2001 Boston Red Sox season
The 2001 Boston Red Sox season was the 101st season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. The Red Sox finished second in the American League East with a record, games behind the New York Yankees, who went on to win the AL championship. The Red Sox did not qualify for the postseason, as the AL wild card went to the Oakland Athletics, who finished second in the American League West with a record of.
In mid-August, manager Jimy Williams was dismissed by [General Manager (baseball)|manager (baseball)|general manager] Dan Duquette; Joe Kerrigan, who had been the team's pitching coach, served as manager for the remainder of the season. The 2001 Red Sox allowed the most stolen bases in a season in the live-ball era, with 223, breaking the record of 216 set by the 1986 Philadelphia Phillies.
The end of the regular season was pushed back from September 30 to October 7 due to the September 11 attacks. The Red Sox only played 161 games, as their rained out game of September 10 against the Yankees in New York was not rescheduled, as it had no bearing on the postseason.
Offseason
- November 16, 2000: Chris Stynes was traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the Boston Red Sox for Michael Coleman and Donnie Sadler.
- December 2000: Free agent Manny Ramirez signed an eight-year $160 million contract with the Red Sox.
- January 11, 2001: David Cone signed as a free agent with the Boston Red Sox.
- January 19, 2001: Craig Grebeck was signed as a free agent with the Boston Red Sox.
Regular season
Record vs. opponents
| Team | ATL | FLA | MON | NYM | PHI |
| Boston | 3–3 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 |
Transactions
- April 18, 2001: Bill Pulsipher was signed as a free agent with the Boston Red Sox.
- June 5, 2001: Kevin Youkilis was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 8th round of the 2001 amateur draft. Player signed June 11, 2001.
- June 12, 2001: Justin Duchscherer was traded by the Boston Red Sox to the Texas Rangers for Doug Mirabelli.
- July 2, 2001: Joe Oliver was signed as a free agent with the Boston Red Sox.
- July 31, 2001: Ugueth Urbina was traded by the Montreal Expos to the Boston Red Sox for Tomokazu Ohka and Rich Rundles.
- August 23, 2001: Bill Pulsipher was selected off waivers by the Chicago White Sox from the Boston Red Sox.
Famous firsts involving the Red Sox
- Monday, August 6, 2001 – Scott Hatteberg became the first player to hit into a triple play and hit a grand slam during the same game.
- Sunday, September 2, 2001 – This was the first day in Major League history where the final score in four games was 1-0: Yankees 1 vs. Red Sox 0, Padres 1 vs. Diamondbacks 0, Astros 1 vs. Brewers 0, and Blue Jays 1 vs. Tigers 0.
Player stats
Batting
Starters by position
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI | SB |
| C | Scott Hatteberg | 94 | 278 | 68 | .245 | 3 | 25 | 1 |
| 1B | Brian Daubach | 122 | 407 | 107 | .263 | 22 | 71 | 1 |
| 2B | José Offerman | 128 | 524 | 140 | .267 | 9 | 49 | 5 |
| SS | Mike Lansing | 106 | 352 | 88 | .250 | 8 | 34 | 3 |
| 3B | Shea Hillenbrand | 139 | 468 | 123 | .263 | 12 | 49 | 3 |
| LF | Troy O'Leary | 104 | 341 | 82 | .240 | 13 | 50 | 1 |
| CF | Carl Everett | 102 | 409 | 105 | .257 | 14 | 58 | 9 |
| RF | Trot Nixon | 148 | 535 | 150 | .280 | 27 | 88 | 7 |
| DH | Manny Ramirez | 142 | 529 | 162 | .306 | 41 | 125 | 0 |
Other batters
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI | SB |
| Dante Bichette | 107 | 391 | 112 | .286 | 12 | 49 | 2 |
| Chris Stynes | 96 | 361 | 101 | .280 | 8 | 33 | 4 |
| Jason Varitek | 51 | 174 | 51 | .293 | 7 | 25 | 0 |
| Darren Lewis | 82 | 164 | 46 | .280 | 1 | 12 | 5 |
| Lou Merloni | 52 | 146 | 39 | .267 | 3 | 13 | 2 |
| Doug Mirabelli | 54 | 141 | 38 | .270 | 9 | 26 | 0 |
| Nomar Garciaparra | 27 | 83 | 24 | .289 | 4 | 8 | 0 |
| John Valentin | 20 | 60 | 12 | .200 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Calvin Pickering | 24 | 50 | 14 | .280 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| Craig Grebeck | 23 | 41 | 2 | .049 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Izzy Alcántara | 14 | 38 | 10 | .263 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| Morgan Burkhart | 11 | 33 | 6 | .182 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| James Lofton | 8 | 26 | 5 | .192 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Ángel Santos | 9 | 16 | 2 | .125 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Joe Oliver | 5 | 12 | 3 | .250 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Marcus Jensen | 1 | 4 | 1 | .250 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Starting pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts| Player | G | GS | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Hideo Nomo | 33 | 33 | 198.0 | 13 | 10 | 4.50 | 220 |
| Frank Castillo | 26 | 26 | 136.2 | 10 | 9 | 4.21 | 89 |
| David Cone | 25 | 25 | 135.2 | 9 | 7 | 4.31 | 115 |
| Pedro Martínez | 18 | 18 | 116.2 | 7 | 3 | 2.39 | 163 |
| Tomo Ohka | 12 | 11 | 52.1 | 2 | 5 | 6.19 | 37 |
| Paxton Crawford | 8 | 7 | 36.0 | 3 | 0 | 4.75 | 29 |
| Bret Saberhagen | 3 | 3 | 15.0 | 1 | 2 | 6.00 | 10 |
Other pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts| Player | G | IP | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Tim Wakefield | 45 | 168.2 | 9 | 12 | 3 | 3.90 | 148 |
| Rolando Arrojo | 41 | 103.1 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3.48 | 78 |
| Casey Fossum | 13 | 44.1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 4.87 | 26 |
Relief pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts| Player | G | GS | IP | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Derek Lowe | 67 | 3 | 91.2 | 5 | 10 | 24 | 3.53 | 82 |
| Rod Beck | 68 | 0 | 80.2 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 3.90 | 63 |
| Rich Garcés | 62 | 0 | 67.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 3.90 | 51 |
| Sun-woo Kim | 20 | 2 | 41.2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5.83 | 27 |
| Hipólito Pichardo | 30 | 0 | 34.2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4.93 | 17 |
| Pete Schourek | 33 | 0 | 30.1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 4.45 | 20 |
| Bill Pulsipher | 23 | 0 | 22.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.32 | 16 |
| Ugueth Urbina | 19 | 0 | 20.0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 2.25 | 32 |
| Todd Erdos | 10 | 0 | 16.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.96 | 7 |
| Allen McDill | 15 | 0 | 14.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.52 | 16 |
| Willie Banks | 5 | 0 | 10.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.84 | 10 |
| Bryce Florie | 7 | 0 | 8.2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11.42 | 7 |
| Carlos Castillo | 2 | 0 | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.00 | 0 |
Game log
Note: the Red Sox only played 161 games, as a September 10 rainout against the Yankees in New York was not rescheduled.Awards and honors
- Pedro Martínez – AL Pitcher of the Month
- Manny Ramirez – Silver Slugger Award, AL Player of the Month
- Manny Ramirez, starting LF
Farm system
In addition to the DSL Red Sox, the team shared a DSL team with the Cleveland Indians.VSL cooperative was with the Milwaukee Brewers and Minnesota Twins.
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