The Red Sox have a postseason history unlike any other franchise in the 21st century. That went on full display in last week’s commentary on building their new-school World Series lineup.
Boston put moments in the history books in the highest of highs and lowest of lows in October throughout the last quarter-century. Within those classics, a few players did not close out their seasons with proper recognition – whether for the result of a series or the even better play of a teammate.
For me, there’s three in particular that come to mind – one from the most recent championship and the two leading candidates from a should’ve-been pennant-winning squad. Let’s get into it!
Stats: 2-0, 1.98 ERA, 3 G, 13.2 IP, 7 H, 6 BB, 10 K
Price finally held “all the cards” by the end of the Fall Classic after he won both decisions in a pair of exceptional starts in Game 2 and Game 5, not to mention coming in for two outs in the marathon of Game 3. The southpaw got his signature moment in the clincher. After he allowed a leadoff home run to David Freese, Price dug in and dominated for seven innings of one-run ball with five strikeouts. He shook free from years of playoff struggles and met the moment in the game that the Red Sox signed him to pitch when he inked a mega free-agent deal after the 2015 season.
No disrespect to Steve Pearce and his clutch barrage of homers, but Price stepped up huge for a rotation that needed him more than ever with Chris Sale not totally himself and Nathan Eovaldi foregoing his Game 4 start to save the bullpen with his Game 3 extra-innings heroics. For that reason, Price had a clear path to World Series MVP 10 years after his first trip in a losing effort with the Tampa Bay Rays – ironically after eliminating the Red Sox in an exciting ALCS clash.
TROT NIXON
2003 ALCS
Stats: .333 AVG, 3 HR, 5 RBI, 1.179 OPS
Nixon totally drove Boston’s offense and more than did his part to counter-punch New York. He left the Red Sox a Game 7 lead with his third home run of the series, this time off Roger Clemens. That swing continued a hot stretch as Nixon hit over .300 against “The Rocket” in his career and took him deep twice in postseason meetings.
Nixon helped battle back in Game 4 to even the series and added key insurance runs in Game 6 with a ninth-inning blast. For all of the firepower that the Red Sox possessed in that lineup as the most productive in baseball that year, Nixon took over the series with a quality run of playoff at-bats.
Stats: 2-1, 2.57 ERA, 14 IP, 6 BB, 10 K
Please do not let one swing from Aaron Boone make you forget how fantastic Wakefield was in this series. The Red Sox may not have even sent the series back to Yankee Stadium without him.
The knuckleballer allowed just two hits in six innings to win Game 1. After the fight-filled war of a Yankee win in Game 3, Wakefield picked up his club with seven innings of one-run ball on short rest to take Game 4. He also already tallied an inning of scoreless relief in Game 7 by the time Boone hit the series-winning homer that crushed souls of Red Sox Nation for another year.
There’s a reason Wakefield came back out onto the field after the lights went down in 2004 to soak it all in. That 2003 series belonged to him. A year later, his efforts were rewarded.
