Celebrating the Unsung Heroes of 2004
As we continue to trudge through the sports-less monotony of COVID-19 quarantine life for the past month, I find myself becoming more and more desperate for some type of sporting event to help fill the void. The depths of despair for anything entertaining and new as it pertains to sports has reached the point where I actually sat and watched the entire first round of the NFL draft. And I was ENTHRALLED. In a normal year I wouldn’t watch more than about five minutes’ worth of coverage. Along those lines, this past week FOX had on Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, which I greatly enjoyed re-watching. This game will forever be remembered fondly in Boston for “The Steal” by Dave Roberts in the 9th inning, which setup the tying run in scoring position and provided the impetus for the biggest comeback in the history of baseball (or sports for that matter). However, as often seems to be the case (at least when I re-watch things), I found myself looking at events through a different light. Things that I didn’t pay enough attention to, or overlooked, the first time around. And while Roberts’s steal and Big Papi’s walk-off heroics get all the fanfare,I found myself drawn to Bill Mueller’s at-bat with Roberts at second.
The breathtaking drama of Robert’s stealing second by a hair would have been all for naught if Bill Mueller doesn’t follow it with a clutch RBI single off of the best closer of all-time. Without that hit, there is no historic comeback, and there is no curse-breaking World Series victory. Bill Mueller, along with other teammates like Mark Bellhorn, was an unsung hero integral to the success of the 2004 Boston Red Sox. Like many other players of their ilk who came before them, and many more who have followed in their role since, they are key cogs in championship rosters who often don’t get their due.
Billy Mueller arrived in Boston during the offseason prior to the 2003 season and promptly became a fan favorite, hitting .326 en route to winning the AL Batting Title and a Silver Slugger during that first season. Mueller was a fantastic under the radar free-agent addition to a title contending team and was almost enough to push the team over the hump in 2003. However, Aaron F%4k!n’ Boone unfortunately had other ideas. With a career ~11% strikeout percentage, Mueller was always a strong contact hitter. What really transformed him during his time in Boston was a drastic increase in his .ISO numbers. In 2003 he marked a career high .214 ISO, following it in 2004 with a .163 ISO which was also well above his career average. Sadly, a chronic right knee injury flared and required arthroscopic surgery in May 2004 and limited Mueller to only 110 games. The knee injury was unable to limit him from providing the capper to the most iconic regular season game of the 2004 season. In what was perhaps a prelude to the aforementioned game-tying hit off Rivera in October and maybe the start of the moniker “The Rivera Slayer” (Bill Mueller hit .455 off Rivera during his career)Bill Mueller hit a walk-off home run into the bullpen in right.Why was this particular walk-off home run so important? It was the climactic exclamation mark on a game which featured this iconic brawl:
Bill Mueller elevated his game to a new level during his time in Boston and provided numerous clutch moments that helped key the 2004 championship run.
Mark Bellhorn may have been ahead of his time with the way he approached the game, particularly the hitting side of things. A true champion of the three true outcomes model, Bellhorn amassed 88 walks and 177 strikeouts in 2004. Incredible numbers. Bellhorn was a bit of an OBP machine due to his patience at the plate and penchant to take walks. Signed prior to the 2004 season, Bellhorn entered 2004 expecting to fill a bench role. However, early injuries to Pokey Reese and Nomar Garciaparra forced Bellhorn into a starting role at second base. He delivered the season of his life for the Red Sox. For his career Bellhorn finished with 7.1 TOTAL WAR. 3.4 of those came in 2004, as Bellhorn hit .264 with a .373 OBP and a 114 wRC+. Not only that, Bellhorn delivered in the playoffs with some clutch moments. To open the 2004 post-season, Bellhorn registered two hits in 25 at-bats for a meager .088 average. Talking heads in Boston were calling for Bellhorn to be benched, and fans cringed as he struck out time and time again. However, he was able to greatly turn it around beginning in ALCS Game 6as he would hit the game winning 3-run homer.against the Yankees.In Game 7 Bellhorn went yard againand then inGame 1 of the World Series he knocked a 2-run game-winning home run off of Pesky’s Pole.True to form, while he only finished the 2004 post-season with a .191 batting average, Bellhorn contributed a fantastic .397 OBP and a .844 OPS during the playoffs.
While every championship team typically has rosters littered with stars, often times it’s the unsung heroes that make the engine hum. Without the contributions from Bellhorn and Mueller, it’s highly doubtful the 2004 Red Sox end the Curse of the Bambino.