Finding an identity

MLB. When over a million fans line the streets today in Boston to celebrate and pay tribute to the 2007 World Series champions, they’ll be honoring a team that spent the better part of eight months defining its identity.

While the similarities are there, beginning with a World Series title following a dramatic playoff comeback and continuing with names like Curt Schilling, Jason Varitek, Mike Timlin, Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, the 2007 Red Sox were a different sort than their 2004 brethren that ended 86 years of suffering.

The grind started with unprecedented media coverage from Day 1 in Fort Myers, brought on by the popularity of newcomer Daisuke Matsuzaka.

“I don’t know, there’s no comparison, different battles, different things to go through,” said captain Jason Varitek. “This team didn’t hit quite as well as the other one, but we hit well late. It doesn’t compare.”

There was the lightning-fast, 36-15 start over the first two months, which helped the team race out to an 11 1/2-game lead in the American League East before Memorial Day.

That was followed by another two-month spell in which the team seemed to tread water, while never really getting too high or too low.

The identity of this team began to emerge in the energy shown by its young core, players like AL Rookie of the Year favorite Dustin Pedroia, Jonathan Papelbon, Kevin Youkilis and Jacoby Ellsbury.

“I mean, for me obviously, it was just try to make the team and do anything I can to help the team win,” Pedroia said. “You know, I knew our team goals were obviously to win the American League East and win the World Series.”

Then, there were the contributions of Mike Lowell, Josh Beckett, Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima, all of whom were not with the 2004 champs.

And all the while, the Yankees seemed to be lurking. This Sox team, however, was determined to do something no Red Sox club had accomplished since 1995, not even the 2004 World Series champions.

When the lead dwindled in late September, these Sox showed they would not buckle under pressure — a trait that would come in handy one month later.

The Sox had to wait until the final Friday of the regular season to claim their first AL East crown in 12 years.

Every great team is measured by how it handles pressure. And the diamonds these Red Sox will receive on their rings next April could have well been formed by the tight squeeze of the ALCS against the Indians, when they overcame a three-games-to-one deficit.

“Being down 3-1 against Cleveland, I think everybody kind of came together and said, ‘We don’t care about anything. We just want to win and do this together,’” Pedroia said. “You know, we really haven’t had a chance. It’s happened too fast to kind of take it all in.”

Now, Pedroia and the Red Sox have today and the rest of the winter to savor every moment and enjoy the fruits of their labor.