What a year to start a blog
following every game of the Boston Red Sox.
At the beginning of the year, I made some bold predictions that this
team would be good. I said they’d win
around 90 games and challenge for a Wild Card spot. I never predicted (no one did) what this team
was able to pull off last night.
The Boston Red Sox are the 2013
World Champions after defeating the St. Louis Cardinals at Fenway Park last
night by the score of 6-1. This team has
been so much fun to follow all year long and has become probably my favorite
Sox team, right up there next to the 2004 boys.
After once going 86 years without
winning a World Championship, the Red Sox clinched their 3rd in the
past 10 seasons and their first at home in Boston since 1918. It’s the most championships of any team in
the league over that span.
Now to the game.
I said before the series started,
that there is no one I’d like to see on the mound more than John Lackey and
last night, he was clutch. He started
off a little rocky as I think his emotions were a tad bit high. Although he retired the side in the 1st,
he was leaving pitches up in the zone and 2 of the 3 outs were hit very
hard. In the 2nd, the
Cardinals put 2 runners on with no outs but Lackey was able to get Matt Adams
to lineout and David Freese to flyout.
After a wild pitch, he was able to strike out John Jay to end the
threat.
In the 3rd, he induced
a double play to erase a 1-out single and in the 4th, after the Sox
put him ahead 3-0, he was able to work around a huge error by Dustin Pedroia to
keep the Cards off the board. The error
came with one out and after a single by Allen Craig. Yadier Molina hit a sure thing double play
ball to Pedroia that he rushed and booted.
He couldn’t recover fast enough and both runners were safe. Lackey then got Matt Adams to lineout and
then struck out Freese to end the inning.
The 5th inning started
with more run support as the Sox staked Lackey with a 6-0 lead. After a leadoff single, Lackey got Descalso
to lineout. Carpenter then singled to
put runners again on 1st and 2nd with only 1 out but
Lackey got the Cardinals 2 best hitters (Beltran and Holliday) to flyout to end
the threat yet again.
Lackey cruised in the 6th,
retiring the side in order getting Matt Adams to strike out to end the
inning. In the 7th, the Cards
would finally knock Lackey out of the game.
He struck out Freese to start the inning and then got Jon Jay to
groundout for the 2nd out.
Descalso then singled and Carpenter then doubled to put runners on 2nd
and 3rd with 2 outs. Carlos
Beltran then singled the opposite way through the shift to plate a run and a
wild pitch to Matt Holliday put runners on 2nd and 3rd
again with 2 outs. John Farrell visited
Lackey on the mound and you could read John’s lips, “This is my guy!” Farrell stuck with Lackey but Holliday was
able to work a walk. Lackey was then
removed from the game with a standing ovation from the crowd. It was a perfect ending to the huge
turnaround that Lackey has experienced this season. This city is finally a Lackey supporter and I’m
sure he appreciates it.
John Lackey’s final line, 6 and
2/3 innings, 1 run on 9 hits while striking out 5 and walking only 1. He was 3-1 in the postseason with a 2.77
ERA. Without John Lackey’s emergence
this postseason, the Red Sox don’t win this World Series.
Back to the 7th, with
runners on 2nd and 3rd and 2 outs. Farrell elected to bring in Junichi Tazawa to
end the threat and he’s just been so good as of late, erasing the meltdowns he
was having at the end of the regular season.
Tazawa was able to get the dangerous Allen Craig to ground out back to
him to end the inning.
In the top of the 8th,
the Sox went with Brandon Workman to bridge the gap to Koji Uehara and he did
just that. Throwing a heavy sinker, he
was able to retire the side in order, getting 2 groundouts in the process.
The 9th inning started
just as you would expect, with Koji Uehara running in from the bullpen. I knew right there it would be only a matter
of minutes before the champagne would be spraying. Uehara got Jay and Descalso to flyout to
start the inning then struck out Carpenter to send the fans and the players
into a frenzy. It was over; the Sox had
gone from worst to first and won their 8th World Championship.
Before I get to the offense, I do
have to mention just how electric Fenway Park was. From the first pitch to the final out, the
fans at Fenway yesterday were screaming and into the game. I don’t think I’ve ever heard Fenway Park
that loud. I can’t wait for the
duck-boat parade that’s sure to happen soon.
I may even have to take a trek up there.
As you can see, the Cardinals
left a ton of opportunities on the bases last night. As a team they were 1 for 9 with runners in
scoring position and left 9 men on base.
Lackey continually got himself out of jams with 2 runners on. It shows just how good he is at buckling down
and not letting a big inning happen.
The Sox looked to be doing the
same as they left a lot of men on base in the first couple of innings. In the 1st, they left Big Papi
stranded on first after a 2-out walk.
Then in the 2nd, after a leadoff single by Gomes and a walk
by Victorino, Michael Wacha got Bogaerts and Drew to pop-up in foul grounds and
then struck out Ross to end the threat.
But in the bottom of the 3rd,
the Red Sox would strike. Ellsbury
lead-off with a single to right and Pedroia moved him to 2nd on a
weak groundout to 3rd. David
Ortiz was then intentionally walked to put runners on 1st and 2nd
with big Mike Napoli coming to the plate.
The threat looked like it would come up empty as Napoli was struck out
on 4 pitches. However, Jonny Gomes kept
the rally alive with a hit by pitch to load the bases for the clutch Shane
Victorino. Victorino had missed the last
2 games with a sore back and I don’t think anyone knew just how much was going
to be able to contribute.
Shane Victorino came through in a
huge way with a high double off the Green Monster to plate all 3 runs. The Sox would go up 3-0 and you could see
momentum shifting over to the Red Sox.
In the bottom of the 4th,
Stephen Drew got things started off in a big way by homering on the first pitch
he saw into the Red Sox bullpen. While
Drew has played sensational shortstop this whole postseason, he’s absolutely
been horrendous with the bat. It was
nice to see him get the monkey off his back with a big back-breaking homer.
The Sox weren’t done in the
inning, after a strikeout by Ross, Ellsbury doubled to right-field. Pedroia flew out to deep right to move
Ellsbury to 3rd and after an intentional walk to David Ortiz; Mike
Napoli again came up in a big situation.
This time, big Nap came through, slapping a single to center-field to
plate Ellsbury. Gomes then walked to
again load the bases for Shane Victorino.
Right here, I’m thinking no way, can Shane really do it again? Victorino singled to left to plate the 6th
Boston run. The inning would be over
after a Bogaerts strikeout but the Sox were up 6-0 and on their way to a
championship.
They would do nothing more the
rest of the way and it almost seemed like they just wanted to fast forward to the
top of the 9th. You could see
the players and the fans getting antsy.
They wanted to get those final 9 outs and win this thing.
With runners in scoring position,
the Red Sox were once again horrible, going 3 for 12 and leaving 11 men on
base. Luckily they had 5 RBI with 2-outs
(4 for Victorino and 1 for Napoli) that saved them. That’s one area that this team must improve
upon next year.
Ellsbury went 2 for 4 with 2
runs, a walk and a double and Stephen Drew went 2 for 4 with a run, RBI and a
homer. Mike Napoli was 1 for 5 with an
RBI and Johnny Gomes was 1 for 3 with a run, walk and HBP.
For a big change, David Ortiz
finally didn’t do any damage to the Cardinals.
However, it really wasn’t his fault as he was given the Barry Bonds
treatment and walked 4 times on the night, with 3 of them being
intentional. The Cardinals were simply
not going to let Big Papi beat them.
Unfortunately they didn’t count
on Shane Victorino being this good. The
Flying Hawaiian went 2 for 3 with 4 RBI, a double and a walk. It was a clutch performance for someone that
hadn’t played in 2 days and was the icing on the cake for his comeback season.
David Ortiz was named World
Series MVP and he deserved it. He posted
a .688 batting average in the series (11-16) and a .760 on-base
percentage. He had 8 walks in the
series, which is a club record, breaking Carlton Fisk’s mark in 1975. Ortiz joins Manny Ramirez (2004) and Mike
Lowell (2007) as the 3rd Red Sox in the past decade to be named
World Series MVP.
This is Big Papi’s 3rd
championship with the Sox and he’s a career .455 hitter on the big stage
(20-44). It’s the best mark among
players with at least 50 World Series plate appearances.
The 2013 Red Sox team is
special. They are the first team since
1991 to go from finishing in last place the year before to the champions the
next. The other team to do it was the
Minnesota Twins.
So where does this team go from
here? They have a ton of free-agents and
unfortunately this team will not look the same next year. For now, let’s enjoy the moment. I’ll be blogging here and there, hopefully
once a week to keep you up to date with any doings. Right now, though, I’m looking forward to the
parade that’s sure to happen this weekend.
Got to convince the wife to ship up to Boston to witness this great
team.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
Shane Victorino. The Flying Hawaiian came through in a HUGE
way last night. With a sore back and not
knowing what he’d be able to do, he produced with 4 RBI and started the rally
in the 3rd that won the game.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
I hate to give this out after
winning a World Championship but David Ross didn’t have a good night. He was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts at the plate
and also didn’t play a great catcher. He
allowed a couple balls to get past him that were ruled wild pitches but his
effort seemed lazy on both. Instead of
sliding over and blocking them, he tried to back-hand them and they bounced
away. Luckily they didn’t cost the Sox
but Ross is better than that.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Shane Victorino’s 3-run double in
the 3rd to put the Sox ahead and on their way to a World
Championship.
NEXT
The offseason. Live it up – the Red Sox are 2013 World
Champions!!!!
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