Red Sox Grab 3-2 WS Lead Behind Lester’s Gem

Winning on baseball’s grandest stage can’t be easy, but Jon Lester has made it look fairly routine during the 2013 World Series, as he outdueled Adam Wainwright for a second straight time on Monday night, helping push the Boston Red Sox within one win of another championship.

Thanks to Lester’s strong seven-and-two-thirds innings and some clutch hitting, the Sox topped the St. Louis Cardinals last night 3-1 to take a 3-2 lead in the World Series. Now, the Sox are just one win away from a title and they are headed back to Fenway Park with two chances to get it.

“The fact is we’re going home,” manager John Farrell said, according to ESPN.com. “Going back to a place that our guys love to play in, in front of our fans.”

While the Sox would love nothing more than to win the series on their home field, they’ll probably be sad to leave St. Louis after having so much success in clutch situations. On Monday night, David Ortiz came though again – going 3-4 with an RBI – but with the game knotted at 1-1 in the seventh inning, it was catcher David Ross who delivered the big blow to the Cards – a tiebreaking ground rule double that set the Sox up for an insurance run later in the inning.

“How about that? It’s nice to drive in runs,” Ross said. “I’ve got to credit the guys in front of me.”

Of course, Ross’ heroics wouldn’t have been possible without the brilliant performance of Lester, who – like he did in game one – held the mighty St. Louis offense at bay. However, Ross certainly made his impact as one half of the battery that shut the Cardinals down again.

“I think the biggest thing is me and Rossy have had a good rhythm,” Lester said. “Early on, we just went back to our game plan from Game 1 and just fell back on that and really just tried to make them swing the bats early, and we were able to do that.”

Lester is now 3-0 in World Series games, but it will be up to John Lackey to clinch things in game six against rookie phenom Michael Wacha, who defeated Lackey and the Sox in game two. If Wacha can outpitch Lackey again, it would set up game seven on Halloween night.

“It will be legendary if we go into Boston and win two games,” Wainwright said.

Unfortunately for St. Louis, the momentum, the odds and the crowd will be against them in game six, but manager Mike Matheny said all his team can do is ignore all that and play the way they have all year long.

“The guys know what we have to do,” Matheny said. “We have to play the game. They have to lock arms, trust each other and play the game the right way. Most of it is going to be the mentality of not buying into any kind of stats, any kind of predictions, any kind of odds, and go out and play the game.”

While Matheny’s team’s mental approach sounds like a good one, it will be hard to bet against the Sox – who are riding a two-game win streak – at home in game six. The Cards may have a better pitcher on the mound for Wednesday’s game, but everything else seems to be going Boston’s way.

Take the Red Sox to cover -1.5 runs tomorrow night and win the 2013 World Series.