Wake Wins 200th

It's been a big summer for baseball milestones, and tonight Tim Wakefield joined Derek Jeter, Jim Thome and Michael Young, three outstanding men who recently reached big round numbers.  It has been more than seven weels since the rubber armed Iron Man walked off the mound in the seventh inning of a slugfest at Fenway to a standing ovation.  He'd just served up a grand slam to light hitting Mariner shortstop Brendan Ryan, but luckily for him the Sox had lit up Rookie of the Year candidate Michael Pineda and Seattle's middle relievers for a dozen runs.  So Wake got his 199th career win (and his 2,000th strikeout as a member of the Red Sox), even if his stat line (ten hits and seven earned runs over six and a third innings, known as a "distaster" start for allowing more earned runs than innings pitched) resembled a typical A.J. Burnett performance. 

And then a funny thing happened.  Timmy, for the life of him, just couldn't get that 200th win.  He was the tough luck loser of a 3-1 pitcher's duel with Gavin Floyd in his final start of July, earned a pair of no-decisions in eventual Boston victories before going the distance against the Mariners, only to lose 5-3.  In his next turn, he left in the sixth inning against the Royals and was slapped with another ND, then got rocked by the light-hitting A's at Fenway.  After tossing four shutout innings during mop-up duty of a 10-0 Rangers blowout, his seventh try at the milestone qualified as cruel and unusual punishment; he departed after the fifth with the Sox up 8-5, then could do nothing but watch as Daniel Bard and the bullpen blew the lead and the ballgame.  Boston scored ten runs and pounds out fourteen hits, and he still didn't get the win.

By all rights, he should have had his 200th win a few weeks ago, but baseball can be a funny sport.  He gets knocked around by a AAA lineup and wins, then holds his opponents to four earned runs or fewer in eight consecutive starts and somehow can't buy one.

Wakefield rarely makes it look easy these days, but he can still get the job done

But the 45 year-old knuckleballer finally got that elusive W in front of the supportive home crowd at Fenway tonight, and now we can all rest easy.  Fittingly, number 200 was a classic Wakefield workmanlike effort; six innings, five earned runs and gopher balls to slugging catcher J.P. Arencibia and MVP contender Jose Bautista.  This mediocre line was good enough on a night when the Red Sox crossed home plate 18 times against Brandon Morrow and the Blue Jays.

It's been one heck of a career for Tim.  The oldest player in the game three years running leads all active pitchers in wins and innings pitched, but despite his impressive career totals he's only been a slightly above average pitcher throughout his 19 big league seasons.  It's safe to say his overall statistics reflect longevity, endurance, and perseverance more than elite skill.  He's had his fair share of highs and lows throughout his two-decade major league odyssey that originated in Pittsburgh with Barry Bonds.  After a sensational debut and sophomore slump there, he was unceremoniously let go and the 28 year-old's career was in jeopardy (his timing was impeccable, though.  He left the Pirates when the wheels fell off and arrived in Boston just as the team became perennial contenders).  Boston GM Dan Duquette took a flier on him after Roger Clemens and Aaron Sele went down early in the '95 season, and Wake thanked him by resurrecting his career and becoming a fixture for the Old Towne Team over the next decade and a half. This guy played with Nomar Garciaparra and Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling and Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz and Jon Lester.  I see him as the team's pitching equivalent of Jason Varitek; long-tenured sources of production and leadership.

And like Varitek, Wakefield has shown time and time again that he's willing to do whatever's best for the team.  After averaging fifteen wins a season for the first four years of his Boston career, he became the team's closer and saved fifteen games during the middle of the '99 season when Tom Gordon got hurt.  Because of his late game success and versatility, Wakefield spent the next three years alternating between starter and reliever before becoming a permanent starter again late in the 2002 season.  In the ALCS two years later he volunteered for mop-up duty in Game Three's 19-8 shellacking, sacrificing his Game Four start to help preserve the bullpen.  He took a beating from the Yankee sluggers but unwittingly saved the season by keeping Boston's relievers fresh for the 26 combined innings of Games Four and Five.  He's a mid-rotation innings eater (a job he has embraced by finishing more than 3,000 frames; most among active pitchers), and to top it off every offseason he signs a cheap one year contract and ends up being one of the best bargains in baseball.  Ole Reliable is always ready and willing to fill a rotation slot when Daisuke Matsuzaka or Josh Beckett gets hurt.

Although he is once again splitting time between the bullpen and starting rotation, Wakefield continues to contribute even as he loses effectiveness and lobs the slowest fastball in The Show.  As I took a look back at Wakefield's illustrious career, I decided it would be fun to remember some of his best moments as well as his rocky ones.

Highs
-Third place finish in 1992 NL Rookie of the Year balloting.  Went 8-1 with four complete games and a sparkling 2.15 ERA over his first thirteen starts.  The Sporting News named him NL Rookie Pitcher of the Year and he spun a pair of complete game victories in a losing effort against the Braves in the NLCS
-After Boston scooped him up, he earned his keep by finishing third in the 1995 AL Cy Young race on the strength of his sixteen wins and 2.95 ERA.  Won Sporting News AL Comeback Player of the Year for his efforts
-Shut down New York in the 2003 ALCS and would have won series MVP if Grady Little hadn't forgot about his bullpen during Pedro Martinez's infamous meltdown in the eighth inning of Game Seven.
-Earned his first and only All-Star selection in 2009 at the age of 42, making him the second-oldest first-time All-Star ever behind only the immortal Satchel Paige
-Recipient of 2010 Roberto Clemente award, first Red Sox player to win it
-Is the oldest Red Sox pitcher to win a game and the oldest Red Sox player to appear in a game at Fenway
-Making the postseason ten (soon to be eleven) times and winning a pair World Series rings

Acknowledging the Fenway Faithful

Lows
-Followed up stellar rookie campaign by struggling, losing rotation spot, and getting demoted to AA in 1993
-Spent all of '94 in the minors and was released by the Pirates on April 20, 1995
-Led the American League in losses with fifteen in 1997
-Struggled mightily in the '95, '98 and '99 playoffs by allowing nearly twice as many earned runs as innings pitched.  He also surrendered the gopher ball to Aaron Boone that ended the 2003 ALCS and failed to make it out of the fourth inning in his only career World Series start against St. Louis in 2004.  He has more losses than wins in his postseason career, not to mention an unsightly 6.75 ERA, 1.47 WHIP and 1.42 K/BB ratio.  Yikes
-Was left off the 2007 World Series roster because of a shoulder injury
-Hasn't finished a season with sub-four ERA since 2002 and has only four such seasons for his career
-A dozen seasons with double digit losses and more L's than any active pitcher.

But through it all, Wakefield has remained a class act and the ultimate team player.  He's a consummate professional on the field and off, where he donates time and money to charities throughout New England.  Tim Wakefield isn't a Hall of Fame pitcher, but more importantly is a Hall of Fame person.

Also-congratulations to Mariano Rivera on his 600th career save.  Two more and he'll break Trevor Hoffman's record.  Like Wakefield, Rivera is a class act and deserves all the praise he gets for this remarkable achievement.