2003 Boston Red Sox Post-Season Results

Won AL Division Series over Oakland Athletics (3-2)
Lost AL Championship Series to New York Yankees (4-3)

2003 AL Division Series Results

Game 1: Oakland Athletics 5, Boston Red Sox 4
Game 2: Oakland Athletics 5, Boston Red Sox 1
Game 3: Boston Red Sox 3, Oakland Athletics 1
Game 4: Boston Red Sox 5, Oakland Athletics 4
Game 5: Boston Red Sox 4, Oakland Athletics 3

Note: Home team shown in bold text

Series Synopsis

For the second time in five years, Boston manages to climb back from an 0-2 deficit in a division series to win, this time pulling it off against the Oakland Athletics. Boston bats just .211 in the series, with center fielder Johnny Damon leading all regulars with a .316 average, a home run, three RBI, two runs scored, and two stolen bases, though he ends up leaving Game Five at the end of the seventh inning following a violent collision with second baseman Damian Jackson in the outfield. Reliever Scott Williamson pitches in all five games, going 2-0 with only two hits and three walks allowed to go with eight strikeouts.

Series Highlight

In Game Four at Fenway Park, the Athletics hold a 4-2 lead after scoring three runs in the top of the sixth off starter John Burkett, but Red Sox second baseman Todd Walker narrows the gap to one run with a solo home run to lead of the bottom of the frame. Two innings later, shortstop Nomar Garciaparra hits a one-out double to center field off closer Keith Foulke, and Manny Ramirez follows two batters later with a two-out single. With runners at first and third, David Ortiz hits a double to right field to plate both runners and give Boston a 5-4 lead; the double is one of only two hits for Ortiz in the series. Williamson, who had entered the game in the eighth, comes out for his second inning of relief and retires all three batters he faces to end the game, sending both teams back to Oakland for the deciding fifth game.

2003 AL Championship Series Results

Game 1: Boston Red Sox 5, New York Yankees 2
Game 2: New York Yankees 6, Boston Red Sox 2
Game 3: New York Yankees 4, Boston Red Sox 3
Game 4: Boston Red Sox 3, New York Yankees 2
Game 5: New York Yankees 4, Boston Red Sox 2
Game 6: Boston Red Sox 9, New York Yankees 6
Game 7: New York Yankees 6, Boston Red Sox 5

Series Synopsis

A grueling seven-game series ends with Boston losing the pennant to the New York Yankees for the second time in five years. The back-and-forth affair includes a wild Game Three contest, won by New York, that witnesses a dust-up between Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez and seventy-two-year-old Yankees bench coach Don Zimmer as well as an altercation in the New York bullpen between a Fenway Park groundkeeper, Yankees reliever Jeff Nelson, and right fielder Karim Garcia.

Series Highlight

Holding a 5-2 lead entering the bottom of the eighth inning, Boston manager Grady Little elects to send Martinez back to the mound, despite having thrown 100 pitches and the Red Sox bullpen having allowed only two runs in 31 postseason innings. Martinez starts out needing seven pitches to retire Yankees first baseman Nick Johnson, then throws another three to shortstop Derek Jeter, who hits a double to center field. Five pitches later, Bernie Williams singles to drive home Jeter; Little goes to the mound and appears ready to make the call to the bullpen but, for reasons unknown, he leaves Martinez in the game. Hideki Matsui follows with a double to put runners on second and third, and Jorge Posada follows with a bloop double to center that plates both runners and ties the score at five. Little finally pulls Martinez from the game and the bullpen manages to stem the bleeding as the game goes to extra innings. Eventually, on the first pitch he sees from Tim Wakefield, who had pitched a scoreless tenth, third baseman Aaron Boone ends the series in the bottom of the eleventh inning with a walk-off home run down the left field line, sending New York to its sixth World Series in eight seasons.