Cj Gunther/European Pressphoto Agency
David Ortiz scoring on Mike Napoli's three-run double in the first inning. Ortiz, who later homered, finished 2 for 3 with three runs batted in.
BOSTON — Getting to baseball's biggest stage had never been the Boston Red Sox' strong suit. Generations passed without World Series appearances. Seasons were too often marred by misfortune, blunders, collapses — an 86-year curse.
Even though they recently won two titles — in a span of nine years — success has been so coveted that the Red Sox still greet the World Series with what seems like an unquenchable thirst. Entering Wednesday, they had not lost in eight straight World Series games, a streak dating to 2004. They had barely even trailed.
The streak never seemed threatened Wednesday night as they seized on multiple defensive miscues by the St. Louis Cardinals in the early innings and steamrollered to an 8-1 win in Game 1 at Fenway Park in front of a capacity crowd.
The Red Sox flipped the calendar back to 2007 — or maybe more like 2004, when they swept St. Louis as their Cowboy Up crew of misfits and mangy stars banded together in a memorable October run. Only one Red Sox player remains from that team (David Ortiz), but the ingredients are echoed in this year's roster — not just with the players' beards, either, but with their play.
Wednesday was the ninth anniversary of the beginning of that series, and in the lead-up to the game, figures like Curt Schilling, Pedro Martinez, Kevin Millar and Keith Foulke were around, in roles with the news media or just lingering. Boston trotted out other celebrated players from its history, too, like the Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski, who threw out the first pitch, and the former pitcher Luis Tiant, who delivered the game ball.
But as gray skies gave way to a brisk and hazy night, the Red Sox needed no help from their past.
From the start, the Red Sox put pressure on St. Louis's ace, Adam Wainwright, who walked the leadoff hitter, Jacoby Ellsbury, on seven pitches.
Two batters later, after Dustin Pedroia had singled, Ortiz grounded to second baseman Matt Carpenter, who flipped to shortstop Pete Kozma. Although Kozma mishandled the ball, Pedroia was initially ruled out at second as the umpire Dana DeMuth thought the drop occurred during Kozma's attempt to turn a double play.
Red Sox Manager John Farrell immediately sprinted out of the dugout to contest the call, and replays showed Kozma clearly never had a handle on the ball. The umpires convened and overturned the call.
So the Red Sox had the bases loaded, a familiar and potent position for them this postseason. The next batter, Mike Napoli, promptly lashed a double to left-center, and all three players on base came around to score, even Ortiz, who thundered home as center fielder Shane Robinson momentarily bobbled the ball. Napoli stood on second pumping his fists, and the Red Sox had a 3-0 lead.
"I'm just trying to get a ball up in the air to the outfield in that situation," Napoli said. "I got a pitch I could handle."
It was a comforting feeling for the Red Sox, who scored four runs in the first inning of Game 1 in the 2004 World Series and three runs in the opening inning of the 2007 Series, against the Colorado Rockies, setting the tone early in two eventual sweeps.
The Cardinals' defensive struggles only worsened.
In the second, Stephen Drew skied a pop-up just short of the mound. But it dropped between Wainwright and catcher Yadier Molina, who looked blankly at each other.
It was a communication gaffe antithetical to the crisp and clean 97-win team that had stormed through the postseason. Early in Wednesday's game, the Cardinals looked discordant and flustered, taking a collective gulp in the spotlight.
The Red Sox added two runs in the second — assisted by another Kozma error — and it could have been worse. Carlos Beltran robbed what would have been a grand slam from Ortiz, near where Detroit's Torii Hunter narrowly missed Ortiz's game-tying grand slam in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series.
Beltran calmly reached over the short bullpen wall to pluck the ball out of the sky, allowing only Drew to score on the sacrifice fly, but there was still collateral damage. Beltran wound up leaving the game with a right rib contusion as a result of the catch. (He was taken to a hospital for further examination, the team said.)
The Cardinals, as a team, had the best batting average with runners in scoring position (.330) since 1974. But they had little solution for the Red Sox left-hander Jon Lester, who held St. Louis to five hits in seven and two-thirds innings, with one walk and eight strikeouts.
"After we scored five, I told Jon we've got to keep putting the pressure on them," Boston catcher David Ross said. "We can't just lay fastballs in there; these guys are dangerous hitters. He knew it, and he did that."
In the fourth, the Cardinals loaded the bases with one out against Lester, but on a low fastball, David Freese grounded sharply back to him for a 1-2-3 double play. St. Louis also put runners on second and third with two outs in the fifth but could not bring a runner around to score.
In the seventh, the Cardinals committed their third error, first baseman Matt Adams the culprit this time, and paid for it again. Ortiz drilled the first pitch to right for his fourth home run of the postseason.
"I made sure I hit it a bit farther," Ortiz said. "Nobody could jump up to catch it."
With a seven-run lead, the fans at Fenway could soak in another World Series game won and revel in a familiar sight: get to this stage, and the Red Sox find new levels of greatness.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Red Sox 8, Cardinals 1: Fall for St. Louis; Classic for Boston
Dengan url
http://homepageglobal.blogspot.com/2013/10/red-sox-8-cardinals-1-fall-for-st-louis.html?m=0
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Red Sox 8, Cardinals 1: Fall for St. Louis; Classic for Boston
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Red Sox 8, Cardinals 1: Fall for St. Louis; Classic for Boston
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar