2008 Boston Red Sox season

The 2008 Boston Red Sox season was the 108th season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. The Red Sox, as the defending World Series champions, finished in second place in the American League East with a record of 95 wins and 67 losses, two games behind the Tampa Bay Rays. The Red Sox qualified for the postseason as the AL wild card, and defeated the American League West champion Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the ALDS. The Red Sox then lost to the Rays in the ALCS in seven games. This was the franchise's fourth appearance in the ALCS in six seasons.

2008 Boston Red Sox
American League Wild Card Winners
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionEast
BallparkFenway Park
CityBoston, Massachusetts
Record95–67 (.586)
Divisional place2nd (2 GB)
OwnersJohn W. Henry (New England Sports Ventures)
PresidentLarry Lucchino
General managerTheo Epstein
ManagerTerry Francona
TelevisionNESN
RadioWRKO
WEEI
WROL (Spanish)
StatsESPN.com
BB-reference
← 2007 Seasons 2009 →

In late March, the team started the regular season playing in Tokyo against the Oakland Athletics for MLB Japan Opening Day 2008. In July, seven Red Sox players were selected for the AL All-Star team, with outfielder J. D. Drew being named the game's MVP. On July 31, the Red Sox traded long-time star player Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers in a three-way blockbuster (which also included the Pirates) for Jason Bay and minor leaguer Josh Wilson. In September, the team officially retired uniform number 6 in honor of Johnny Pesky.[1]

Regular season edit

 
Johnny Pesky's number 6 was retired by the Boston Red Sox in 2008.

Opening Day lineup edit

15 Dustin Pedroia 2B
20 Kevin Youkilis 1B
34 David Ortiz DH
24 Manny Ramírez LF
25 Mike Lowell 3B
44 Brandon Moss RF
33 Jason Varitek C
46 Jacoby Ellsbury CF
23 Julio Lugo SS
18 Daisuke Matsuzaka P

Season standings edit

AL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
Tampa Bay Rays 97 65 0.599 57–24 40–41
Boston Red Sox 95 67 0.586 2 56–25 39–42
New York Yankees 89 73 0.549 8 48–33 41–40
Toronto Blue Jays 86 76 0.531 11 47–34 39–42
Baltimore Orioles 68 93 0.422 28½ 37–43 31–50


Notable transactions edit

Roster edit

2008 Boston Red Sox
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Record vs. opponents edit

Team BAL BOS CWS CLE DET KC LAA MIN NYY OAK SEA TB TEX TOR NL
Baltimore 6–12 4–5 4–4 4–3 5–3 3–6 3–3 7–11 0–5 8–2 3–15 4–5 6–12 11–7
Boston 12–6 4–3 5–1 5–2 6–1 1–8 4–3 9–9 6–4 6–3 8–10 9–1 9–9 11–7
Chicago 5–4 3–4 11–7 12–6 12–6 5–5 9–10 2–5 5–4 5–1 4–6 3–3 1–7 12–6
Cleveland 4–4 1–5 7–11 11–7 10–8 4–5 8–10 4–3 5–4 4–5 5–2 6–4 6–1 6–12
Detroit 3–4 2–5 6–12 7–11 7–11 3–6 7–11 4–2 3–6 7–3 3–4 6–3 3–5 13–5
Kansas City 3–5 1–6 6–12 8–10 11–7 2–3 6–12 5–5 6–3 7–2 3–5 2–7 2–5 13–5
Los Angeles 6–3 8–1 5–5 5–4 6–3 3–2 5–3 7–3 10–9 14–5 3–6 12–7 6–3 10–8
Minnesota 3–3 3–4 10–9 10–8 11–7 12–6 3–5 4–6 5–5 5–4 3–3 5–5 0–6 14–4
New York 11–7 9–9 5–2 3–4 2–4 5–5 3–7 6–4 5–1 7–2 11–7 3–4 9–9 10–8
Oakland 5–0 4–6 4–5 4–5 6–3 3–6 9–10 5–5 1–5 - 10–9 3–6 7–12 4–6 10–8
Seattle 2–8 3–6 1–5 5–4 3–7 2–7 5–14 4–5 2–7 9–10 3–4 8–11 5–4 9–9
Tampa Bay 15–3 10–8 6–4 2–5 4–3 5–3 6–3 3–3 7–11 6–3 4–3 6–3 11–7 12–6
Texas 5–4 1–9 3–3 4–6 3–6 7–2 7–12 5–5 4–3 12–7 11–8 3–6 4–4 10–8
Toronto 12–6 9–9 7–1 1–6 5–3 5–2 3–6 6–0 9–9 6–4 4–5 7–11 4–4 8–10
Red Sox vs. National League
Team NL Central  
CHC CIN HOU MIL PIT STL ARI PHI
Boston 2–1 1–2 3–0 1–2 2–1 2–1

Game log edit

2008 Regular Season Game Log
2008 Postseason Game Log

Player stats edit

Batters edit

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; AVG = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases; Bold Indicates team leader in category.

Player G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI AVG SB
David Aardsma 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0
Jeff Bailey 27 50 10 14 1 1 2 6 .280 0
Jason Bay 49 184 39 54 12 2 9 37 .293 3
Josh Beckett 2 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0
Chris Carter 9 18 5 6 0 0 0 3 .333 0
Sean Casey 69 199 14 64 14 0 0 17 .322 1
Kevin Cash 61 142 11 32 7 0 3 15 .225 0
Bartolo Colón 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0
Alex Cora 75 152 14 41 8 2 0 9 .270 1
Coco Crisp 118 361 55 102 18 3 7 41 .283 20
Manny Delcarmen 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0
J. D. Drew 109 368 79 103 23 4 19 64 .280 4
Jacoby Ellsbury 145 554 98 155 22 7 9 47 .280 50*
Craig Hansen 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0
Mark Kotsay 22 84 6 19 8 1 0 12 .226 0
George Kottaras 3 5 1 1 1 0 0 0 .200 0
Jon Lester 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0
Javier Lopez 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0
Mike Lowell 113 419 58 115 27 0 17 73 .274 2
Jed Lowrie 81 260 34 67 25 3 2 46 .258 1
Julio Lugo 82 261 27 70 13 0 1 22 .268 1
Justin Masterson 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0
Daisuke Matsuzaka 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0
Brandon Moss 34 78 7 23 5 1 2 11 .295 1
Hideki Okajima 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0
David Ortiz 109 416 74 110 30 1 23 89 .264 1
Jonathan Papelbon 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0
Dustin Pedroia 157 653 118* 213** 54** 2 17 83 .326 20
Manny Ramirez 100 365 66 109 22 1 20 68 .299 1
David Ross 8 8 1 1 0 0 0 0 .125 0
Joe Thurston 4 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0
Mike Timlin 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0
Jonathan Van Every 11 17 0 4 0 1 0 5 .235 0
Jason Varitek 131 423 37 93 20 0 13 43 .220 0
Gil Velazquez 3 8 0 1 0 0 0 1 .125 0
Tim Wakefield 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0
Kevin Youkilis 145 538 91 168 43 4 29 115 .312 3
Team Totals 162 5596 845 1565 353 33 173 807 .280 120

Pitchers edit

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts

Player W L ERA G GS SV IP R ER BB K
David Aardsma 4 2 5.55 47 0 0 48.2 32 30 35 49
Josh Beckett 12 10 4.03 27 27 0 174.1 80 78 34f 172
Michael Bowden 1 0 3.60 1 1 0 5.0 2 2 1 3
Clay Buchholz 2 9 6.75 16 15 0 76.0 63 57 41 72
Paul Byrd 4 2 4.78 8 8 0 49.0 26 26 10 26
Bartolo Colón 4 2 3.92 7 7 0 39.0 23 17 10 27
Bryan Corey 0 0 10.50 7 0 0 6.0 7 7 3 4
Manny Delcarmen 1 2 3.27 73 0 2 74.1 28 27 28 72
Devern Hansack 1 0 4.05 4 0 0 6.2 5 3 1 5
Craig Hansen 1 3 5.58 32 0 2 30.2 23 19 23 25
Jon Lester 16 6 3.21 33 33 0 210.1 78 75 66 152
Javier López 2 0 2.43 70 0 0 59.1 18 16 27 38
Justin Masterson 6 5 3.16 36 9 0 88.1 31 31 40 68
Daisuke Matsuzaka 18 3 2.90a 29 29 0 167.2 58c 54 94 154
Hideki Okajima 3 2 2.61 64 0 1 62.0 18d 18 23 60
Jonathan Papelbon 5 4 2.34 67 0 41 69.1 24 18 8e 77
David Pauley 0 1 11.68 6 2 0 12.1 17 16 5 11
Chris Smith 1 0 7.85 12 0 0 18.1 16 16 7 13
Kyle Snyder 0 0 21.60 2 0 0 1.2 4 4 2 1
Julián Tavárez 0 1 6.39 9 0 0 12.2 12 9 9 6
Mike Timlin 4 4 5.66 47 0 1 49.1 32 31 20 32
Tim Wakefield 10 11 4.13 30 30 0 181.0 89 83 60 117
Charlie Zink 0 0 16.62 1 1 0 4.1 8 8 1 1
Team Totals 95 67 4.01 162 162 47 1446.1 694 645 548 1185

* indicates player led their respectable league in that certain category ** indicates player led all of baseball in that certain category

^a Led team in starters ERA ^b Led in team ERA ^c Allowed fewest runs as a starter for the Red Sox ^d Led team in runs allowed. ^e Led team in walks allowed. ^f Led starters in walks allowed.

Awards and honors edit

 
All-star Kevin Youkilis
All-Star Game[11]
Starters
Reserves

Farm system edit

Level Team League Manager
AAA Pawtucket Red Sox International League Ron Johnson
AA Portland Sea Dogs Eastern League Arnie Beyeler
A-Advanced Lancaster JetHawks California League Chad Epperson
A Greenville Drive South Atlantic League Kevin Boles
A-Short Season Lowell Spinners New York–Penn League Gary DiSarcina
Rookie GCL Red Sox Gulf Coast League Dave Tomlin
Rookie DSL Red Sox Dominican Summer League José Zapata

Source:[12][13]

References edit

  1. ^ Kilgore, Adam (September 29, 2008). "Red Sox retire Johnny Pesky's No. 6". The Boston Globe.
  2. ^ "Julián Tavárez Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  3. ^ "Bobby Kielty Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  4. ^ https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bayja.shtml Jason Bay Statistics - Baseball Reference.com
  5. ^ "Mario Ramírez Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  6. ^ "Paul Byrd Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  7. ^ "David Ross Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  8. ^ "Mark Kotsay Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  9. ^ "Hutch Award". Baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
  10. ^ "2008 MLB Awards". MLB.com. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
  11. ^ "2008 All-Star Game". MLB.com. Archived from the original on August 15, 2010. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
  12. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
  13. ^ Boston Red Sox Media Guide. 2008. pp. 508–529. Retrieved March 14, 2021 – via Wayback Machine.

External links edit