I Scored! June 26, 1999

I think the most important thing to remember when looking at this scorecard is that this is the lineup that made it to the ALCS in 1999. Frankly, they were probably a Pedro injury away from the World Series. Not a bad team…apparently.

Looking at the card, the first thing that pops out at you is all the runs scored in the first inning. Eleven of them in all. That kind of offense is great to see. There was only one problem with that. It’s the guy in the pitcher spot. Pedro Martinez. When you’re lucky enough to be at a Pedro game, you want to see him pitch. Once the Sox put up 11 runs, you knew two things. The Sox were going to win, and Pedro wasn’t pitching more than 5 innings. It was almost too bad. It was almost cause to leave the game. But, sometimes a nice easy win can be fun.
The second thing that pops out at you, especially since I just told you to look at the pitcher’s spot, is John Wasdin. He got a save. That’s right. He came into the game in the sixth inning charged with holding a 16-1 lead. Thankfully the Sox had the right man for the job, and they were able to eek out the win. And people claim that the “save” isn’t a bogus stat?
One question that comes up, is which Red Sox had the best game? I’m going with Nomar. His two home runs and five RBI seal it for me. But, a strong case could be made for either Brian Daubach, or Jason Varitek. There’s also an old baseball rule that in any blowout, there’s always one guy who stinks up the joint. In this case, it was Darren Lewis. He was the only starter to go hitless. He blank line stands out with all the action going on around him.
But, getting back to the point I made at the top. Look at that line-up. Offerman-Merloni-Daubach. Really? That’s the top three? Nomar in the clean-up is fine, naturally. But, look at that protection behind him. O’Leary and Stanley? Maybe David Ortiz should look at that collection before he complains about losing Manny. He doesn’t know how lucky he’s been. Of course, all Nomar did that year was win the batting title. Varitek, Lewis, and Nixon round out the order. And remember, we’re talking about #47 Varitek…not Silver Slugger Varitek yet. I don’t know which is worse, that the Red Sox tried to make the playoffs with that roster…or that they actually did. It’s a scorecard like this that make me think the 2010 Red Sox might just be OK after all. The key to the scorecard, and the team, is the guy in the pitchers spot. Apparently, with Pedro on your team anything is possible. After all, even a team with that line-up can win a game 17-1.
And the scorecard shows how it happened.