For the first time since 2007,
the Red Sox played a World Series game last night. Under the brightest lights, the Red Sox
routed the National League Champion, St. Louis Cardinals, by a score of 8-1 at
Fenway Park.
The story of the night will be
the blown call at 2nd base which we’ll get to in a moment but it
really should be the pitching performance of Jon Lester. It was a dominant performance by the ace of
the pitching staff and a game that he’ll likely be remembered for long after
his career is over.
The power lefty went 7 and 2/3
innings of shutout baseball. He
scattered 5 hits, walked 1 and struck out 8 in the game. Lester has now won his last 2 World Series
games as he picked up the win in the Game 4 clincher in 2007 against the
Colorado Rockies.
He became the first starter to
hold the opponent scoreless in the opening game of the World Series since the
Reds’ starter Jose Rijo did it against the A’s in 1990.
Lester had great command of his
fastball last night and his slider had a lot of bite on it. He was able to get through his 7 and 2/3
innings in just 112 pitches. He was in a
huge jam in the top of the 4th when the Cardinals loaded the bases
with only one out on a walk and 2 singles.
But he escaped as he got David Freese to ground into a huge 1-2-3 double
play.
In the top of the 5th,
he would once again escape a jam as the Cardinals had men in scoring position
with 2 outs. This time he was able to
get Jon Jay to ground out weakly to Stephen Drew to end the inning.
He would cruise the rest of the game
not allowing a single base runner.
Junichi Tazawa recorded the final
out of the 8th and Ryan Dempster came on in the ninth and allowed a
solo homer to Matt Holliday and after letting up another hit, settled down and
got the final 3 outs of the ballgame.
Now onto the call in the bottom
of the first that is all the talk this morning.
After a leadoff walk by Jacoby Ellsbury, and then a one-out line drive
single to center by Dustin Pedroia, Big Papi stepped to the plate.
Ortiz hit a grounder to 2nd
baseman Matt Carpenter who fielded it cleanly and flipped to Pete Kozma who
looked like he’d turn an easy double play.
Only Kozma dropped the ball and 2nd base umpire, Dana DeMuth
called Pedroia out at 2nd.
The ball never was secure in Kozma’s glove and you could easily see that
he never caught it. It wasn’t on the
transfer as DeMuth initially called.
Manager John Farrell came out to plead his case and after the umpires
huddled, they revered the call, which sent the Fenway faithful into a frenzy.
I’ve never seen the umpires
huddle and actually reverse a call but it was the right call. I know Cardinal fans don’t want to hear it
but they got the call right and that’s the way it should be. Kozma never caught the ball and it clearly
wasn’t on the transfer. How DeMuth
missed the call is beyond me.
Mike Napoli made the error hurt
as he crushed a 3-run double to the gap in left-center to put the Sox up 3-0
and they would cruise the rest of the way.
The 2nd inning would
also be a bad inning for Kozma and the Cardinals. Stephen Drew led off the inning with a pop-up
to the pitcher that looked like it would be an easy out number one. Adam Wainwright seemed to motion that he was
going to catch it but backed off and it fell in between he and Yadier Molina
for a single. David Ross followed with a
single and the Sox had something going again.
After a lineout by Jacoby Ellsbury, Shane Victorino hit a grounder to
short that Kozma misplayed for an error and the Sox had the bases loaded with
Pedey up and David Ortiz looming.
Pedoria laced an RBI single to left to make it 4-0 and David Ortiz hit a
bomb to right that Carlos Beltran robbed for a sacrifice fly. It would have been a grand slam and the game
could have been over but Beltran made a heck of a play and it cost him as he
exited the game shortly after with bruised ribs.
Big Papi would get his revenge
though as in the bottom of the 7th, he launched a 2-run homer to right
that extended the lead to 7-0. It was
his 16th career postseason homer and Ortiz was summoned for a
curtain call by the Fenway faithful.
Top prospect, Xander Bogaerts,
who got the call at 3rd, closed out Boston’s scoring with his 1st
World Series RBI as he hit a sacrifice fly in the 8th to make it a
8-0 victory.
Overall the Sox had 8 runs on 8
hits with one walk. They were 2 for 8
with runners in scoring position and left 4 men on base. Pedroia went 2 for 4 with 2 runs and an RBI,
Ortiz was 2 for 3 with 2 runs and 3 RBI.
Napoli had 3 RBI and a double and Drew and Ross each had a hit
apiece. Daniel Nava went 1 for 1 with a
run and double and Ellsbury walked once.
For the opening game, the Sox
couldn’t have drawn it up any better but they still need 3 more wins.
John Lackey will take the hill
tonight and he was simply marvelous in his last appearance against the Tigers
in the ALCS. He went 6 and 2/3 innings,
allowing only 4 hits and striking out 8.
Let’s hope he is on again tonight.
The Cardinals will counter with
rookie phenom Michael Wacha. He has been
absolutely lights out in the postseason.
So far he’s 3-0 with a 0.43 ERA.
He’s struck out 22 and walked only 4 and allowed only 8 hits. His WHIP is a ridiculous 0.57. The Sox will be seeing him for the first time
and it’ll sure be a test tonight.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
Jon Lester. He was brilliant in the opener. Showed what a true ace he is.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
Ryan Dempster. Dempster blew the shutout by giving up a solo
homer to Ryan Dempster in the bottom of the ninth. He also allowed a hit and if I were the Sox, I’d
make sure Dempster is only in the game in low pressure situations.
PLAY OF THE GAME
The 3-run double by Mike Napoli in
the bottom of the 1st. He was
able to capitalize on a huge error by Pete Kozma.NEXT
Thursday, October 24th, vs. the St. Louis Cardinals.
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