Happy, happy, joy, joy. (via cache.boston.com)

OTM's coverage | B-R.com box score | Globe's 'Anatomy of a rally'

It was the biggest comeback in postseason history, so how could it not be Over The Monster's No. 1 moment of the 2008 Red Sox season? Numero uno, baby.

It was Oct. 16, 2008. Game five. Fresh off of two beatings (9-1 and 13-4) the Red Sox were down 3-1 after winning the first game. Nothing looked good for the Sox. It certainly didn't get better when the Sox went down 7-0 in game 5. Most had lost all hope.

But you all remember what you were doing during this game and when "it" started to happen. Me? I was celebrating at the local bars. I went out with some friends and watched the first few innings at a sports bar. My buddy, the biggest hater of them all, said it was all over when the Rays went up 5-0 through three innings. I didn't cave in

"Anything can happen. It ain't over yet."

As the night got longer, it didn't get any better for the Sox. Down 7-0 in the 7th, there was a chance, but no one was betting on it. And then it happened

BOTTOM OF THE 7TH (Rays, 7-0):
Lowrie double to RF, Varitek FO, Kotsay, FO, Crisp single to LF, Pedroia single to RF (Lowrie scores), Ortiz home run to RF (Crisp, Pedroia score), Youkilis FO.

TOP OF THE 8TH (Rays, 7-4):
Papelbon domination

BOTTOM OF THE 8TH (Rays, 7-4):
Bay walk, Drew home run (Bay scores), Lowrie FO, Casey SO, Kotsay double to CF, Crisp singles to RF; out at second (Kotsay scores)

TOP OF THE 9TH (tied 7-7):
Masterson struggles, but allows just one hit.

BOTTOM OF THE 9TH (tied 7-7):
Pedroia GO, Ortiz SO, Youkilis single to 3B, Bay IBB, Drew single to RF (Youkilis scores)

And that's the game. Once again, thank you J.D. Drew.

The only thing that would have made this better would be for the Sox to actually win game 7 and win the World Series. But hey, that didn't happen, but we still have this great moment to remember.

I guess the best part about this is that this is the Red Sox. When the Sox went down in the series 3-1, it just didn't feel right. Everyone knew the Sox were better than that. If they were to go down in that fashion, it would have been a huge blow going into the offseason. But they fought and pushed it to seven games. That seventh game didn't go the way Red Sox Nation wanted, but at least they made it.

There was no World Series for the Red Sox in 2008, but who knows what lies ahead in 2009.

Over the past few weeks you have seen E-Coli, Allen and myself putting up the Top 10 moments of the Red Sox's 2008 season. It hasn't been the most consistent schedule, but I just wanted to update everyone on the status of this and where we are heading with OTM once this project is done.

Here's how the Top 10 has looked so far, heading into No. 1 tomorrow

10. Rumble in the Fens (Sox defeating Rangers, 19-17)
9. 'Being' being 'Being' (Manny's high five and double play in Baltimore)
8. Manny hits No. 500 (Manny hits his 500th career home run)
7. Clean-up hitter of the year (Pedroia's amazing 4-hole streak from Aug. 30 to Sept. 3)
6. Bay in Boston: A star is born? (Bay's debut with the Red Sox is a walkoff win)
5. Beckett, Varitek heroics (Game 6 of the ALCS, Beckett battles through injury, Varitek hits go-ahead home run late)
4. Drew's HR sinks Angels (Game 2 of the ALDS, Drew hits game-wining home run off K-Rod)
3. Lester in da Bronx (Lester shuts out Yankees during pivotal point of season)
2. Lester's throws no-hitter (self explanatory)

All we have left is the top spot, No. 1. You can probably guess what that will be, but you should still stick around see our fancy little write up for it.

You might be wondering where we are heading next and I can tell you: see the prospects list on the left sidebar? We're blowing it up! It's that time of the year to redo our list. I thought about possible ways we could do it, but I settled on a community vote. Why? Because this is a community. OTM thrives as a community, so let's make this list reflect the community's ideas, not just mine.

So the plan is to hold a vote for each position on the top 20 chart. We'll start with No. 1 and work our way down the list. Look for the prospects list to start either this weekend or Monday.

And, as always, if you have any ideas or suggestions for OTM, please e-mail me at rbooth AT overthemonster DOT com.

via graphics.boston.com

B-R.com box score | Allen's post-game recap | Randy's analysis

The reason I am writing up No. 2 of the top 10 moments of the 2008 Red Sox season instead of Allen, E-Coli or SoxDevil is because, well, I was dubbed the "biggest Jon Lester fan of the group."

I don't even think that's really true, but there's no question that what Lester did on May 19 is a great moment in Red Sox history.

He had cancer, beat cancer, won a World Series and in 2008 added to his resume by no-hitting the Kansas City Royals on May 19. After the whole cancer hiccup, the no-hitter was just a pretty little cherry on the top of a tasty banana split.

Lester's line was his best as a pro: 9 innings, 9 strikeouts, 2 walks and zero hits. A big, tasty zero. Here's what Allen had to say after the game:

Jon Lester has had his doubters.

I was one of them. 

Don't get me wrong. I never felt like Jon Lester couldn't pitch in the big leagues. But Lester was once thought to be the best pitching prospect in a system containing Clay Buchholz, Jonathan Papelbon, Anibal Sanchez, amongst others. And while the first three have distinguished themselves in their own spectacular ways, Lester seemed destined to never really deliver on the promise he showed, rising quickly through the system upon being drafted out of high school in 2002. His stuff, experience, and pitching maturity seemed like they'd never quite come together all at once. Thankfully, the doubters have been proven wrong tonight.

It's easy to compare Lester's no-hitter to Clay Buchholz's in 2007 (which, ironically, was OTM's No. 1 moment in 2007). Both are young pitchers with a lot of potential, but considering the circumstances Lester has battled, his seems just a little more special.

Shortly after the game, I wrote an article about the importance of Lester's no-no:

This no-hitter should be about where Lester is going, not where he has been. Game four of the World Series was Lester's breakout game in my opinion, but it was once again overshadowed by his victory over cancer. While everyone is looking back on what he has done, let's look forward to see what else this young lefty can provide with many more years in the Red Sox rotation.

With or without the no-hitter, Lester was the ace of the of the Red Sox pitching staff in 2008. And let's all remember something: he's going to be 25 next year. We have many, many more good years with one of the best lefties in the American League.

Kids, I was in somewhat dire straits about the Sox around the beginning of July. We looked like S., and that's always magnified when you are playing against your longtime bitterly-hated division rival.

And what happened then? What in Who-ville, they say?

via assets.sbnation.com

Done with the Dr. Seuss portion. That guy, above, was absolutely phenomenal.

I suppose we shouldn't have been surprised. After all, no less than the man shaking hands with Tito pitched a no-hitter earlier in the season, and he looked incredibly impressive doing that.

But let's face facts about the no-hitter. 1. Kansas City Royals, 12th in the AL in runs and .OBP, were not an offensive juggernaut. 2. At home.

Now those don't make the no-hitter not take place. The odds are generally extremely against no-hitters, even dynamic Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants would have a hard time pitching a no-hitter against his own team's punchless 2008 lineup, with all of those hitters blindfolded.

The point of reminding you those things about the no-hitter are to simply highlight that this shutout was an excellent accomplishment as well, given the situation and the opponent. The Sox BP had been seemingly blowing leads left and right, and the Sox always have a tough time in New York. In addition, the MFYs ended last season 3rd in .OBP, so they would be a particularly difficult team to shutout. No matter. Beyond the first inning, Lester cruised through the Yankees line up as if they were holding wiffle bats and thinking about where to eat after the game. 

In addition, the MFY fans are traditionally the toughest critics of Sox players, and I think this game caused many of those aforementioned fans to cast some begrudging respect toward Lester. They'd probably never admit it, of course, but they were impressed and pissed off by the young left-hander who had swept in with his Sox jersey on, all while treating the Yankee Stadium mound like his own stomping grounds.

In short, this game should have made every Sox fan grin like Tito in the photo above.

I said this after the game:

Lester was excellent. We can't be too down on ourselves with him and Becks in the rotation. This is what he's capable of, ladies and gentlemen, and this performance nor his no-hitter were flukes. He's not going to do this every time out, but I feel awesome about Jon Lester taking the mound these days.

Count me among the longer-lasting skeptics of Jon Lester. I was wildly-excited about his no-hitter as anyone else, but we'd been somewhat punked the year before by someone else, and I just didn't want to get my hopes too high about his consistency. The statement above based on this performance probably signified my ultimate abandonment of skepticism about Lester. 

My near-rant after the game.

Game Thread (started kindly by MGBB).

via collegequest.files.wordpress.com

B-R.com box score | OTM coverage |

I don't care what you call him, but here's some suggestions for JD Drew nicknames:

1. Not "Nancy"
2. "Clutch"

In Drew's two seasons as a Red Sox, the moments I remember of him always seem to be crucial home runs. His last came in game two of the ALDS against the Angels. You remember the game? Of course you do.

It started off great. The Sox exploded for four runs in the first inning. Couple that with the Sox's 4-1 victory in game one, it seemed like the Sox would soar to the ALCS. The Sox went to the ALCS, but it wasn't that easy.

After going up 5-1 after 4.5 innings, the wheels came off. Starter Daisuke Matsuzaka, Hideki Okajima and Justin Masterson all gave up runs to make it all tied at 5-5 heading into the top of the ninth.

The ship had proverabially lost all the wind in its sails.

It didn't look good for the Sox but they forgot about their ace in the hole: Mr. Clutch. With Francisco Rodriguez on the mound, the Sox had their work cut out for themselves. David Ortiz got it all started with a double to right field, promptly followed by a groundout to the shortstop by Kevin Youkilis to keep pinch-runner Coco Crisp at second. Drew just need a single to knock in Crisp, but he kicked it up a notch with a home run to deep center field. Sox win, 7-5.

Here are my thoughts after the game ended (and three great photos):

They could have just quit -- that would have been easy. They could have walked to the plate, looked at one of the best closers in the game today standing on the mound and already say the game was over. But they didn't. That's why this team is great. No matter what the circumstances, they know they can win any ballgame.

Compare this to the Angels after Drew's home run. They all looked dead in the dugout. With two outs, Howie Kendrick walked to the plate and didn't even look like he wanted to waste the energy swinging. Vladimir Guerrero sat on the bench wondering how much longer it'd be until he could wrap his knees in ice.

That isn't the Sox. The Sox wanted to win this game.

The game also included a great catch by Youkilis in the ninth where he had to lunge over the photographers' well on the third base side. Jonathan Papelbon pitched the final two innings to earn the win.

This game also catapulted extreme love between Over The Monster and the Angels blog, Halos Heaven. Every year, the love just continues to grow...

OTM's Game 6 recap | B-R.com box score

Josh Beckett is known as one of the baseball's best postseason pitchers in recent years. He did it with the Florida Marlins in 2003 and the same with the Red Sox in 2007. But 2008 was a completely different story.

Beckett struggled in his one start against the Angels in the ALDS. He lasted just five innings and allowed four earned runs. In game two of the ALCS against the Rays, struggled doesn't even define his outing: 4.1 innings, nine hits and eight earned runs. It was definitely his worst postseason outing ever.

With game six on the mend, most people were worried about Beckett starting the game. After game five heroics (that will be to come on OTM's top 10 list), no one wanted to ruin it with another bad start by Beckett. The Red Sox ace, though, decided to prove everyone wrong.

His stats won't make your eyes pop out of your head, but considering Beckett's oblique injury and his performance prior in the playoffs, he was awesome. Beckett went five innings and allowed just two runs on four hits. He struck out three and walked one.

Beckett had a painful oblique injury but wouldn't sit if the world depended on it. WEEI's Rob Bradford explained after the series how badly it affected Beckett:

When Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein describes Beckett's five-inning performance in Game 6 as "borderline heroic" it is with good reason.

Beyond the fact that he had to adjust his game to the point of throwing nearly 40 percent off-speed pitches because of the ailment, there was the immense obstacle that the pain presented.

Even with the assistance of pain-relieving medication following the ALCS win, Beckett still struggled to put his shirt on just before getting exiting the Tropicana Field visitors' clubhouse.

While the game itself will always be overshadowed by previous events, this one shouldn't be forgotten. With the game tied at 2-2 in the sixth, the most unlikely hero delivered. With two outs and James Shields on the mound, light-hitting Jason Varitek broke the tie with a big home run to right field. David Ortiz later singled in Coco Crisp to put the Sox up 4-2.

Here's what I had to say in the game recap:

Yes, ladies and gentlemen. There will be a game seven played between the Red Sox and Rays.

A lot of people said Beckett should not have started this game. A lot wanted to throw Jon Lester, the unquestionable ace of the 2008 Red Sox staff. I can't say I had an opinion, but for all the doubters: Beckett told you to STFU.

It's OK, that's what he told the Rays tonight, too. Only five innings, but he allowed just two runs (two home runs, actually), four hits, one walk and struck out three. It wasn't Beckett's best postseason performance, but it doesn't matter because he did what he had to do. Two runs in five innings? I'll take that nine times out of 10.

Like I said before, when we think back to the 2008 ALCS we're not going to think of this game first. But the Sox would have never seen a game seven if it wasn't for the gutsy performance by Beckett and the clutch-hitting by Varitek.

via cache.daylife.com

It's safe to say that the first day of August dawned with a number of conflicting feelings for Red Sox fans. I'm going to sell myself out as a big softy by telling you that I nearly considering crying for a few seconds. It was a potentially dark day.

Franchise icon and all-around paragon of focus, Manuel Ramirez, had been traded the day before to a baseball club in Los Angeles, whose fans were so lacking in seething intensity that they'd hadn't stormed the stadium and kidnapped Andruw Jones yet. 

I'm babbling now.

The point is, life with Manny Ramirez had been predictably unpredictable for at least 4-76 years with "Being" in the fold, with no idea how life would be without him. Even those holding the torches and pitchforks on his way out of town, no doubt, had a few seconds pause about trading a certain Hall of Famer for a guy who played in a city where baseball is only a vague rumor whispered at Heinz Field in the fall.

I babble again.

via multimedia.heraldinteractive.com

In any event, August 1st dawned as the Jason Bay era in Boston, and if you had no misgivings about the change, then my guess is that you're probably a Reds, Royals, or Tigers fan or something. How would Bay react to actual fans in one of the most historic ballparks in baseball, as opposed to strategically-placed cardboard cutouts and state-of-the-art animatronic humans in one of the most beautiful modern ballparks in the country/world? 

Holy S.

In any case, Bay was not our only concern among the position players. Lowrie had taken over for Julio Lugo not too long before this day as well, and he was still finding his way as a player and as a hitter in the bigs. So of course, in true sports cliche fashion, these two would combine to enable an extra-inning walkoff win against the A's on the very day after the "Being" trade.

Both played well the entire game, with Bay making an excellent sliding catch that his predecessor almost certainly wouldn't have, and reached base 4 times in 6 plate appearances, including a rather crucial 3B. Lowrie played both ss and 3b in the game, and went 2 for 4 with a sacrifice and a sacrifice fly. 

However, despite our two heroes efforts in the first several innings, the Sox were tied 1-1 with the A's after Okajima coughed up the tying home run in the 8th. The game progressed to the 12th, in which Mike Timlin? turned in a scoreless inning. Former Sox Alan Embree got two quick outs in the 12th before Jason Bay tripled. The A's opted to intentionally walk clutch assassin J.D. Drew in favor of facing rookie Jed Lowrie. Lowrie promptly hit a walkoff infield single to end the game in stunning fashion for the Sox, leading to the scene depicted in the banner photo.

OTM's Thread (With lineups, which should serve to remind you just how silly it was/is to bat even a healthy Lowell in the 4-spot over Bay.)

Supplemental Thread

Randy tells it like it is. (And gets a little bit gushy? I kid.)

Pedroia hitting a home run. Just Dustin bein' Dustin. (via cache.boston.com)

OTM COVERAGE:
Aug. 31: "His name is 'Destroyah' for a reason"
E-Coli's unforgettable "MVP" series:

• Ready to Lead? (Carlos Quentin)
• 'K is for Krazy - Rod? (Francisco Rodriguez)
• Morneau of the Same (Justin Morneau)

"Dustin Pedroia: Gold Glover extrodinaire"
"Dustin Pedroia wins AL MVP"

---------

Take a moment and do me a favor. Think of the best clean-up hitters in Red Sox history. Who's your No. 1 guy? You probably didn't think of the guy shown above, but maybe you should.

The 5'9" second baseman was argueably the best player in baseball this season, taking home the 2008 AL Most Valuable Player. He had one of the best seasons ever for a second baseman but there was one point that really catapulted him to the top: Aug. 30 to Sept. 3.

That period of time was when Red Sox coach Terry Francona decided to put little Dustin Pedroia into the clean-up spot in the lineup, instead of the normal two-hole. In his four games as the clean-up hitter for the Red Sox, the results were just awesome:

17 at-bats, 5 runs, 11 hits, 2 home runs, 8 runs batted in

All from a guy that needs a booster seat to drive his Cadillac Escalade (that's just a guess on my part).

It was only four games (with an appearance at the two-hole in between) but it speaks volumes about what kind of player Pedroia is. Not many players can be thrusted into the most pivotal part of the lineup -- a spot in the lineup he's never hit in before -- and succeed. He went further than succeeding and proceeded to kill.

Pedroia could have just pulled an 0'fer in his few games in his position and we wouldn't have said much about it. I mean, could we blame him had he not played well in the clean-up spot? We couldn't. But if he did go hitless, do you think he would still be the 2008 AL MVP? Maybe, but I think this demonstration gave him a huge push going into September and making his MVP run.

Since Pedroia has the biggest mouth this side of the Mississippi, you think he talked this up for awhile? Think he gloated to everyone in the clubhouse how big bad Pedroia could outhit Manny Ramirez or Kevin Youkilis in the four-hole? Yeah, I'd put money on that.

Ahh, Scrappy Doo. Gotta' love the guy. And now we get to watch him for at least another six years. It's going to be fun.