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Not two weeks after the Boston Red Sox played their final game of the 2015 season, Rick Porcello was back home in New Jersey, back in the gym, sweating out the worst year of his career as though it were the flu.He had a pretty good ability to just kind of shut it off, said Mickey Brueckner, Porcellos longtime trainer and founder of Annex Sports Performance Center in Chatham, New Jersey. Obviously there were some negative emotions associated with last year. But Rick had a pretty short memory.If Porcellos way of getting over 2015 was to barely mention it again, Hanley Ramirez was presented with almost daily reminders of his dreadful first season with the Red Sox. They came in the form of offseason drop-ins by several team officials, from mental skills coach Laz Gutierrez to manager John Farrell and even president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski.Never in my life, Ramirez said, had his winter workouts drawn so much attention during a decade in the big leagues. Thats how bad last season was for Ramirez, a train wreck in left field, seemingly in decline at the plate and a mope in the clubhouse.Porcello and Ramirez were symbols of an organization that appeared to have lost its way. They were problems, not solutions, and the Red Sox were stuck with them thanks to bad contracts and worse performance.But here are the Sox, on the verge of facing the Cleveland Indians in the Division Series after having gone from last to first in the American League East on the strength of a talented crop of homegrown players and ageless franchise icon David Ortiz. Porcello and Ramirez have risen from the bottom, too, becoming indispensable members of the roster, their redemptive seasons mirroring the teams.Ramirez hit 30 homers, drove in a career-high 111 runs, played a respectable first base and recently was described by Farrell as the Comeback Player of the Year, without question. That would be true if not for Porcello, who went 22-4 with a 3.15 ERA, emerged as a Cy Young Award favorite and was so rock steady that he was the choice to start Game 1 against the Indians on Thursday night, pushing $217 million ace lefty David Price to Game 2.So, how did they do it? How did Porcello and Ramirez go from big-money disappointments to money players? To understand that, you have to go back to their respective offseasons.Porcello: Ace-in-trainingThe Red Soxs 2015 season finale is remembered mostly for the players postgame salute to popular play-by-play man Don Orsillo, whose dismissal was a bigger story than anything happening on the field. Porcello drew the start in that last game at Cleveland, gave up two earned runs and pitched into the seventh inning for the seventh time in eight starts.Looking back, it was a preview of things to come.Porcello returned home, took about a week off and went to see Brueckner, his trainer since his senior year at Seton Hall Prep in 2007. As they do every year, Porcello and Brueckner sat down to discuss their offseason program. This time, though, there was something different about Porcello.Not to say he wasnt focused in the years before because hes always had an immense amount of focus, but he was just eager to kind of get to work and put everything that happened last year behind him and start fresh, Brueckner said. Obviously he felt like his first year with the Red Sox he didnt compete as well as he wouldve liked. He felt like he almost had to prove it to himself before anybody else.Porcello was traded to the Red Sox in December 2014 and projected as a potential ace in a rotation that lacked a proven No. 1 starter. Then, before he threw a single regular-season pitch, he signed a four-year, $82.5 million contract extension that made him the first $20 million-per-year pitcher in franchise history.It was a lot to handle for a pitcher who had spent the first five years of his career cloaked in the shadows of Detroit Tigers aces Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer. So, Porcello tried to be someone hes not. Rather than leaning on his signature sinker to induce weak contact, he tried to blow away hitters with his pedestrian fastball. It didnt work. Neither did a change to his offseason training regimen in which he began throwing off a mound in early December, several weeks ahead of his normal schedule because he wanted to report early for spring training and make a positive impression.That was one of the things that we wanted to adjust going into this year, Brueckner said. He was like, You know, I felt like I started too soon with my throwing program. So, the focus was to get away from the baseball. We shifted a little bit away from trying to ramp up quickly with the throwing. And I think it really worked out for him.Instead, Porcello and Brueckner went back to what worked in the past. They concentrated on biomechanics and making sure Porcellos body and arm were in sync in order to prepare for a long season ahead.The result: Porcello worked 223 innings, fourth in the AL behind Price (230), Verlander (227 2/3) and Chicago White Sox ace Chris Sale (226 2/3). Porcello completed at least six innings in all but three of his 33 starts.Maintaining that level of consistency has been the most important thing for me, Porcello said. Im not going to go out there and blow 98 by guys or have some nasty wipeout pitch. But I can go after a lineup with my repertoire, and hopefully I have a weapon for each hitter.Watching from afar, Brueckner has seen Porcellos confidence build throughout the season. Porcello pitches to his strengths and trusts his infield defense, especially Dustin Pedroia and Xander Bogaerts up the middle.Porcello doesnt consider himself an ace -- Get out of here with that, he said?at the mention of the word -- but he sure acts like one. He has exhibited an attitude that all top-of-the-rotation pitchers have. Dombrowski knew it existed when he drafted Porcello in the first round for the Tigers in 2007, and the Red Sox believed in it when they traded for him.With the success to back it up, Porcello isnt afraid to show it, whether its yelling back when Baltimore Orioles star Manny Machado was upset at being hit by a pitch or having a heated conversation with New York Yankees third baseman Chase Headley.Into June or July, you could start to see his confidence come back -- and in a way that Ive never really seen and I love seeing, Brueckner said. He almost had a bit of a chip on his shoulder. Hes edgy. That was a side of him that I knew was there, but Id never really seen on the mound. I could really tell that he was locked in, and thats the kind of thing that maybe he lacked last year.Said Porcello: I dont define myself or anybody else as an ace. I dont ever want to think that and then get complacent or stop working. Were winning ballgames, and it just feels good to be contributing to that.Hanley: Falling in lineOn Sept. 15, Ramirez notched perhaps the biggest hit of the season for the team that scored more runs than any other. With the Red Sox trailing 5-2 and down to their final out after losing their previous two games, Ramirez belted a three-run homer against New York Yankees closer Dellin Betances to close out a 7-5 win.Everybody is just going out there and giving everything we got every day, Ramirez said after that game. Ive been saying it the whole year: We dont give up.It was almost hard to believe the Red Sox gave up on Ramirez one year earlier.With Ramirez dealing with a shoulder injury, the Sox sent him home to South Florida before the season ended. They gave him a clear directive: Lose weight, get in better shape and prepare to play first base, a second new position in as many years.The Red Sox also wanted Ramirez to work on becoming a better teammate. They wanted him to be more like his mentor, Ortiz. Trust me, this is the organization that signed him, this is the organization he always wanted to play for, Ortiz said. We talked. We talk all the time. Hanley is like a little brother to me. I let him know how to deal with things when the tough times show up. Hes got to learn.Ramirez trained differently in the offseason, becoming leaner and more agile. He worked with Gutierrez, his neighbor in the Miami area, to take grounders at first base even before he got to spring training and became infield coach Brian Butterfields pet project.The change of position has gone a long way into his comfort level coming back into the infield, Farrell said. Honestly, I think he felt a bit out of sorts as a left fielder, maybe a little displaced from a defensive standpoint. Hes done a fantastic job. And offensively, hes been a huge boost to the middle of that lineup.Indeed, Ramirezs .866 OPS is his best over a full season since 2009 with the Florida Marlins. He carried the Red Sox in September, batting .307 with 11 homers, 26 RBIs and a 1.045 OPS through his final 27 games.Just in case anyone doubted Ortizs influence, when Red Sox players donned their favorite sports jerseys on a long flight from San Diego to Toronto last month, Ramirez walked onto the plane wearing Big Papis No. 34 road gray.Last year, going from the infield to the outfield, it kind of got him a little bit, Ortiz said. But I told you in spring training that I was happy about him playing first base. You have seen the results. Its a totally different way to look at how productive he has been and the season he has had. Hes having a season he hasnt had in the past couple of years.And like Porcellos season, one that few saw coming. Philip Rivers Jersey . "Four now," Carl Gunnarsson told the Leaf Report proudly following a 5-2 victory over New York on Tuesday night, the clubs fifth straight at home. Wholesale Chargers Jerseys China . 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OKLAHOMA CITY -- Indiana coach Nate McMillan wrote an instruction on the white board in the Pacers locker room Sunday: Scrap.Jeff Teague did just that, scoring eight of his 30 points in overtime, harassing Russell Westbrook defensively all night and lifting the short-handed Pacers to a 115-111 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.It was Indianas first road victory of the season and it came without star forward Paul George, who missed his second straight game with a sore left ankle.Youve got to fight for everything, McMillan said. I thought the guys tonight, we did that. We were without a couple of players, but the guys in uniform came out and played the game the right way. They played hard and we got our first road win.Oklahoma Citys Russell Westbrook had his fifth triple-double of the season -- as many as the rest of the NBA combined -- with 31 points, 15 assists and 11 rebounds, but went 13 of 34 from the field. Westbrook calmly used an expletive to describe the way he played.We just wasnt ready, he said. Just wasnt ready tonight, starting with myself. ... I could have did a lot of things better, man. Got to come out and be ready to play. Tonight I felt like I let my guys down all around. Ive got to be better.Teague matched his season scoring high and added nine assists and six steals. He hit two free throws with 4.6 seconds left in regulation to put the Pacers up three.Westbrook hit a 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds left to tie it for the Thunder and Glenn Robinson III missed a well-guarded 10-footer at the buzzer, forcing overtime.Teagues 3-pointer in the opening minute of overtime put the Pacers ahead for good. With 1:09 left, he converted a three-point play to make it 113-107, and he hit two free throws with 19.1 seconds left to put Indiana up 115-111. He said the Pacers werent flustered after Westbrooks tying 3-pointer at the end of regulation and that McMillan told his team just to go win the game.We had nothing to lose there, Teague said. We knew they were going to make some plays, so we just have to go out and win the game.Six Pacers scored in double figures and two of them had double-doubles -- Robinson with 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Thaddeus Young with 20 points and 11 rebounds.dddddddddddd Myles Turner just missed another with 15 points and nine rebounds.Enes Kanter added 16 points for the Thunder.Oklahoma City rallied from a 15-point second-half deficit to force overtime but wasnt able to recover from a dismal third quarter in which it missed 12 of its first 13 shots and went 4 of 17 from the field.TIP-INS:Pacers: Robinson III made his first start of the season in place of George (ankle) and C.J. Miles (knee), who also sat out due to injury. ... Another forward, Kevin Seraphin, also missed the game with a sore left knee ... Teague matched his career high with six steals.Thunder: Oklahoma City saw its Northwest Division lead shrink to a half-game over Portland. ... The Thunder ended a stretch during which they played eight out of nine games at home. ... The overtime was the second of the season for Oklahoma City, which beat Phoenix on Oct. 28 after an extra period.GEORGE, MILES OUT:George missed his third game, and his second in a row, since spraining his left ankle against Philadelphia on Nov. 11, while the player whos started in his place, Miles, sat out with a sore left knee that he hurt on Friday in a loss to Phoenix.Both players underwent MRIs on Saturday and while the results were negative for structural damage, McMillan said George and Miles would also be out for Mondays home game against Golden State, and then will be reassessed to determine their availability for Wednesdays game against Atlanta.QUOTABLE:I have been waiting on my opportunity, just working hard the whole offseason. This guy (Seraphin) told me a couple of days ago, literally, `Be ready. You never know. Then I walk in the gym and (George) is out, C.J. is hurt and I got to step up. I am just proud of this whole team for sticking together and fighting even though we are a couple of men down. -- Robinson on his performance.UP NEXT:Pacers: Host Golden State on the second night of a back-to-back featuring last seasons Western Conference finalists.Thunder: At the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night to start a three-game trip. r sticking together and fighting even though ' ' '