Sometimes it takes a team a while to establish an identity. Injuries happen, lineups change and trades are made. From week to week and month to month, everything is fluid.
Often, it's not until a third of the schedule has been completed befor the essence of a team is revealed.
Then, there are the 2003 Red Sox, who took exactly two games -- and not one day longer -- to forge their identity.
On Opening Night, the Red Sox carried a 4-1 lead into the ninth inning against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Seven batters later, Chad Fox served up a three-run, game-winning walkoff homer to Carl Crawford and the Devil Rays had stolen a 5-4 win.
The following night, the Sox squandered a 6-3 lead and allowed the Rays to tie the game in the eighth, 8-8. Eight innings later, pinch-hitter Kevin Millar drove a homer to left, giving the Sox a 9-8, 16-inning victory.
And there it was -- two days and two games which would neatly encapsulate the entire season. A crushing defeat, followed by an improbable late-inning victory.
So it would go for six months, making the 2003 Red Sox compelling, unpredictable and, ultimately, eminently likeable. Sometimes you couldn't bear to watch. Sometimes you didn't dare look away. Always, you knew it would be interesting.
By year's end, any exercise designed to identify the 10 Best Wins or 10 Worst Losses was a futile exercise. Where to start?
But where the Red Sox finished -- with a record good enough to qualify for their first post-season appearance since 1999 -- will be their ultimate calling card. Not since the Impossible Dream in 1967 has a Red Sox team been so much fun, so easy to embrace.
Their strength, as has been the case with almost every good Red Sox team, was in their hitting. Eight players drove in 80 or more runs; four had 90 or more.
Every regular reached double figures in homers. Six hit more than 20. The club set a major league record for most extra-base hits and total bases for a single season. They set club records for homers and sacrifice flies.
From the first batter in the lineup to the last, the Red Sox hit and then hit some more, thus ensuring that they were never out of any game, no matter the deficit.
"We can flat-out rake," crowed second baseman Todd Walker. "From one to nine in the lineup, there's no break for a pitcher. And it seemed like everybody did their part."
Statistically and otherwise. Despite being healthy for the entire season, neither Nomar Garciaparra nor Manny Ramirez will finish with as many as 110 RBI. Yet, heading into the final two games, five other regulars -- David Ortiz, Kevin Millar, Bill Mueller, Jason Varitek and Walker -- will come within 20 or so of the two club leaders.
Because the Red Sox had so many offensive resources, they were mostly able to stay out of long slumps. As a result, the Sox never lost more than five in a row, and then, only once.
"It's hard to point to one guy," said Walker. "Everybody had the ability to pick us up. One night it was one guy, the next night it was someone else."
It didn't hurt that, with a strong lineup, the Sox were able to feast on mediocre pitching, of which there is no shortage in Major League Baseball. Plus, they took full advantage of playing at Fenway Park.
"That lineup was made for Fenway," said one American League advance scout. "They have a lot of lefties like Ortiz and Walker who know how to take full advantage of that left field wall by going the other way. They have righthanded power hitters who can knock the wall down. And they hit a lot of doubles, which is the key to success in that park, because you keep innings going."
(The Sox went into the weekend just three doubles shy of tying the major league record for most two-base hits in a season.)
Beyond the non-stop firepower, there existed a certain swashbuckling attitude that seemed to propel them to one improbable comeback after another. The dugout remained lively even in games which seemed out of hand.
"We never thought we were out of any game," said Trot Nixon. "We always knew we could come back."
More often than not, it seemed, they did. On June 7, they twice came back from six-run deficits in Milwaukee. On Labor Day, they held the lead in the top of the eighth, lost it in the bottom of the inning, then reclaimed it in the ninth on Nixon's grand slam.
A certain amount of camaraderie was there for good measure. Past Red Sox teams had as much sock, but not many had the same good karma.
That was particularly critical in the early months of the season when, thanks to an overload of corner infielders, players deserving of game action sat on the bench.
Not until Shea Hillenbrand was dealt to Arizona for Byung-Hyun Kim did the logjam ease. The idle players never started trouble.
"Everybody just jelled," said Nixon. "We haven't had any jealousy or anyone upset because they weren't playing as much as they'd like. If you weren't playing, it was understood that you wanted to -- you didn't have to talk about it."
Give credit to manager Grady Little for keeping the clubhouse chemistry intact. Little made sure to keep players informed of their roles and let them know of coming changes.
"Grady did a great job," Nixon said. "That's not easy, because you can't make everybody happy. But he communicated, and guys appreciate that. The (good chemistry) is a testament to him and everybody in this clubhouse."
Finally, even the much-maligned relief corps had its moments. There may have been one crisis after another in the bulllpen, but the Sox were 79-2 in games in which they led after eight innings.
Even after the ill-advised bullpen-by-committe collapsed in May, there were re-inforcements on hand.
Brandon Lyon, picked up on waivers over the winter, came out of nowhere to serve as closer and team savior in May -- after the committee debacle and before the arrival of Kim.
Lyon got nine saves before Kim got here, and when the Sox dealt him to Pittsburgh -- only temporarily, as it turned out -- a deeply appreciative Little was moved to say: "I don't know where we'd be without him."
While Kim provided some sense of order, the Sox got valuable middle-inning and set-up work from Mike Timlin and Alan Embree. Even on nights when the starting pitcher failed to keep the Sox in the game, most times the relievers could be counted on to buy the team some additional time.
Often, it didn't take long for the offense to take advantage of their opportunity. Nearly one-quarter of the team's wins came in its final at-bat, a mind-blowing figure.
In addition to rebounding within a given game by a dramatic comeback, the Sox also demonstrated an uncanny ability to forget the most devestating of defeats.
"I'm not sure why," said Little, "but this team has a very short-term memory. They were able to put tough losses behind them and come back the next day like nothing happened."
While the Sox suffered 15 defeats in their opponents' last at-bat, they were 13-2 in the games following those tough losses. What, them worry?
"This is a special team," said an emotional Theo Esptein, who built most of it, on the night the Sox clinched their post-season berth. "They believed in one another, and never quit."
With the benefit of hindsight, that much was evident, right from the first two nights of the season.
