All language subtitles for the.comeback.2004.boston.red.sox.s01e02.1080p.web.h264-nhtfs

Where's Howard?

Is Grady Little around?

This way.

I know a lot of folks
were wondering if, uh...

why I probably
didn't take him out,

but he's the man we want out
there in those situations.

The way, uh...

- He's pretty tough.
- The way Joe kept Mariano in.

He could've tired, you know?

- He's pretty tough.
- Yeah. Well, you did a great job.

Thank you very much. A
pleasure. Thank you...

I think you're gonna
be Manager of the Year.

I don't know about that.

After we got beat in New
York that day in 2003,

if they would've had an, uh, election
between me and Osama bin Laden,

I was not gonna win.

And here comes Grady Little.

Grady goes out.

But he's not
gonna make the change.

That is amazing.

And when he comes off then, it's...
his... his managing career is over.

I'm out.

The Yankees
are going to the World Series!

Aaron Boone has hit a home run!

The Yankees go to
the World Series

for the 39th time in
their remarkable history!

We're gonna take 24 hours. We're
gonna feel sorry for ourselves.

Totally dejected.

If I could cry on
camera, I would.

Like 24 hours from now,
everyone was galvanized.

We had been responsible with
the budget the year before.

And that winter it was,
"Do what you need to do

to, like, you know, fix the
pitching, fix the bullpen."

Like, "Let's go."

Well, we're
back where we started,

right here at Yankee Stadium.

The Marlins roll in after
winning two of three at home.

They're up three games to two...

The weirdest thing about '03,

was the fact that we talk about '03
like the Yankees won the World Series.

And they didn't.

Posada, a slow
roller, right side.

Beckett picks it
up, tags Posada,

and the Florida Marlins
are World Champions.

Devastating losses have
devastating consequences.

The Marlins have stunned
the Yankees, shocked New York.

That offseason, there was two
teams, and nobody else mattered.

Free agency, Red Sox, Yankees.

Trades, Red Sox, Yankees.

It was Boston, and
it was New York.

- It was an arms race.
- Congratulations, Alex!

Everything good?

For the first time since 1981,

another team is popping
champagne at Yankee Stadium.

That series was
supposed to be a victory, and it wasn't.

George used to
have a saying that,

"Winning was the most important thing
in his life other than breathing." Okay?

I mean, and... And he meant it.

He couldn't tolerate losing.

You mention the
name "George Steinbrenner,"

like a lightning rod.

There's no owner in sports,

be it football, basketball,
hockey, or baseball,

that's gonna sit and tell
me he's not in it for ego.

Because he is.

Yeah, he has
knowledge of the game.

The only thing George
doesn't have is the patience.

George, it... it
was never enough.

You know, you're... you're supposed
to win, and you need to win again.

I'm gonna use everything I can to
deliver a winning team for New York.

That's my business.

When I don't want to do that,
I'll get out of the sport.

Every single year,

they seemed to have the money
to pick up the big free agent.

The big bat. The big player.

We were just literally
doing enough to stay by,

but not to overtake the Yankees.

We needed that extra
Pedro out there.

We needed more pitching.

A true ace is the guy
who you give the ball to

in the win-or-go-home game.

And I... I always
aspired to be that guy.

Schilling, should
be said, that velocity will go up

later in a game.

Schilling got
the job done all the time.

Swung on and missed.

He never saw a big game
that he didn't command.

The buzz in the media

was Arizona would be open to
moving on from Curt Schilling.

Schilling would be a
perfect fit for us.

The winter of '03,

if I was a gambling man, day
one of winter, I would've said

I'm absolutely gonna play for
the New York Yankees next year.

Boston wasn't even on my radar.
I wasn't gonna go to Boston.

I wanna have a chance to win a World
Series for the rest of my career.

With the Yankees, it would
be joining a long line,

and a tremendous heritage and
the prestige of being a Yankee...

Of course, Curt Schilling
wants to be a Yankee,

like, you know, where all
the focus and attention is.

Makes perfect sense.

But maybe too dumb to know any
better or, like, being bold,

we just said, "Well, you
know, it doesn't hurt to try."

It's a couple days
before Thanksgiving.

I called Schilling, and I said,
"How about coming to Boston?"

He's like, "No. How about
you coming out here?"

Get off my driveway.

The next morning, we
fly out to Schilling's.

We negotiate all day.

And then, the end
of that first night,

Schill says, "What are you guys
doing tomorrow for Thanksgiving?"

We're like, "I don't know, nothing.
Going to Boston Chicken?" I don't know.

He's like, "No, you're
coming over here."

Oh my God.

I have the worst food poisoning
of my life, to this day.

And almost undoubtedly from the
turkey at the Schillings' house.

Jed's, like, pale as a ghost.

He's sweating, he's clammy,

he's like keeled over, he's
like rocking back and forth.

And we couldn't leave, because we
hadn't gotten him to agree yet.

Like, it's no surprise, Curt
Schilling has a healthy ego.

And we're world champs.

We're like, all right, the chance to be a
big part of the team that ends The Curse

and goes up with the Yankees
would really appeal to him.

I said, "Hey, listen. You
know, I'm interested."

So we finished
up the Schilling signing.

The minute I left the house,
I started throwing up again.

The Yankee-Red
Sox rivalry transcends sports.

Being a part of that was certainly
an attraction to all of this.

I don't have a problem
with the expectations.

"You're coming here to break The
C..." Well, all right, fuck The Curse.

It was a curse of talent.

They were just never
talented enough to win it.

This is an epic quest here. We're
on a quest to beat the Yankees.

We're on a quest
for a World Series.

We were doing
everything we could

to have a payroll that
would match the Yankees.

The Red Sox are
winning the offseason arms race.

Boston signs free agent closer
Keith Foulke to a three-year deal.

Foulke saved 43 games
for the A's last season.

It's like the
biggest rivalry in sports.

There's a part of me, at
that point in my career,

where I wanted to taste victory.

Told the wife at the time, like, "Pack
your shit. We're going to Boston."

We welcome to the
Yankee family Gary Sheffield.

I know the pitchers
in our league

are not too excited to
have to face this man.

I don't strike out.
I drive in runs when they matter,

and I'm gonna be that guy

that's gonna be the
difference-maker in this lineup.

I'm a hired gun.

George, the Red Sox threw a punch,
but you threw a counterpunch.

Is it... Is it all about
beating the Red Sox?

No, it has nothing to do
with beating the Red Sox.

You got two prizefighters here
that are gonna continue to...

to duke it out,

and, uh, I don't know
how long I can take it.

The Red Sox
actually decided to compete.

Player for player,
dollar for dollar.

Now it's win, win, win, win.

What's next?

What else is gonna happen?

Okay, we're rolling.

- Yeah. Quiet, please!
- Quiet, please!

"This is Alex Rodriguez
of the Texas Rangers."

"It's better at the ballpark."

"This is Alex Rodriguez
of the Texas Rangers,

and it's better
at the ballpark."

"Hey, it's better
at the ballpark."

Wearing
number three, Alex Rodriguez!

A-Rod to his left,

flipped from the glove
in time for the putout.

A-Rod has done it again!

Alex Rodriguez is the
best player in baseball of '03-'04.

Young, handsome, coveted.

Hall of Fame résumé.

He is, in fact, the greatest
shortstop who ever played.

The Rangers and Alex Rodriguez

will officially announce
his signing with Texas.

The terms... Are
you sitting down?

Ten years, $252 million,

making him by far the highest-paid
player in the history of team sports.

But there wasn't a lot of
winning attached to that.

Three straight
last-place finishes,

and the championship aspirations
have come to a screeching halt

for Rodriguez and the Rangers.

He wanted out of Texas.

They weren't winning, and
they wanted to move on.

We had to start thinking about,
like, "Okay, well, we have Manny."

He had had a difficult
time during the '03 season

embracing his place
with the Red Sox.

I mean, he would just
disappear on his teammates.

In 2003,
we're playing the Yankees.

Every game's
so important for the Red Sox.

But the Red Sox don't need
any contro... controversy.

There's controversy
surrounding Manny.

In there for called strike.
He was not here during batting practice.

Where's Manny? No one
knew where he went.

He wouldn't answer the
phone. Like, what happened?

He's at the hotel bar of the
Yankees with Enrique Wilson.

Huh?

Dudes were not happy.

Guys wanted to maybe fight him.

"What were you thinking?"

Manny would come
to me all the time.

"Papi, you gotta get me out of
Boston. You gotta trade me."

So, that winter we're talking to
the Rangers about Manny for Alex.

This is all secret.
No one knows what's going on.

The Texas owner, Tom Hicks,

asked me to meet with A-Rod.

I agreed to do that,
very reluctantly,

because I thought our
shortstop would get very upset.

A-Rod seemed like a really
personable, good guy,

but, um, as soon as we met, Tom
Hicks leaked it to the media.

Joining us on the line, the
shortstop for the Boston Red Sox,

Nomar Garciaparra.

Nomar, do you believe

that this talk is a
slap in the face to you?

What if you guys woke
up one day, you're, you know...

and you start
reading in the paper

that your station was interviewing
people to take your spot?

To replace you guys?

How would you guys feel about
that? How would you guys take it?

Nomar's got
a target on his back.

And he's not just a guy,
he's Nomar Garciaparra.

You're messing with
one of your giants.

Without championships, all
Boston had was its superstars.

You had Williams.

You had Yaz.

Jim Rice.

Nomar. He was that
dude. This was his town.

You don't trade
superstars in Boston.

I'm calling today

because a lot of things I'm
reading is that I'm unhappy.

As far as my desire to still
continue to wear that Boston uniform,

it's there and it's
always been there.

You know, his
contract was up after '04.

We made an offer for a
long-term contract extension.

It wasn't accepted.

It was deemed kind of, like, low
and maybe, like, far too low,

and therefore a
little bit insulting.

We'd come to look at him
as a great, great player,

but defensively, wasn't
necessarily where we wanted to be.

Come on, Nomar!

When you talk about Alex,
who's hands-down the best player

in the league,

offensive powerhouse, who also
was a legitimate shortstop,

that was a swap that we
were willing to make.

Talking on the phone to Alex,
texting him, he was like,

"Come... Come meet me...
Come meet me in New York."

Jed and I fly out to New York,
flight's delayed, we get in real late.

I... I just said, "Hey, I'll
get you tomorrow morning."

He texted me right back,
2:00 in the morning,

he's like, "No, come
up to the room."

I'm like, "We're really
doing this tonight? Okay."

Thirty-seventh floor or
whatever, go... go upstairs.

A-Rod opens the door, he's
wearing, like, a three-piece suit.

He's, like, totally
put together.

He's got his briefcase.
He's like, "Welcome."

He's impressive, but he's
also kind of full of shit.

Like, Alex is always, like,
a little bit full of shit.

I'm full of shit a
lot of the time too.

We just show up and we start talking
to him about joining the Red Sox.

We didn't feel like we could
take on all of Alex's contract.

And so we had to negotiate.

If you're gonna rework a contract and
walk away from guaranteed dollars,

there has to be an equal
exchange of benefits.

It got very complicated.

But to Alex's credit, he
wanted to be a Red Sock.

We end up trading Manny
Ramirez and Jon Lester to Texas

for Alex Rodriguez.

But now we gotta trade Nomar.

We trade Nomar to the White Sox for
Magglio Ordóñez and Brandon McCarthy.

And we write out the lineup
that we're gonna have.

It was incredible.

But the one last step
in the deal was we had to get

the Players Association
to sign off on it.

Now playing shortstop for the
Boston Red Sox, Alex Rodriguez.

Well, it could happen
over the next 24 hours...

While that's happening, while
the deal's still in limbo,

the key moment was fricking Millar
opening his big mouth again.

Never one to shy away
from a tough question,

we bring back Kevin Millar,
the Red Sox first baseman.

Back by popular demand...

Highlights are
kickin'. The hair's coming back.

A-Rod is maybe coming
to the Boston Red Sox.

Has met with ownership.

I'm on a satellite looking at a
camera, kind of like this right now.

Dan Patrick's on the headset.

Now some audio perhaps with Kevin.
And Kevin, you gotta choose.

You can have Alex Rodriguez

or you can have Manny and
Nomar. Who you taking?

Dan Patrick asked me,

"Who do you think's gonna throw you
the baseball across the infield?"

Seemed like it was gonna be a done
deal, I answered the question.

We'll take A-Rod.

Get in my car, and
Nomar calls me.

Pissed off.

"How the fuck do you say that
you... How? What the...?"

And we're yelling, so I
pull over, I'm yelling back.

"Hey, dude, I answered
a question I was asked."

The question
was, "Who do you want?"

"Who do... "Oh, was
it, "Who do you want?"

Wow.

Okay. Well, then he
has a right to be mad.

Now, it's like not only is Nomar
justifiably pissed at the front office,

but probably the most influential
teammate that he has in the clubhouse

has openly betrayed
him in public.

We'll take A-Rod.

We thought we were gonna
pull it off. It was.

We got it down to
the one-yard line.

And then it just
kind of blew up.

The baseball players' union rejected
the changes that Boston proposed

to restructure the contract
of shortstop Alex Rodriguez.

Larry Lucchino issued
a statement, "The proposed trade

between the Boston Red Sox and
the Texas Rangers is dead."

All this stuff's
happening in warp speed.

They're reinventing the team.

And then, "Oh, wait.
It's not happening."

He's back on the market.

Len's here with the latest
bad news for the Yankees.

It is, Linda. Yankee
third baseman Aaron Boone

hurt his left knee
playing basketball.

He could be out
the entire season.

He gets hurt. Now the
Yankees are in on A-Rod.

When the Yankees found out that A-Rod
was willing to move from shortstop,

where he might be the
best player of all time,

and move to third base
just to play on a winner,

it was a very simple deal.

Alex Rodriguez going
to the Yankees,

thus continuing their legacy
of success over the Red Sox.

Yeah, I was just as
surprised as the Yankee fans

and the Boston Red Sox fans
when I opened up my paper today.

It, obviously, is a big deal.

The day we're leaving for spring
training, the Yankees trade for him.

We were crushed.

We have many things to do.

Fellas, hold on.

Guys, this
way. Down here, please.

What a reception. Um...

Just obviously overwhelmed.
Very, very happy to be here.

Um... I still feel like, uh, someone's
gonna pinch me and wake me up.

Enough, enough, enough!
Okay? Enough! Knock it off.

A-Rod... brought,
obviously, great talent.

But there was this uneasiness.

First of all, it was widely
known throughout baseball

that A-Rod was a better
shortstop than Jeter.

Okay? But now he has
to play third base.

You know, when you're in,
uh... When you're in New York,

Derek Jeter's the shortstop,
and... and that's... that's it.

You know, any time you get a chance
to have a player of Alex's caliber,

you... you gotta jump on it.

- Why give up shortstop?
- I think winning's that important.

I think having an opportunity
to win and win consistently

and, uh, have an opportunity
to play in October...

And when we brought him in,
I felt like, automatically,

"The next three to four
years while I'm here,

we're gonna win championships."

Isn't it kinda ironic

that Aaron Boone kinda gave it
to the Red Sox twice this year?

Oliver... Might be an Oliver
Stone conspiracy, I don't know.

That just adds more insult
to injury right now.

That we once again
beat the Red Sox.

- Boston sucks.
- You're going down.

You're going down, Boston.

- We're gonna win it all this year.
- I hope that couch feels nice.

'Cause you're gonna be
sitting on it next October.

How could the Sox
screw this up any more?

Not to mention the hurt feelings

about having traded two
of your best players,

who are now back. "Oh,
hi, come on back."

That's like the plane's going
down, you start insulting people,

then you land safely, you
gotta be at baggage like,

"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to say you
were the worst person I ever knew."

Oh shit.

Yeah, so a lot went on, right?

Manny had the trade
scene from that offseason.

Alex goes to the
New York Yankees.

Nomar Garciaparra's the
shortstop for the Boston Red Sox.

Grady gets fired, still a little
bit sad for him. Great man.

So Terry Francona's our manager.

Who's Terry Francona?
I had no idea.

I've seen
celebrities, politicians,

walk into a Major League clubhouse
and you can tell they're nervous.

For me, you get in your underwear,
put some tobacco in or whatever,

and I'm good to go.

It's... It's just a place
where I'm more comfortable

than any place in
the whole world.

Holy cow.

What a dude.

Look what kind of model
we have here, dude.

He was a player
in a manager's body.

One of the funniest dudes you
can ever imagine to play for.

Seriously, they told me if
I don't start stretching,

when I get older I'll look
like you. So I'm trying...

Oh my God. Tito, man.
I love Tito, man.

I wanted to hire
someone with experience.

Tito, he had some experience
using analytics and data

to inform decision-making.

He was gonna be the right guy
for that group of players.

Nice.

I remember
thinking when I came there,

I was excited, thought
"I'm prepared."

I see ya.

Nobody's prepared to go there
till you live through it.

Okay, anything else?

There's a fire to
put out every day in Boston.

There's only so much I can
tell you after a second day

of pitchers and catchers.

Manny!

The first spring training,
I walked up to Manny when he got there,

and I remember him looking at
me, and he said, "Hey." He goes,

"I know you gonna try
to get me to like you."

Manny!

"Keep your distance."

Big Papi.

And I remember him walking
through the clubhouse,

proclaiming to anybody that could
hear, "They put me on eBay!"

I'm like, "Oh boy.
This is good."

You gotta back off.
You gotta back off totally.

Thanks, Manny.

- Hey, hold on.
- You okay?

Yeah, I'm good.

Nomar!

Nomar and I were close,

but it turned into, like, kind
of an uncomfortable relationship.

I almost pulled
into handicapped, you see that?

But you got
here at 9:30, so it's cool.

I think he felt that I'd
betrayed him or something.

I knew Nomar before
he got called up to Boston,

so I had a history, a
good history with him.

So it was a little easier
for me to talk to him.

Like, I mean, "Hey, man. You know,
this is... Let's deal with it."

Like, you know, you can't
go in a room and pout.

You know, "Go play, man.
You're a really good player."

Are you still mad?

Am I pissed? Am I still mad?

Uh, pissed, mad, all that stuff?

Well, I don't know if
I'm all those things.

I was definitely hurt
by a lot of it. Um...

I probably feel like
anyone else would feel

after, uh, spending their whole
career in, uh... in one organization

and giving and doing what you do

and then having to find out
that, uh, you've been traded

or you're pretty much
gone over the television.

And then, you know,
the spring training,

uh, Achilles injury happened, and
we were without him for the first...

first couple months-plus
of the season.

Was it a practice
ball that hit you?

Just during BP.
You know, balls flying around,

walking off and I just got hit.

Didn't think much of it.

No one ever saw it happen.

And, you know, I think that there
was definitely some questions

of when he hurt it.

Did he hurt it before he ever got
there and that was a cover story?

You know, I remember thinking,

"This isn't gonna help anybody
if it goes the wrong way."

And you try to remind players,

"Hey, are you coming in
because of the team or you?"

Just did with him like I do
with everybody, was honest.

You know, sometimes,
you can't tell somebody

something they wanna hear.

- Good morning.
- Another beautiful day. Good luck!

I think what's really crazy about that
is we talk about how big Nomar was.

Let's not forget
how big Pedro was.

Pedro was in the
last year of his deal.

I think we knew he was gonna ask

for an amount of money that
we were not gonna give him.

I actually was hoping, based
on my pedigree with Boston,

my... you know, my
success in Boston,

that I was gonna be, uh,
considered a little bit more.

But deep inside of me,

I... I kind of knew

that the only dark part
that baseball never shows

is the business part of it.

And the business part
of it has no friends,

has no loyalty.

His arm angle
was dropping a little bit,

the velocity was
dropping a little bit.

Giving him, like, a
top-of-the-market contract

for '05, '06, '07,

I didn't think was...
was good business.

It's not up to me. I tried.

I said it, and I... I still say
it. I wanna finish in Boston.

I'm a Bostonian.

You don't even re-up Pedro,

which is your way of saying,

"You're going to the Hall of Fame,
but you're also not the same player."

And certainly when you bring
in a guy like Schilling,

you really think
Pedro's gonna say,

"Yeah, come on in. I didn't get
the job done. Maybe you can help"?

Schilling and Pedro
were natural rivals, right?

Both alpha male aces.

And there was this
much-publicized relationship

between Schilling and Tito.

I started Tito's first
game as a manager.

So we became very
close in Philly.

I think Pedro reacted
to that initially.

No, no. There was never a
rivalry between me and Schilling.

He was a number one.

I was a number one.

Any sort of...
No? No discussion...

No, I mean, it's not... it's
not something you talk about.

You're going out and pitching opening day,
you're obviously the opening-day starter.

Okay. Yeah. I
mean, it is what it is.

The Red Sox are
again filled with high hopes

and a lot of expectations
for this season.

First of all, Jon, there's
nothing like opening night.

And this is the night

that the Red Sox fans and the
players have been looking to

since Game 7 of last
year's ALCS championship.

There's an old saying in
baseball, "Wait till next year."

Well, this is next year.

as Pedro Martínez
makes his seventh opening day start

in as many seasons
with the Red Sox.

He ties Roger Clemens

for most consecutive opening
starts in club history.

Pedro, it wasn't a bad
appearance or anything.

Pedro Martínez
leaves after six innings,

and despite a shaky
second inning,

Pedro gave the Red Sox
a fine effort tonight.

Six innings, three
runs, two earned.

But he left the clubhouse early.

He didn't stay, and that's
a rule. They all know.

Petey left the
game early, which is a no-no.

And I caught wind
of it, and I knew.

I'm getting tested two
hours into the season.

I did not leave the clubhouse.
I was in the family room.

That's not the type of person I
am and the type of player I was.

The only ones that didn't probably
know everything about me at that point

were Schilling and Tito.

They made the adjustment to me.

I wanted to get to know him,
and the thing that I got from him

was the thing that eventually
ended up hurting my ankle.

I would go down and watch
him throw his bullpen,

and I noticed that when he... he
did his rotation on the rubber,

he put his cleat half on
and half off the rubber.

And he did that for leverage, it allowed
him to throw a little bit harder.

And I thought,
"That's different."

And I tried it, and it bumped
my velocity up a little.

The problem was when I rotated
my ankle on the rubber, uh,

there was compression
on the bone in my ankle,

and it... I had a bone bruise.

But it did give me better velocity,
and so I was okay with the tradeoff.

Lined into
center field, a base hit.

There was a
game early on in the year.

We were playing the
Blue Jays in Toronto.

And for the first time, it was
bothering me significantly.

Pitch to Hudson.

Outside, ball four,
bases are loaded.

In the eighth inning,
I loaded the bases with two outs

and Chris Gomez came up, and
got him into a 3-2 count,

and I threw a split
that didn't split.

One-one is lined to left,

deep down towards the
corner, and that is gone!

A grand slam off Curt Schilling by
the number nine hitter Chris Gomez.

From that start on, it was something
I dealt with the rest of the year.

It went from, "Hey, we can win" in '03,
to expecting to win ballgames in '04.

Funny thing is we didn't play like
that for the first half of the year.

And the
Indians hold on to win 2-1,

in another frustrating
affair for the Red Sox

as they drop their
fourth in a row.

When you suck, you suck. You can't
sugarcoat it, you know what I mean?

To win a lot, you gotta beat
teams you're supposed to.

And line to center field
and... dropped! Dropped by Damon!

We just kind of muddled around for,
like, two and a half, three months.

With the same old pattern.

Lose one, win one. Lose
one, win one. Lose one.

This... This ball club has
not shown me any consistency

other than being inconsistent.

Meanwhile, the Yankees are
great, and they're pulling away from us.

Yankees
win! The Yankees win!

We couldn't catch our footing.

The Oakland
A's on top, six to nothing.

I remember
stopping at red lights, man.

People were not hesitating
to give me their two cents.

Many Red Sox fans
have talked about and worry about

these intangible issues,

the possible fallout from the
Mannys and Nomars of the world.

Like, what is wrong
with this group?

Our defense
was a big part of it,

and then you had, you know, Nomar's
absence with the Achilles injury,

and then his return. He
wasn't always available.

If I'm not there, I'm
not sticking it to the Red Sox,

I wanna be out there
with my teammates.

I wanna be out there
and I wanna be playing.

He was fighting this injury,
and I think he sensed

people questioning how come he
couldn't be in the lineup more.

There's been suggestions
that you were selfish.

You know who said that?

When you give me a
name, I'll address it.

Tied at two, bottom eighth.

The right-hander deals, hit on
the ground toward the shortstop,

oh, backhanded, Garciaparra, throws
low, and it gets by Ortiz in the stands.

That's another
error for Garciaparra.

He made two last night,
and now he has one tonight.

Sheffield grounds
it out of the reach of Bellhorn!

Lofton will come from third
with the go-ahead run,

and the Yankees lead it 3-2.

Into second goes Sheffield.

And the Captain is digging it.

I went in after that game,
said "Nomie, I know you're supposed

to have tomorrow off." He
goes, "Yeah, I need it."

I go, "Okay." I didn't
really think that much of it.

Again, I'm still
pretty new up there.

I didn't realize

quite how, you know, disastrous
or inflammable that could be.

I think it's a
real gut check for the Red Sox.

This is a game that... to...
to turn this team around.

I remember, you
know, somebody saying to me,

"Hey, if he doesn't play, man,
he's gonna catch a lot of hell."

You know, one thing
worth mentioning early on here,

is that... is we noticed
in the Red Sox lineup,

Garciaparra's not there.

And, uh, he just said
he couldn't play today,

wasn't feeling well. I mean...

Terry Francona gave him
an opportunity to play,

and I... once again, I think
from a teammate standpoint,

well, you gotta take the field and
try... try to help your ball club.

I don't think that's
a very popular move.

At the time, I
didn't like Pedro.

Bernie Williams told me, "Gary,
you wanna piss Pedro off?"

He said, "Step out of the
box when he's on the mound."

And time is called for a moment.

Now, he didn't tell me
what was gonna happen.

I'm not afraid to say it.

I was a sharpshooter.

Two outs, no one
on, no score, bottom of the first.

And Pedro Martínez has
hit Gary Sheffield.

If I knew you was trying to
hit me on purpose, I'm coming.

He's taking it personally
as he heads down to first base.

And I kept staring
at him to say something,

but he wouldn't say anything.

Backhand stop.
A-Rod to his feet, fires, got him!

Oh, what a play!

That one's
hit deep to center field.

Going back, Lofton. On the
track, at the wall, see you!

I don't know
what's more electric in sports

other than the Red Sox
and the Yankees rivalry,

and the way the fans
get into these games.

That was one of the most intense
games I've ever been a part of.

We head to the 12th.
Red Sox three, Yankees three.

One-two.

He loops that to left field,
gonna be a tough play.

Jeter on the run,
makes the play!

- Wow!
- And flies into the stands! Oh!

Talking about a ball
that goes down the left field line

that, really, you think nobody has
a chance to catch. And then he,

being Jeter,

doesn't give up on the ball.

Risking life and limb, okay?

Going in there, let's be honest,
into the seats headfirst.

And he could've got really hurt.

Oh, what a play by Jeter!

You can't believe it!
He raced, he caught it.

And boy, did he get beat up.

He is beat up and
bloody in his face.

Derek Jeter, what a player.

You can't say enough about him.

What is he? He's a
winner, that's what he is.

The catch was okay,
right? The catch was a catch.

And he dove, like, full
momentum, drills his chin.

But, like, there's
a statement there.

Where's the camera go? Right
to Nomar in the dugout.

When your star
player hasn't been on the field

and you have to go to battle without him,
these are... You know, they lift you up.

You say, "Okay, you don't want
to play? We'll win without you."

- Everybody else on the top step.
- Yeah.

At some point during the game, Nomar,
who had said he was totally unavailable,

had gone up to Tito when
the game got so dramatic.

Told him he was
available to pinch hit.

And I'm like,
"Oh, man." You know? Like...

I was in a tough spot.

So, stayed away.

Flaherty hits it, in
the air to left field, back, up,

and it'll one hop the wall,

and the Yankees will
win it in 13 innings.

A crushing defeat
tonight for the Red Sox,

and the sweep by the
New York Yankees.

They win it 5-4 in 13 innings.

Yeah!

Whoo!

- Yeah, suck on that!
- Suck my cock!

Then we end up losing the
game, and it's a shit storm.

We go to Atlanta the next
day, and Theo showed up.

You know, you wanna show your
face when times are tough.

Get a deep
fly, wins the game anyway.

And there is a deep fly, and
the Braves are gonna win it.

Another excruciating loss.

So I go down
there, and, you know,

I talk to a bunch of players,

got sort of an understanding
for the feeling in the clubhouse

and the pulse of things,
and talked to Nomar, and...

You know, it wasn't...
There was some tension.

His situation was
a bit of a burden.

Like, it was part of why

things weren't flowing
as well in the clubhouse.

We weren't playing well.
We weren't gelling well.

There was just stuff going on.

There starts becoming
a lot of, like, noise.

Were you
pissed? Are you still mad?

You know, we were dealing with the
Nomar stuff from spring training,

um, which was tiring.

There's been
suggestions that you were selfish.

I kinda told him, I said, "You know,
maybe it's just time to think about..."

"You know, let's..." And...
And, you know, he was kinda...

I think that's where he was.

- Think about moving on?
- Yeah.

They had too much talent.

They were too good.

Curt Schilling, Foulke, Pedro,
Manny, David, all these guys.

And they're playing .500
ball for three months.

That's a long time.

More of the same
for the Red Sox and the Yankees

in this 2004 season.

New York takes Game 1 of
this three-game series.

Their lead now nine and a
half games over the Red Sox.

Frustration comes
to mind, the word frustration,

because this club has so much talent but
hasn't been able to get on that roll.

Yeah,
there's that missing element,

missing part of the chemistry that,
uh, hasn't... hasn't developed yet.

You know, sometimes it just takes one
catalytic event to get things going.

We're trying everything we
can, and has to happen soon.

Really don't like the... the
tone of things right now,

and the way we're playing
is, uh, not acceptable.

Forecast was awful.

We were down to, you
know, a very thin bullpen.

We might not be able to get this
thing in. Do we just bang it early?

You know, and we could
probably use a day off anyway.

I remember
riding with Varitek in.

He was pissed off already,
coming to the game.

Like, he was already...
He just was...

He was wound up.

Just like every, I think, day
game after a night game, uh,

you're probably
cranky in the morning.

I think we
stopped and got a coffee.

Lost a tough one,
you know, the night before.

Next day, you show up
and the field's a mess.

We go out to walk the field,

and Joe Torre's out there
and one of the umpires,

and we're gonna
cancel this game.

I get back into the clubhouse,
and our players are adamant.

"We're playing."

Varitek, I mean, myself,
I don't know, Billy Mueller...

There was just a group of dudes
that were, like, irritated.

And like, "We're playing."

We wanted to play, like...

we've gotta get the
wheels spinning.

We gotta get the wheels
churning in the right direction.

Like, "We need a win. We need
to start this going now."

That man, when Tek gets to talk?

I was like, "Oh shit."

You know?

Like, he don't say much,

but when he say something, you
better pay attention. You know?

That's why we call
him the captain.

So I called Joe, and I
said, "Joe, hang on."

I said, "I might have been a
little premature out there."

I was pissed because they
had told us the game was called.

I don't know if Theo talked
the umpires out of it

or whatever the heck it was, but I
didn't think it was the right thing.

We're gonna play this game.

The Yankees were... were livid.

About two o'clock, roughly, the
two managers walked out on the field,

and it was deemed that
this field was unplayable.

The New York Yankees went so
far as to start the team buses.

Players were showering and
walking out of the stadium.

At which point the Boston Red Sox
overruled that earlier decision

and said "No, we're
going to play."

I remember I'm in a pair of shorts,
T-shirt, and no... no shoes,

and I'm sleeping
inside the weight room.

And I get woken up, and they tell me
that the game is on in 30 minutes.

I need an hour just
to get prepared,

they said game on in 30 minutes, and
I'm in a pair of shorts and a T-shirt.

It was a nightmare.

Arroyo in trouble,
first and third, nobody out.

And Matsui into left center field.
That's gonna put the Yankees on top.

You're facing one of
the greatest lineups in the game,

and you feel like you're
completely unprepared.

He was getting hit around a bit.

Not a whole lot of command.

Breaking ball, misses.

He's gonna strike, and Varitek says,
"Bronson, calm it down a little bit."

They're leaning
out over the plate,

forcing him to use
his fastball more.

Strike!

Third baseman,
number 13, Alex Rodriguez.

The good hitters forced
you to pitch them in,

or at least show them in enough.

And you always have
to go in on Alex.

And, uh, he ends up hitting him.

Alex Rodriguez is drilled.

I was disappointed in myself I hit
him, 'cause I'm trying to get an out.

And he didn't see it that way, and
he's... he's just screaming at me.

"Throw the mother-effing
ball across the plate."

He was yelling at
Bronson, yelling at Bronson.

There's a few F-words.

Then it turns into
F-words to me.

And I think that's when Varitek said,
"I'll let you say 'Fuck you' once."

"You're not gonna say it twice."

You're like, "Holy crap,
this is gonna happen?"

You're waiting, you're waiting.

- And we know what he said.
- Go.

Varitek and A-Rod going at it.

Schilling is right
in the middle of it.

You kinda go out there and your...
your head's on a swivel, one,

because they're big and strong

and you don't want somebody to
accidentally knock the shit out of you.

Or maybe not accidentally.

Mass chaos, people pulling,
pushing, getting in between.

Holding onto people's jerseys
for that split second,

getting punched in
the side of the head.

And now another
fight off to the side.

All of a sudden, Tanyon Sturtze
grabs Gabe Kapler around the neck.

Trot sees that.

Trot's now trying to choke,
grab Sturtze's eye off,

pull his hair out,
whatever it's gonna take.

Now we got, like, it's just,
like, protecting Sturtze,

'cause Trot is trying
to kill Sturtze.

I don't remember
much. I don't know where I was.

I think I just saw
a little bit of red.

Sturtze is bleeding
from the left ear.

Kapler and Sturtze, I believe,
were the two that splintered off.

That's where my attention went

after the initial fight was
between Varitek and Alex Rodriguez.

I have a vivid memory

of sitting behind the plate
with Theo in that game.

And when the fight started,
he jumped out of his seat,

and he was, like,
pumped. Like, "Ah!"

"Finally, we, like, show
some energy this year."

I couldn't believe Tek
put his hands in his face like that.

I have a perfect angle when
he goes down to scoop him up.

I thought for sure he was gonna,

like, Andre the Giant, Hulk
Hogan, just body slam him.

Every barroom and household

used to be, like, Cardinal
Cushing, John F. Kennedy.

Now it's Jason Varitek stuffing his
mitt into Alex Rodriguez's face.

Varitek hit him
with his mask on, that's the thing.

That's what you think of
in the moment. When you...

Play's at the plate,
whatever you do.

Like, "Oh, time out. I
forgot I had my mask on."

"I wear this all the time.
I'm gonna go put this there."

It is what it is.

It's only Alex Rodriguez and
Jason Varitek ejected from this game.

Yankees suck!

Now a huge ovation for Varitek.

Who is, in so many ways,

the rock and the leader of
this Boston Red Sox team.

Francona gets thrown out
the next inning. Arguing.

Terry Francona just got ejected.

We were kind of teetering

on whether we were
gonna go south

or make it to the postseason.

Line drive for a
hit for Enrique Wilson.

Two more runs will score.

We needed to win that game.

That's well hit into left field.

Off the Monster.

One run scores, and the Red
Sox are right back in it.

Let's go Red Sox!

Let's go Red Sox!

The 0-2 pitch.

Garciaparra hits it to left center
field, it's down for extra bases.

The Red Sox will not go quietly,

even with Rivera on
the mound for New York.

Millar has three singles today.

Hit three homers last night.

A flare. It's a one-run game.
And the tying run is on.

Millar with his
fourth hit of the day.

You know, the Yankees
are the measuring stick at the time.

In those moments when you play
them, where do you see yourself?

The emotion, the rivalry.

You're trying to
find how you fit in.

Either wrap your arms around it,
or, you know, it's gonna eat you up.

A 1-0 to Bill
Mueller. Homered last night.

- Strike!
- One ball, one strike.

His best pitch was a cutter.

It was one of the later-breaking
cutters you'd ever seen.

It was so difficult to,
um, have success off of.

If you're ever gonna have
success, it's a mistake by him.

You're only maybe gonna get
one in a season, type thing.

Now Mueller's
sitting on a 3-1 pitch.

I got that one pitch,
and... and... and I hit it.

And, uh, man, it
was, you know...

Swing, and
a high drive deep to right,

back goes Sheffield near
the bullpen, and it is gone!

And the Red Sox have won it

on a walk-off two-run homer by
Bill Mueller off Mariano Rivera!

Can you believe it?

First time I ever
recall saying "Can you believe it?"

That gave that team
some belief in itself.

So I ended up, uh,
going down into the clubhouse.

I'm with Tek, a couple
of the other guys,

and we're watching the
ninth inning unfold on TV,

and all of a sudden you feel the
rattle of this... the grandstand,

and you hear this roar.

Tek says, like,
"No fucking way!"

And jumps up off the couch. I thought he
was gonna hit his head on the ceiling.

It was just a huge
moment for... for us

to come back and win that game.

We go two-and-oh that day.

We win the fight, and
then we win the game.

This is when we became a team.

I remember I was
in my underwear.

So I'm standing at the door, and
I stood there with every pitcher,

every guy that came out of the
game and high-fived everybody.

It was... It was a good day.

It's a huge win for us.

And, man, it'll be bigger
if we make it bigger,

and we... we let this catapult us
and we... we do something with it.

That's what'll
really make it big.

We all say, like, that's the
moment things turned around.

But we didn't play
great after it.

Like, we still couldn't
shake this malaise.

And Manny strikes
out to end the ballgame.

Meanwhile, the Red
Sox continue to frustrate,

just when you think they
were going on a roll

at the end of the
Yankees series...

We ask ourselves...

We're analyzing
what's going on with the team.

We felt like our fatal
flaw was our defense.

And shortstop is the most
important defensive position,

it's the most obvious
place to fix it.

We were trying to consider, you
know, what we were gonna get

out of, kind of, an
arguably disgruntled Nomar,

and diminished Nomar,

for the next couple months versus
the possibility of trading him.

You're not really thinking
about, like, the ramifications

of trading a franchise icon.

You're just wrapped up in
making the team better.

Remember, Nomar had
been unbelievable for Boston.

He was one of the
best I've ever seen.

Trade deadline.

People are wondering if the Red
Sox are going to do anything.

They'll get something
done. I don't know how major.

I don't think it involves
Nomar Garciaparra.

I doubted it'd happen
'cause it was so big, it was so bold,

and Theo was so young.

And I just said, "They won't
have the stones to do this."

This has been a
hectic day here at the ballpark,

and we were kinda just hovering
around down in the clubhouse.

You knew something was up, you
didn't know how big it was gonna be.

And when we all got ejected

from the clubhouse, we
knew it was pretty big.

This, Don, has certainly been a
strange day in Red Sox history.

Hey. Theo. Um, we got a deal.

My jaw
nearly fell on the ground.

I went, "Nomar what? No
more Nomar in Boston."

Nomar's gone! I mean,
he's gone. It's hard to believe.

Hey, this is the part of the
job I... I absolutely hate.

Nomar Garciaparra
was going to the Cubs.

We got Cabrera and Mientkiewicz.

You got a Gold
Glove shortstop, Cabrera.

Of course, Mientkiewicz
coming over from Minnesota.

He's been a Gold
Glove-caliber first baseman.

Uh, Nomar gets traded.

And Doug Mientkiewicz, uh, just walks over
from the, uh, Minnesota Twins locker room

and just starts putting
his stuff down in a locker.

We're going, "Oh my God."

I very distinctly remember
the trade with Nomar.

Very... It was very jarring, very
shocking. I thought Nomar was...

was obviously a staple here
that wasn't gonna go anywhere.

I've always said, you know, this
was a place that I, well, you know,

I started, and I always
wanted to finish. You know?

That's obviously
not gonna happen.

You know, wanna spend your
entire career with one team.

Um, but, uh... but at
the same time, you know,

they can take the
shirt off my back,

but they can't take
away the memories I got.

The fact that Theo made
that deal showed he believed

that he knew what it was gonna
take to win a championship.

He's from here. He knew the
difference. He knew the implications.

I go to do the press conference.

In your opinion, this team got
significantly better with this deal today?

I think we improved, yeah. I
thought we had a... a decent shot

at the postseason, um, by
maintaining the status quo,

but in my mind, and in the opinion of
our whole baseball operations staff,

we were not gonna win
the World Series as-is.

All right, thank
you all very much.

Cell phone rings, it's
my twin brother Paul.

He's like, "What did you do?"

"I'm listening to WEEI, and you're
getting absolutely destroyed."

He's getting paid big
money to make these decisions.

So let's hope that he
knows what he's doing.

Sox without Nomar?
Nomar's New England.

You think of Boston,
you think of Nomar.

Well, see you guys.

My thought,
it's a horrible trade.

Cabrera's not
gonna win the World Series.

Nomar Garciaparra can win the
World Series for you, absolutely.

What on earth did
you guys just do?

You just traded Nomar
for a couple of dudes

that aren't great hitters that
you say are good defenders.

Like, that's what
you got back for him?

Do the press conference,

I walk back into
our basement office,

everyone's gone.

There's not a soul in there. Everyone
had gone home to their families.

And, you know, your mind
runs through those scenarios.

Like, "What if Nomar goes off?"

"We miss the playoffs?"

Might never live this down.