Red Sox win World Series at Fenway

Photo by: Henoc Kivuye

 

The 2013 World Series ended in much the same way that it began, with a strong showing on the mound by the Boston Red Sox.

The Red Sox clinched their eighth World Series title, the first at home since 1918.

Senior Markus Carr, a southern Red Sox fan, described why this World Series was sweeter than in 2004 and 2007.

“Winning a World Series is great no matter where you are, but when you clinch in your own park, it’s so much better,” Carr said. “We haven’t finished it off at home in almost 100 years, so this was a long time coming.”

Game one featured an offensive explosion from the men from Beantown, tacking eight runs on the board in a statement win highlighted by lefty Jon Lester.

Lester, who went seven and two-thirds, allowed zero runs and struck out eight, kept the Cardinals’ hitters off-balance the entire night. A flustered Red Birds team booted, fumbled and slid their way to the wrong end of an 8-1 rout in game one.

Senior Kacy Cook endured the struggles of his Cardinals in game one and admits that a poor start like that gave him reason to fear from the beginning.

“When you start a series as sloppy as [the Cardinals] did in game one, you’re putting yourself behind the eight ball from the beginning,” Cook said. “I think the Red Sox got a lot of momentum going with a big win.”

That momentum, however, did not seem to last long for the Red Sox and game two featured a matchup of young versus old. Rookie pitching sensation Michael Wacha got the nod for the Cardinals opposite veteran righty John Lackey of the Boston Red Sox.

In a hurler’s duel, the game stayed scoreless until the fourth inning when a triple from Matt Holliday opened the way for an RBI groundout by Yadier Molina, giving the Cardinals an early one-run advantage.

David Ortiz, the outspoken captain for the bearded Sox, gave his team the 2-1 advantage in the sixth with a two-run bomb to left over the Green Monster.

Standing as an impressive shot from Ortiz, the go-ahead homer arguably broke a feat more impressive. Twenty-two-year-old Wacha, until that point, had pitched 18 and two-thirds consecutive scoreless innings. This streak propelled him to two victories over Clayton Kershaw in the National League Championship Series and an NLCS MVP to boot.

In the seventh, the Red Sox showed their first signs of defensive weakness in the series. A pop fly off the bat of Matt Carpenter led to an error at the plate by Jarrod Saltalamacchia and a Cardinals run.

The worst was yet to come for the Sox, however, as reliever Craig Breslow proceeded to pick up the wandering ball and sail it over third base, bringing home another unnecessary run and the score to 3-2 in favor of the Cards.

Another RBI off the bat of Carlos Beltran and the damage was done, leading to a meaningful 4-2 victory for the Cardinals.

Game three of the 2013 World Series will remain a hot topic for many years to come, with a controversial conclusion the likes of which have never been seen in Major League World Series history.

Tied 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth, the Cardinals looked to capitalize with one out, Molina on third and an injured Allen Craig on second.

Jon Jay stepped into the box ice cold in the Series looking to find a way to push Molina in from third and give the Cardinals the 2-1 series advantage. Fate had other intentions.

Jay scalded a ground ball to Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who was playing in with the winning run on third. Pedroia miraculously snagged the ball and fired it to home plate where Saltalamacchia applied the tag to gun down Molina for the second out and keep the game alive.

In a twist of fate, however, Saltalamacchia turned and saw Craig limping to third. He fired it to third baseman Will Middlebrooks, but threw too far to the inside. The diving Middlebrooks remained on the ground as the stumbling Craig attempted to hurdle Middlebrooks and score the winning run.

Running what seemed like a mile from left, Daniel Nava scooped up the arrant ball and fired a strike to Saltalamacchia at the plate, seemingly cutting down Craig and saving the game.

In one of the most controversial calls in baseball history, third base umpire Jim Joyce halted the action, signaling that Middlebrooks had obstructed Craig and the run would count; the Cardinals had won the game.

“At first I could no figure out what was going on,” Carr said. “When I saw that the run was going to score I couldn’t believe it. It really felt like someone stole that one away from us.”

Celebrating Cardinals and outraged Red Sox converged on the plate as game three came to a 5-4 end, handing the Cardinals the 2-1 series advantage.

Still feeling the fire from the call the night before, game four went into the sixth tied at 1-1 before Jonny Gomes blew the game open for the Red Sox with a three-run blast to left to give the Red Sox a significant 4-1 lead.

The Cards were down, but not out as Carpenter responded with an RBI single in the seventh, keeping his team relevant late in the game.

In the ninth, with the Cards down 4-2, one-legged Craig came through for the Red Birds again, keeping them alive with a two-out single.

Craig would be pinch-run for by Kolten Wong, a 23-year-old backup second baseman new to postseason baseball.

As Red Sox closer Koji Uehara came set, he spun and picked-off Wong at first, ending the game in just as strange a fashion as the previous, tying the series once again.

“Karma got us on that one,” Cook said. “After all of the drama around the way that game three ended, game four really evened things out.”

Game five was a showdown of the aces on the mound, with Jon Lester taking the ball for the Red Sox and Adam Wainwright getting the nod for the Cardinals.

Wainwright was touched-up early as back-to-back doubles by Pedroia and Ortiz gave the Sox the early 1-0 lead.

Wainwright got assistance from teammate and Oklahoma native Matt Holliday, who blasted a 423-foot home run to tie the game at one apiece.

In the top of seven, however, the Red Sox would fire their finishing blows to the Cardinals in the form of an RBI ground-rule double by David Ross, followed by an RBI double by Jacoby Ellsbury to bring the score to its final resting place, 3-1.

With the Red Sox on the verge of clinching their eighth World Series title, the series returned to Boston, where the echoes of the Boston Marathon tragedy were drowned in roars of the thousands in attendance to watch their Sox.

Lackey was given the ball again for the Red Sox, squaring-off against Wacha in a rematch of game two. This time, however, the veteran took the rookie to school.

Lackey, who went six and two-thirds innings to allow only one earned run, outshone his opponent, who lasted a short three and two-thirds innings characterized by a three-run, bases loaded double from Shane Victorino, a lead-off home run off the bat of Stephen Drew in the fourth, and an additional run tacked-on by Mike Napoli and Victorino each.

In the top of the seventh an RBI single to left by Beltran scored Daniel Descalso and acted as the only resistance the Cardinals could give the Red Sox on their way to a World Series title.

The 6-1 rout brought the eighth trophy to Boston, and marked the first time the Sox had clinched at Fenway Park since 1918.

Ortiz, the undisputed key to the series, took home the MVP Award and thanked the city of Boston in his acceptance speech.

“Big Papi was unreal,” Carr said. “After the [Boston Marathon] bombing, he gave a speech to Boston that sparked this run, and no one ever stopped it.”