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Red Sox Round Table: One moment in team history that you would change

By Brendan Mizgala

BOSTON, MA - APRIL 9: The facade is displayed as the Major League Baseball season is postponed due the coronavirus pandemic on April 9, 2020 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - APRIL 9: The facade is displayed as the Major League Baseball season is postponed due the coronavirus pandemic on April 9, 2020 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images) /
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BRONX, NY – OCTOBER 16: Pedro Martinez #45 of the Boston Red Sox leaves the game in the eighth inning after giving up three runs to the New York Yankees during game 7 of the American League Championship Series on October 16, 2003 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
BRONX, NY – OCTOBER 16: Pedro Martinez #45 of the Boston Red Sox leaves the game in the eighth inning after giving up three runs to the New York Yankees during game 7 of the American League Championship Series on October 16, 2003 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images) /

Grady Little leaves Pedro Martinez in too long

I racked my brain, went through each awful letdown in Red Sox history, and yet I kept going back to this one. We’ve talked about different moments throughout the lifetime of the franchise but this one is the most egregious in recent memory to me. For me, leaving Pedro Martinez in for the eighth inning in the 2003 ALCS was a horrible decision, and the one I’d change in a heartbeat.

Obviously selling Ruth is a head-scratcher that even if you spoke to the ghost of Frazee, he couldn’t justify. Giving Sale an extension a year before it was necessary, especially after having injury woes in the postseason, I’m not so sure of. Firing the most beloved manager in Red Sox history and covering his name in mud, bad job by you Boston. And then we have someone that can relate to my selection. McNamara mismanaged the Sox in 86 and crippled their chances at winning, similar to Grady Little in 2003.

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As Drew pointed out, McNamara managed to not lose, whereas Little managed to win. He knew this would possibly be his final game with the Red Sox and he made sure his strongest weapon had the ball in his hand. Problem is, Pedro was clearly ready to be done with the game as he gave his trademark salute to the heavens as he walked off after the bottom of the seventh.

That should’ve been all that Little needed to see, but instead, the manager trotted a seemingly spent Martinez out for the eighth. The Boston fireballer would only get one out in that inning while giving up three runs, allowing the Yankees to tie the score. Fast-forward to the bottom of eleventh where Aaron Boone hits the game-winning homer. A position the team wouldn’t have been in had Grady just went to the bullpen for the eighth.

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Could the pen have given the game away just as easily? Absolutely! But they were never even given the chance to fight for the win. By leaving Pedro in for that inning even though it was clear to anyone that has ever seen him pitch that he was done, Little gave the Yankees that win. The pain of 2003 would be rectified a year later as Martinez would be a key component in the Red Sox defeating the Yankees in another ALCS Game 7. Had Pedro been pulled after the seventh in 2003 though, we may have been celebrating after 85 years instead of 86.

-BSI Site Expert, Brendan Mizgala

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