http://985thesportshub.radio.com/2010/03/1...mar-in-a-movie/
That was pretty pathetic. How can anybody honestly call Nomar a loser as a player with a straight face? The biggest Nomar hater in the world should be laughing that off. You can't honestly cover sports in Boston and not acknowledge what a joke of an organization Nomar was drafted and developed in to. By the time Nomar got in to the big leagues he was igniting the offense that featured a legitimately great hitter in Mo Vaughn, a very good player in John Valentin, and an underwhelming supporting cast of Hatteberg, Naehring, Cordero, Bragg, O'Leary, and the ever so joyful Reggie Jefferson with a rotation of Wakefield-Gordon-Sele-Suppan-Avery. It was a team that won 78 games and finished in the middle of the pack for American League attendance (although in a small ballpark and only a full season removed from the end of the strike.)
Then 1998 hits and Nomar hits .323 with 35 HR and a 140 OPS+, finishing 2nd in the AL MVP vote, and leads the team to 92 wins and a postseason berth with Mo Vaughn and the newly acquired Pedro Martinez. He hits .333 with 3 HR and a 1.000 SLG and but it isn't enough as the Indians down the Red Sox 3-1 with the only win coming from...well it's kind of obvious.
1999 comes around and Boston baseball for a brief time becomes something special that everybody in New England wanted to be a part off. Pedro Martinez and Nomar Gariaparra begin their epic 2 year run as arguably the best pitcher/position player combination in baseball that carried the team especially in 1999 (look at that pitching rotation). The Sox win 94 games and actually advance to the ALCS on the backs of Nomar, Pedro, and a great performance by several offensive players including O'Leary, Offerman, Lewis, and Stanley.
Pedro is masterful in his ALCS start vs. the Yankees and Nomar hits .400/.455/.800 with 2 HR.
2000 is another great year for Nomar and Pedro but they only win 85 games and after that you have the 2001 disaster.
New ownership comes in for 2002 and the Red Sox win 93 games but fail to make the playoffs, but Nomar and Pedro turn in stellar performances, although they aren't what they used to be thanks to injuries.
Fast forward one year to 2003. Nomar and Pedro finally have the supporting cast they deserve. Injuries from 1999-2001 give Nomar a (at the time) career low .301 average and .870 OPS. Same injury story goes for Pedro as he was still absolutely dominant but only threw 186.7 innings and got gassed after 100 pitches, he failed to reach 200 IP for the 3rd year in a row.
It was all in place.
And any competent manager would've helped these two finish what they started.