Red Sox Win First World Series at Fenway in Nearly a Century
Game 6 of the World series between the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals started quiet enough, with two scoreless innings pitched by starters John Lackey and Michael Wacka. That’s right about when the wheels came off for the visiting team.
The Sox got on the board in the bottom of the third when Shane Victorino doubled to deep left, driving in runs by Jacoby Ellsbury, David Ortiz and Jonny Gomes. At that point Cards manager Mike Matheny had seen enough from his man on the mound.
After a brilliant performance by the rookie in Game 2, Wacka was yanked after 3.2 innings tonight. Lance Lynn and Seth Manness didn’t even last a whole inning between them in relief as Matheny worked his way through the St. Louis bullpen.
In the fourth Stephen Drew homered to right center before the whole cast of characters from the previous inning repeated their success. At that point Boston went up 6-0 and, premature as it may have been, the rest of the game just felt like a countdown to an inevitable conclusion.
Although the Red Sox wouldn’t score in the fifth, a sure-out situation Ellsbury put himself in turned out to be very indicative of the night St. Louis had.
On base at first, he took too much of a leadoff and found himself trapped between bases. But instead of being tagged out, Ellsbury darted back and forth a few times before actually managing to get back to first without being touched. It was a very entertaining play for anyone watching without a vested rooting interest in the Cardinals.
Lackey lasted an impressive 7.2 innings for the Red Sox—and one batter longer manager John Farrell had initially wanted. After Carlos Beltran singled to left, allowing Daniel Descalso to score, Farrell was ready to go to reliever Junichi Tazawa, but Lackey successfully lobbied to stay in.
At the plate for St. Louis was Matt Holliday, who Lackey pitched to a full count before walking him and loading the bases. Not wanting to squander any more of their impressive lead, Farrell pulled the trigger on Tazawa. Allen Craig then grounded out to shortstop Dustin Pedroia, who ended the inning for Boston.
That was essentially the end of the night for the Cardinals, who were easily handled and held scoreless in eighth and ninth. The end of the game couldn’t come fast enough for Red Sox fans, who had been gathering en masse outside the stadium during the final innings.
For the team that had gone nearly 90 years in between championships, the Red Sox have now won three World Series in the last nine years. Though this is the first time it had been clinched in Boston since 1918, having swept and won on the road in ’04 and ’07.
It wasn’t all good news tonight for Boston sports fans—the Celtics lost their opener and the Bruins lost to the Penguins on the road. Not that anyone in Beantown is the least bit concerned about that.
