[Moriarty9]

2003: World Series Champions
Boston wins post-season series for first time since 1995

For the third straight season, the Red Sox earned baseball's best regular season record. While Boston worked on that streak, they ended a much more depressing one in which they had gone 8-18 in the playoffs, losing every post-season series the team had appeared in, since winning the 1995 World Series.

Boston had a handful of players who led the AL in a number of statistics. Miguel Cabrera was the AL batting champion (.355), Todd Helton led in on-base percentage (.431), Alfonso Soriano led in hits (217), Ichiro Suzuki led in stolen bases (41) and Manny Ramirez led the league with 15 intentional walks. Soriano and Suzuki tied for the league lead in two catergories: sacrifice flies (12 each) and singles (147 each). On the pitching side, Johan Santana led the league in ERA (2.99) and strikeouts (212) while Roy Halladay led the league with seven complete games.

The team's 109-53 record was baseball's best, giving Boston a 13 game lead over the second place Baltimore Orioles, winners of the AL Wild Card.

The Red Sox drew more than 3.7 million fans (highest total in AL) to Fenway Park with a $86.55 million payroll (2nd highest in AL).

KEY OFFENSIVE CONTRIBUTORS
Todd Helton, 1B (All Star)
Helton continued to be one the game's more impressive hitters as he put up a .335 average, 34 home runs, 104 RBI and scored 114 runs while drawing 93 walks in 138 games. Helton led the league in on-base percentage (.431); third in batting; fifth in runs, walks; seventh in hits (182) and slugging (.573); eighth in total bases (311); and ninth in homers.

Alfonso Soriano, 2B (All Star, AL Hits Leader)
Soriano set career highs just about everywhere on his stats line in 2003, hitting .330 with five triples, 31 homers, 124 RBI, 127 runs and 37 stolen bases. His 217 hits were the most in the AL, as were his 12 sacrifice flies. Soriano finished second in the league in steals, third in total bases (354) and runs, and fifth in batting average and RBI.

Manny Ramirez, LF (AL leader in intentional walks
The opposition didn't give Ramirez much to hit in 2003, but he did his best to take advantage of the mistakes that pitchers did make when he was at the plate. Ramirez hit .301 with 26 HR and 102 RBI in 118 games. His numbers likely would have been more impressive if not for a pair of late season injuries that kept him out for a total of 5 weeks.

Miguel Cabrera, DH (All Star, Batting Champion)
Cabrera, playing a little bit of outfield and corner infield while seeing most of his time as the team's DH, quietly put together a strong season with the Red Sox in 2003. He hit .355 with 25 HR, 87 RBI and 86 runs in 143 games. His .355 average was the league's best.

KEY PITCHING CONTRIBUTORS
Johan Santana (All Star, Cy Young)
Santana certainly earned the Cy Young Award in 2003, going 20-4 with a 2.99 ERA and 212 strikeouts in 31 starts. Making his first appearances in the postseason, Santana went 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 22 innings of work before hurting his back during the World Series.

Roger Clemens (All Star)
At age 40, Clemens was expected to be in the twilight of his career. If 15-6 with a 3.73 ERA and 173 strikeouts in 32 starts is the twilight, however, then many pitchers would be eager to ahieve "over the hill" status. Clemens was fifth in WHIP (1.22), sixth in ERA, seventh in winning percentage (.714) and ninth in wins.

Joe Nathan (Ace Setup Man)
In his first full season with the Red Sox, Nathan flourished as a setup man, going 6-1 with four saves and a 2.24 ERA and 54 strikeouts in 49 outings. His 21 holds were third most in the American League.

PITCHING DISAPPOINTMENTS
Odalis Perez (Southpaw Swingman)
After a 13-5 season at age 24 in 2002, the Red Sox hoped for big things out of Perez in 2003 but the lefty struggled and soon found himself in the bullpen. Perez went 5-4 with a 6.31 ERA in 33 games, 16 of which were starts.

NOTEABLE TRANSACTIONS
Sox Swap Starter for Shortstop
To Boston Red Sox: Rafael Furcal
To Montreal Expos: Mark Buehrle
In December 2002, the Red Sox front office thought it had a very strong pitching rotation and bullpen, so the decision was made to trade lefty Mark Buehrle. Brought up as a starting pitcher, Buehrle worked primarily out of the bullpen for Boston (due to a stacked rotation) and went 7-1 with a 4.63 ERA in 36 appearances, only two of which were starts.
With Montreal, Buehrle returned to the starting rotation and went 16-12 with a 3.84 ERA for the Expos. He has remained with the organization since and, through the 2008 season, has posted a 120-67 record over his 9-year career.
In return for Buehrle, the Red Sox acquired shortstop Rafael Furcal. After four strong seasons with the Expos, Furcal brought his glove and speed to Boston where he hit .275 with five homers, 21 RBI and 27 runs over 178 at bats in 70 games, stealing nine bases. David Eckstein was the team's starting shortstop for most of the season.
He became the team's everyday shortstop in 2004 and, before the 2006 season, signed as a free agent with the Texas Rangers.

Boston deals Polanco for prospect Kazmir
To Boston Red Sox: Scott Kazmir
To Tampa Bay Devil Rays: Placido Polanco
With Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens only getting older, the Red Sox traded second baseman Placido Polanco to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for 19-year-old pitching prospect Scott Kazmir, a lefty.
Kazmir, drafted in March by Tampa Bay and traded in June, made his big league debut with Boston late in the season and made two September starts, going 0-2 with a 10.64 ERA over 11 innings. He improved over the next few seasons and, through the 2008 season, has gone 48-27 in his 6-year-career with the Red Sox.
Polanco was hitting .258 with a pair of homers and 20 RBI in 47 games before the trade, going on to hit .244 with six round trippers and 38 RBI in 80 games with Tampa Bay. He remained in Tampa the next three years before spending two seasons with the Nationals.
Through 2008, Polanco has hit .284 with 69 homers in 11 seasons. He signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox prior to the 2009 season.

THE PLAYOFFS
Division Series: Mariners v. Red Sox
Despite having the best record in the game the two seasons prior, Boston hadn't managed to win a post-season series since winning the 1995 World Series. That changed in the 2003 ALDS as the Red Sox swept the AL West champion Seattle Mariners.

Division Series: Orioles v. Twins
Another ALDS sweep was on tap in this matchup as the Wild Card Orioles (96-66) took down the AL Central champion Twins (99-63) in three games to advance to the ALCS.

Division Series: Braves v. Giants
Two of the game's oldest franchises met up in the NLDS as the 96-66 Atlanta Braves defeated the Wild Card winning San Francisco Giants (95-68) in four games.

Division Series: Brewers v. Dodgers
Milwaukee was one step closer to repeating as NL Champions in 2003 as they squeaked by the Dodgers in five games.

ALCS: Orioles v. Red Sox
With both teams sweeping their ALDS opponents, there was plenty of time to prepare for the ALCS matchup between the O's and Sox, only for Boston to sweep the Birds right out of the playoffs.

NLCS: Braves v. Brewers
Although there are still a number of Braves fans in Milwaukee from the team's time in Wisconsin, the Brewers showed who owned the state and (for at least 2003) the National League as the BrewCrew won the pennant in seven games.

World Series: Brewers v. Red Sox
Having lost the World Series in six games the year before, the Brewers were looking to take things a step further in 2003. For the Red Sox, it was time to try and go 11-0 in the '03 postseason after going 8-18 over the previous several years in the playoffs.
Ultimately, it was Boston coming out on top as the Red Sox won the World Series in the seventh game of the best-of-seven series.

AWARDS
Bonds, Pujols pick up second MVP awards
Albert Pujols of the Twins won his second MVP award as the young star hit .348 with 46 HR and 136 RBI.
Pujols led the AL in slugging (.655), OPS (1.072) and total bases (389).
Barry Bonds won his second MVP in three seasons as the Phillies slugger hit .383 with 40 home runs and 96 RBI. Bonds led the league in batting, on-base percentage (.534), slugging (.765), OPS (1.300) and walks (127).

Santana, Zambrano win Cy Youngs
Randy Johnson had been the AL's top pitcher over the last several years, but in 2003 it was teammate Johan Santana who took home the trophy for the league's best hurler. Santana went 20-4 with a 2.99 ERA and 212 strikeouts.
Santana led the league in ERA, winning percentage (.833) and strikeouts, finishing second to Brian Lawrence (21) in wins.
2003 was a rarity in the National League as Greg Maddux was not named the NL's top pitcher. Instead, it was Carlos Zambrano (21-6, 2.67 ERA, 182 K) of the San Diego Padres. Zambrano led the league in ERA, wins and winning percentage (.778).
His chief competition came from Curt Schilling of the Phillies (17 wins 3.27 ERA, 241 K, 9.9 strikeouts per nine innings, 6.51 K/BB).

Catchers win ROY trophies
Joe Mauer of the Orioles took home the Rookie of the Year award in the AL in 2003 after hitting .333 with 17 HR and 82 RBI.
Mauer finished fourth in the AL in batting and on-base percentage (.414).
Adam Melhuse of the Cardinals had a rookie season to remember as he hit .284 with 39 homers and 103 RBI. Melhuse finished fourth in the NL in homers.