With the decade coming to an end tomorrow at midnight, let’s take a look back at the Boston Red Sox top 10 individual seasons from 2000-2009:
No 10: Tie—Championship Performances
Curt Schilling, 2004
Schilling went 21-6, with a 3.26 ERA and 1.063 WHIP in 32 starts. He came to Boston on Thanksgiving Day 2003, when GM Theo Epstein traveled to Arizona in an effort to convince him to come to Boston. He was sold on pitching in Fenway Park. Soon thereafter he declared he would like to silence a packed Yankee Stadium. He pitched 226.67 innings in helping to lead the Sox into the postseason. He issued just 35 walks all season and wore the famous bloody sock en route to ending The Curse of the Bambino.
David Ortiz, 2004
Ortiz’ regular season may have been slightly inferior to that of Manny Ramirez, but the season includes the playoffs and we all know what he did to the New York Yankees in the ALCS. He said he saw Red Sox fans crying during Game Three of the ALCS as the Yanks throttled The Olde Towne Team 19-8, to take a 3-0 lead in the series. From there Ortiz put the team on his back. He had game-winning hits in Games Four and Five, which started the epic comeback.
But often overlooked is his regular season: a .301 batting average, with 41 HR, 139 RBI, and 94 runs scored. His .983 OPS was slightly less than Ramirez’, but his postseason performance puts him over the top as he claims a share of the No. 10 spot on my list.
No. 9: Jonathan Papelbon, 2008
In his third year as the team’s closer, Papelbon put together an outstanding season. He went 5-4, with 41 saves, a 2.34 ERA, and a 0.952 WHIP. Most impressive were some of his residual numbers: In 69.67 innings pitched he allowed 58 hits while walking only eight batters and striking out 77—meaning he compiled an extraordinary 9.63 K/BB ratio.
No. 8: David Ortiz, 2005
The decade started with Pedro Martinez dominating the Sox landscape, but by 2004 the ball club had become Ortiz’ team. He followed up his 2004 season and postseason heroics with another excellent campaign—and he was just getting started. He made his second of five consecutive All-Star teams and finished second in the MVP balloting after compiling a .300 average, 47 HR, 148 RBI, and 119 runs scored. He had a .397 on-base percentage, .604 slugging percentage, which adds up to a 1.001 OPS.
No. 7: David Ortiz, 2007
Big Papi helped lead the Sox to their second World Series title in four seasons with another All-Star performance. This season, Papi won the fourth of four consecutive Silver Slugger awards, posting career highs in Batting Average (.332), OBP (.445), OPS (1.066) and OPS+ (171). He hit 52 doubles, socked 35 HR and drove home 117 runs while scoring 116 more.
Then came the playoffs—when he got the club off to an amazing start with a .714 average and an unreal 2.418 OPS in the ALDS. He followed that up by posting an OPS of .966 in the ALCS and .945 in the World Series.
No. 6: Jonathan Papelbon, 2007
Amazingly, Pappy’s rookie season was left off the list after he posted a 0.92 ERA (it would have been No. 11 if the list continued), but when you consider what he did during both the regular season and the post-season in 2007 you couldn’t leave this campaign off the list. During the regular season he went 1-3, with a 1.85 ERA and 0.771 WHIP, while striking out 84 batters in just 58.67 IP (that is 13 K for every 9 IP!).
He was exceptional during the pennant stretch and helped lead the Sox to the AL East division crown. But the All-Star wasn’t done. In the playoffs, he pitched 10.67 scoreless innings, winning one game and saving four others, including three saves in the World Series—all of which required more than three outs.
No. 5: David Ortiz, 2006
I could have rated Papi’s 2007 season here and dropped this one to No. 7 on the list, but ultimately the difference in the rankings was predicated on the fact that Ortiz set the franchise records for home runs in a season by slugging 54 bombs in ‘06. The difference in the other stats did not overcome a franchise record. But it’s not like his other numbers were meager: the All-Star won a Silver Slugger award with a .287 BA, .636 slugging percentage, 1.049 OPS, 137 RBI, 115 R and 355 total bases.
No. 4: Pedro Martinez, 2003
While the middle of the decade (2004-07) was ruled by Ortiz, the first four years were dominated by one Pedro Jaime Martinez despite the fact that he won twenty games just once and missed nearly half of the 2001 season due to injury.
In 2003, Petey won only 14 games so it might seem the campaign is not list-worthy. Think again. He posted a 2.22 ERA—it was the third time in four seasons he led the entire major leagues in ERA—to go along with a 1.039 WHIP. In 186.67 IP, he allowed only 147 hits while striking out 206 batters (9.9 K/9 and a 4.38 K/BB ratio). His ERA+ was 210. The season ended terribly when Grady Little infamously left him in Game Seven of the ALCS, one inning too long, but it doesn’t alter the fact that he was his usual, dominant self—the paltry "win" total notwithstanding.
No. 3: Manny Ramirez, 2002
Ramirez lost a quarter of the season due to a broken finger he suffered on May 11, yet he still made the All-Star team and won a Silver Slugger award. His OPS (1.097) and OPS+ (184) were the best for any Red Sox hitter since Carl Yastrzemski won the Triple Crown in 1967.
At the time of his injury, he was hitting .372, with a .673 slugging percentage. He slumped badly in the first forty games after he returned, but then tore the cover off the ball in the last 45 games of the year (hitting .414 over that period of time). He finished the year hitting .349, with 33 HR, 107 RBI and 84 runs scored in just 120 games.
No. 2: Pedro Martinez, 2002
Martinez finished second in the AL Cy Young balloting, losing out to Barry Zito of the Oakland A’s, but in truth this should have been his third Cy Young winning campaign in four years (and his fourth over six seasons). Petey went 20-4, with a 2.26 ERA and a 0.923 WHIP. He pitched 199.67 innings (which cost him some votes), allowing 144 hits while walking 50 and fanning 239 opposing hitters—for a 10.8 K/9 and 5.98 K/BB ratio. He compiled a 202 ERA+.
No. 1: Pedro Martinez, 2000
This was a no-brainer. Simply stated, it is the greatest season ever compiled by a pitcher in baseball history…even better than his Cy Young season in 1999. My feelings in this regard are confirmed by the analysts at the MLB Network (see the Prime Nine rankings).
Martinez went 18-6, with a 1.74 ERA and a 0.737 WHIP. He started 29 games… finishing with seven complete games and four shutouts. He pitched 217.0 innings—allowing only 128 hits while walking 32 and striking out 284 hitters (11.8 K/9 and an 8.88 K/BB ratio).
His ERA+? It was 291.
To place his numbers into proper context, the reader must realize that this was during the height of the steroid era. Hitters were juicing. The league-average ERA in 2000 was 5.07…Petey’s ERA was a minuscule 1.74. We watched history even if we didn’t realize it at the time.
Honorable Mentions
Nomar Garciaparra 2000 (.372 BA), Derek Lowe 2000 (42 S), Manny Ramirez 2001 (161 OPS+), Derek Lowe 2002 (21-8), Manny Ramirez 2003 (1.014 OPS), Johnny Damon 2004 (123 R), Keith Foulke 2004 (225 ERA+), Jonathan Papelbon 2006 (0.92 ERA), Jacoby Ellsbury 2009 (70 SB but only 94 R)
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