Red Sox enter playoffs with seasoned performers

A week later, while the Sox were in the visitor's clubhouse of the Metrodome in Minneapolis, 30-year-old general manager Theo Epstein pulled the trigger on the most sensational Red Sox player transaction since Babe Ruth was sold to the Yankees in 1920. Convinced that his team could not win the World Series as constituted, wary that Nomar Garciaparra's nagging injury was going to drag down the team, and certain that the star shortstop was going to walk at the end of the season, Epstein traded Garciaparra to the Chicago Cubs.

The impact of the deal was felt immediately in Boston souvenir stores, where No. 5 jerseys flew off the racks, and in New England households, where young children cried themselves to sleep. But then an odd thing happened: the Red Sox started playing better. They took better care of the baseball, no longer leading the majors in unearned runs allowed. They started winning one-run games. They started hitting in the clutch. No longer worried about getting 30 outs per game, pitchers suddenly had more confidence. Manager Terry Francona got smarter.

When they started to win, the sprit of 2003 returned. New handshakes were invented. The Red Sox were the Pointer Brothers, kings of congratulations. Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz continued their assault on the 40-homer plateau and possible MVP honors. Kevin Millar started to slug. New shortstop Orlando Cabrera caught everything in sight and most important, played every day. Curt Schilling won just about every time he set foot on the mound and Pedro Martinez made every start. And Johnny Damon let his hair grow down past his shoulders, standing in center field as the symbol of the born-to-be-wild Red Sox.