Transformers

With multiple titles, the Red Sox have now changed

MLB. The Sox were the model of consistency in 2007, never winning more than five consecutive games and never losing more than five straight during their regular-season drive toward an American League East title, then the AL pennant and finally World Series bragging rights.

The Sox saved their biggest and most impressive winning streak for the season’s end, as they ripped off seven straight wins to finish off the ALCS and then sweep the World Series.

“You never expect to come back and get on the roll that we did, but this is what we do in the postseason, I guess,” said Sox General Manager Theo Epstein.

The series title was Boston’s seventh in its 107-year history, and the AL division title was their first in 12 seasons — a pair of accomplishments that trademarked this season and signified a changing of the guard within the American League.

In just about every way imaginable the Sox have shed the lovable loser label and transformed from underdogs to a well-oiled winning machine equally adept in slugfests, pitcher’s duels or displaying small-ball skills needed to win a game.

“It’s the culmination of a lot of hard work. We had to overcome obstacles, we had guys that had to execute and guys that we had to lean on to get things done in certain situations, and everyone came through,” said Sox third baseman Mike Lowell. “That’s the mark of a champion and I think that’s what this team is all about.”

The 2007 Sox squad was comprised with the winning know-how of veteran World Series performers like Curt Schilling and Mike Timlin mixed in perfectly with the fresh-faced exuberance of newcomers like Dustin Pedroia, Jonathan Papelbon and Jacoby Ellsbury to produce a winning formula.

In the World Series, the Sox batters put up the second-best team batting average (.333) in series history, and all four starting pitchers put up W’s in the sweep.

Josh Beckett finished with an amazing and Cy Young-worthy 20-7 record during the regular season and then went a perfect 4-0 with a 1.20 ERA during the playoffs; Jonathan Papelbon put together 10 2/3 innings of scoreless relief and was well-rested enough in the World Series to endure three consecutive outings in which he recorded more than three outs. Six of the nine regulars in Boston’s lineup posted batting averages over .300, and the Sox offense totaled the second-highest postseason run total (99 runs scored) in major league postseason history.