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Sox Well-Represented On SI.Com “All Decade Team”, As Well As Lists Of Top Ten Baseball Covers, Games And Performances Of The Decade

By Administrator | December 9, 2009

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With a new decade about to begin, Sports Illustrated has named its All-Decade teams for the various professional sports.

Four Red Sox were named to the MLB team, including General Manager Theo Epstein… the three on-field members of the squad are DH David Ortiz and pitchers Pedro Martinez and Curt Schilling.

Here are excerpts from the article:

Theo Epstein: “(T)he decade’s big moment was the Red Sox - after 80-plus years of angst and drama - finally winning the World Series and then, just three years later, winning it again. Epstein was at the heart of things, blending various talents (including author Bill James and former Royals GM and scout Allard Baird), making bold moves when they felt right and hiring Terry Francona as manager.”

David Ortiz: “The (Minnesota) Twins non-tendered Ortiz after the 2002 season instead of giving him the rather sizable pay increase he would have received in arbitration. And the Red Sox signed him even though they were not sure where he fit in. When spring training ended, there was quite an argument among the Red Sox brass about whether to keep him. They kept him. Ortiz banged 31 home runs in 128 games and finished fifth in the MVP balloting. And it only got better from there. His remarkable ability to drive the ball the other way made him a natural for Fenway Park. From 2004-2008, he hit .304, slugging an amazing .616 and averaging 42 doubles and 44 homers a year. Steroid accusations at the end of the decade dimmed somewhat one of the great stories and characters of the 2000s.”

Pedro Martinez: “His 2000 season alone is good enough to get him on the list. That year he went 18-6 with a 1.74 ERA, 284 strikeouts and 32 walks. His WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched) was an unheard of .737. That’s the lowest WHIP in baseball history, and that includes Walter Johnson’s 1913, Greg Maddux’s 1995 and Bob Gibson’s 1968 seasons. The rest of the decade was a mix of dominance (he had two more remarkable seasons) and injuries. By the end of the decade, he was pitching for the Phillies and trying to get by on guile. When Pedro was right, he might have been the best pitcher in baseball history.”

Curt Schilling: “There are others - Roy Oswalt, Andy Pettitte, Brandon Webb - who have strong cases to be the fifth starter, but Schilling’s Zelig-like ability to be at the center of things gets him the nod. He started Game 7 of the 2001 World Series - the greatest game of the decade - he pitched the bloody sock game, and was an SI Sportsman of the Year. In addition, he was an awfully good pitcher. He won 20 three times, led the league in strikeout-to-walk ratio five times and played a big role for three World Series champs.”

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The magazine also named its ten favorite baseball magazine covers from the decade.

Coming in at #4 was the cover from November 8, 2004 (pictured), showing Ortiz, Martinez, Schilling and Johnny Damon with the World Series championship trophy. The cover asked the immortal question: “What’s next for Boston’s new World Champions?”

And at #2 was the cover from March 5, 2001, picturing a shirtless (and buff) Nomar Garciaparra with the headline “A Cut Above”. Cut. As in ripped. As in steroid-enhanced.

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Two Red Sox - Yankees games were numbered among the magazine’s Top Ten baseball games of the decade (actually, they were two of the four best games).

At #4 was the Red Sox victory over the Yankees in Game Five of the 2004 ALCS

At #2 was the Yankees victory over the Red Sox in Game Seven of the 2003 ALCS

Amazingly, the Red Sox win in Game Four of the ‘04 ALCS didn’t make the list.

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Lastly, the magazine listed its top individual (game) performances from the decade. They included the no-hitters by Lowe, Nomo, Buchholz and Lester and the one-hitter by Hideo Nomo; but, the three Red Sox single-game performances that gained the most notoriety were:

1) Bill Mueller’s two grand slam game against Texas on 7/29/03, and

2 & 3) A pair of Pedro Martinez shutouts from 2000 (5/12 & 8/29) when he struck out a combined 28, walked none and allowed just three hits.

[NOTE: Sox pitchers Curt Schilling and Josh Beckett were also recognized for single-game efforts when thet were still with Arizona and Florida, respectively]

Topics: Around Baseball |

One Response to “Sox Well-Represented On SI.Com “All Decade Team”, As Well As Lists Of Top Ten Baseball Covers, Games And Performances Of The Decade”

  1. Chris Says:
    December 10th, 2009 at 6:07 am

    Hey Sox1Fan!

    Wow! Your site is so cutting edge. You have the article from SI before the magazine hits the newsstand! How do you do that? Keep up the great job of supplying us with Sox news!

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