exploring the work's implications for gait analysis with collaborators at Massachusetts General Hospital, Paradiso met some physicians who worked with the Red Sox and were intrigued by the technology. Paradiso and his graduate student Michael Lapinski did the initial work on sensors customized for baseball players, and they've recently been joined by Clemens Satzger of the Technical University of Munich, who's at MIT until January.

Baseball teams had been trying to collect data on the biomechanics of players' swings and pitching motions for years, but they'd relied on optical systems that worked only in the lab and produced data that could be difficult to analyze. "Trying to measure pitching with just an accelerometer has never been done effectively before," says Berkson. "The idea that we can potentially do this biomechanics evaluation during real activities is a huge step."

In fact, the MIT team's sensors use more than just an accelerometer; they also use gyroscopes, and recent versions include a magnetometer that measures joint angles. But the biggest difficulty in developing the sensor, Paradiso says, is that no single accelerometer can handle the range of accelerations — measured as multiples of earth's gravity, or Gs — that a professional athlete can produce during a routine motion. The same goes for gyros and angular acceleration. "For dancers — even thought they're pretty kinetic, too — the 10-G range was okay," says Paradiso. "But for athletes — especially for pitchers — you have to go up to 120, 130 Gs to get that full range of motion, and for angular rate, you have to go up to about 10,000 degrees per second." The beginning of a pitcher's windup, however, though no less crucial to his delivery, is so slow that it won't register very clearly on a high-G accelerometer or high-rate gyro. So each Media Lab sensor includes two sets of three-axis accelerometers and gyros that span different ranges, to capture an athlete's full range of activity.

In the hope of further reducing the size of the sensors, Paradiso is talking with a Boston-area device manufacture about developing accelerometers and gyros that can handle a wide range of accelerations and angular rates, avoiding the need for dual sets of devices. But in the near term, a greater concern is developing ways to get the sensors on and off athletes more efficiently. "In spring training, even with a minor-league player, they're so tightly scheduled, that if you've got 20 minutes with this player, and you take a half-hour, that's going to throw their day off," Paradiso says. The lab is currently experimenting with a new method for mounting the sensors that should be more efficient but will also provide an attachment secure enough to withstand huge accelerations.

Ultimately, Paradiso believes, his group's work with the Sox will aid in the development of commercial devices for measuring biomechanics. Berkson finds that prospect exciting. "We can now look at what's causing injury in a shoulder through a pitcher's real activity, in real-world situations," he says, "and this will help us understand why kids get injured, and why Little League pitching is dangerous for some kids, and why there's an increased number of surgeries happening on these kids on a yearly basis." To some people outside New England, that could sound like an even more important application than helping the Sox to another World Series victory.

Tim WakeField: A Knuckleballer’s Winding Path

By JACK CURRY

BOSTON — The first baseman loved throwing knuckleballs. That was a problem for Stan Cliburn in his first managing job with the Watertown Pirates in upstate New York in 1988. Almost every day, Cliburn began fielding practice by reminding his first baseman to throw the ball straight.

“I’d catch him throwing that knuckleball around the infield all the time,” Cliburn said. “I had to tell him we weren’t fooling around.”

Enlarge This Image

Eric Shelton/Associated Press

Tim Wakefield, who pitches deep into games and succeeds with a pitch rarely thrown faster than 68 m.p.h., is a first-time All-Star at age 42.

Tim Wakefield, the frolicking first baseman, tried to entertain teammates before Cliburn marched on the field. but he was perpetually caught fiddling with the pitch. Before long, Cliburn and others learned, Wakefield was not fooling around anymore.

What started as an aimless way to toss a pitch that danced eventually became Wakefield’s vocation. He realized that a .189 batting average in his first season at Class A was going to make him an afterthought. By his second season, Wakefield had begun the transformation from a floundering hitter to an apprentice knuckleball pitcher.

The transformation was steady, then superlative, then stagnant, then steady, remarkably steady, in the last 15 seasons with Boston. Wakefield has been a reliable back-of-the-rotation starter for the Red Sox, a solid pitcher who devours innings and succeeds with a pitch no faster than 68 miles per hour.

And at the age of 42, after uncorking thousands of knuckleballs since his major league debut with Pittsburgh in 1992, Wakefield will make his first appearance at the All-Star Game on Tuesday in St. Louis. The knuckleball was a desperate way for him to prop up a teetering career. But he has used the pitch to tiptoe to 189 wins, to secure two World Series rings and to keep going and going.

“It’s a pretty cool story,” Wakefield said. “It makes me understand how blessed I am to have had a second chance.”

He said his selection for the All-Star team was his first since he was chosen for a travel squad in Florida as an 18-year-old. He is 11-3 to lead the American League in wins, but he also has a 4.31 earned run average, which is not in the league’s top 20. Still, Wakefield, who is the oldest first-time All-Star since Satchel Paige at 46 in 1952, said he valued innings pitched more than any other statistic.

Wakefield was a phenomenal rookie who almost helped Barry Bonds and the Pirates reach the World Series in 1992. Three years later, his knuckleball had taken too many unexplained detours, so the Pirates released him. Wakefield was unemployed for six days before Boston signed him to a minor league contract.

Since then, he has performed like a pitcher who punches a clock. Wakefield has started more games than any other pitcher in Red Sox history and has also been their closer.

He gave up a devastating home run to the Yankees’ Aaron Boone in the 2003 postseason. A year later, he saved the bullpen in a blowout Game 3 loss during the A.L. Championship Series, an unselfish move that helped the Red Sox as they rallied to stun the Yankees in seven games, then won their first World Series in 86 years.

“Sometimes, pitchers drift into never-never land on the days they don’t start,” said Toronto’s Kevin Millar, Wakefield’s former teammate. “As a position player, you appreciate guys that are in the dugout when they’re not starting. Wakey was always there.”

Wakefield’s achievements almost never happened. He homered in his first pro at-bat, which might have been the highlight of his hitting career. He was not immediately assigned to a minor league team by the Pirates in 1989, his second pro season, so he stayed at extended spring training. That can be a baseball wasteland.

Fortunately for Wakefield, Woody Huyke, who managed the Gulf Coast League Pirates, spotted him flipping a knuckleball in the outfield on a steamy day in Sarasota, Fla. Huyke asked him to throw a few more. Then Huyke asked him to take the mound and float more pitches. Huyke studied the ball’s gyrations and locked that image into his memory.

Enlarge This Image

Elise Amendola/Associated Press

“I had to do it or finish school and get a job,” Tim Wakefield said of developing his knuckleball.

Enlarge This Image

Peter R. Barber/Watertown Daily Times

Tim Wakefield, as a first baseman with Class A Watertown, entertained teammates by tossing knuckleballs in fielding practice.

John Swart/Associated Press

As a rookie with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1992, Wakefield, with catcher Don Slaught, went 8-1.

During an organizational meeting later that season, Huyke said, the Pirates discussed releasing Wakefield because he had shown no promise. An eighth-round draft pick who signed for $15,000, Wakefield did not come close to being the hitter who set home run records at the Florida Institute of Technology. At that point, Huyke interjected.

“I told them, ‘If you’re going to release him, make sure you look at his knuckleball,’ ” Huyke said. “The ball had a lot of movement. You never knew where it was going to go.”

Wakefield had told Cliburn, his first manager, he would never make it to the majors as a hitter, so he happily agreed to undergo a drastic makeover to try to master a trick pitch.

“I had to do it or finish school and get a job,” Wakefield said. “I had to take it seriously.”

He was emotionally drained in his first minor league season because his grandfather Lester died less than a month after he arrived in Watertown. Wakefield struck out 92 times in 256 at-bats over two seasons, so throwing the knuckleball gave him some freedom.

Joe Ausanio, a former Yankees pitcher who played with him at Watertown, said Wakefield had tremendous power and was a stellar athlete. But Ausanio said that Wakefield’s long swing “had some holes” and that he could not adjust to hitting sliders.

“When he hit it, he really hit it,” Ausanio said. “But when he didn’t, he looked foolish.”

So Wakefield the hitter looked the way Wakefield the pitcher often makes hitters look.

“He messes you up,” said Boston’s Dustin Pedroia, who has faced Wakefield in spring training. “He controls it. He can move it left or right. He’s perfected a pitch that pretty much no one else throws.”

Millar jokingly described Wakefield as a pitcher who is “66 years old and throws 65 miles an hour.” But he also offered a serious scouting report.

“The problem is he can make you look as stupid as you can,” Millar said.

As Wakefield sat in the first-base dugout at Fenway Park on Thursday, he recalled some important knuckleball mileposts. The day he first threw the pitch to his father in the backyard, the conversation he taped with the knuckleballer Charlie Hough so he could repeatedly absorb the advice, and his gradual ability to handle any failure that stemmed from throwing a pitch as soft as a marshmallow.

Twenty years ago, Wakefield became a knuckleball pitcher, not a pitcher who throws a knuckleball. To the proud Wakefield, there is a major distinction between those descriptions. Wakefield is a knuckleball pitcher and has been ever since he stopped fooling around.

“It was my only option,” he said. “I had to take that road.”

David Ortiz Collapse: He Didn't Lie About PEDs but About Age

When great ones go, it might hurt us more than it does them.

by Bill Simmons

Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

In the academy award-winning classic Cocktail, Coughlin tells young Flanagan, "Everything ends badly, otherwise it wouldn't end." It's the single greatest yearbook quote ever. Hell, it may be the greatest movie quote ever. Either Coughlin was the Thoreau of bartending, or Thoreau the Coughlin of writing. One or the other.

We reached the "ending badly" point with David Ortiz five weeks ago. Remember in Superman II when Clark Kent gave up his superpowers so he could be with Lois Lane -- lesson No. 184 on how women ruin everything -- and then a bully beat the crap out of the suddenly mortal superhero in a diner? That's been Big Papi since Opening Day. What makes it stranger is that he still looks like Big Papi. Same bulky build. Same goofy beard. Same happy smile. Same batting stance. This isn't like the Ultimate Warrior returning after the then-WWF's first steroids scandal with a jarringly smaller physique. Everything looks the same with Ortiz, only Mario Mendoza has switched brains with him.

I've seen slumps. This was different. This was a collapse.

At first, we Sox fans thought we were just watching an early-season slump. Then three weeks passed and we started worrying. The guy couldn't hit the ball out of the infield. His bat was so slow he had to cheat on fastballs; even then, he couldn't catch up. One swing a night made him look like the drunkest batter in a beer league softball game. Look, I've seen slumps. This was different. This was the collapse of a career.

The steroid whispers started quickly. By late April, every conversation I had with a Sox fan seemed to include a "We need to mail Papi some HGH" joke. It was an easy leap for a couple of reasons: First, his power numbers leapt like Obama's Q rating from 2003 to 2007. Second, he's Dominican, and more than a few of his brethren -- Sammy Sosa, Miguel Tejada, Guillermo Mota -- have been in the center of PED controversies. Third, they sell steroids over the counter in the DR like they're Bubblicious. And fourth, baseball has reached a depressing point in which power hitters are presumed guilty until proven innocent.

When Manny Ramírez was suspended for trying to jump-start ovaries he didn't have, many Sox fans (including me) assumed we had our unhappy answer for Papi's demise. We braced for Ortiz to be linked to a bombshell headline that began with the words "Former Sox Clubhouse Attendant … " But one thing nagged at me: He wasn't belting bombs that were dying at the warning track like so many other former 'roiders. He just looked old. It reminded me of watching Jim Rice fall apart in the late '80s, when he lost bat speed overnight the way you and I lose a BlackBerry. That was painful too.

By mid-May, I was pondering another theory: Maybe Papi was older than he claimed. In Seth Mnookin's book Feeding the Monster, he recounts the story of how Boston nearly blew the chance to acquire Ortiz because they were concerned that he was much older than the media guide said. GM Theo Epstein asked Bill James to study Papi's numbers, and when James concluded the peaks and valleys were consistent with a man of Ortiz's stated age, they rolled the dice. The rest is history.

Well, what if James was wrong? How many Latin players have been exposed for lying about their ages in the past few years? Hell, one of Papi's best friends -- Tejada -- was found to have cut two years off his birth certificate when he was 17, er, 19 … you get the point. Watching Papi flounder now, I'd believe he's really 36 or 37 (not 33) before I'd believe PEDs are responsible. In a recent game in Minnesota, he couldn't catch up to an 89 mph fastball. Repeat: 89 mph!

That's what happens to beefy sluggers on their way out: Their knees go, they stiffen up, bat speed slows and, in the blink of an eye, they're done. Beefy sluggers are like porn stars, wrestlers, NBA centers and trophy wives: When it goes, it goes. You know right away.

So that's my theory. I think he's old(er). You may think something else. Whatever the case, it's clear that David Ortiz no longer excels at baseball. This has been banged home over and over again for two solid months. It's ruined the season for me thus far. The best way I can describe Fenway during any Papi at-bat is this: It's filled with 35,000 parents of the same worst kid in Little League who dread every pitch thrown in the kid's direction. There is constant fear and sadness and helplessness. Nobody knows what to do.

Beefy sluggers are like porn stars, nba centers and trophy wives.

It's been a sports experience unlike anything I can remember. Red Sox fans refuse to turn against Ortiz. They just can't. They owe him too much for 2004 and 2007. It's like turning on Santa Claus or happy hour. Every Ortiz appearance is greeted with supportive cheers, every Ortiz failure is greeted with awkward silence. The fans are suffering just like he is. Only when he left 12 men on base against Anaheim on May 14 did I receive a slew of angry e-mails from back home, but even those tirades centered more around Terry Francona's steadfast refusal to drop Ortiz in the order. I cannot remember another Boston athlete stinking this long, and this fragrantly, without getting dumped on.

Really, that's a tribute to what he means to his fans and how delightful it was to watch him play. His career might be over (notice I left the door open; I'm such a sap), but Ortiz has reached the highest level an athlete can reach: unequivocal devotion. Sox fans love him the same way you love an ailing family member. In the end, at his bleakest point, he's brought out the best of an entire fan base. He has inspired dignity and emotion and loyalty. The fans could have sped his demise (and saved a few games) by booing until Francona benched him. They didn't. How often does that happen?

We live in a world in which all entertainment is chewed up and spat out. We milk public figures like cows, and when they're out of milk, we tip them over and move on. Quickly. It's not just that we need to see everything "jump the shark" that bothers me. It's also that so many of us are gleeful about pointing out that something or someone we once loved has outlived his usefulness. The demise of Big Papi played out in an old-school way: real devotion, and in the end, people refusing to let go.

Including me. I still watch every Ortiz at-bat thinking, This is the one. When he belted his first bomb of the season, I clapped like everyone else and pumped my fist. Yes! He's back! The Fenway crowd cheered as if it were Game 7, demanded a curtain call and showered him with love. This was the single strangest sports moment I've ever seen: Fans going absolutely bonkers for something that once was a routine act. Turned out, it was Papi's only homer of the first eight weeks. So it really was a curtain call. By May's end, Francona had dropped him to sixth in the order. Barring a miraculous return of bat speed, he'll be benched or released soon. It'll hurt, and I'm going to feel bad. I already do. Coughlin was right.

Want more of the Sports Guy? Check out the Sports Guy's world.

Drunk Dancing Red Sox Fan

Just another crazy drunk at Fenway Park slinging it to Billy idol's "Dancing With Myself"

David Ortiz speaks on the steroid issue

by Mark Fuery,

Red Sox slugger David Ortiz said he wants to see players who test positive for steroids banned for one year.

“I think you clean up the game by testing…You test positive, you’re going to be out. Period,” Ortiz said Monday after the first day of workouts.

Ortiz said he wants every player to be tested three or four times a year. Anyone who fails one of those tests will face a harsh suspension, which Ortiz feels will help clean up the game.

Ortiz also added that he thinks recent testing has worked as a deterrent and makes players think twice about taking any performance enhancing drugs because of the potential penalties for a failed test. A harsher punishment, like the one-year suspension proposed by Ortiz, should make players think even more about the consequences of doping.

The current penalties are a 50-game suspension for the first offense, 100 games for the second, and a lifetime ban for the third. Any player receiving the lifetime ban may apply for reinstatement after two years.

His comments come one week after the shocking revelation that New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez failed a steroid test in 2003. Rodriguez later admitted to using performance enhancing drugs during his time with the Texas Rangers, but claimed that he did not know exactly what he took.

Ortiz gave Rodriguez credit for coming clean and admitting guilt, but also acknowledged that the controversy surrounding Rodriguez has done damage to the game.

“It was a little bit tough for the game," Ortiz said. “At the same time, people have to give the guy credit because he came out with what he said at the point of his career where he had done it all."

Like Rodriguez, Ortiz will be looking to put the past behind him in 2009, but for different reasons. Ortiz is coming off an injury plagued season in 2008, which resulted in his least productive season since coming to Boston.

Even when he was in the lineup, his injured wrist affected his production as he hit only 23 home runs and saw his batting average drop to .264. Both were his lowest since joining the Red Sox in 2003.

So far Ortiz has reason to be positive. Just last week Manager Terry Francona said he expects Ortiz to be healthy in 2009.

Ortiz shares the positive outlook of his manager. “I’m feeling fine right now,” Ortiz said.

Ortiz will face his first test on Wednesday, when the team holds its first full squad workout.

Rice elected to Hall of Fame

Posted by Chad Finn, Globe Staff

In his final at-bat, Jim Rice has hit a home run.

Rice, the fierce and feared slugger who spent his entire 16-year major league career with the Red Sox, was at last elected to to the Baseball Hall of Fame this afternoon on his 15th -- and final -- season on the Baseball Writers' Association of America ballot. Rice was named on 76.4 percent of the ballots. Seventy-five percent is required for induction. Rice received 412 of 539 votes, just seven more than the minimum amount necessary.

He will be joined in this year's class by Rickey Henderson, who spent 25 years in the majors and ranks as the all-time leader in runs (2,995) and stolen bases (1,406), and who is widely regarded as the best leadoff hitter of all time. In his first year on the ballot, the 50-year-old Henderson received 94.8 percent of the vote.

Rice, who batted .298 with 382 home runs and 1,451 RBIs from 1974-89 while following Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski in the Red Sox tradition of superstar left fielders, is the first player to be elected in his final year of BBWAA eligibility since 1975, when longtime Pirates star Ralph Kiner was chosen.

It has been a long journey to Cooperstown for the 54-year-old Rice, whose candidacy had been a topic of intense debate among writers and fans since he first appeared on the ballot in 1995.

"You have no control over, when you have someone making the decision, not for you, but making the decision determining if you are a Hall of Famer or not. I think a lot of the writers that were voting, they never put a uniform on and went out there and played the game and saw how tough it was to accomplish some of the numbers that some of the players [put up]," Rice told the MLB Network shortly after the announcement. "You just take it with a grain of salt because there's nothing you can do."

Rice's supporters long contended that he was the game's dominant slugger for a 10-12 year stretch, a notion that is frequently seconded by his peers. An eight-time All-Star, Rice was an elite hitter from 1975, when he was runner-up to teammate Fred Lynn for AL Rookie of the Year, until 1986, when the Red Sox fell to the Mets in the World Series.

"It's about time," Lynn told the Associated Press "Throw out the statistics. Jimmy was the dominant force in his era. That's really all you can say when you're trying to compare guys that played in the '70s and '80s to the guys that are playing now. . . . In his heyday, Jimmy was a feared hitter."

Rice compiled 35 homers and 200 hits in three straight seasons, finished in the top five in Most Valuable Player voting six times, and led the league in total bases four times, including a staggering 406 in during the 1978 season, when he was named the American League MVP after hitting .315 with 46 homers and 139 RBIs in one of the finest individual seasons in franchise history.

"As a player, when I played with Jimmy, I thought it was his best year, which was 1978," said former teammate and fellow Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley. " It was the most dynamic offensive year that I have ever played with anybody. His acceptance to the Hall is long overdue. As a person, he was a consistent guy. He was always there, every day as a person and every day as a player."

Rice's accomplishments became more impressive in retrospect considering they were compiled before the performance-enhancing drug era, which swelled home run numbers throughout the sport.

But those skeptical of Rice's qualifications also had a reasonable case. His run of true greatness was brief for a Hall of Fame-caliber player, and his skills eroded quickly -- he hit just 31 homers in his final three seasons and was essentially finished as an above-average hitter at age 34. Further, they argued, his numbers were inflated by playing half his games in Fenway (he batted .277 on the road in his career), he had little speed and was merely an average left fielder, and he never had a defining postseason moment. (He missed the '75 World Series with a broken wrist.)

Rice, whose reputation during his playing days as being aloof with the media may have hurt him with some voters, said today he doesn't comprehend where his naysayers were coming from.

"I don't understand about being overrated, the numbers spoke for themselves, and during that time, you look at the guys that played the game and the numbers they put up [and mine stand up]," Rice said. "So as far as being overrated, I have no idea.

"I think what you're trying to get at is that some of the writers probably said I was arrogant. You know that wasn't true. You want to talk about baseball, I talk about baseball, but I never talked about my teammates. I protected my teammates. I don't think you should make any excuses, when I felt like as captain of the ball club, I took a lot of pressure off the guys because some guys could handle pressure, some guys couldn't handle pressure, and I was the type of guy that I got paid to go out and play baseball."

Rice, who received 72.2 percent of the vote last year, falling 16 votes shy, had history on his side this year. Twenty other players have gathered between 70 and 75 percent of the vote and every one of them ultimately made it to Cooperstown -- though some were voted in by the Veterans Committee. The highest percentage for a player who wasn't elected later was 63.4 by Gil Hodges in 1983, his final time on the ballot.

Rice received just 30 percent of the vote in '95, his first year on the ballot, but his candidacy received a boost in recent years when Red Sox publicist Dick Bresciani began sending a comprehensive annual report to Hall of Fame voters on why Rice is worthy of Cooperstown.

According to MLB.com, Rice's percentage had peaked at 57.9 percent in 2001, and had been as low as 29.4 percent (1999). But in 2005 -- the first year of Bresciani's report -- Rice's percentage rose to 59.5, then 64.8 in 2006, a minor drop to 63.5 percent in '07, then up to 72.2 percent a year ago.

Bresciani emphasized that Rice led all AL in homers and RBIs during his 16-year career, and that the only retired players with both a career average and a home run total as high as Rice's were Hank Aaron, Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Stan Musial, Mel Ott, Babe Ruth, and Williams -- all baseball legends, all of whom are in Cooperstown.

Rice said today that Aaron was a particular inspiration.

"I'd probably say [I tried to be] more like Henry Aaron, I came from South Carolina . . . and of course I met him when he played in Milwaukee . . . I probably looked at Hank more than anyone else," Rice said.

He is the first player whose peak years came while playing for the Red Sox to be elected to the Hall of Fame since his former teammate Wade Boggs in 2005. (Henderson had a brief stopover with the Sox, spending the 2002 season in Boston.) He is also the first African-American player who spent the bulk of this career with the Red Sox to be elected. Other Red Sox who are in the Hall of Fame include Joe Cronin, Bobby Doerr, Rick Ferrell, Carlton Fisk, Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Grove, Williams and Yastrzemski.

Andre Dawson, who spent two years with the Red Sox in the early '90s but spent his prime seasons with the Montreal Expos and Chicago Cubs, was third with 67 percent of the vote, while righthanded pitcher Bert Blyleven was fourth at 62.7 percent. Former Red Sox slugger Mo Vaughn received six votes and was one of nine players who didn't receive enough support to remain on the ballot.

Induction ceremonies for will take place Sunday, July 26, in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Pedroia is a mighty mite of an MVP

By Gordon Edes, Yahoo! Sports Nov 18, 3:21 pm EST

Video: Little big man

One of the first text messages Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia received after getting the official call Tuesday afternoon came from Boston Red Sox teammate David Ortiz.

“Congratulations, badass,” Big Papi wrote.

Short, balding and bad-ass. That’s the look of the American League’s Most Valuable Player in 2008, and while that may not be pretty, it captures the essence of the first AL second baseman in 49 years to win the award.

“The last couple of days have been crazy,” Pedroia said from his home in Chandler, Ariz., where he chose to wait with his wife, Kelli, until the call came from Jack O’Connell, secretary-treasurer of the Baseball Writers Association of America, that he had finished well ahead of Minnesota first baseman Justin Morneau and Red Sox teammate Kevin Youkilis in the MVP balloting.

“You know how it is,” Pedroia said. “I’d heard names of four or five guys, and I didn’t know what to think. This is just my second full season, so I’m extremely excited and happy to represent the Red Sox. Who would have ever thought this would happen?

“I put up some numbers, yeah, but I’m more about doing the stuff that helps this team win.”

Pedroia finished first on 16 of the 28 ballots cast by BBWAA members, two in each city. He was named second on six ballots, third on three, and fourth on one. He totaled 317 points on a system that awards 10 points for first, nine for second, eight for third, down to one for a 10th place vote.

Morneau had seven first-place votes. The other first-place votes were split among Youkilis (2), Twins catcher Joe Mauer (2), and Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez (1). Mauer finished fourth in the balloting, Rodriguez sixth.

Pedroia is the first second baseman since Nellie Fox of the go-go Chicago White Sox in 1959 to win the award, and just the third player to win the MVP award a year after being named Rookie of the Year. Ryan Howard of the Phillies and Cal Ripken Jr. of the Orioles are the others. Fred Lynn of the Red Sox (1975) and Ichiro Suzuki of the Mariners (2001) won both awards in the same year.

Pedroia was a worthy choice in a field that lost its front-runner when White Sox outfielder Carlos Quentin, who was leading the AL in home runs at the time, missed the month of September after breaking his hand in a freak accident. Quentin, who finished second in home runs to Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera (37 to 36) and also was second in the league in slugging percentage (.571) and fourth in on-base percentage (.394), finished fifth in the voting.

Rounding out the top 10 after Rodriguez was Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton, New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, Tampa Bay Rays first baseman Carlos Pena and Cleveland Indians outfielder Grady Sizemore.

Second basemen have gotten little respect on MVP ballots in the American League. No second baseman has finished in the top three in voting since Alfonso Soriano, then of the Yankees, in 2002, and Bret Boone of the Mariners the year before. Roberto Alomar, a 12-time All-Star and a certain Hall of Famer, finished as high as third place just once in his career.

But Pedroia made a strong case by becoming just the fifth second baseman since 1937 to have a season with 200 or more hits, 100 or more runs scored, 80 or more RBIs, and 40 or more doubles.

He started 155 games, had just one month all season in which he hit below .300, hit .307 with runners in scoring position, and had a .298 average with two strikes. He also stole 20 bases in 21 attempts, and and struck out just 52 times in 653 at-bats.

When the Red Sox didn’t have a cleanup hitter in August after Mike Lowell was hurt and Manny Ramirez was traded, Pedroia stepped in for four games and belted 12 hits in 18 at-bats.

“Pedroia said it’s long overdue,” Boston manager Terry Francona said of his new No. 4 hitter, “and Ortiz said he’s retiring.”

When Pedroia played in his first All-Star Game last July in Yankee Stadium, he noticed that Francona had dropped him from his customary No. 2 spot in the batting order to ninth. Batting second was the hometown favorite, Yankee captain Derek Jeter.

Pedroia stuck his head in Francona’s office. “Hey,” he cracked, “I thought we were trying to win this game.”

That kind of brash confidence has been a critical component of Pedroia’s game, enabling him to win over detractors who questioned his size (he’s listed at 5-9 and 180 pounds) and his big swing. White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen jokingly likened him to a jockey but said that he wished that the Sox had gotten rid of Pedroia instead of Mannny Ramirez.

“How do you not love him,” one scout said Tuesday. “He brings energy to the table, he plays with passion. Every manager in the American League will tell you they’d love to have him. He plays like a giant.”

Gordon Edes is a national baseball writer for Yahoo! Sports. Send Gordon a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.

Crisp traded to Royals

Posted by Chad Finn, Globe Staff

Crisp Ramirez

The Red Sox have traded center fielder Coco Crisp to the Royals for righthanded relief pitcher Ramon Ramirez, a major league baseball source has confirmed to the Globe's Nick Cafardo.

The deal was first reported this morning on Kansas City sports radio station WHB 810 by Brian McRae, a former Royals outfielder who is a part owner of the station. A Red Sox spokesperson told MLB.com the club had no comment on the report.

Ramirez is an interesting acquisition for the Red Sox -- his arrival would suggest that the ball club is at least considering using Justin Masterson as a starter. Reports say the 27-year-old throws in the low 90s, with an outstanding curveball and a changeup that acts like a splitter.

He's coming off a very good 2008 season, having posted a 2.64 ERA in 71.2 innings this year while striking out 70. Ramirez allowed just two home runs, and held righthanders to a .153 average in 137 at-bats. He was particularly effective in September, allowing just one earned run in four hits in 9.2 innings (0.93 ERA).

Ramirez broke into the majors in 2006 with the Colorado Rockies, posting a 3.46 ERA in 67.2 innings over 61 appearances.

Crisp, 29, batted .283 with seven homers, 41 RBIs and 20 stolen bases in 361 at-bats last season, his third in Boston. An excellent fielder, started 98 games in center field while sharing the job with rookie Jacoby Ellsbury. He batted .315 in the second half.

Trading Crisp clears a chunk of payroll for the Red Sox -- he will earn $5.7 million in 2009, with a club option for 2010 for $8 million or a $500,000 buyout.

During an on-air interview with WHB 810 earlier this morning, Royals senior adviser Mike Arbuckle would not confirm that the deal was complete, but said he liked Crisp as a player.

"I would say Coco is a good player and we're always interested in getting good players," said Arbuckle, who recently joined the Royals after working in the front office of the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies.

Red Sox tried to formally suspend Ramirez before trade

By Pedro Gomez
Special to ESPN.com

Outside The Lines: Buyer Beware

A week before Boston traded Manny Ramirez to the Los Angeles Dodgers late last July, the relationship between the Red Sox and their left fielder had grown so contentious and strained that the club was prepared to take the extraordinary step of suspending its best hitter, ESPN has learned.

According to multiple sources, Boston management had drafted an official letter of suspension for Ramirez, and delivered it to him at Fenway Park at around 11 p.m. on Friday night, July 25. For the second straight game, Ramirez had refused to play that evening, and the Red Sox lost 1-0 to the rival New York Yankees in front of a boisterous and sold-out home crowd.

The letter informed Ramirez that the suspension was to go into effect the next day, Saturday, July 26. It said Ramirez was being suspended without pay for being unwilling to play. Copies of the letter were also sent to Major League Baseball, the MLB Players Association and Ramirez's agent, Scott Boras.

Suspensions in baseball are not unusual for players who test positive for performance-enhancing drugs or who are involved in fights during a game. It is extremely rare for a player to be suspended, or threatened with such a suspension, for refusing to play. Within two hours after Ramirez received the letter of suspension, the Red Sox received two calls, according to sources. The first call was from one of Ramirez's teammates. He told a member of Boston's front office that Ramirez would play in Saturday afternoon's game against the Yankees. Within minutes, the second call came in from Ramirez himself, who confirmed that he would be available for Saturday's game.

[+] Enlarge

AP Photo/Michael Dwyer

How hard was Manny Ramirez trying in the weeks before he was traded? Not hard enough, apparently. The Red Sox were ready to suspend him.

Ramirez, who has been vacationing with his family in Brazil, did not return several messages. Members of the Red Sox's front office refused to discuss the subject. Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti said he was unaware of Boston's potential suspension of Ramirez.

Boras disputed the assertion that his star client was going to be suspended, citing the fact that Ramirez played in 22 of 24 Red Sox games in July and batted .347 with six home runs and 17 RBIs in the month. "The bottom line is he was never suspended and there was never cause for suspension,'' Boras said. "The fact is the intent to suspend is not a suspension." For weeks leading up to the July 31 trading deadline, Ramirez had been complaining of pain in his right knee. After he told Boston manager Terry Francona that his knee was too sore to play on July 25, the Red Sox's front office ordered an MRI exam during that night's game against the Yankees. But on the way to the exam, Ramirez, according to sources, couldn't remember which knee was sore. So the Red Sox had both of his knees examined. The MRIs revealed no damage in either. The backdrop for the problems in Ramirez's relationship with the Red Sox was his contract situation. In 2001, Ramirez, now 36, signed an eight-year, $160 million deal with Boston that also included two option years at $20 million per season. The 2008 season was the eighth year of the contract, and Ramirez made few attempts to disguise his desire to become a free agent when it ended, believing he could sign a more lucrative deal. He did not want the Red Sox to pick up the option years. A number of incidents earlier in the season added to the tension between Ramirez and the Red Sox. Just after the All-Star break, Boston was swept in Anaheim, a series in which Ramirez reached base in eight of his 13 plate appearances. But late on Sunday afternoon, July 20, as the team was leaving Anaheim for Seattle, he initially refused to board the charter flight. Sources said he told the Red Sox that his knees were so sore, he couldn't play for three weeks. He eventually boarded the flight and played in the first two games against the Mariners, reaching base in six of the 10 times he stepped to the plate, before telling Francona his right knee was too sore to play on July 23. On June 28, Ramirez shoved 64-year-old traveling secretary Jack McCormick to the ground inside Houston's Minute Maid Park clubhouse after Ramirez was told McCormick might not be able to accommodate his 16-ticket request. On June 5, Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis briefly tangled in the Red Sox dugout, reportedly because Youkilis objected when Ramirez had been slow to come out of the dugout earlier in the game after Coco Crisp was hit by a pitch, and both benches emptied. Finally, at the trading deadline, the Red Sox traded Ramirez to the Dodgers in a three-way deal that also included Pittsburgh and brought left fielder Jason Bay to Boston. The Red Sox agreed to pay the remaining $7 million of Ramirez's contract owed for this season. Pedro Gomez is a reporter for ESPN.