(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
In continuation of the Giant Killers series, I introduce the well-worn, but always bone-chilling story of the 2004 Boston Red Sox.
After a crushing loss in the 2003 American League Championship Series via an Aaron Boone walk-off home run in Game Seven at Yankee Stadium, new Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein had great changes in mind for his 2004 club.
The first shakeup made by Epstein was the firing of manager Grady Little, blamed for the '03 ALCS loss, and replacing him with Terry Francona. In four seasons managing the Phillies, Francona's Fightin' Phils never finished above third place in the National League East, never a win percentage better than .475.
Little did anyone know, after the upcoming 2004 season, Francona would become a Boston hero after October rolled around.
Before the season, Epstein brought in two pitchers who would become key to the Red Sox as the season advanced. First was starter Curt Schilling, who quickly became co-ace with Pedro Martinez.
Shoring up a huge hole in the bullpen, Keith Foulke was brought in to be the closer that the Red Sox so badly needed.
However, the shakeups weren't done there. With fan-favorite Nomar Garciaparra's best days behind him, Epstein made another surprise move, dealing him at the trade deadline as a part of a huge four team trade.
Nomar as well as outfielder Matt Murton went to the Chicago Cubs, Brendan Harris, Francis Beltran, and Alex Gonzalez went to the Montreal Expos, Justin Jones went to the Minnesota Twins, and Orlando Cabrera and Doug Mientkiewicz joined the Red Sox.
As if that didn't shake up the team enough, in a separate trade minor leaguer Henri Stanley was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for speedy outfielder Dave Roberts.
After the trades, the Red Sox turned things around on a huge scale, winning 22 games of 25. They went on to qualify for the playoffs as the American League Wild Card team, weighing in with 98 wins.
The Red Sox started off the playoffs in 2004 on a high note. Making quick work of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, sweeping them away en route to an ALCS match-up with their division-rival Yankees that will go down in history books as one of the best ever.
This time around the Fenway Faithful had high hopes for their Red Sox. The series started out with all the makings of a disaster.
They dropped Game One 10-7 at Yankee Stadium. A Yankee highlight of the game was Mike Mussina, who retired his first 19 batters, tossing six perfect innings. However, the Red Sox did get five runs off him in the seventh inning. Unfortunately it was too little and too late.
After the slugfest of Game One, the Yankees flexed their muscles on the hardware-thirsty Red Sox in Game Two, taking away a low-scoring affair. Surely it meant that they were the best team, because they could win both high and low scoring games.
After being manhandled by Jon Lieber and Yankees pitching, Mariano Rivera slammed the door on the Sox in the top of the ninth to close out a 3-1 win, sending the series back to Boston with the Sox dug into a 0-2 hole.
With Game Three being played in their own town, the Red Sox were set up to take the game that they needed to stay in this series with Kevin Brown pitching against Bronson Arroyo.
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