Boston Red Sox Tickets : The Rivalry With The Red Sox Is The Most Famous In Professional Sports
Following the Red Sox World Series victory, the team was forced to address a few personnel questions in the hopes of repeating as champion
. The team re-signed free agents Mike Lowell, Curt Schilling, Tim Wakefield and Mike Timlin. The Red Sox also added veteran first baseman Sean Casey to back up Kevin Youkilis.
Injuries to Schilling, Timlin, and Josh Beckett landed each pitcher on the disabled list before the season began, putting added pressure on young starters Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz. The Red Sox began their season by participating in the third opening day game in MLB history to be played in Japan, where they defeated the Oakland A's in the Tokyo Dome.
Boston played well to start the season, settling into a top position in the AL East. However, the surprise Tampa Bay Rays took over the top of the division with a sweep over the Red Sox in early July.
From May 17/22, the Sox had a winning streak of seven games, their longest of the season .On May 19, Lester threw the 18th no-hitter in team history, beating the Kansas City Royals 7/0. During the season, Lester emerged as an anchor in the Red Sox rotation, leading the team in starts and innings pitched while compiling a 16/6 record and a 3.21 ERA.
Buchholz meanwhile struggled mightily in 2008 to a 2/9 record, ending up back in the minors. Injuries would take a toll on the Red Sox offense during the season.
David Ortiz missed 45 games with an injured wrist,Mike Lowell missed weeks with a torn hip labrum, and after a blistering performance in June, J.D. Drew aggravated a back injury that shelved him for much of the second half of the season. Down the stretch, outfielder Manny Ramirez playing in the final year of his eight year contract became a distraction to the team.
His disruptive behavior included public incidents with fellow players in the dugout, team employees (pushing the team's 64 year old traveling secretary to the ground), criticizing ownership, and not playing due to laziness and nonexistent injuries.
The front office decided to move the disgrunted outfielder at the July 31 trade deadline, shipping him to the Dodgers in a three-way deal with the Pirates that landed them Jason Bay to replace him in left field.
With Ramirez gone, and Bay providing a new spark in the lineup, the Red Sox found new life. Kevin Youkilis had career highs in home runs (29) and RBIs (115). Closer Jonathan Papelbon set a career high in saves with 41. Daisuke Matsuzaka improved on his 2007 performance and led the team in wins, finishing with an 18/3 record. However, it was Dustin Pedroia who emerged as not only a team leader, but an American League MVP candidate.
Pedroia hit over .340 in the second half, finishing the year at or near the top in the AL in batting average, hits, runs, and doubles. Despite Boston's 34/19 record following the trading deadline, the Rays held onto the AL East lead and captured their first division title in franchise history.
The rivalry with the New York Yankees is one of the oldest, most famous and fiercest rivalries in North American professional sports. For over 100 years, the Red Sox and the Yankees of the American League have been intense rivals.
The rivalry is sometimes so polarizing that it is often a heated taboo subject, like religion or politics, in the Northeastern United States.Since the inception of the wild card team and an added Division Series, the American League East rivals have squared off in the American League Championship Series three times, with the Yankees winning twice in 1999 and 2003 and the Sox winning in 2004. In addition, the teams have twice met in the last regular-season series of a season to decide the league title, in 1904 and 1949.
The teams also finished tied for first in 1978, when the Yankees won a high-profile one-game playoff for the division title. The 1978 division race is memorable for the Red Sox having held a 14 game lead over the Yankees more than halfway through the season.
The rivalry has gotten more competitive in the past three years with the season series going 9-9 in 2008, 2009, and 2010.The rivalry is considered by some the best rivalry in American sports. Games between the two teams have often been broadcast on national television, schedule permitting.
by: Amanda Harrison
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Boston Red Sox Tickets : The Rivalry With The Red Sox Is The Most Famous In Professional Sports