Bill Mueller recalls some of the best moments from 2004 Red Sox World Series run
BOSTON -- It was 20 years ago this year that the Boston Red Sox ended an 86-year World Series drought and brought home one of the city's greatest championships. The 2004 Red Sox were not only a talented group with an explosive offense and a frightening pitching staff, but an incredibly fun cast of characters that you wanted to watch every night.
From Pedro Martinez to David Ortiz to Manny Ramirez to Johnny Damon to Kevin Millar, the 2004 championship Red Sox had no shortage of personality on the team. But there were also guys like Bill Mueller, who may have been one of the quieter characters on the squad, but was an absolute assassin with the bat.
Just ask Hall of Famer closer Mariano Rivera.
Mueller only played three seasons in Boston, but he took some of the biggest swings in the team's history. He'll forever be remember in Boston sports lore for two gigantic hits he had off Rivera in 2004.
One of those left the yard, propelling Boston to a season-altering victory. The other was a line-drive single up the middle, but it changed Red Sox baseball forever.
Mueller recently joined WBZ-TV's Dan Roche and CBS News Boston's Joe Weil to look back on that incredible 2004 season for the Red Sox, and shared some fun stories from that run.
The Varitek vs. A-Rod turning point
Mueller's first big swing against Rivera that season came 20 years ago on Wednesday.
It was during a Saturday afternoon tilt at Fenway Park on July 24, 2004. The game had been delayed by rain and was nearly postponed, but the Sox pushed to play. That afternoon's win ended up being one of the biggest turning points of the season for Boston.
But before Mueller could make his big swing, fans were treated to a good old fashioned basebrawl.
The Yankees were up 3-0 when Alex Rodriguez stepped to the plate in the top of the third inning. A slider got away from Boston starter Bronson Arroyo and hit A-Rod on the elbow, and then all hell broke loose at Fenway Park.
Rodriguez fired off some choice words to Arroyo as he started to walk to first base, and then turned his vitriol to catcher Jason Varitek, who was telling the Yankees slugger to quit barking and take his base.
Rodriguez threw a few F-bombs at Varitek, who responded by giving Rodriguez a shove to the face, sparking a benches-clearing brawl between the rivals.
It was a full-on donnybrook at Fenway Park. Punches were thrown. Players ended up on the ground. New York starter Tanyon Sturtze had a bloody ear by the time the kerfuffle ended.
Mueller had a great view of it all, albeit an obstructed one.
"I thought for sure you guys would say you saw me hiding behind Big Papi during the brawl. That's probably where I was, letting him lead." Mueller joked with Roche and Weil.
Mueller obviously didn't take too kindly to Rodriguez's reaction to getting hit, saying the veteran was trying to bully a young pitcher in Arroyo.
"Bronson was a young guy just trying to survive against A-Rod, so that was ridiculous," he said. "I'm happy that Tek stood up to that. I was not the right time for that kind of stuff."
Mueller wins it with a homer off Mariana Rivera
Those weren't the only fireworks at Fenway that afternoon. The Red Sox took a 4-3 lead in the fourth, but then the Yankees erupted for six runs in the sixth. The Red Sox responded with four runs in the bottom of the inning, but fell behind 10-8 in the seventh when Ruben Sierra hit a solo homer for New York.
That set up Mueller's heroics in the bottom of the ninth against the best closer in the game. Mueller hit eighth that day in Boston's loaded lineup, and came up with the biggest swing of the afternoon. (Aside from Varitek's swipe at Rodgriguez's face, of course.)
Nomar Garciaparra led the inning off with a double, and Kevin Millar drove him in with a RBI single two batters later. Mueller stepped to the plate with the tying run on first, and ended the tilt with a dramatic two-run blast into the Boston bullpen.
"You never know how things are going to work out, and fortunately, I shut my eyes at the right time against a Hall of Famer," said Mueller.
"I'm glad it ended the way it did. We needed that win," he added. "It was a measuring stick: Are we capable, can we compete and be consistent in beating good teams -- and also beating bad teams? If that's the one that is circled, that is pretty cool."
Mueller had a clutch gene when facing Rivera, owning a .455 career batting average against the only unanimous Hall of Famer in baseball history. Mueller joked that four of his five career hits against Rivera were probably "broken-bat loopers that just dropped in."
Mueller gets Rivera again in Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS
Fast forward three months and Mueller found himself in yet another high pressure at-bat against the Yankees closer -- this time with Boston's postseason on the line.
The Red Sox were on the brink of elimination, trailing 3-0 in the American League Championship Series and down to their final three outs. Despite trailing 4-3 and with the best closer in the game on the mound for New York, there was a glimmer of hope when Millar started the inning with walk.
Dave Roberts came in as a pinch runner, and everyone in the world knew the speedster was going to try to steal second. Especially Mueller, who was at the plate.
"It was a simplified kind of deal. As soon as Roberts gets on, I'm in the mode of taking pitchers to let him steal because I know that's what he was out there to do," said Mueller.
Roberts stole the bag, and then Mueller drove him in with a single up the middle, sending Fenway Park into hysterics and bringing the Sox back from the dead.
"Once he got on second, I was trying to move him over. That is where I went to first -- just get him to third so someone could drive him in with a sac-fly or a base hit or whatever. I tried to keep things as simple as possible, and sometimes when your heart is in the right spot you get rewarded," said Mueller.
The Red Sox won 6-4 in the bottom of the 12th off a two-run homer by Ortiz for their first win of the series. Three nights later, they completed the greatest comeback in sports history.
Winning that championship
The Red Sox didn't lose another game the rest of the playoffs after that Game 4 win over the Yankees, completing the first-ever 3-0 comeback in MLB history against New York. They went on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series for the team's first title in 86 years.
For Mueller, who grew up a Cardinals fan, it was a bit surreal to win a championship in his hometown. Mueller recalls sitting in the nosebleeds with his dad in St. Louis when the Cardinals won Game 7 of the 1982 World Series over the Milwaukee Brewers. Over 20 years later, he and his dad were on the field celebrating his World Series title.
"Hearing the Red Sox fans there before that last pitch and that last out, that's what I keep. To be able to win that at home was weird, but really cool all at the same time. It is forever etched, that moment," he said.
As everyone did after that final out, Mueller started hugging anyone he could find on the field. Even someone who wasn't even on the team.
"I should have been paying attention a little more. I look over to the first base dugout and see Drew Barrymore and [Jimmy Fallon] and they're filming the last scene of the movie, Fever Pitch. At the end of the game everyone is running in the pile and hugging and hugging, and I'm like, who is this skinny guy? It was Jimmy," Mueller recalled.
Mueller's message to Boston fans
Bill Mueller is one of those guys who should never have to buy a beverage in the city of Boston. Red Sox fans are forever grateful for his big swings, and Mueller is forever grateful for his three seasons in Boston.
"It's one of the best places in the world to be a player and play a game. I'm always grateful for [the fans] and the experience there," he said. "I'm so happy that Theo [Epstein] and everybody put such a great team together that we could be competitive and break the curse, to do that for the city and for Boston.
"It's hard not to love the Boston Red Sox," said Mueller.