BOSTON — Jonny Gomes can scream to the rafters that he expected this team to contend in spring training, that the Red Sox all knew they could be good, maybe even World Series contenders.
Potential and expectation are not the same thing, and witnessing the former blossom is almost universally more enjoyable than watching the later materialize. Xander Bogaerts was expected to be a great player some day — but not this quickly, on this stage. There's a player who represents the magic of the 25-man roster as a whole. They were supposed to be quite a ball club, just not yet.
After Red Sox wins, the sounds in the clubhouse are more or less the same, a selection of a few hip-hop songs. One centers on waking unexpectedly in an Italian sports car. Another has a simple refrain: "Started from the bottom now we here."
Compared to either of the last two Sox teams to go to the World Series, this is especially true. And whatever fancy car they woke up in, Koji Uehara is at the wheel.
The 2004 Red Sox are incomparable, but the '03 club was a knuckleball away from the World Series. Making a World Series was viable.
Last year's team was a lit match away from total combustion.
"It's just as good, I gotta tell you," Sox president Larry Lucchino said on the field early Sunday morning, the pennant clinched. "'04 will always be special because of the 86 years that preceded it. But John Henry and I were just talking about how good it feels this year as a result of the length that we've come, and the skepticism we faced.
"We had veterans mixed with young players in '07. We had (Dustin) Pedroia, who was a young player, we had (Jacoby) Ellsbury, who came on like a house on fire in the postseason. So that was a nice fixture, an injection of youth onto a veteran team. But that was more of a steamroller kind of team, it feels like. This team was scrappy, and underrated, and under appreciated for much of the year."
There's novelty mixed in here too. These aren't Theo Epstein's Red Sox or Terry Francona's. Ben Cherington's never put together a World Series team before. John Farrell's never managed one. It's first love: Joe Torre would tell you the 1996 World Series in New York meant more than the ones that followed.
"It doesn’t happen very often," Lucchino said of going from first to worst. "When I was with the Orioles in ’89, we went from worst to almost first. And I remember that team."
Cherington was in his office when Shane Victorino hit the second grand slam of the series.
"Trying to make sure my anxiety wouldn't affect others," he said. "We've just been moving around. When you're watching every pitch in games like this, what happens is you know how much it mean to our players an the people in our clubhouse and we know how much passion they have for winning these games and we want it for them. Those of us in the front office, we're kind of just along for the ride at this point.
"When the games start, we're rooting so hard, we're fans, and every pitch is like an event. So some parts of the games are hard to watch. We enjoy grand slams and the last three outs when Koji's on the mound. That's about it."
Lucchino called the Championship Series "breathtaking" and "stunning." But Cherington doesn't let on to his feelings much.
He talked more than once Sunday of still having something to accomplish, a feeling they all share. He did say the pennant was "gratifying, no doubt."
The central emotion, though, has to be surprise. The Sox have looked like a good team for a long time, but the context still makes the climb surreal.
"I certainly hoped for it and prayed for it," Lucchino said of a trip to the World Series. "But I never planned specifically for it. We just wanted to take a big step in the right direction. We didn’t think we could step this far, this fast. ... none of us were smart enough to say we were going to win 97 games and the American League pennant."
Follow MassLive.com Red Sox beat writer @EvanDrellich on Twitter. He can be reached by email at [email protected].
Potential and expectation are not the same thing, and witnessing the former blossom is almost universally more enjoyable than watching the later materialize. Xander Bogaerts was expected to be a great player some day — but not this quickly, on this stage. There's a player who represents the magic of the 25-man roster as a whole. They were supposed to be quite a ball club, just not yet.
After Red Sox wins, the sounds in the clubhouse are more or less the same, a selection of a few hip-hop songs. One centers on waking unexpectedly in an Italian sports car. Another has a simple refrain: "Started from the bottom now we here."
Compared to either of the last two Sox teams to go to the World Series, this is especially true. And whatever fancy car they woke up in, Koji Uehara is at the wheel.
The 2004 Red Sox are incomparable, but the '03 club was a knuckleball away from the World Series. Making a World Series was viable.
Last year's team was a lit match away from total combustion.
"It's just as good, I gotta tell you," Sox president Larry Lucchino said on the field early Sunday morning, the pennant clinched. "'04 will always be special because of the 86 years that preceded it. But John Henry and I were just talking about how good it feels this year as a result of the length that we've come, and the skepticism we faced.
"We had veterans mixed with young players in '07. We had (Dustin) Pedroia, who was a young player, we had (Jacoby) Ellsbury, who came on like a house on fire in the postseason. So that was a nice fixture, an injection of youth onto a veteran team. But that was more of a steamroller kind of team, it feels like. This team was scrappy, and underrated, and under appreciated for much of the year."
There's novelty mixed in here too. These aren't Theo Epstein's Red Sox or Terry Francona's. Ben Cherington's never put together a World Series team before. John Farrell's never managed one. It's first love: Joe Torre would tell you the 1996 World Series in New York meant more than the ones that followed.
"It doesn’t happen very often," Lucchino said of going from first to worst. "When I was with the Orioles in ’89, we went from worst to almost first. And I remember that team."
Cherington was in his office when Shane Victorino hit the second grand slam of the series.
"Trying to make sure my anxiety wouldn't affect others," he said. "We've just been moving around. When you're watching every pitch in games like this, what happens is you know how much it mean to our players an the people in our clubhouse and we know how much passion they have for winning these games and we want it for them. Those of us in the front office, we're kind of just along for the ride at this point.
"When the games start, we're rooting so hard, we're fans, and every pitch is like an event. So some parts of the games are hard to watch. We enjoy grand slams and the last three outs when Koji's on the mound. That's about it."
Lucchino called the Championship Series "breathtaking" and "stunning." But Cherington doesn't let on to his feelings much.
He talked more than once Sunday of still having something to accomplish, a feeling they all share. He did say the pennant was "gratifying, no doubt."
The central emotion, though, has to be surprise. The Sox have looked like a good team for a long time, but the context still makes the climb surreal.
"I certainly hoped for it and prayed for it," Lucchino said of a trip to the World Series. "But I never planned specifically for it. We just wanted to take a big step in the right direction. We didn’t think we could step this far, this fast. ... none of us were smart enough to say we were going to win 97 games and the American League pennant."
Follow MassLive.com Red Sox beat writer @EvanDrellich on Twitter. He can be reached by email at [email protected].