Hello once again, everyone! I'm a little bit behind on this obviously, so I'm trying to knock as many of these out as possible before school gets into full swing again. Here is the next report card, which will be issued to the Boston Red Sox.
Boston Red Sox:
Record: 95-67 (Second place in AL East, eight games behind New York. AL Wild Card Champions).
Batting Leaders:
Batting Average: Kevin Youkilis (.305)
Home Runs: Jason Bay (36)
RBIs: Jason Bay (119)
On-base Percentage: Kevin Youkilis (.413)
Pitching Leaders:
Wins: Josh Beckett (17)
ERA: Jon Lester (3.41). Bullpen- Jonathan Papelbon (1.85)
Strikeouts: Jon Lester (225)
Innings Pitched: Josh Beckett (212.1)
WHIP: Josh Beckett (1.19)
Saves: Jonathan Papelbon (38)
Highlight of the Season: Clinching the AL Wild Card on September 29, despite losing to Toronto 8-7. It was their fifth Wild Card victory, and their sixth overall postseason appearance of the decade.
Lowlight of the Season: A devastating 7-6 loss to the Angels in Game Three of the Division Series on October 11, which eliminated them from the postseason. The Angels rallying from a 6-4 deficit to win the game in the top of the ninth, was especially stinging.
The Lowdown:
It was another fantastic season for the Boston Red Sox, as they rolled to their sixth postseason appearance of the decade, behind strong pitching and timely hitting. Finishing second with 95 wins was just another example of how strong the AL East is, as they still finished a whopping eight games behind the Yankees. It was still the usual suspects in their pitching rotation that led them back to the postseason, as Josh Beckett and Jon Lester were their usual selves during the season. Their lineup was also solid, despite the struggles of David Ortiz, as Jason Bay, Kevin Youkilis, and several others had solid seasons at the plate. Put it all together, and you have yourself a pretty good team. The only surprising thing that came out of this season from Boston was how they went down in the playoffs, which was a 3-0 wipeout at the hands of the Angels in the first round. While the Angels were great too, it was still shocking that such a good team would go out with such a whimper in the postseason. Let's take a look at their offense from last year, to see how they stacked up.
Offense:
Boston's offense in 2009 was strong once again, but the person that led the way for them was somebody you would least expect. Jason Bay was the main power source in the Red Sox's lineup this season, as he put together a stellar campaign, hitting 36 home runs while driving in 119, to go along with a strong .384 on-base percentage. He was aided by an eclectic mix of power, contact and speed within the lineup, as Kevin Youkilis, Mike Lowell, Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury each put together solid seasons for the Carmines. Youkilis had another great all-around season at the plate, hitting a team-best .305, with 27 home runs and 94 RBIs, to go along with a robust .413 OBP. Lowell and Pedroia each hit well for average, to go along with modest power numbers, as Lowell hit .290, with 17 homers and Pedroia hit .296, with 15 homers. Ellsbury was the speed threat at the top of the order, as he pilfered a major-league best 70 bases in '09.
Despite all of the bright spots in Boston's order, the one person that received the most attention in their lineup was David Ortiz, and it was not the kind of attention that he would have liked, either. Ortiz struggled mightily during the first half of the season, as he hit only .222, with just 12 home runs and 47 RBIs before the break. Adding insult to injury during his dreadful season was the revelation on July 31 that he tested positive for steroids in 2003. He would eventually apologize for the "distraction" that he caused, and he would go on to have a modest improvement in the second half, hitting .258, with 16 homers and 52 RBIs to finish with a .258 average, 28 home runs and a solid 99 RBIs. Jason Bay's season, along with the overall depth in the lineup, was able to pick up the slack for Ortiz, who had an uncharacteristic down year.
Overall, Boston finished third in runs scored (872), second in doubles (335), fourth in home runs (212), second in OBP (.352) and tied for fourth in batting average (.270). Even Ortiz's poor season could not keep this lineup from being one of the best in baseball.
Final Grade: A+
Pitching:
Boston's rotation was buoyed by the strong performances of their two best pitchers, Josh Beckett and Jon Lester. Beckett had another great season for the Carmines, as he finished 17-6, with a 3.86 ERA and 199 strikeouts in 212.1 innings. His 1.19 WHIP was also among the AL's best, as well. However, his performance was possibly upstaged by Lester, who went 15-8, with a 3.41 ERA to go along with 225 strikeouts in 203.1 innings. While his WHIP was slightly higher than Beckett's at 1.23, his ERA was significantly lower and his strikeout total was higher, despite throwing less innings than his counterpart. It was a fantastic season for the left-hander, and if he continues his brilliance, he will definitely be a Cy Young candidate in 2010.
Behind those two were injuries and mediocrity in the rotation, as many of the other pitchers had a hard time coming close to equaling Beckett and Lester's production. Ancient knuckleballer Tim Wakefield had a decent 11-5 record, but this was likely the result of good run support, as his ERA was 4.58. Brad Penny was a disappointment in 2009, as he started 24 games for Boston before being released on August 27. In that time though, he went a pedestrian 7-8, with a bloated ERA of 5.61. Daisuke Matsuzaka and John Smoltz weren't much better either, as Matsuzaka went 4-6, with a 5.76 ERA in an injury-riddled season, and Smoltz was just terrible, going 2-5, with an 8.33 ERA. It was a great thing that Boston had Beckett and Lester at the top of their rotation, because the team would have definitely sunk without those two.
If you are going to have a lackluster three-through-five in your rotation, you better have a great bullpen who can back them up. Boston did have this in '09, as the quintet of Ramon Ramirez, Hideki Okajima, Jonathan Papelbon, Takashi Saito and Daniel Bard proved to be very effective at maintaining leads and cleaning up the mess from the bottom three of the rotation. Ramirez appeared in the most games in the 'pen this season (70) and he did not disappoint, as he put together a solid 2.84 ERA in 69.2 innings. Okajima had another solid season as the set-up man to Papelbon, recording 24 holds and fashioning a 3.39 ERA in the process. Saito's performance in the bullpen was very underrated, as he appeared in 56 games and put together a great 2.43 ERA. Also, rookie Daniel Bard proved to be the possible closer of the future in Boston, as he struck out an impressive 63 batters in 49.1 innings. For right now though, the man at the end of games was still Jonathan Papelbon, and he was still very effective, going 38-41 in saves this year with a 1.85 ERA.
Collectively, the staff was pretty mediocre in '09, as they finished 16th in ERA (4.35), 20th in runs allowed (736) and 20th in opponent's batting average (.267). As I mentioned earlier, this team would have been in a heap of trouble if they did not have Lester and Beckett. Heck, they would have been in trouble if one of those two would have went down with an injury.
Final Grade: C+
Wild Card: Speed
The Red Sox are historically known for not having any real speedsters on their roster. However, that has been changing in recent years with the addition of Jacoby Ellsbury, who stole a MLB-best 70 bases in '09. Dustin Pedroia has also demonstrated his ability to steal bases, as he pilfered 20 of his own last year as well. Overall, the Red Sox stole 126 bases as a team last year, which was good for fifth in the majors. Adding the extra dimension of speed to their lineup makes them much more dangerous than in recent memory, because now, they do not need to beat you with just the longball.
Final Grade: A-
Overall:
This was another great season for the Red Sox. However, it just wasn't their year to go deep into the playoffs, because once the Angels defeated their two best starters to go up 2-0, you just knew that the fat lady had sung on their season. Their rotation is stronger heading into 2010with the arrival of John Lackey, but will they continue to put up enough runs now that Bay is gone, Holliday's off the market, and Ortiz is declining? We shall see.
Final Grade: A-
Check back soon for the report card on the Los Angeles Dodgers!
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