World Series: Did You Know?

Boston's big guy, David Ortiz, posted the second highest single-series batting average in the Fall Classic of 2013. All he did was hit an astonishing .688 in the six games. I guess Dave was determined not to let the St. Louis Cardinals win.

David hammered home the point in game one at home, going 2-3, with three RBIs and a pair of runs scored. The Red Sox won 8-1, but amazingly, they got just six additional hits. But for the Cards, Dave was just warming up. He had a longball to his name in this. Game two saw another home run.



In the second game at Fenway, the home team came up short. Ortiz got two hits, knocked home another two. But Boston got just four hits, total in a 4-2 loss. Ortiz hit his big blast in the bottom of the sixth. To no avail!



The Red Sox lost game three in St. Louis on a bizzare play. Ortiz had only one hit. He did not score a run or knocked in any. But officially, he went 1-2 with two walks, so it was another strong game. Boston now trailed 2-1, so game four was a must.

Ortiz was not retired in the game, going 3-3 with two runs scored and another walk for good measure. Boston won this game 4-2. Ortiz did not finish the game, as he left for a pinch runner. Boston though, was not finished. They took the final game in St. Louis 3-1, to go up three games to two in the 2013 Fall Classic. Ortiz? 3-4 with an RBI.

The Red Sox closed this out 6-1 at home. It was the first time Boston won the World Series at Fenway since 1918. Ortiz had an odd game. How many times have you seen someone go 0-1 and score two runs? Well, Dave did just that. He also walked four times, three of them intentional. In his one at-bat, he fanned. I think St. Louis was scared of him at this point. But it was too late.

MVP of the 2013 Fall Classic? Ortiz!


References


Retrosheet. Web. 6 July. 2015. <www.retrosheet.org>.

Sports Reference LLC.  Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 6 Jul. 2015.

Youtube. Web. 6 Jul. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/>.

World Series: Did You Know?

Game three of the 2013 Fall Classic had one of the craziest ending you will ever seen. You know, as a sports fan, I rank it right up their with The Play (Band on the field) from Cal and Stanford in 1982, and Mookie Wilson's grounder through Bill Buckner's legs. These were wild finishes, I'll tell ya! Maybe for me, Devon White's catch off Dave Justice and the near triple play they got. But still, that wasn't the ending to game.

The Boston Red Sox were in another Fall Classic against the St. Louis Cardinals. For the record, they've met in 1946, 1967, 2004 and 2013. They've had some moments. And while 2004 was a sweep for the Sox, it doesn't mean it wasn't memorable. It did three things: 1) It nenewed the rivalry 2) It broke the 86-year Red Sox World Series drought 3) The Cardinals and Red Sox began their tradition of postseason success.

Indeed, don't feel sorry for the Cards. While they were only there for four games in 2004, St. Louis made sure to win it all in 2006 over Detroit. In the process, they gained some sweet revenge for what had happened against the Tigers in 1968. This time, they got ahead three games to one, and won game five. The Cards weren't about to stop making it to the Fall Classic.

Down to their last strike twice in 2011, St. Louis charged back to win against Texas. That proved to be the last World Series for Tony La Russa, and it was fitting he went out a winner. But again, October would continue to beckon the Cards. Two years later, under new manager Mike Matheny, St. Louis was back to face Boston, and ready to avenge the sweep from 2004. All Matheny has done has carry on the tradition of Cardinal success. In three seasons in Cardinal land, 88, 97, and 90 games.

Boston, meanwhile, won the World Series again in 2007, and again it was a sweep. But against the Cards six years later, there would be no sweep.

However, Boston was determine to administer another four-game drubbing. In game one at Fenway, it was all Red Sox. It was 5-0 after two, 7-0 after seven, and 8-0 after eight. The final score was 8-1 Red Sox. The Cards needed game two for the split.



It didn't look too promising. The Cardinals scored the first run of the game in the top of the fourth, but the Red Sox tallied twice in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead. St. Louis dug deep to score three times the next inning. Matt Carpenter tied it with a sac fly, and on the same play, the Red Sox somehow made two errors, allowing St. Louis to take the lead. Before Boston could recover from that, Carlos Beltran singled to make it 4-2. The Cards hung on to send it home all tied at one game each.



In game three, it seemed like St. Louis could not break free of Boston nipping at their heels. The Cards touched home twice in the bottom of the first one a single, a bunt, and three more singles. The Red Sox came back with a run in the top of the fifth and another the next inning. Matt Holliday then stepped into the hero's role with a single in the bottom of the seventh to score Carpenter and Beltran. It was 4-2, St. Louis. Was Boston done for the night?

Not quite.

The first two batters reached in the top of the eighth. A bunt moved the tying run to second. David Ortiz was the batter, and St. Louis walked him. Daniel Nava was retired on a ground ball, but it scored a run. 4-3, St. Louis. Xander Bogaerts followed with a single, and it was all tied at four.

St. Louis did not score in the bottom of the frame, and Trevor Rosenthal retired Boston 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth. That set the stage for an amazing finish. Were do I begin, where do I end.

I start with Matt Adams striking out for the third time in the game. But Yadier Molina singled for the third time on this night. The sent Boston pitcher Brandon Workman to work on the showers. Rosenthal was the next scheduled hitter.

Kogi Uehara, the Red Sox closer with 21 saves was on the hill. He posted a 4-1 record to go along with that, and an ERA of just 1.09. The first batter he would face was a pinch hitter.

It turned out to be Allen Craig. First pitch to Craig, he hit a clutch double down the left field line. The winning run was ninety feet away. No chance for a double play, no outs. Would the Red Sox pitch to Jon Jay?

Boston decided to. They moved their infield in to cut down Molina at the dish. Jay was pitched to! On the second pitch of the at-bat, he sent a grounder to second which Yadier headed home on. Huh? Dustin Pedroia saw all this, and rifled it home to nail him for the second out. Boston had a huge out, but seconds later, it didn't matter.

Craig, waited, started, then hesitated and headed towards third on the play. Jarrod Saltalamacchia, having just made the putout, looked right towards third and tried to nail Craig. The throw never made it there, however. It went wide to the right of third, and into the outfield. Allen hustled on home. Before he could get there, he was tripped up by Will Middelbrooks. The throw hit Middelbrooks and ended up going to foul territory. Daniel Nava was right there and gunned it to home, seemingly getting Craig as Saltalamacchia slapped on the tag.

Home plate umpire Dan DeMuth motioned towards third base umpire Jim Joyce. Joyce had motioned towards the play between runner and third basemen, thus meaning obstruction. Craig had touched third base legally, and was awarded another base, winning the game for the Cardinals!



It was the first time in Fall Classic history that a game had ended on an obstruction call. St. Louis had a two games to one edge. Alas, Boston came back and won the next three games. No matter. This game was going to be talked about for years.

Boston and St. Louis have always put on a show. There always seems to be something at stake when the two teams meet. It's 1946, and it's Ted Williams vs. Stan Musial (But that was a bit of a flop for both of them, eh?). It's 1967 and it's Bob Gibson's pitching, Lou Brock's speed vs. Yaz's bat and Lonborg's pitching. It's 2004, and Boston is trying to end The Curse. And it's 2013, and it's St. Louis with eighth Fall Classic's (The most of any National League team at the time, although San Francisco has since tied them) and Boston with six, so they are trying to close or widen the gap for Fall Classic triumphs. And, also you're trying to wrap your head around what you've just witnessed in game three...And explaining it...Well...


References


“The Official Site Of Major League Baseball.” MLB.com, Major League Baseball. Web. 14 Apr. 2015. www.mlb.com/.

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 14 Apr. 2015.

Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 14 Apr. 2015. <https://en.wikipedia.org>.

Youtube. Youtube. Web. 14 Apr. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/>.

World Series: Did You Know?

The Red Sox have won every World Series played in the century's second decade.

Oh wait, I should have said, "Every World Series they have played in, in the second decade of the last two centuries." So from 1910 to 1919 and then from 2010 to 2013. So far, I should add.

In the first year of Fenway Park (1912), the Red Sox faced the New York Giants in the World Series. The Series went the limit, before Boston pulled it out. Smokey Joe Wood was 3-1 in the Series. Tris Speaker hit .300 and Harry Hooper hit .290. Wood also contributed with his bat, hitting .286.

Oh, where is Babe Ruth you ask? Stay with me!

Ruth was 18-8 as a rookie in 1915, but the Red Sox didn't need him in the Series. Turns out they didn't need Wood either (15-5, 1.49 ERA despite an ailing arm). No, instead Boston used Rube Foster, Ernie Shore and Dutch Leonard to win the Series. It was a  4-1 triumph over the Phillies. The Red Sox 3 pitchers combined for an ERA of 1.84 in the Series.

Back was Boston the next year against Brooklyn. They were still the Brooklyn Robins at this point. But this time, Ruth was involved, I tell you.

In game 2, he gave up a first inning run. Then, Babe settled down and put 13 0's on the scoreboard as the Red Sox won in 14 innings. In the bottom of the third, Ruth got his first World Series RBI.

The Red Sox went on to win in 5 games again, but wasn't easy.

In game 1 of the 1918 World Series, Ruth extended his shutout streak to 22 1/3 innings with a masterful 9-inning shutout of the Chicago Cubs.

In game 4, it was 7 more 0's from Ruth for a World Series shutout streak of 29 2/3 innings. Ruth them surrendered 2 runs in the top of the 8th. That knoted the score at 2. The Red Sox scored 1 in the bottom of the frame for the win. Babe Ruth was now 3-0 all-time in the World Series.

Ruth showed some muscle with his bat as he hit a triple to right-center to drive in the first run of the game. Sadly, Ruth didn't get to pitch again. But he did come in as a defensive replacement in the top of the 8th of game 6. Odd was that Babe was inserted with 2 outs in the inning.

The Sultan Of Swat did not get to bat in this game, as the Red Sox were retired 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 8th.

But with one out in the top of the 9th, and the Sox just 2 outs away from their 4th World Series of the decade, Charlie Hollocher sent a fly to Ruth in left. The Babe made the catch. 2 out.

When Les Mann grounded out to Dave Shean at second, the Red Sox were World Series Champions, again. A long wait followed, of course. But this current 2013 World Series win ensures the Red Sox of a perfect Fall Classic record in the 1910s and 2010s through this year.