Red Sox Repeat

Apparently, the Red Sox suck.

Somewhere along their way to winning 95-games and getting into the playoffs for the third straight year, the defending World Champion Red Sox were labeled pretenders to the crown.

The national media has incessantly reminded baseball fans everywhere that there are a multitude of reasons why the Red Sox have no chance to repeat. They have no starting pitching. They have no relief pitching. They have no team chemistry. They play terrible defense. Their manager coddles his players. Johnny Damon is hurt. Curt Schilling is sitting in his bedroom with the lights out, listening to old junior high mix tapes because one of his teammates doesn't like him. Manny Ramirez is immature and could curl up and take a nap in leftfield during a crucial inning. David Ortiz is one-dimensional- all he does is hit the ever-loving shit out of the ball- but his defense and base-running need work. Keith Foulke is gone, surely sitting in solitude somewhere, writing enlightening prose about how the modern world has robbed man of his ability to be anonymous.

The events of last October were a divine offering to Red Sox nation after decades of frustration, the world championship was an aberration, a once-in-a-lifetime event that this muddled, banged-up, aging, melancholy group of preening pseudo-stars is never likely to see again.

Or at least that's what everyone else thinks. As usual, we're right and everyone is wrong.

It will be nice to watch the Red Sox once again prove all the naysayers wrong because not only is a Red Sox repeat a possibility, it's bordering on a sure-thing. The Red Sox repeat is going to happen for five very sensible reasons that too many people overlook.

1. The Red Sox don’t have losing streaks. Know how many times during the season that the Red Sox lost more than three games in a row? Three times. The last time the Red Sox lost three or more games in a row was mid-July. Since that time, the Red Sox have not lost more than two games in a row.

By comparison, the White Sox, the Red Sox's first round opponent, had eight losing streaks of 3-games or more. The Yankees had seven losing streaks of 3-games or more, the Angels five.

Quite simply, it is very difficult to either outpitch or outhit the Red Sox over a five or seven game series. The Sox offense is too powerful and virtually impossible to slow down. The Sox much-maligned pitching staff, who would be riding to Comiskey Park on the short bus if the national media had its way, is not the albatross that so many "experts" would like you to believe, particularly come playoff time. Which leads us to our next reason--

2. The Sox have the American League's most battle-hardened starting pitching. Really, what other team in the AL has three starting pitchers who have all thrown big, pressure-packed post-season innings? Quick answer- none of them.

But, I forgot, Curt Schilling is old, his foot is attached to his ankle by a series of levers and pulleys and he is hated by all teammates. Tim Wakefield is old and, how embarrassing, the poor guy relies on a knuckleball. David Wells is old, he's fat and he has the work ethic of a plantation owner in 1860's Georgia. The Sox are doomed.

Please. Sure, the Red Sox starting pitching had its ups-and-downs in the regular season. But now it's the playoffs. It's a whole different season. It's 11-games to glory and the Sox have three tough sob's ready to throw big innings for them.

Here is a glimpse of how Schilling, Wakefield and Wells have performed in the postseason. Schilling has managed to compile an 8-2 record with a 2.06 ERA. In 109-postseason innings, he has struck out 104 while walking 22. Oh, and he would pitch a big game even if the lower half of his body was still sitting in his bed in Medfield.

Wakefield has a 5-4 record and a 6.07 ERA, which is very deceiving. Wakefield's ERA ballooned after his sacrifice in Game 3 of the 2004 ALCS. He volunteered for mop-up duty in the Yankees' blowout win so Derek Lowe would be fresh for Game 4. I trust Wakefield about as much as I trust that Jack Bauer is going to protect America, which is high praise indeed.

Wells is one of the best big-game pitchers of the past 25-years. He's appeared in twenty-five postseason games, putting together a 10-3 record with a 3.18 ERA.

The White Sox…the most experienced pitcher they have to offer is Jose Contreras and his 0-2 record and 5.73 ERA. Mark Buerhle has 1/3rd of an inning from the 2000 postseason on his resume. Jon Garland will be making his first appearance.

For quality starting pitching, the Yankees and Angels have Randy Johnson, Mike Mussina and Bartolo Colon and that's about it. Shawn Chacon, Aaron Small, Paul Byrd- I'm not too worried.

3. Lack of quality starting pitching in the AL makes offense all that more important. This isn't the National League where Tony LaRussa is making double switches in the 2nd inning. In the American League, offense rules and that fact doesn't change in the postseason. Check out these numbers: 14-11-12-17-4-27-10-9-6-13-20-8-5-3. It's not some hidden code from Lost but rather the total runs scored in the Sox's 2004 postseason games.

Look closely- see a lot of pitcher's duels there? Only two games ended up with fewer than five combined runs.
In the American League only Randy Johnson seems capable of shutting down the Red Sox's bats for a whole game and even that is a stretch considering Johnson's recent outings. In a postseason in which its pitchers don't need to dominate, but rather keep the games close, the Red Sox are in a perfect position to outslug the competition.

4. In the playoffs the bullpens become shorter. In the NBA playoffs, coaches have their rotation and they stick to it every game. Phil Jackson knows exactly when his first substitution will be made, who his first big man off the bench is, who his backup point guard is.

It's the same in baseball. Terry Francona has his bullpen rotation. Timlin is the closer. Papelbon is the setup man and capable of pitching multiple innings. Mike Myers and Chad Bradford pick up the tough mid-inning outs against the Paul Konerko and Hideki Matsui's of the world. Bronson Arroyo is the wildcard, a converted starter who can be called on for long relief or could emerge as a bridge between the starters and Papelbon.

Plus, thanks to television, the Red Sox know that they will have off-days to rest their bullpen. Francona can lean on Papelbon in Games 1 and 2 because he knows that the Sox will be off Thursday.

5. The Red Sox are convinced that they can win every game. The Red Sox ooze confidence and they should. They are the most experienced team in the playoffs. The current core of the Red Sox- Damon, Ortiz, Ramirez, Varitek, Nixon, Mueller, Schilling, Wakefield, Timlin- are used to postseason baseball. And that's important.

After coming back from an 0-3 hole to win the pennant, at what point will this team panic, at what point will they give up? Short answer- they won't.

Regardless of how you feel about the individual personalities that make up the Red Sox, as a collective whole, the Red Sox are remarkably positive and with very good reason. This is a team with some of the best players in the game, capable of putting together signature moments.

Sure, the Yankees have loads of big names but how many regulars have won a World Series? Five- Johnson, Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and Bernie Williams. Sure, guys like Alan Embree, Al Leiter and Mark Bellhorn have won rings but if either one of those three is featured prominently in any Yankees' playoff game, chances are that George Steinbrenner isn't going to be in a very good mood.

The Angels won a World Series in 2002 but the team has been heavily remodeled. John Lackey, Rodriguez, Darin Erstad, Chone Figgins and Garrett Anderson are the most important regulars remaining. And the White Sox…I have more postseason experience.

Eleven wins in nineteen games. That's what the Red Sox need to do. The defending World Champions need to go 11-8 over the next month- does that really seem so out of the realm of possibility? With a powerful lineup capable of destroying an opponent's rotation, a veteran pitching staff comfortable on the game's biggest stage and roster of playoff-tested veterans that never say die, the 2005 Red Sox look ready to continue our region's winning ways.

Don't pack up your lawn chairs, yet. You'll need them for the parade.

Jamie Chisholm