In a move reminiscent of the trade that sent former Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra to the Chicago Cubs just before the 2004 trading deadline, Boston made a three-way trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Los Angeles Dodgers that sent future Baseball Hall of Fame slugger Manny Ramirez out west to join Garciaparra and former New York Yankees manager Joe Torre in L.A., while the Sox received Jason Bay from Pittsburgh in exchange for outfielder Brandon Moss and reliever Craig Hansen. The Pirates also received two players from the Dodgers to complete the deal, third baseman Andy LaRoche and pitcher Bryan Morris.

Ramirez, who earlier this season hit career home run number 500 to become just the third player to reach that mark in a Boston uniform, had recently and publicly voiced his unhappiness with team management for failing to pick up his option for the 2009 season; he had even offered to waive his option to void the trade as a 10/5 player (ten years in the league, five years with the same club). In the end, the Red Sox decided that it was better to part ways with the disgruntled slugger, who was batting .299 with 20 home runs and 68 RBI through action on Wednesday; in return, they get the 29-year-old Bay, who was batting .282 with 22 home runs and 64 RBI to this point in the season with the Pirates. Bay is expected to join the club in time for the opener of a three-game weekend series with the Oakland Athletics beginning Friday night at Fenway Park and will play left field in front of the Green Monster where Ramirez stood for many years.

Despite the ugly departure of the eight-time Boston All-Star, Ramirez will be remembered as one of the greatest right-handed batters in club history. Over seven-plus seasons, the eccentric flycatcher hit 274 home runs, which currently places him fifth all-time amongst Boston sluggers past and present, at an amazing rate of 14.4 at-bats per home run. His other numbers with the club speak for themselves; amongst franchise career leaders, he ranks ninth all-time in batting average (.312), sixth in runs batted in (868), fifth in on-base percentage (.411), and fourth in slugging percentage (.588). The respect opposing pitchers had for Ramirez also had a hand in building the career of David Ortiz; after a sub-par start to his career in Minnesota, Ortiz joined the Red Sox in 2003 and, with the perennial All-Star hitting behind him, developed into one of the most feared left-handed power hitters in the game. Eventually, the two sluggers became one of the greatest one-two punches in recorded baseball history, hitting a combined total of 422 home runs in five-plus seasons together; the two also combined over 40 times for home runs in the same game, the most by two teammates over that span.

Notably, Ramirez was at his best when it counted most for the Sox: the post-season. In 165 at-bats over nine playoff series, he batted .321, averaging .375 or better four times, hit 11 home runs, drove home 36 runs, and even won World Series MVP honors in the 2004 Fall Classic batting .412 with a home run and four RBI. In part due to his efforts, the Red Sox won two world championships in four years after the team went 86 years between titles.

Tags: Brandon Moss, Craig Hansen, David Ortiz, Jason Bay, Manny Ramirez, Nomar Garciaparra

As Boston makes the push towards its fifth post-season appearance in the past six seasons, one challenge the team has faced is winning away from Fenway Park, where they are 37-13 after losing two-of-three to New York this past weekend. Through last Wednesday’s 6-3, extra-inning win over the Mariners at Safeco Field in Seattle, the Red Sox have a losing record of 24-32 (.429) on the road after posting a 45-36 record during last season’s run towards a world championship. In fact, over the past ten seasons, Boston has had a remarkable stretch of success on the road; only once has the club suffered a overall losing record playing out of town, going 38-43 in 2006. In contrast, not including this season, the franchise is 3827-4449 (.462) on the road all-time.

Boston’s best season on the road, percentage-wise, came in 1912, a year in which the team won a franchise record 105 games; that season, the Red Sox were 48-27 (.640) as Fenway Park made its debut and fans witnessed 57 wins at the new Boston field. The record for the most wins on the road came in 2002, when the team won an astonishing 51 games away from Fenway, nine more games than they won at home that season. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the team’s worst record of play away from the comforts of 4 Yawkey Way came in 1932, when they won just 16 games on the road and lost an astonishing 61 times; not surprisingly, that team set a club record with 111 total losses while winning a mere 43 games, a franchise low. Since the American League adopted a 162-game regular season schedule in 1961, Boston’s worst team record on the road in the past 47 seasons came that same year as Boston transitioned from Ted  Williams to Carl Yastrzemski; that team won just 26 times away from Fenway Park and suffered 55 losses.

Tags: Boston Red Sox, Carl Yastrzemski, Fenway Park, Ted Williams

21 July 1958 - On this day fifty years ago, former Red Sox outfielder David Lee Henderson, a.k.a. Dave Henderson, is born in Merced, CA. Drafted in the first round of the 1977 amateur draft by Seattle, 26th overall, “Hendu” played his first five-plus seasons with the Mariners before a late-season trade sent him and Spike Owen to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for four players and cash. Henderson closed out the season with Boston making a few spot starts in place of Tony Armas while batting just .196 with a home run and three RBI in 51 at-bats. However, it would be the 1986 post-season where Henderson would become a household name in Red Sox history.

Against the California Angels in the American League Championship Series, Boston was losing the series three games to one and facing elimination when Armas sprained his ankle in Game Five. In came Henderson in the bottom of the fifth inning; one frame later, Angels first baseman Bobby Grich’s fly ball to deep center field glanced off Henderson’s glove and over the wall for a three run home run to give California a 5-2 lead. That might have become Henderson’s legacy but, in the top of the ninth, with Boston still down by the same score, a one-out home run from designated hitter Don Baylor reduced the deficit to one. After starter Mike Witt induced a flyball out from he last batter he faced, Dwight Evans, California reliever Gary Lucas struck Rich Gedman with a pitch to put the tying run on first. In came Angels closer Donnie Moore, who had saved 21 games in 1986. With a 2-2 count, Henderson fouled off two pitches from Moore before he connected for a line drive home run to left field to give the Red Sox a sudden and surprising 6-5 lead.

Down but not out, the Angels tied the game in the bottom of the ninth and had the bases load with one out, poised once again to take the series; instead, Red Sox reliever Steve Crawford managed to induce a fly ball to shallow right and a lineout to the pitcher to send the game to extra innings. The game continued to the 11th inning and, with the bases loaded and no outs, Henderson again came to the plate to face Moore and hit a sacrifice fly to center field that scored the runner from third. Red Sox reliever Calvin Schiraldi would close the game with a perfect frame and Boston, which had been one out away from elimination, had new life heading back to Fenway Park in part thanks to Henderson’s unlikely heroics. The Sox would then win the final two games of the series, thus sending the team to the World Series for the first time in 11 years.

Tags: Boston Red Sox, Dave Henderson, Donnie Moore, Spike Owen, Tony Armas

You’ve had a trip to Japan to start the regular season half a world away from Fenway Park and you’ve had to pull out your passport a second time before making your first visit of the season to your home field. You’ve had three ten-game road trips and only one homestand longer than a week. You’ve had one player going for a home run mark held by only a couple dozen players. You’ve had a young pitcher who had beaten cancer and pitch the fourth game of the 2007 World Series less than a year later top that with a no-hitter. You’ve had your best offensive threat sitting on the bench since the start of June. You’ve had 38 players over the first 97 games of the season wear a Boston uniform as several youngsters have found themselves on the shuttle between Portland, Pawtucket, and Boston. Any way you look at what happened in the first half of the 2008 baseball season, the bottom line is that if you are Terry Francona and the Boston Red Sox, you are a half-game in front of the Tampa Bay Rays for first place in the American League East division at the All-Star break and six ahead of the New York Yankees. Of course, that’s not reason enough to hold back our thoughts on who made the grade and who didn’t in the unofficial first half of the season.

Top Field Presence: Kevin Youkilis
First Runner-up: J.D. Drew
Honorable Mention: Dustin Pedroia

Is there anything Youkilis can do going forward that will amaze us? He currently stands in contention for the team’s Triple Crown honor (.314 average, 15 home runs, 63 RBI) coupled with a near-.400 OBP and a glove that transitions from first to third with seemingly little effort. Throw in his hustle and his “dirt-dog” approach to the game and it’s no surprise that the Fenway crowds crow “Youuuk!” whenever he comes to the plate. Drew, for his part, has been reborn in his second year with the club; he was AL Player of the Month in June and several of his totals have already eclipsed his numbers from last season. As for Pedroia, he is just tearing the cover off the ball, already with 124 hits this season; his defense has continued to impress, too, as he stretches like a player six or seven inches taller than he is to gobble up ground balls and line drives hit anywhere near his position.

Least Valuable Player: Julio Lugo
Also Painful to Watch: Jason Varitek

Unlike Drew, Lugo has not improved in his sophomore season with the Sox; the most glaring problem is that he has committed a whopping 16 errors at short, which ties him with former Boston farmhand Hanley Ramirez. The difference is that Ramirez is batting .311 with 23 home runs, 45 RBI, and a .391 OBP for the Marlins, while Lugo stands at .268 with one home run, 22 RBI, and a .355 OBP. He’s out four-to-six weeks and that’s seen as a blessing to many Red Sox loyalists. Varitek, meanwhile, may be a pitcher’s best friend but his numbers at the plate are awful. He hit .238/.325/.400 in 2006, brought those up to .255/.367/.421 last season, and now sits at .218/.299/.354 with two-plus months to play and little hope to resurrect the bat before season’s end. Honestly, he looks like he’s over-matched in nearly every at-bat this season.

Top Mound Presence: Jon Lester
First Runner-Up: Jonathan Papelbon
Honorable Mention: Tim Wakefield

Let’s see: Lester has a no-hitter, a 3.38 ERA, a 5-1 record in his last ten starts, which include two complete-game wins, and an All-Star nod. Five of his last six starts have seen him pitch at least seven innings. Red Sox fans have not seen this type of dominance from a left-hander starter since the days of Bruce Hurst. Papelbon, of course, continues to make opponents uneasy when he takes the mound; his 6-4 frame looks even more ominous from the top of the hill. He’s notched 28 saves in 32 chances and, like Lester, is an All-Star, the third time in three seasons. Boston has never had the privilege of seeing a closer dominate for more than a season, and he’s been doing it for three straight now. But what about Tim Wakefield, at age 41 still showing the kids how it’s done? He’s quietly putting together another memorable, late-career season with six wins, a 3.60 ERA, and 84 strikeouts; even more impressive is his 1.18 WHIP and .217 BAA, his best totals as a member of the rotation since his first season way back in 1995. Now, the clincher: in eight of his last nine starts, he has also pitched seven innings or more. Don’t forget that this is with Kevin Cash behind the plate and not his longtime battery mate, Doug Mirabelli.

Cy Not: Mike Timlin
Also Scaring Us: Craig Hansen

We’re of the opinion that Timlin needs to consider a change in career, possibly as the new host of Kettlebottom Outdoors on NESN. Wakefield’s contemporary is, for lack of a better word, just awful. Opponents are batting .308 against him and his WHIP is 1.71. He’s been a little better as of late but most of his recent appearances have been in games where the outcome has already been decided. He’s already been to the disabled list twice in the first half. What does all of this tell you, Mike? As for Hansen, this may be one draft pick that Epstein did not get right. After spending all of 2007 and most of the first month of the season in AAA Pawtucket, he still looks at times like he’s not quite ready for prime time. It’s true that he’s had a couple of stretches where he’s been dominant and kept runs off the board; in June, he posted a 2.92 ERA with four holds and a save, but in four appearances this month he’s blown one save opportunity and allowed four earned runs in 2-1/3 innings of work. Will he ever deliver as promised?

Tags: Boston Red Sox, Craig Hansen, Dustin Pedroia, J.D. Drew, Jason Varitek, Jon Lester, Jonathan Papelbon, Julio Lugo, Kevin Youkilis, Mike Timlin, Tim Wakefield

In his first-ever All-Star Game at-bat with a 2-1 count, Boston Red Sox outfielder J.D. Drew hit a two-run home run to right field at Yankee Stadium to turn a 2-0 lead for the National League into a 2-2 tie as the American League, managed by Red Sox skipper Terry Francona, went on to win 4-3 over the National League in 15 innings. Drew, inserted into the game in right field to take over for starter Ichiro Suzuki in the top of the sixth inning, ended up playing nine innings, going 2-for-4 with a run scored, two RBI, a walk, and a strikeout.

The rest of the Red Sox All-Stars, unfortunately, did not do much to help the cause, with the winner of the game earning home field advantage in the World Series for that league’s representative. Outfielder Manny Ramirez, first baseman Kevin Youkilis, and Dustin Pedroia, all elected starters by the fans, went a combined 0-for-5 with a walk, two strikeouts, and three runners left on base. Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon, on to pitch in the eighth, gave up an unearned run on one hit but did strike out two batters. In the end, after four hours and 50 minutes of baseball, J.D. Drew was named the All-Star MVP, the fourth Red Sox player to ever earn the honor following Carl Yastrzemski (1970), Roger Clemens (1986), and Pedro Martinez (1999).

Tags: Boston Red Sox, Carl Yastrzemski, Dustin Pedroia, J.D. Drew, Kevin Youkilis, Manny Ramirez, Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens, Terry Francona

Despite a few tense moments in the ninth inning Sunday afternoon at Fenway Park, with Baltimore third baseman Melvin Mora at the plate and the tying run just 90 feet away at third base, Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon not only notched his 28th save of the season on Sunday for the Red Sox in 2008 but also recorded save number 100 of his career, only the third player in franchise history to reach that mark. The All-Star closer joins the company of two Red Sox legends, former reliever Dick Radatz, who notched 104 over four-plus years in Boston, and Bob Stanley, who recorded 132 over 13 seasons with the club. Coupled with the team’s success over the past few seasons, Papelbon needed just 176 appearances to reach the century mark, while Radatz needed 268 games and Stanley, who leads the club with 637 career appearances, needed 396.

In fairness, Stanley’s extensive career with Boston included time as a starter, including 30 starts in 1979 and 17 in 1980 in 92 total appearances. Radatz, meanwhile, was not considered a specialist like Papelbon; he often pitched three innings to close games and the save was not an official statistic until 1969, the same year that his career ended. As a comparison, in 286 career appearances with the Red Sox, all as a reliever, Radatz averaged just shy of two innings per game; in contrast, in three seasons as the club’s official closer, Papelbon has averaged one inning pitched per appearance.

Papelbon is already the only reliever in Red Sox history to record 30 or more saves in at least two seasons, having earned 35 in 2006 and 37 last season. At his current pace, he is set to make 68 appearances this season and notch 47 saves, which would give him one more than Tom Gordon recorded in 1998, the high-water mark for the franchise. At a minimum, should he pass the 40-save mark before the regular season ends, he would be just the fifth pitcher in team history to record that many in a single season, joining Gordon, Derek Lowe, Jeff Reardon, and Ugueth Urbina.

Tags: Bob Stanley, Boston Red Sox, Dick Radatz, Jonathan Papelbon

With a no-hitter thrown in May and last Thursday night’s win over New York at Yankee Stadium, starting Red Sox pitcher John Lester has pitched two shutouts in 2008, the first Boston pitcher to toss more than one in a season since Hideo Nomo threw two in 2001. He is also the first Red Sox southpaw to toss multiple shutouts in one season since Bruce Hurst threw three in 1987. As pitch counts have limited the opportunities for starting pitchers to throw a complete game, let alone toss a shutout, these feats have become more and more the rarity in today’s ball game. Over the past 25 seasons going back to 1984, only 12 pitchers have multiple shutouts to their credit as a Boston starter; of those pitchers, only seven have at least three and only two, Roger Clemens (38) and Hurst (11), have a double-digit total. Former ace Pedro Martinez is third in that span with eight, throwing four in 2000; fourth is Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd, who tossed six over the 1984 and 1985 seasons and fifth is another former Red Sox lefty, Bob Ojeda, who recorded his five career shutouts with Boston in 1984.

In team history, Clemens is tied with another former Boston great, Cy Young, for the most shutouts in team history, although Young did that over eight seasons while Clemens accomplished his total over 13 seasons with the club. Standing alone in third place in Smoky Joe Wood with 28 over eight years with the club, while Luis Tiant is fourth with 26 over eight seasons and Dutch Leonard is fifth with 25 over six seasons. The single season record for the franchise is 10, accomplish by Young in 1904 and Wood in 1912; Babe Ruth is third with nine in 1916, and Clemens (1988) and Carl Mays (1918) are tied for fourth with eight.

Tags: Babe Ruth, Bruce Hurst, Carl Mays, Cy Young, Dutch Leonard, Hideo Nomo, Jon Lester, Luis Tiant, Oil Can Boyd, Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens, Smoky Joe Wood

The 2008 All-Star Game may be held at Yankee Stadium in New York next Tuesday evening, but it will definitely feel like a night at Fenway Park in Boston. On Sunday afternoon, seven players from the current Red Sox roster were named to represent Boston on the American League All-Star squad, which will be managed by Terry Francona: outfielder J.D. Drew; designated hitter David Ortiz; closer Jonathan Papelbon; second baseman Dustin Pedroia; outfielder Manny Ramirez; catcher Jason Varitek; and first baseman Kevin Youkilis. Ortiz, Pedroia, Ramirez, and Youkilis were all named starters as the result of fan balloting; Ortiz has already stated that he will not play due to a wrist injury that has kept him on the disabled list since the start of June but that he will attend the festivities.

Ramirez, who surpassed the 500 career home run mark in May, was selected for the 12th time in his career and eighth time as a Red Sox player, while Ortiz was named to his fifth consecutive squad. Pedroia, the 2007 AL Rookie of the Year, and Youkilis, a 2007 Gold Glove winner, will make their All-Star debuts; Pedroia leads the team with a .313 average, while Youkilis is second with a .308 average. Also making his All-Star debut will be Drew, who has enjoyed a resurgence in Boston after a tough first year with the Red Sox. Through action ending Saturday, Drew was batting .304 with 16 home runs, 51 RBI, and 61 runs scored along with a .413 OBP and .573 slugging percentage, having filled in well as the number three batter in place of the injured Ortiz. Papelbon was named for the third time in three seasons, having saved 25 games while opposing hitters have batted just .193 against him in 37 appearances. Varitek, meanwhile, has struggled offensively this season, batting a sub-par .219 with seven home runs and 27 RBI, but was selected through the Player Ballot, as was Drew and Papelbon, more in recognition for his efforts behind the plate as Red Sox team captain.

With his selection, Ramirez also moves into a tie for fourth place with former third baseman Wade Boggs and fellow outfielder Jim Rice for the most appearances as an All-Star in a Boston uniform; it also places him one appearance behind former second baseman Bobby Doerr for third place in franchise history. The seven selections is one more than last season (2007) and marks the first time since 2002 that seven Red Sox players have made the All-Star roster. The record for the most Boston players named to an All-Star squad is eight, set in 1946. The four Red Sox starters does tie a franchise record that has happened three other times, with 2005 being the last such occurrence.

Tags: Bobby Doerr, Boston Red Sox, David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, J.D. Drew, Jason Varitek, Jim Rice, Jonathan Papelbon, Kevin Youkilis, Manny Ramirez, Terry Francona, Wade Boggs

In a month in which he hit more home runs than he did all of last season, Boston Red Sox right fielder J.D. Drew emphatically helped alleviate concerns from fans who witnessed slugger David Ortiz head to the disabled list to begin the month; for his efforts, he was named the American League Player of the Month for June 2008. Drew, who struggled for most of last season, his first with Boston, batted .337 (31-for-92), hit 21 extra-base hits, including 12 home runs, and drove home 29 base runners while crossing the dish 27 times; he also registered a slugging percentage of .848, the highest for a Red Sox hitter based on statistics from 1956 forward, as well as a .462 on-base percentage. He also had an eleven-game hit streak to begin the month.

As for his team, Boston entered the month of June at 34-24 in second place, one game behind Tampa Bay, while ending the month at 50-35, 1-1/2 games behind the Rays, though the Red Sox spent most of the month in first place as many as 2-1/2 games ahead of its AL East rivals. For the season through action on Tuesday, Drew is batting .299 with 16 home runs and 50 RBI; his home run total ties him for the team lead and his RBI total ties him for second on the club, while his OBP (.409) and slugging percentage (.570) leads all qualified Red Sox batting leaders.

Tags: Boston Red Sox, David Ortiz, J.D. Drew