Only one Red Sox playoff game truly matches Super Bowl XLIX

The Sox equivalent? That goes back a ways.

For the past week, Boston sports media pundits from Felger and Mazz to Dan Shaughnessy to Steve Buckley have weighed in about which past Boston sporting events are worthy of comparison to Super Bowl XLIX. 

The way last Sunday night's game unfolded -- with the Patriots trailing Seattle 24-14 in the fourth quarter, rallying to go ahead in the last two minutes, having that lead all but stolen back in the final MINUTE, and then turning the table a final time on the most unlikely of goal-line interceptions -- made it an instant classic. New England's 28-24 victory sealed the legacy of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, and assured rookie cornerback Malcolm Butler, author of the Pick-Heard-'Round-the-World, that his days working at Popeye's were over for good.

Seattle Coach Pete Carroll was immediately lambasted for not calling a second-down running play for bruising back Marshawn Lynch or mobile QB Russell Wilson, a move which brought logical comparisons in these parts to Red Sox managers Grady Little and John MacNamara. (If you have to ask, you're reading the wrong blog.) I admit conjuring up images of Mac and Grady myself as the euphoria turned to disbelief over why Carroll chose to throw in that situation.

Great, but not the best.

Butler, in contrast, was the game's unlikely hero -- a Dave Henderson or Dave Roberts in shoulder pads. But while Hendu's homer in the 1986 ALCS and Roberts' steal in the 2004 showdown with the Yankees proved pivitol points in thrilling victories, and ranked at or near the top of most of the lists this week, neither sealed a victory or a championship. Both, in fact, came in the fifth game of seven-game series.

Ditto.

To truly match the ramifications of Sunday's game, you have to go much further back in Red Sox history. In fact, the only time the Sox clinched a world championship in the final moments of an all-or-nothing contest was during Fenway Park's first postseason: the 1912 World Series between Boston and the New York Giants.

Like this year's Super Bowl, the Fall Classic of '12 had everything needed to generate fan and media buzz. There were two ace pitchers -- classy veteran Christy Mathewson of the Giants and young fireballer Smoky Joe Wood of the Red Sox -- filling in the Brady and Wilson roles. A legendary boss occupied one dugout (manager John McGraw of the Giants as Belichick) who an eager adversary (player-manager Jack Stahl of the Sox as Carroll) hoped to topple.

Wood and Mathewson: Calm before the storm

There were even battling crowds to throw  into the mix. The fierce rivalry between New York and Boston baseball fans was already well established, and the Red Sox "Royal Rooters" had their own brass band and were led by Boston Mayor John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald -- grandfather of future president John F. Kennedy.

The Giants were heavy favorites entering the Series, but through seven games the Sox had managed to split six contests with one darkness-induced tie. For the eighth and deciding game at Fenway, Mathewson faced Boston's Hugh Bedient on a cold, damp afternoon. Wood, who had pitched the day before, was ready in the bullpen. 

New York went up 1-0 in the third inning, but failed to capitalize on several chances to expand their lead. Mathewson was hurling a shutout into the seventh when Stahl manged to bloop a single to center and came around to score on a double down the left-field line -- which then included a sloping hill directly in front of the ad-plastered fence.

Christy Mathewson: Brady in a baseball cap.

It was still 1-1 after nine innings, and the skies were darkening as the Giants came up in the tenth. Wood had relieved Bedient, and New York got to him on a Red Murray double and a run-scoring single by Fred Merkle (remember the name). The final out of the frame was a hot shot to the mound off Wood's hand; Smokey Joe managed to get the out at first, but Stahl was forced to pinch-hit for his ace (a .290 batter) leading off the bottom of the 10th.

Clyde Engle, a weak slap-hitter, was overmatched against Mathewson. He hit a fly ball to center, which Fred Snodgrass settled under for a seemingly easy out -- until it popped out of his glove. Engle took second, and got to third on a deep line drive by Harry Hooper which Snodgrass managed to spear for a then-game-saving play.

The tying run was now 90 feet away. Another weak hitter, Steve Yerkes, was up next, but a rattled Mathewson inexplicably walked him. Tris Speaker, the AL's top batsman, now stepped in, and Matty appeared to win the best-on-best battle by inducing a foul pop to the right side. First baseman Fred Merke was closest to the ball, but for reasons unknown -- some reports claimed Mathewson called him off -- it fell untouched. 

Fate dealt its cards.

Given another life, Speaker singled in Engle and took second on an unsuccessful throw to third to try and nab Yerkes. Mathewson should have been celebrating a championship by this point, but now was just hoping to get out of the inning with a 2-2 tie. He walked Duffy Lewis to load the bases and set up a force out at home, but Larry Gardner's fly ball was deep enough to score Yerkes with the series-clinching run.

Joe Wood -- 34-5 in 1912, 3-1 in the World Series

The two New York miscues would haunt those who made them for the rest of their careers, with "Snodgrass' Muff" entering the baseball lexicon. It's too early to tell if Carroll will ever be exonerated for having Wilson throw from the one-yard-line, but unless he wins another Super Bowl or two it will almost surely be in the headline of his obituary -- as was the case with Snodgrass.

Gardner's game-winning hit was not a stirring play like Butler's interception, but, as Belichek would say, it got the job done. It also helped spark a Red Sox dynasty, as Boston claimed additional World Series titles in 1915, 1916, and 1918 with the help of a young pitcher named George Herman Ruth. 

Gardner was around for three of the titles, while Hooper was on board for all four -- a record he now shares with Tom Brady for the most world championships won by a Boston pro athlete not on the Celtics (who, with 11 titles between 1957-1969, had a full roster's worth of players achieve the feat). You can win yourself a few bar bets with that one.

Now, it would seem, the pressure is on David Ortiz. As the sole member of the current Red Sox team who was on the 2004, ,2007, and 2013 champions, Ortiz can match Brady and Hooper with his next title. 

One thing is sure -- it won't take him an eight-game series to get it.

Brady now has four -- how about Papi?

   

  






    

Sox in Six: Why Red Sox Fans Should Ignore David Ortiz Steroid Rumors

Innocent until proven guilty.

"It's like when you're winning really big at Monopoly, and people think you're stealing from the bank."

This was my 8-year-old daughter's response when I asked her for an example of when someone doing well might be unfairly accused of cheating. I posed the question after reading Dan Shaughnessy's column in Wednesday's Boston Globe, in which he detailed his locker room steroids chat with David Ortiz the previous afternoon. 

Since Ortiz emerged from seven months on the shelf nursing a bad heel to hit .426 in his first 14 games back in the Red Sox lineup, Shaughnessy posed, it was only natural that people suspect steroids were fueling the comeback. Ortiz denied any doping, and while I give Shaughnessy credit for questioning the slugger to his face, I felt the exchange deserved a paragraph low in Tuesday's game notes rather than a bold, top-of-the-fold headline.

Why should Red Sox fans ignore the steroids talk surrounding Ortiz's big start? That's the subject of today's Sox in Six.


He's following the rules -- and passing the tests

Unlike his old buddy, Ortiz passes each test.

As Ortiz explained to Shaughnessy Tuesday, he's subject to the same random testing as all big leaguers:

"They test me all the time," Ortiz said. "They make you pee and the test your blood, too. This year I would say I've probably been tested five times, peeing. Blood, just once. That was in spring training. They don't warn you. They just show up."

This information is probably easy enough to verify. It has been speculated that conspiring ballplayers, trainers, and chemists are constantly exploring ways to beat the system, but the fact remains that Ortiz has been repeatedly tested, and found to be clean.

Being on the 2003 list doesn't make him guilty

Young Papi was careless.

After Ortiz initially avoided the steroid scandal that tarnished the reputation of other superstars including Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, and Sammy Sosa, he faced his first doping accusations in May 2009 when it was revealed his name was on the sealed list of roughly 100 MLB players to test positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. 

The list was leaked by anonymous lawyers with knowledge of the results, who did not reveal which drugs had been detected in Ortiz's case. Within days of the news breaking Ortiz gave a heartfelt press conference in which he denied PED use but said he "definitely was a little bit careless back in those days when I was buying legal supplements and legal vitamins over the counter."

At the time Ortiz's name surfaced on the list, the New York Daily News reported that Ortiz could have been "one of eight players who were believed to have tested positive for a spiked dietary supplement in 2003, rather than for hard-core injectable steroids. The supplement 19-norandrostenedione was legal in 2003 and contained the steroid nandrolone, a hard-core performance-enhancing drug used to build muscle."

In other words, there is a good chance Ortiz did nothing wrong in '03, the year he joined the Red  Sox and had his first breakout season with 31 home runs.

His stats don't match a "typical" steroid user

Ortiz hits with more consistency today.

Ortiz has been a 30-homer, 100-RBI guy for a decade, with only two years in which his totals went up considerably (2005-06, when he had 47 and 54 homers). Most accused steroid users like A-Rod have seen their offensive output plummet in recent years with the introduction of random testing, but Papi has actually enjoyed a resurgence the past two seasons.

This was a big part of Shaughnessy's premise -- that "athletes do not get better as they mature into their late 30s." But if you look closely at Ortiz's numbers, they are not the result of his suddenly becoming stronger -- but rather his getting smarter.

Ortiz has improved as an all-around hitter 

Lefty or righty, pitchers feel Papi's power.

For most of his career, Ortiz had a tough time against left-handed pitchers. In 2004, for instance, he had 31 home runs and a .326 average against righties but only 10 homers and a .250 mark against lefties. By 2010 the disparity was worse than ever: 30 homers and a .297 average vs. righties, just TWO homers and .222 vs. lefties. 

Another hole in his game was Ortiz's inability to consistently hit the ball to left field. Like they had once done against Ted Williams, opposing teams exploited this by employing a "Papi Shift" in which the shortstop moved to the right of second base during Ortiz's at-bats and other infielders and outfielders also drifted in that direction. 

For years Ortiz struggled against the shift, but now he is rendering it useless. For the past one-and-a-half seasons, he has batted nearly .320 against lefties and is hitting the ball to left far more consistently. His pure power may not be at 54-homer strength anymore, but he's finding the holes and harming more pitchers.

He's lost weight, not gained bulk

A healthy choice for his career.

Compare a 1990 Barry Bonds baseball card with a 2002 Bonds card, and you have the poster boy for steroids. Whereas the young Bonds was trim and taut, the older version was bulky to a cartoonish degree.

Now take a look at Ortiz. In the past season, he's actually shed considerable pounds off his husky frame, which has helped him keep his bat speed quick and is not consistent with PED use. Unlike past big-boned Sox sluggers like George Scott and Mo Vaughn who fizzled quickly in their mid-30s, Ortiz realizes that stepping away from the table may be his ticket to a longer career and maybe even the Hall of Fame.

He's earned a large degree of trust

Like Brady, Ortiz commands respect.

During the past 10 years, only Tom Brady has achieved the cult status of Ortiz among Boston athletes. Big Papi has been a tower of strength on the field, a leader in the clubhouse, and a champion of the Jimmy Fund and numerous other charities. Like Brady, he's been his best in the clutch and a driving force on championship teams.

Red Sox Nation may never truly know if Papi ever cheated, or, if he did, whether he did so knowingly. In the meantime, it is no more fair to suspect him of juicing when he is hitting .426 than it is to claim he has come clean if he goes 1-for-14 -- as he has since his talk with Shaughnessy.

What is clear is this: if the Red Sox hope to have any chance of making the playoffs, they need a healthy and happy Ortiz in the middle of their batting order.