5 iconic Boston Red Sox moments since the 2000 season
By Chris Tutt
Red Sox OF Dave Roberts steals second base in game 4 of the ALCS
After losing to the Yankees in 2003 thanks to an Aaron Boone walk-off home run, the idea of breaking the curse anytime soon was the last thing in the minds of Red Sox fans. To make matters even worse, in 2004 the Sox went down three games to none in the ALCS to the Yankees.
The Sox were as close to losing as it gets, down a run in the ninth with the mighty Mariano Rivera on the mound.
While the fans may have lost hope, the players did not. As coined by Red Sox first baseman Kevin Millar:
"“Do not let the Red Sox win today.”"
Millar reached on a walk in a great at-bat. Once he reached first, Red Sox manager Terry Francona gave Dave Roberts the nod to pinch run for Millar. Everyone knew that Roberts was going to steal second; Rivera tried to pick him off three times. Roberts went on the first pitch with one of the greatest jumps you’ll ever see, and was safe by inches.
The rest is history. Bill Mueller knocks in Roberts to tie the game, David Ortiz walks it off in the twelfth, Ortiz walks it off again the next night in the fourteenth, the bloody sock game, and the Sox clinching in New York.
As I write about this moment, all I want to do is watch “Four Days in October.” This group of idiots managed to upset the big, bad Yankees after being down three.
You can even make the argument that since the steal, the powerhouse of the AL East has shifted from the Yankees to the Red Sox. The Yankees have been quite an embarrassment since, managing only one World Series in 2009; despite being in the top five of payroll every year, except one, since 2000.
Not long after the steal did the Red Sox finally achieve the impossible.