Baseball love rekindled through Pedro and the Red Sox

Editor’s note: It is an honor to hand the ball to Cee Angi, who has graciously offered this piece for Pedro Week.

Pedro was artistic, but he had a temper.

Full Disclosure: I have dated two Yankees fans.

The most recent was last year. We met through a mutual friend at a party, and he asked for my phone number. Successful and handsome, I considered him out of my league, but when he called I agreed to meet him for coffee.

We met before class, which parlayed into skipping class and getting a little handsy in a public park while we stared at the stars listening to a Pavement concert across the street.

The next date, he took me to a nice dinner where he seemed incredibly nervous. Sweaty and uncomfortable, nose crinkled as though he smelled something offensive. I asked if he was alright, and he stammered through his answer, staring at his dinner plate.

“After I got your number, I googled you. I don’t know how to tell you this, but… I’m a Yankees fan.”

Dinner with the enemy.

The Year of the Pitcher

Pedro just came at batters in 1999. It must have been terrifying.

If Pedro Martinez was only a personality with colorful opinions and ideas on what it means to be a pitcher in the major leagues, then he would still be worthy of a story or two within publications and websites dedicated to all things wonderful in baseball.

But Pedro was more than that. And if there’s any one reason why a little site like this can afford to dedicate an entire week to one man, then 1999 is that reason.

1968 is often said to be the true Year of the Pitcher, but if any pitcher ever truly owned a year, it was Pedro in ’99. His 2000 season was likely better, and he won a Cy Young Award in 1997 as well with Montreal. But in 1999, a reputation of dominance and unbending brilliance was born. I mean, we can run through the numbers first.

Recalling favorites

There wasn't a thing I didn't love about Trot Nixon.

While suffering through a 5-2 loss by the Bruins Saturday night, I decided to distract myself with baseball. With the way the Bruins have played lately, there’s been a lot of distracting myself with baseball.

This week, Boston.com has been asking readers for their favorite Red Sox by position since 1967. It’s written by the folks from Boston Dirt Dogs, so as you can imagine, it’s written pretty poorly. Still, it’s a solid idea, and I voted in a couple of their polls.

Sitting in a restaurant on Saturday afternoon, I noticed a framed picture of the 2004 Red Sox as they rushed the Busch Stadium field in St. Louis. It’s not a new thought, but it hit me that the 2004 team is likely going to be my favorite Red Sox squad for a very long time. I can’t fathom what a future team would have to do to vault to the front.

Upon further review, Scutaro’s cool

I don't want to drag out the box to check, but this has to be the only baseball card in the collection with a picture taken at the player's signing press conference.

Following the hot stove season is easily the most frustrating experience for me as a baseball fan. I have friends who “love” it and really get into all the possibilities, who could sign where, who might be traded, what it means to the long-term plans of the club.

I am not one of those people.

Honestly, I dread it. I hate rumors. I don’t want to hear a thing until a guy has signed on the bottom line, has a jersey number, and will definitely be coming to spring training. This past winter, when it became obvious that the Red Sox were going to let Alex Gonzalez leave (again), all the attention turned to Toronto’s Marco Scutaro, a life-long utility player who had broken out in 2009 until a bum ankle put him down for the season in September.

This terrified me. The Red Sox had just ended the Julio Lugo experiment early, with one year left on a contract everyone but the Boston brass thought was insane, and now talk was turning to signing a 34-year-old coming off what was by far a career year (one that ended early due to injury, no less).

This was the second time they would undervalue Gonzalez’s abilities, and I was still a little peeved that they hadn’t re-signed Orlando Cabrera after winning the 2004 World Series. In fact, if you look at all their shortstops since the mid-season trade that sent Nomar Garciaparra to the Cubs — Cabrera, Edgar Renteria, Gonzalez, Lugo, Nick Green via injuries, Gonzalez again — it doesn’t take much to realize that Cabrera has been by far the best. Theo Epstein has been a fantastic general manager, but shortstop has been a black hole for him.

Rumors had him signing for four years, and the thought of another veteran shortstop coming for four years — see, there’s a reason, I hate rumors. They’re not real until they stop being rumors, they just cause headaches to a neurotic like me. Scutaro signed for two years and a reasonable amount of money, which helped a bit. He’d also be wearing Renteria’s 16, which I thought was funny.

Thankfully, the worry has turned out to be nothing. During a season where seemingly everyone on the roster has had one ridiculous ailment or another, Scutaro has played in 108 of 111 possible games. He’s put up very respectable numbers: I’ll take a .278 average, a .339 on-base percentage, seven home runs, 27 doubles and 40 walks any day, not even taking into account what Boston shortstops usually do.

But in a season of turmoil, what has made Scutaro so valuable is how steady he is. He’s solid, though not flashy, in the field. When Jacoby Ellsbury went down for most of the season, he slid from hitting ninth to leadoff and never looked out of place. He works his at-bats — he’s seeing 4.03 pitches per plate appearance. He’s just been very good.

I went into the season expecting nothing, that Tug Hulett or someone would wind up playing there by default. The Red Sox have found holes at first base, second base, catcher, center field, left field, in the rotation and in the bullpen, but shortstop has been solid.

Hot-stove worries be damned, Scutaro has plugged a five-year hole at the position.

Unveiling the Red Sox Top 100

The Captain tops the leaderboard.

Well here’s an exercise for the sake of an exercise.

My 10 or 15 favorite members of the Red Sox has always been pretty solid, but what would my 100 favorite Red Sox look like? I wondered, and if you’re curious, here they are.

Building this was interesting, but more interesting to me was how many guys didn’t make the cut. I won’t say who they are here, but see if there are glaring omissions from the list. I either a) forgot them, or b) left them out on purpose. At this point, option B is more likely, but A is still possible.

And, to fill out this spot, here’s my all-time favorite Red Sox lineup, made with my heart and not with my head. That said, my apologies to the Gator, Mike Greenwell:

BATTING ORDER:

RF – Dwight Evans 24

2B – Dustin Pedroia 15

LF – Ted Williams 9

DH – Jim Rice 14

1B – Carl Yastrzemski 8

SS – Nomar Garciaparra 5

CF – Ellis Burks 12

C – Jason Varitek 33

3B – Tim Naehring 11

ON THE MOUND:

RHP – Pedro Martinez 45

I’d take my chances with those guys. Wouldn’t you?

Check out the Red Sox Top 100