Tim Wakefield finished 2005 with 16 wins, one shy of his career high. He established a single-game career high in strikeouts twice in a span of seven starts between Aug. 7 and Sept. 11. His reliability and consistency turned him into the de facto ace of a staff riddled by injury and ineffectiveness.

Yet the most workmanlike statistic of all means more to Wakefield than all the wins, strikeouts and titles combined: A career-high 225 1/3 innings pitched.

"Two hundred innings every year, that's one of my goals," Wakefield said after he surpassed the 200-inning mark in a complete game win over the Athletics Sept. 16. "I think, as a starting pitcher, if you can give a club 200 innings every year, you're going to be in a lot of games. You get 30, 33 starts a year and I think that you're pitching into the sixth and seventh inning every time. That's just been one of my goals [since he was] a young player that I pride myself in is that I can give the club innings."

By any standard, the innings Wakefield provided this year were the highest quality he'd delivered since his out-of-nowhere comeback season in 1995. Wakefield averaged 6.83 innings per start, his highest total since 1995, and the Sox were 10-4 in the 14 starts he made immediately following a loss.

Wakefield also threw three complete games in a span of 11 starts between July 17 and Sept. 11, an especially impressive stretch considering he entered his July 17 start without a complete game in his preceding 154 starts-the second-longest streak in history.

"I noticed this year his ball's just been moving a lot more," ex-teammate Mark Bellhorn said after Wakefield tossed a three-hitter and struck out a career-high 12 in a 1-0 loss to the Yankees Sept. 11. "Last year he was still effective, but this year [it] just seems like whatever he's doing, he's doing right."

Indeed, if not for personal catcher Doug Mirabelli 's trip to the disabled list May 19-June 12, Wakefield likely would have broken his career high in wins (he won 17 in 1998), made a run at 20 wins and thrust himself into Cy Young contention. Wakefield was 16-8 with a 3.66 ERA in 29 starts with Mirabelli behind the plate and 0-4 with an 8.86 ERA in four starts without him.

Perhaps the most impressive element of Wakefield's season was his knack for making mid-game adjustments with his notoriously unpredictable knuckleball and his ability to turn a subpar outing into a dominant one in the blink of an eye.

Against the Royals Aug. 2, Wakefield allowed four runs in the first three innings but retired 15 of 16 batters between the fourth and seventh. Five days later against the Twins, he allowed three third inning runs but retired the next 10 in a row. And against the Devil Rays Aug. 31, Wakefield allowed four runs in the third inning but retired the final 16 batters he faced as the Sox came back to win 7-6.

Mirabelli, who has served as Wakefield's personal catcher since Wakefield returned to the rotation in August 2002, said Wakefield's resiliency is a reflection of a renewed self-confidence in the knuckleball.

"His confidence is very high right now, like he feels very good about his ability right now to go out and throw strikes with his knuckleball and keep hitters off-balance," Mirabelli said Aug. 31. "And that's the key for him. He needs to feel that confidence to be successful. By nature of the knuckleball, he's not throwing 95 miles per hour. He goes out there, he knows it's a battle. [If] he goes out there able to be confident knowing his knuckleball is moving the way he wants, it is 90 percent of the battle."

Wakefield isn't much for self-analysis, but he credited his resurgence to a renewed emphasis on physical fitness and believes he can continue to pitch at a high level for several more years. At 39, Wakefield is in the prime of a knuckleballer's career-his mentors, Phil Niekro and Charlie Hough, pitched until they were 48 and 46, respectively-and the contract extension he signed in April gives the Sox perpetual team options and basically assures he'll end his career in Boston.

"I've really taken a lot of pride in trying to stay healthy, working out a little bit more," Wakefield said. "The older you get, the harder it is to stay in shape. You look at guys like Randy [Johnson] and David Wells and Roger Clemens, those guys are over 40 now, so things look bright for me in the future, hopefully, if I can just stay healthy and keep doing the work that I'm doing now."