Shipping up to Boston: Red Sox Win World Series in Six

Written and Media by Joe Hubbs.

The World Series title is shipping up to Boston. The Red Sox won the Series Wednesday, closing the door on the Cardinals with a 6-1 victory in Boston.

The Sox began the series with an 8-1 blowout win in game one at Fenway Park. Although both teams essentially had the same amount of hits and walks, the Cardinals committed several errors and miscues in the field that allowed the Red Sox to go up by a considerable margin early.

Following a throwing error by David Freese, two fielding errors by Pete Kozma, and an embarrassing pop up single that landed between Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright in which neither player called for the ball, the Sox scored five runs in five innings off of the Cardinals ace, two of those unearned. This could have been even more, but Carlos Beltran robbed a grand slam by David Ortiz, who would later contribute a real homerun in the seventh. To compliment his offense, Jon Lester had a masterful performance. The Sox ace tossed seven and two thirds scoreless innings, striking out eight Redbirds hitters.

St. Louis took the next two games, but never really recovered from the demoralizing defeat. In game two, a pitching duel between Michael Wacha and John Lackey was interrupted by another blast by this years’ Mr. October, David Ortiz. A half inning later, the Cardinals took advantage of a sacrifice fly by Matt Carpenter in which the Red Sox committed two errors on the same play. Boston never came back after the disastrous play, losing 4-2 and allowing a split series going in to St. Louis. Game three became a battle of the bullpens early on, and the nail biter went in to the ninth inning tied at four runs apiece. Trevor Rosenthal, who had blown the save in the previous inning, shut down the Sox in the ninth to give his team a chance to walk off in the bottom half of the inning. Boston’s pen was not as successful in what is probably the most unusual World Series win in the history of baseball. With one out, Cardinals’ pinch hitter Allen Craig doubled to put runners on second and third. The very next batter, Jon Jay, hit a short grounder to Dustin Pedroia, who opted to throw the runner out at home. Catcher, Jarrod Saltalamacchia then tried to throw Craig out at third base, but his throw went sailing into left field. Craig attempted to score, but as he turned around, he tripped over third baseman, Will Middlebrooks’s legs. Craig was easily out on the play at the plate, but umpire, Jim Joyce saw everything and ruled obstruction at third base, giving the Cardinals a 5-4 win on a technicality. This marked the first time an obstruction call ended a World Series game, and spurred a fair share of controversy.

Another first was made in game four; it was the first time a World Series game ever ended on a pickoff. In a spot start in left field, Jonny Gomes hit a three run homerun in the sixth inning to break a 1-1 tie. Carpenter added one run for the Cardinals on a single in the seventh to decrease the deficit to two runs. With the deficit remaining in the ninth, Craig reached base on a pinch hit single, and was replaced by pinch runner, rookie speedster Kolten Wong. The move looked like it would give the Cards a chance to score from first base on an extra base hit. However, with the bat in Carlos Beltran’s hands, a man certainly capable of tying the game with a two run bomb, Wong got caught leaning off of first base, and Koji Uehara picked him off to win the ball game 4-2.

Boston took control of the series momentum after Gomes’s shot and rolled into the next two games without any doubt that the trophy belonged to them. In game 5, Lester continued his dominance over Cardinals hitters, only allowing one run and four hits, as he struck out seven

in 7.2 innings. Wainwright also pitched a stellar, quality game, as he struck out 10 Red Sox batters. The only difference was offensive production. Wainwright allowed three runs, but other than a Matt Holliday solo homer, the Cards bats remained dead. Three runs were all the Sox would need to top the Cardinals 3-1 in game 5.

Boston brought back their offensive slaughter house from game one to end the series in game six. Nerves finally got the best of 22 year old Michael Wacha in the World Series clincher. The rookie allowed six earned runs, including a home run by Stephen Drew, and a three-run double by Shane Victorino, who had been silent in the series until that point. After pulling Wacha in the fourth inning, the Cards were already down by six runs, and that is all Boston needed. All the Cards could muster was an RBI single from Beltran, but they could not come back and lost the game 6-1.

The World Series win was the first for Boston since beating Colorado in 2007, and was the

first time they clinched at home since the 1918 Series in which Babe Ruth won two games as a pitcher. David “Big Papi” Ortiz earned the Series MVP trophy, hitting an unreal .688 average with two homeruns and six RBI’s. The 37 year old designated hitter from Santo Domingo has made a monstrous career since joining Boston in 2003. He has accumulated three World Series rings, along with eight All-Star selections and five Silver Slugger awards.

As the baseball season ends, Americans go into depression without the ongoing play of their favorite pastime. Still, Ortiz’s success brings up the question of whether MLB will put the designated hitter in the National League. As a plethora of offseason moves begin, pay attention to league commissioner, Bud Selig as he ponders over this question and much more.