the 2004 ALCS, ten years later

[In my lifetime]

2004 ALCS is certainly a series my family will never forget. A year after leaving Yankee Stadium with my youngest son in tears, we remained faithful after down 0-3.  Buying tickets off the streets, we made the 3 hr trip to Boston or hour trip to the Bronx to attend each game, which was magical although not great for my 5 kids (ages 7-14) school studies (getting home at 2 or 3 in the morning).
 
We certainly weren't going to miss game 7.  We made the trek to Yankee Stadium with my kids but arrived just minutes before the start of the game.  Needing 6 tickets, it became quickly apparent that this would be impossible. I found one person selling a single for $2500, which I wasn't willing to pay that for 7 tickets never mind one.  I was beginning to think that for the 1st time ever, we would be shut out of a game. That's when more magic started. We were outside the gate where the picnic table area was located and noticed that gate was slightly ajar.  We tested the mirage by trying the gate, surprisingly opened it and walked through.  At this point we were not 100% sure we were all the way in the stadium, but excitedly soon found out that there were beyond the ticket gates.
 
We found scattered seats in the Red Sox family section and watched history from there.  In the 9th inning, I collected my kids to go behind the RS dugout for the celebration.  Shonda Shilling and Damon's wife to be, Michelle Mangan grabbed my daughter's hands and kiddingly proclaimed they weren't letting her go since she was their good luck charm.  We made our way behind the dugout, where I asked John Henry to sign a ball for my 7 year old.  He signed and dated it and today the ball proudly sits on his bookshelf.  We stood in the 1st row behind the dugout, getting sprayed with champagne and enjoying the festivities for hours.
 
My 7 year old made it to school the next day at about noon (with a note from me excusing his tardiness), and we opened our New York Times to find a picture including 3 of my kids celebrating behind the dugout on the front of the paper.  Magical, unforgettable and a great bonding experience for our family.

 

[Leather]

I was at Game 1. Even though Boston lost that game, I remember thinking that the Yankees had an ill omen when the fighter jet flyover came about 10 seconds before the national anthem ended.  Seemed uncharacteristic.
 
EDIT: One thing that seldom gets talked about, but I must have been absolutely fuming about at the time, is that Francona left Pedro in after 100 pitches in Game 2, and Pedro immediately walked Posada and gave up a dinger to Olerud to turn a 1-0 game to 3-0 in the 6th.  Boston scored 1 in the 8th, ultimately losing 3-1.
 
Had the series turned out differently (say, lost in 6 or 7), he would have been raked over the coals for that decision.

 

[Doc Zero]

 
It was 10-3, but your point stands.  Early on, a friend of mine and I were trying to figure out what kind of a lead would be comfortable in this game, and decided it was "16 - the current inning".  So a 15 run lead in the 1st, 14 run lead in the 2nd, etc.  When the Sox got a 7-run lead in the 9th, we actually reached the "safe zone" for the first time.

Good call, complete brain fart on the score.
 
Love your logic here, by the way.

 

[phrenile]

And it's really a beautiful piece of hitting.  Doesn't overswing, hits it where it's pitched, solid contact, and you can tell instantly that it's going to be a run-scoring base hit.  It would be aesthetically satisfying to watch even if it weren't a big hit in a big game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYWgmSdu3KI

 

[TigerBlood]

2004 ALCS is certainly a series my family will never forget. A year after leaving Yankee Stadium with my youngest son in tears, we remained faithful after down 0-3.  Buying tickets off the streets, we made the 3 hr trip to Boston or hour trip to the Bronx to attend each game, which was magical although not great for my 5 kids (ages 7-14) school studies (getting home at 2 or 3 in the morning).
 
We certainly weren't going to miss game 7.  We made the trek to Yankee Stadium with my kids but arrived just minutes before the start of the game.  Needing 6 tickets, it became quickly apparent that this would be impossible. I found one person selling a single for $2500, which I wasn't willing to pay that for 7 tickets never mind one.  I was beginning to think that for the 1st time ever, we would be shut out of a game. That's when more magic started. We were outside the gate where the picnic table area was located and noticed that gate was slightly ajar.  We tested the mirage by trying the gate, surprisingly opened it and walked through.  At this point we were not 100% sure we were all the way in the stadium, but excitedly soon found out that there were beyond the ticket gates.
 
We found scattered seats in the Red Sox family section and watched history from there.  In the 9th inning, I collected my kids to go behind the RS dugout for the celebration.  Shonda Shilling and Damon's wife to be, Michelle Mangan grabbed my daughter's hands and kiddingly proclaimed they weren't letting her go since she was their good luck charm.  We made our way behind the dugout, where I asked John Henry to sign a ball for my 7 year old.  He signed and dated it and today the ball proudly sits on his bookshelf.  We stood in the 1st row behind the dugout, getting sprayed with champagne and enjoying the festivities for hours.
 
My 7 year old made it to school the next day at about noon (with a note from me excusing his tardiness), and we opened our New York Times to find a picture including 3 of my kids celebrating behind the dugout on the front of the paper.  Magical, unforgettable and a great bonding experience for our family.

I literally don't believe you haha.

 

[Al Zarilla]

Bellhorn's ping - I hear it daily.

God bless The 25(tm).

I even think of it in Bruins games when a puck gets blasted off the iron. Joe Morgan's comment after Bellhorn's homer off the foul pole in game 7 of the ALCS "and the Red Sox keep adding on". Morgan's comment made at least one of the DVD's and for some reason sticks in my mind.  It made the score 9 to 3 in a game which could not have enough Sox runs for me. 

 

[JohntheBaptist]

I even think of it in Bruins games when a puck gets blasted off the iron. Joe Morgan's comment after Bellhorn's homer off the foul pole in game 7 of the ALCS "and the Red Sox keep adding on". Morgan's comment made at least one of the DVD's and for some reason sticks in my mind.  It made the score 9 to 3 in a game which could not have enough Sox runs for me. 

Don't forget McCarver's legendary "that's the worst sound I've ever heard."

 

[JohntheBaptist]

Kinda nuts Bellhorn hit a foul pole in two straight games, too. I'd never really thought about that.

 

[JimD]

 
(Of course, until Foulke stabbed the comebacker, I also had visions of the Cardinals tying Game 4 in the 9th and becoming the second MLB team to ever come back from being down 0-3 in a series.  So maybe I thought out too many contingencies.)

 
I didn't.  The ninth inning of game 4 felt almost anticlimatic - the Cardinals and their fans knew they weren't coming back.  I think the Cardinals knew as soon as Damon hit that home run into the St. Louis bullpen to start the game - you could see it on their faces.

 

[curly2]

I don't think this amusing tidbit from game 4* was shown on the tv broadcast or mentioned on the radio:
 
When ARod hit a HR over the green monster, someone outside the stadium threw it back over the wall where it landed in left center field.  Damon picked it up and threw it back up and over the monster, out of the park (which is an impressive throw for Damon).  A few seconds later, the ball came back over the wall again and landed somewhere in the outfield.  It was as though a god outside the machine wouldn't accept an ARod home run ball, and needed to keep regurgitating it back.
 
*I'm pretty sure this happened game 4 against Lowe, but it may have been game 3 against Arroyo.  

 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXLZwSa8Aqs

 

[DennyDoyle'sBoil]

I had moments of nervousness during game 4 of the World Series in 2004.  The Sox got that run, but then Lowe gave up a single to his first batter in the bottom of the first inning, and it seemed like game on with Walker and Pujols coming up, both of whom were having moster years.  La Russa then gave us the biggest gift of the series, by having Larry Walker bunt.  In the first inning!  Lowe got out of it, and then just seemed to be on auto pilot for a few innings.  I think I remember going to bathroom, and coming back and the Cardinals had finished their half of the inning.  He got into a minor jam at one point, but got out of it and in really looked like smooth sailing.
 
Still, stuff got real in a hurry in the 8th inning.  The Red Sox did not come close to tacking on any more runs after going up 3-0, and finally looked ready to blow it open.  They had bases loaded with no outs in the 8th.  Within what seemed like the blink of eye, Ingrenhausen got out of it, the Cardinals got a baserunner, and it was up to Alan Embree to hold down the fort.  Embree had been good in high leverage situations after game 3 of the ALCS, but I didn't exactly trust him, and the scenario in my heads was Sox fail to tack on, Cards come back, and then it's game on in the series.  Once Embree got out of it, I felt much better.
 
I think I maybe even had a fleeting thought in the top of the 9th where I just wanted the Sox to hurry up and get it to he bottom of the 9th, until I sort of caught myself. 

 

[trekfan55]

The Tony Clark AB was the most stressful experience I can ever remember in the sports related category (although it comes close to many other areas as well),
 
It was late, my kids were asleep but my shouting and banging at things woke them up, I simply could not believe that Clark could possibly end the series.  And after the K I could not stop screaming "Lo ponchó" (he struck him out) over and over and over.  My brother called, it was all I could say to him.  I could not sleep that night.

 

[Dick Drago]

I watched the Clark AB when the DVDs came out. Watching live I was entirely convinced foulke was getting squeezed; but they looked like balls when I watched later...comfortably knowing the outcome.

I'm really glad game 7 wasn't as close. I still didn't relax till the end, but another one or two run game would've killed me.

How that last pitch got by Clark I'll never know.

 

[canyoubelieveit]

In the 9th inning of game 4 of the 2004 World Series, it was a sure thing that the Sox would win...in the same way that it was a sure thing in 86 when were up by 2 in the bottom of the 10th of game 6 with two outs and no one on...in the same way that the Yankees had a sure thing up 3 games to none with a lead in the 9th and Mariano on the mound.  If life as a Sox fan had taught me anything, it was that minuscule probabilities and sure things were two very, very, different animals, especially when you've learned to believe in the first two lines of the famous Bart Giamatti poem.

 

[phrenile]

I have been searching for a clip of the Clark AB. Anyone?

Here's the last pitch.

Is there the video...I think maybe made by a SOSHer...that was of the Yankee series, where games 1-3 were in black and white and then Ortiz hits the HR in game 4 and as he hits it, it turns into color...anywhere available?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7RSG_hyx-g&t=127s

(Embedding is disabled, but the part you want begins at 2:07.)

And while we're at it, there's always Laddie's video:

http://vimeo.com/10795521

 

[Oil Can Dan]

I watched the Clark AB when the DVDs came out. Watching live I was entirely convinced foulke was getting squeezed; but they looked like balls when I watched later...comfortably knowing the outcome.

I'm really glad game 7 wasn't as close. I still didn't relax till the end, but another one or two run game would've killed me.

How that last pitch got by Clark I'll never know.

I had the same exact experience in the Clark at-bat. I was yelling at the tv on some of those ball calls, but I largely agree with them now. Never been more stressed out my life to that point in time.

I was super nervous going in to Game 7. Once Damon got called out (I still think he was safe) on Manny's single in the 1st the terror of it all really swelled up, but Big Papi slamming the first pitch after that play into the RF seats had an eerie effect on me such that I wasn't the slightest bit worried after that. Somehow I knew it was different now.

And I'll always love whoever the SoSHer was that posted in that game-thread on Damon's 2nd homer "I THOUGHT IT WAS A REPLAY".

 

[donutogre]

And I'll always love whoever the SoSHer was that posted in that game-thread on Damon's 2nd homer "I THOUGHT IT WAS A REPLAY".

I think 90% of the hate for Damon going to the Yankees came from the significance of those two homers. He came up so fucking huge in that game and make what could have been a miserably tense nail-biter into the closest thing to a laughter that a game of that significance could possibly be. 
 
 
(I know that most of it comes from saying he wouldn't go to the Yankees, but still. He slew the giant with those two bombs.)

 

[Al Zarilla]

I think 90% of the hate for Damon going to the Yankees came from the significance of those two homers. He came up so fucking huge in that game and make what could have been a miserably tense nail-biter into the closest thing to a laughter that a game of that significance could possibly be. 
 
 
(I know that most of it comes from saying he wouldn't go to the Yankees, but still. He slew the giant with those two bombs.)

[SIZE=13.63636302948px]Damon[/SIZE] had a total gameface on after both homers. [SIZE=13.63636302948px] "I wasn't smiling until that game was over."[/SIZE] I wonder if he ever did crack a grin before it was all over.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAgMBIu6iVk

 

[DennyDoyle'sBoil]

I've seen some of these a bunch of times, to the point where the people in the crowd reaction shots feel like my friends.  In the Damon one, it's popcorn eating girl with rubber bands and braces.  Last year was the girl who has her long hair pulled around her face to make a beard.  In 2007, there's a guy doing some crazy cabbage patch dance.  There are couple dozen of them.  If they all got together and threw a party, I'd pay to go.

 

[SumnerH]

I've seen some of these a bunch of times, to the point where the people in the crowd reaction shots feel like my friends.  In the Damon one, it's popcorn eating girl with rubber bands and braces.  Last year was the girl who has her long hair pulled around her face to make a beard.  In 2007, there's a guy doing some crazy cabbage patch dance.  There are couple dozen of them.  If they all got together and threw a party, I'd pay to go.

That's a kind of brilliant documentary waiting to happen.

 

[HriniakPosterChild]

That's a kind of brilliant documentary waiting to happen.

Once we find the sailor and the nurse from VJ Day inTimes Square we can start hunting for those ladies.

 

[Huntington Avenue Grounds]

I had the same exact experience in the Clark at-bat. I was yelling at the tv on some of those ball calls, but I largely agree with them now. Never been more stressed out my life to that point in time.

I was super nervous going in to Game 7. Once Damon got called out (I still think he was safe) on Manny's single in the 1st the terror of it all really swelled up, but Big Papi slamming the first pitch after that play into the RF seats had an eerie effect on me such that I wasn't the slightest bit worried after that. Somehow I knew it was different now.

And I'll always love whoever the SoSHer was that posted in that game-thread on Damon's 2nd homer "I THOUGHT IT WAS A REPLAY".

 
Agree 100% on the Clark ab,  it was closest I felt to it all coming to an end. When Foulke struck him out, Game 7 never really worried me.  Wasn't 100% sure we would win the series, but the tension and fear from games 4-6 were gone.
 
After game 7, heading back to NJ on the PATH after watching the game at the Riv with a train full of MFY fans that all looked like someone ran over their dog was one of the most satisfying moments in my life.

 

[djhb20]

If I remember correctly, in the HBO documentary that came out that winter, Dan Gilbert (or some fancy psychologist or whatever) was interviewed and said something along the lines of "Red Sox fans thought that once they won the World Series, they'd just be happier, that the world will be different" and then basically said that things just don't work that way.  That eventually, life goes back to normal.
 
He's a douchebag.  It's been 10 years, and re-watching (for the 200th time?) those two videos makes me so friggin happy, it's unbelievable.
 
Honestly, they could have a reunion for the 2004 team every year, and I would think that's totally fine.  Those guys changed Red Sox history, and what it means to be a Red Sox fan.  It was the best.  It was nice when my kids were born, too, you know.  But I knew that would happen, some day, eventually.  This was, especially after the year before, just something that was not expected or really even thought possible (the way it happened).

Dan Gilbert can suck my balls.

 

[ToeKneeArmAss]

I had moments of nervousness during game 4 of the World Series in 2004.  The Sox got that run, but then Lowe gave up a single to his first batter in the bottom of the first inning, and it seemed like game on with Walker and Pujols coming up, both of whom were having moster years.  La Russa then gave us the biggest gift of the series, by having Larry Walker bunt.  In the first inning!  Lowe got out of it, and then just seemed to be on auto pilot for a few innings.  I think I remember going to bathroom, and coming back and the Cardinals had finished their half of the inning.  He got into a minor jam at one point, but got out of it and in really looked like smooth sailing.
 
Still, stuff got real in a hurry in the 8th inning.  The Red Sox did not come close to tacking on any more runs after going up 3-0, and finally looked ready to blow it open.  They had bases loaded with no outs in the 8th.  Within what seemed like the blink of eye, Ingrenhausen got out of it, the Cardinals got a baserunner, and it was up to Alan Embree to hold down the fort.  Embree had been good in high leverage situations after game 3 of the ALCS, but I didn't exactly trust him, and the scenario in my heads was Sox fail to tack on, Cards come back, and then it's game on in the series.  Once Embree got out of it, I felt much better.
 
I think I maybe even had a fleeting thought in the top of the 9th where I just wanted the Sox to hurry up and get it to he bottom of the 9th, until I sort of caught myself. 

 
I'm with you.  I had the incredible good fortune to be at that game. Bottom of the ninth, up by three, 2 out, one on.  But having lived through 1986, I'm rocking back and forth and saying "If Renteria gets on, then Pujols jacks one to tie, then they have us where we had the Yankees, and payback is a bitch."  That's all that was going through my mind when Foulke stabbed the ball.  It took me a full 2-3 minutes to totally come to grips with what I had just seen.

 

[MentalDisabldLst]

I had two tickets to what was, originally, Game 3 (on the Friday).  A bunch of SoSHers gathered at a nearby bar, just in case the game was played, but when it was called off, I traded my two tickets to that game's rescheduling (which became Game 5) for a pair of, I believe, Lose Remerswaal's tickets to Game 6.  To this day, I regret that trade - despite having tickets to one game that went down in history, I thereby missed out on what was one of the best baseball games ever played.  You win, Lose.
 
As for game 6, I ended up taking BeanTownGirl, and we both were just blown away by Schilling's outing and had no idea how he was keeping it together.  I didn't know the Frankenstein-esque ankle story until I got home that night.  But at the very end, with Foulke closing it out, I have to tell you guys I felt pretty serene.  I mean, we both remarked that Clark was the winning run, but it didn't enter our minds that we ought to be nervous.  She referred to him as The Cooler, joked about how miserable he had been in 2002, we agreed Foulke was like a man possessed that week, and so we figured "eh, Foulke's got this".  I was way more scared/nervous at the start of the game than in its final moments.  But if I'd been at Game 5, I'm pretty sure I would've given myself an ulcer.  There were at least a dozen moments in that game where we were closer to losing than in Clark's at-bat to conclude Game 6.  I mean, Clark's double the night before, for example - a matter of a few inches and a mercifully low RF wall.
 
I've thought about why I felt so easy watching Foulke face Clark, and I think it's this: somewhere over the course of Game 6, the Red Sox went from being a broken team with a broken fanbase, to absolutely breaking the Yankees and their fanbase.  Their fans arrived at the game with confidence and glee at the gladiatorial execution they were, doubtless, about to witness.  And I could see in the stands, especially after the 3-run HR, that it was slowly dawning on them that they were fucked.  Not the Red Sox being fucked, no, not this year.  This year it's us Yankee fans!  How the hell can Schilling be pitching this well?  Why has no one gotten to him?  OK, Bernie got one, but we're still down 3.  HOW CAN THIS BE HAPPENING?  BY WHAT BLACK MAGIC IS THAT MAN STILL PITCHING WELL?!  In the 8th, they had their moment of catharsis, throwing bottles on the field from the upper deck after the A-Rod call reversal, which took five minutes to clean up.  They knew.  We knew.  By the time the 9th inning came, they were the broken fanbase, and we had the confidence that they had once had in years past.  I can understand why people who only watched on TV never got to feel that visceral sense of how the upper deck was that night.  But for those of us up there (and PseuFighter can back me up), we kinda watched the 9th inning with a look on our faces approximating Emperor Palpatine's when he sadistically electrocutes Luke.  For us, I think, the fear was gone.  All that was left was the ceremonial destruction of the death star (Game 7) for the sake of finality.

 

[canyoubelieveit]

If I remember correctly, in the HBO documentary that came out that winter, Dan Gilbert (or some fancy psychologist or whatever) was interviewed and said something along the lines of "Red Sox fans thought that once they won the World Series, they'd just be happier, that the world will be different" and then basically said that things just don't work that way.  That eventually, life goes back to normal.
 
He's a douchebag.  It's been 10 years, and re-watching (for the 200th time?) those two videos makes me so friggin happy, it's unbelievable.
 
Honestly, they could have a reunion for the 2004 team every year, and I would think that's totally fine.  Those guys changed Red Sox history, and what it means to be a Red Sox fan.  It was the best.  It was nice when my kids were born, too, you know.  But I knew that would happen, some day, eventually.  This was, especially after the year before, just something that was not expected or really even thought possible (the way it happened).
Dan Gilbert can suck my balls.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

 

[Oil Can Dan]

I still don't understand why Tito put Wakefield rather than Lowe into game 3. Wake was the game 4 starter, and game 3 was out of hand. So why burn your (in your opinion) better pitcher in a lost game instead of a must-win game 4?

 

[glasspusher]

To this day, I don't understand why the Yankees didn't try to bunt on Schilling in game 6.

 
You gotta wonder. I wonder if they didn't want to look desperate/flailing in front of their fans? Would they have been more likely to have done so if the game was in Fenway? That has got to be my #1 question to ask Torre if I meet him.

 

[glasspusher]

I still don't understand why Tito put Wakefield rather than Lowe into game 3. Wake was the game 4 starter, and game 3 was out of hand. So why burn your (in your opinion) better pitcher in a lost game instead of a must-win game 4?

 
I believe Wake came up to Tito and offered.

 

[glasspusher]

There were favorable circumstances going the sox' way in that series, starting with the rainout, which forced the last 5 games to be played in a row. Add to that 8 more innings pitched, and it really exposed the soft white underbelly of the yanks' pitching staff. Meanwhile, wheels were turning in the sox' clubhouse and adjustments were being made.

 

[Oil Can Dan]

 
I believe Wake came up to Tito and offered.

And Tito should have replied "Timmy, we need the best we've got tomorrow, and that's you not DLowe. Thanks but grab some bench."

 

[Rough Carrigan]

I had two tickets to what was, originally, Game 3 (on the Friday).  A bunch of SoSHers gathered at a nearby bar, just in case the game was played, but when it was called off, I traded my two tickets to that game's rescheduling (which became Game 5) for a pair of, I believe, Lose Remerswaal's tickets to Game 6.  To this day, I regret that trade - despite having tickets to one game that went down in history, I thereby missed out on what was one of the best baseball games ever played.  You win, Lose.
 
As for game 6, I ended up taking BeanTownGirl, and we both were just blown away by Schilling's outing and had no idea how he was keeping it together.  I didn't know the Frankenstein-esque ankle story until I got home that night.  But at the very end, with Foulke closing it out, I have to tell you guys I felt pretty serene.  I mean, we both remarked that Clark was the winning run, but it didn't enter our minds that we ought to be nervous.  She referred to him as The Cooler, joked about how miserable he had been in 2002, we agreed Foulke was like a man possessed that week, and so we figured "eh, Foulke's got this".  I was way more scared/nervous at the start of the game than in its final moments.  But if I'd been at Game 5, I'm pretty sure I would've given myself an ulcer.  There were at least a dozen moments in that game where we were closer to losing than in Clark's at-bat to conclude Game 6.  I mean, Clark's double the night before, for example - a matter of a few inches and a mercifully low RF wall.
 
I've thought about why I felt so easy watching Foulke face Clark, and I think it's this: somewhere over the course of Game 6, the Red Sox went from being a broken team with a broken fanbase, to absolutely breaking the Yankees and their fanbase.  Their fans arrived at the game with confidence and glee at the gladiatorial execution they were, doubtless, about to witness.  And I could see in the stands, especially after the 3-run HR, that it was slowly dawning on them that they were fucked.  Not the Red Sox being fucked, no, not this year.  This year it's us Yankee fans!  How the hell can Schilling be pitching this well?  Why has no one gotten to him?  OK, Bernie got one, but we're still down 3.  HOW CAN THIS BE HAPPENING?  BY WHAT BLACK MAGIC IS THAT MAN STILL PITCHING WELL?!  In the 8th, they had their moment of catharsis, throwing bottles on the field from the upper deck after the A-Rod call reversal, which took five minutes to clean up.  They knew.  We knew.  By the time the 9th inning came, they were the broken fanbase, and we had the confidence that they had once had in years past.  I can understand why people who only watched on TV never got to feel that visceral sense of how the upper deck was that night.  But for those of us up there (and PseuFighter can back me up), we kinda watched the 9th inning with a look on our faces approximating Emperor Palpatine's when he sadistically electrocutes Luke.  For us, I think, the fear was gone.  All that was left was the ceremonial destruction of the death star (Game 7) for the sake of finality.

 
 

If I remember correctly, in the HBO documentary that came out that winter, Dan Gilbert (or some fancy psychologist or whatever) was interviewed and said something along the lines of "Red Sox fans thought that once they won the World Series, they'd just be happier, that the world will be different" and then basically said that things just don't work that way.  That eventually, life goes back to normal.
 
He's a douchebag.  It's been 10 years, and re-watching (for the 200th time?) those two videos makes me so friggin happy, it's unbelievable.
 
Honestly, they could have a reunion for the 2004 team every year, and I would think that's totally fine.  Those guys changed Red Sox history, and what it means to be a Red Sox fan.  It was the best.  It was nice when my kids were born, too, you know.  But I knew that would happen, some day, eventually.  This was, especially after the year before, just something that was not expected or really even thought possible (the way it happened).
Dan Gilbert can suck my balls.

The upper quote is absolutely true and it's why Dan Gilbert was so absolutely wrong.

 

[glasspusher]

The only players still active who played on the Sox or Yankees in 2004: Ortiz, A-Rod, Giambi (seems likely to retire), Bronson Arroyo and Dioner Navarro.

Giambi didn't even make the postseason roster that year.

 
Yeah, wasn't the reason given for Giambi being out was he had an intestinal parasite? Also, hitting 2 solo HRs off of Pedro in 2003 ALCS game 7, he was not missed by me.
 
Also, in 2003 his batting average dropped (although one last shining year of over .400 OBP), and in 2004 everything else, never to recover. Is that what happens when you stop taking your home run pills?

 

[MentalDisabldLst]

well, just for yuks, there's also A-Rod.

 

[glasspusher]

I loved reading Bill Simmons' accounts of games 3,4 and 5 at Fenway- especially his recount of game 5: My last three written notes from Game 5: "Stand up sit down bad back" "Oh my god Varitek and Wakefield" and "central nervous system shutting down"

 

[SumnerH]

And Tito should have replied "Timmy, we need the best we've got tomorrow, and that's you not DLowe. Thanks but grab some bench."

Unless he thought Wake could make two effective appearances in the remaining games while Lowe was good for one long start but not a couple of 3 or 4 inning stints. I really think that because of the rain out and back to back games, Wake's flexibility gave us the innings needed to work that series win in a way that insisting on the original Wake as starter plan wouldn't have.

 

[MrNewEngland]

And Tito should have replied "Timmy, we need the best we've got tomorrow, and that's you not DLowe. Thanks but grab some bench."

Playoff Tito knew better.

 

[Rasputin]

To this day, I don't understand why the Yankees didn't try to bunt on Schilling in game 6.

 
They had to maintain the pretense of class.

 

[reggiecleveland]

There were favorable circumstances going the sox' way in that series, starting with the rainout, which forced the last 5 games to be played in a row. Add to that 8 more innings pitched, and it really exposed the soft white underbelly of the yanks' pitching staff. Meanwhile, wheels were turning in the sox' clubhouse and adjustments were being made.

Of all people Howie Long predicted the Sox would come back after the rainout since it would keep Rivera from pitching every game.

 

[canyoubelieveit]

As unreal as the whole series was, there were actually 3 moments that seemed to defy the basic laws of physics.  I'm curious if anyone else ever felt this way about any of these events:
 
1.  Jorge Posada's flyout to right with 2 outs in the bottom of the second against Schilling, game 6.  Off the bat it looked for all the world like a no-doubter home run, more so because of the short porch in right at Yankee stadium.  Even with a wind blowing in, I still have no idea how that ended up as a harmless flyout.
 
2.  Johnny Damon's grandslam.  To this day, every time I watch him hit it, it doesn't seem like the trajectory of his bat and the ball should intersect and make contact.  It's a big looping swing on an inside pitch...everything had to match up perfectly for that to happen.  (In contrast, I like to think of the Manny walkoff shot against K-rod in 2007...it looked like solid contact from the moment the bat left his shoulder. That may have been the most beautiful home run of all time, but I digress...).
 
3.  The Tony Clark groundrule double.  Even in slow motion it looks like it should hit the top of the wall.  
 
So many miracles.

 

[Investor 11]

To get to the ALCS they had to get by the Angels. 10 years ago today they ended the ALDS with DLowe getting the 1st of his series clinching wins and Big Papi with his 1st walkoff of the 2004 postseason.
 

I'm way late in responding to this post, but thank you for it. In a memorable way, this is the moment of the '04 playoff run that will probably always stand out for me. I was 21 and back in New England for the first time since moving from there 13 years earlier. My buddy and I had tickets to what would have been game 4 of that series. We pushed our flight off from Nantucket to Hyannis as long as possible. I remember sitting in the airport there when Vlad tied the game. Finally, they were sending the final flight of the night. We got on the plane and it was just me, my friend, a Cape Air friend of ours and the pilot. The pilot was able to pull the game on the radio. It was fuzzy, but we could hear it. Papi did his thing and we went crazy. Looking back, I'm surprised that plane didn't end up in the water given how we were all bouncing around. An absolutely surreal moment in what turned out to be a surreal few weeks.

 

[HomeRunBaker]

 

The beauty of this clip is at the :40 mark when ARod realizes the ball was thrown back onto the field and looks like mentioned to someone to get him the ball. Then the look on his face with mouth open as Damon fires it back over the wall is simply LOL!

 

[DennyDoyle'sBoil]

The beauty of this clip is at the :40 mark when ARod realizes the ball was thrown back onto the field and looks like mentioned to someone to get him the ball. Then the look on his face with mouth open as Damon fires it back over the wall is simply LOL!

You onow, I think that's exactly what he 's asking. He probably wants to sell it or give it to Madonna.

That at bat was a bit of a turning point for A-Rod and even for the Yankees. He only got one more hit in the series -- a single. In fact, after that at bat, he went 4 for his next 50 in the playoffs. Three singles and a double with zero RBI. This is during the time when he was one of the most dominant regular season players in the game. It wasn't until the last game or two of the 2007 ALDS that he started to put together some decent at bats and break out of it. Over that stretch, the Yankees went 4-13 in the playoffs.

 

[Niastri]

I've seen some of these a bunch of times, to the point where the people in the crowd reaction shots feel like my friends.  In the Damon one, it's popcorn eating girl with rubber bands and braces.  Last year was the girl who has her long hair pulled around her face to make a beard.  In 2007, there's a guy doing some crazy cabbage patch dance.  There are couple dozen of them.  If they all got together and threw a party, I'd pay to go.

My personal favorite from 2007 was the four guys pounding on the padded facing in unison.

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

I've seen some of these a bunch of times, to the point where the people in the crowd reaction shots feel like my friends.  In the Damon one, it's popcorn eating girl with rubber bands and braces.  Last year was the girl who has her long hair pulled around her face to make a beard.  In 2007, there's a guy doing some crazy cabbage patch dance.  There are couple dozen of them.  If they all got together and threw a party, I'd pay to go.

 
Next time you watch Damon's 2nd HR from Game 7, check out the dude in the first row behind the plate, wearing a white hat. The millisecond after Damon hits it, he grabs the hat with both hands and rips it off his head in frustration. It flips on it's way to the ground. It's amazing.

 

[mt8thsw9th]

 
That was such a huge hit.  The Sox had blown a 7-2 lead and a 9-7 lead, and were in terrible position for extra innings.  Tito brought Foulke in, protecting a 2-run lead in the 8th, but the Cardinals tied it up on two errors.  So, it was a tie game, and Foulke only had one more inning, and the Cardinals had Isringhousen in the bullpen.  You could just feel the collective panic in Fenway that the team had just won the greatest series in baseball history but was about to blow a 7-2 lead in game 1 of the world series.  Belhorn puts them back in the lead while Foulke is still in the game, which saved the day.  

 
Those two errors were caused by the WS MVP, too. Just a brutal series of errors. I think they just needed a name for the award. Bellhorn was the most valuable, though.

 

[DennyDoyle'sBoil]

This thread made me go back and look at bref for all of the 2004 playoffs.  One of the things that gets a little lost because of how dramatic the ALCS was is game 3 of the ALDS.  But for what came next, that game easily could be remembered as one of the best playoff games of that decade, at least to the extent a game 3 can ever really be great.
 
The twists and turns in that game were crazy.  The Guerrero grant slam, of course, was huge, but that really was just part of the story.  In the top of the 9th, the Angels loaded the bases with one out against Foulke.  He struck out Anderson and Glaus.  (It was shades of game 5 in the 1986 ALCS -- the Baylor/Hendu HR game -- when the Angels had bases loaded and one out with a chance to win the series, but made two outs.)  On those two strike outs, the Angels' win percentage went from 71 percent to 34 percent.  I also didn't remember that the Sox had put the lead off runner on in the bottom of the 10th (Damon), but he was forced at second on a Belhorn bunt that was a little too hard.  
 
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS200410080.shtml
 
I know this is a thread about 2004, but the other thing I had largely forgotten about but was reminded about by going back through bref play-by-play logs for the Red Sox is one of the greatest bits of Red Sox trivia ever.  On the only pitch he ever saw in a world series game, Bobby Kielty put up a slash line of 1.000/1.000/4.000/5.000 and turned out to have the game winning and championship winning hit.

 

[ToeKneeArmAss]

I don't think this amusing tidbit from game 4* was shown on the tv broadcast or mentioned on the radio:
 
When ARod hit a HR over the green monster, someone outside the stadium threw it back over the wall where it landed in left center field.  Damon picked it up and threw it back up and over the monster, out of the park (which is an impressive throw for Damon).  A few seconds later, the ball came back over the wall again and landed somewhere in the outfield.  It was as though a god outside the machine wouldn't accept an ARod home run ball, and needed to keep regurgitating it back.
 
*I'm pretty sure this happened game 4 against Lowe, but it may have been game 3 against Arroyo.  

 
In Game 3, A-Rod hit a homer well over the Monster. I was on the open parking deck at the time, watching on a portable TV with some of the parking attendants.  We thought it may have gone into the covered portion of the garage (the upper windows facing Lansdowne for some crazy reason do not have screens over them).  So we all ran into the garage to look for it.  But the ball had actually hit the roof.
 
As we emerged from the garage I pulled a ball from my pocket that I had caught during batting practice. I pointed to a guy in standing room on the Monster, and yelled "Throw this in for me" and threw him the ball.  He relayed it onto the field.
 
The next night, same thing. A-Rod hits another bomb that we knew for sure was on the roof.  I told one of the parking attendants (Nestor) to run up onto the roof and throw it back.  He did and it landed in front of Damon.  If you watch the replay, the camera is on A-Rod when the ball comes back in and you can see him pointing and clearly saying "They threw the ball back!  I want that ball!"  I suspect Damon saw or heard that, and that's why he threw it back out.
 
Nestor was still on the roof when it came back out.  He picked it back up and threw it back in.  (Sadly, the umpire went out into CF, grabbed it, and threw it to A-Rod.)
 
When Nestor climbed back down off the roof, he was so proud.  He said "I threw it back!  Twice!"  Just then, about 20 of Boston's finest, in full riot gear, came running up the ramp.  The guy in charge just started yelling "What the fuck are you idiots doing?"  I thought we were going to get arrested but he just put the fear of God in us and let us be.

 

[JohntheBaptist]

That is a fantastic story. Why would Rodriguez want that ball specifically? I'm going to assume he'd already mentally put the series in the "W" column and wanted to collect trinkets and just enjoy that thought.

 

[canyoubelieveit]

That is a fantastic story. Why would Rodriguez want that ball specifically? I'm going to assume he'd already mentally put the series in the "W" column and wanted to collect trinkets and just enjoy that thought.

He wanted to commemorate his final RBI of the series.