Don’t Blame The Trade Deadline For This Red Sox Swoon

Photo by Vincent Alban/The Boston Globe via Getty ImagesOn July 24, 2003, Bill Mueller blasted a walk-off home run off Mariano Rivera and the New York Yankees. It wasn’t just any walk-off home run. Several hours earlier (and it was several hours — thank Pedro for the pitch clock) Bronson Arroyo had stung Alex Rodriguez in the arm with an errant curveball. Jason Varitek didn’t take kindly to A-Rod’s jawing as he slow-walked to first, reportedly (but almost certainly apocryphally) telling the all-time great “we don’t throw at .260 hitters,” and then shoving his mitt into A-Rod’s spray-tanned face.

Up to that point, the 2004 team had largely been a disappointment, a high-priced collection of…